In this tournament, the Swedes were the men without nerves. Decisions in the last seconds? Not uncommon in handball – a Swedish specialty in the days of Bratislava and Budapest. On the way to the semifinals, a razor-thin main round win against Norway, on Friday the 34:33 in the round of four against France, and on Sunday evening in Budapest the best for last: The Scandinavians won with a seven-meter penalty after the end of the regular 60 minutes 27:26 (12:13) against Spain and became European champions for the first time since 2002.
In doing so, the Swedes prevented Spain from being crowned European champions for the third time in a row. It was even their fourth participation in the final since 2016 – and that with a thoroughly renovated and rejuvenated team.
With a direct hit to happiness
This means that the Swedish selection of Norwegian coach Glenn Solberg has reached its goal too early – their home World Cup will take place in 2023. Solberg had always said that his team would only reach the level of the legendary “Bengan Boys” in three to five years – those were the Swedes of the 1990s who defined the handball world. Now there is a new generation around playmaker Jim Gottfridsson and goalkeeper Andreas Palicka who, after losing a few finals or missing finals in recent years, could now play for trophies.
“We fought for so long to finally win a title again as Swedish handball players,” said line runner Max Darj, “we were behind in all decisive games, but with this team we have a chance against everyone. We were a large group here, from the first in the squad to the last nominee.” The Swedes also had to deal with corona infections at this controversial European Championship in Hungary and Slovakia, but were lucky that infected people returned in time after negative tests – how Right winger Niclas Ekberg, who threw his team and all fans in blue and yellow into luck with the direct hit from the seven-meter point.
After the final whistle, the Spaniards struggled with late decisions by the German referees Robert Schulze/Tobias Tönnies. A missed free throw for the outstanding Joan Canellas with a score of 26:26 seconds before the end irritated her. In the following attack, Canellas got in the way of Daniel Pettersson – seven meters. In the semi-finals, coach Jordi Ribera’s team dominated title favorites Denmark thanks to a splendid defense. After all, the Danes came to a happy end and third place with their 35:32 after extra time against France. Fifth was Norway, the German team seventh.
#Sweden #wins #European #Handball #Championship #fought #long