EHF EURO

Confidence boost after London

Márk Hegedüs

20 March 2012, 13:29

Confidence boost after London

Despite two losses for Austria, coach Herbert Müller still sees chances for his side to advance to the EHF EURO in the Netherlands.

For this, Austria needs to finish in second position in the group, at least. In Rounds 3 and 4 of the qualification, a very strong opponent, Sweden, will await the red-white team, with the first game on home turf on Thursday in Krems.

With the returning line-player Simona Spiridon, Müller will count on a good mix of experience and youth in these duels against the Scandinavians: "Spiridon is a key person for our game plan, especially in defence, where she will contribute a lot."

The Zvezda Zvenigorod player is returning to the national team after a break while she was on rehabilitation.

After her knee injury and operation last summer the 32-year-old is happy about the coach's call and the return to Austria: "I know all of the players, they know me as well, so it's a comfortable national team return for me."

"As the slogan says; 'the ball is round and one never knows what will happen' in these games. It´ll be a big challenge for our team, but I can promise we´ll give our utmost to surprise the Swedes," added the pivot.

"Sweden are strong opponents and clearly favourites for group victory," said centre-back Nina Stumvoll. "The two games against them will be do or die matches for us. If we manage to earn at least one point, then we will maintain our chances for a successful qualification," added the Hypo Niederösterreich player.

Stumvoll also stressed the team's will to fight until the dying seconds, and pointed out the strength her side gathered with the victory in the London Handball Cup in late November 2011.

There, Austria celebrated first place and put several high-quality teams, among them Angola, China and Poland, behind them.

"In London we improved as a team and collected lots of confidence. We aim to use this confidence boost in the games against Sweden," added Stumvoll.