Summary: Rest and reflection on the agenda for Thursday
After 60 matches, the Men's EHF EURO 2024 has reached the semi-final stage. Thursday is a day off for the teams, but we'll be here through the day to bring you coverage of the press conferences previewing the key games.
We have been talking about it almost a year, that it would be a dream for our team to reach the semi-finals in Cologne. Now we have achieved it. We have tested a lot in the last year, players and how to build a new team. We have done that and I’m very satisfied with how they have performed. Up to now, not everything has been perfect but I think we deserve to go to the semi-finals.
For me it’s important that we win something. We won three World Championships in a row. That gives us huge confidence and believing in ourselves. That could be a huge factor also tomorrow when we are playing here in Cologne. We will know that we won’t be the favourites on the crowd’s side, so we have to believe in ourselves also. But you can’t always choose which finals you want to go into. You have to deserve it. In the last EUROs we didn’t play as well as we wanted. We did that at the world cup. So let’s see if we can turn this.
It is quite exciting to reach this stage, and for the fourth time in a row to compete against Sweden. It’s going to a real fight. We are also very confident, we had a great tournament until now. Against a very strong opponent, we will have to give our best performance. It’s going to be very close, very tight, as usual against Sweden. We live to feel this kind of pressure and to play this kind of games. We know we can make history.
I think that every game is special, but also that we play at a different level than last year. Both teams know each other very well, this will be the fourth semi-final between us. We meet one of the best teams in the word. But we are a very strong team, we believe in ourselves a lot and I’m sure we will have a say in this game.
