Sweden earn vital first main round points

GROUP I

Hungary vs Sweden 30:25 (15:18) 

• Sweden collected their third EHF EURO win and fifth overall against Hungary, balancing the overall record between the sides, as Hungary have won six of the previous encounters
• Sweden opened stronger, creating a 4:1 lead in the first minutes before Hungary scored three goals in a row to equalise. Hungary then kept the game was level until the 19-minute mark, when wing Nathalie Hagman pulled Sweden ahead at 12:10, after which Hungary could never equalise again
• Hungary’s chances were hurt by 16 turnovers to Sweden’s 12, with both teams facing some attacking problems as they lost the ball on unforced errors
• after she scored six goals and played an important part in the middle of Sweden’s defence, the player of the match award went to line player Linn Blohm
• it was Hungary’s 99th EHF EURO match and the team passed the 2,600-goal mark with their fifth goal of the game, scored by Anna Albek. Sweden passed 1,900 goals at the event with their second, scored by Blohm

Sweden keep medal round in sight

Sweden did their job and ground out the victory they needed to stay in the battle for group I’s semi-final tickets, as they moved up to four points on the table. The four points in their account put Sweden level with Slovenia on points, and two behind Denmark.

After Norway secured the first semi-final place of the EHF EURO 2022 and of the group earlier on Monday night, it is now down to Sweden, Slovenia and Denmark vying to join the title holders on the final weekend. Sweden are to face Croatia in the last main round game, while Denmark play Norway and Slovenia meet Hungary.

Sweden do not control their own fate, but they took the first step to get the results they need to put themselves in the best position possible with the win over Hungary.

Tomas Axner (SWE) — coach: “The first half was very even. The Hungarian speed in the counter attacks was a little bit of a surprise for us, although we know they have a lot of power in the fast breaks. They had some problems with the goalkeepers from our side in the first half and our defence was good for 60 minutes. We had very good defence, with Kristin [Thorleifsdottir] and Linn [Blohm] and Anna [Lagerquist] and Emma [Lindqvist]. It’s a strong defence. It costs a lot of power to score goals against this defence because all the time it’s attack, attack, attack. In the end, we could keep the high tempo, the speed. [Jamina] Roberts was very fast on her feet and could score some goals against the defenders who had lost a little bit of power. So it was a tight game.

Vlagymir Golovin (HUN) — coach: "We fought for 60 minutes during this game. We had good periods and some ups-and-downs in the game. We couldn’t really keep up, especially in defence in the last minutes of the first half, with their fast break goals and their fast attacks. We couldn’t keep up, in the end, with the speed of the Swedish team and we also got 20 goals from the line. Something we really have to work on is our defence. We hope that we can manage to learn and take something from this game.”