Sweden

Sweden: "We are not under pressure“

The Swedish team have high hopes for the semi-final – even as they have to face the reigning European, World and Olympics champion France. “We hope for a great support from the stands – and the pressure is on France, not us,” says head coach Staffan Olsson.

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Semifinals finalized: Sweden vs. France, Denmark vs. Spain

The last two matches of both Main Round groups had to decide the constellation in the semi-finals: And as Denmark beat Sweden they ranked first in group II and meet Spain in the semi-final on Friday on 28 January (20:30) in Kristianstad. France won the group I by their seventh victory against Iceland and will play against host Sweden (18:00) in Malmö on Friday. Spain and France are equal in points, but France have the better goal difference and rank ahead the Iberians. Denmark is the only team with eight victories in eight matches and lead the final ranking with 10:0 points ahead of Sweden (6:4). Aside Serbia beat Argentina and play for the places 9/10 against Norway. The Gauchos will meet Germany in the 11/12 placement match.

Semi-finals:
Sweden – France (Friday, 28.01, 18.00 in Malmö)
Denmark – Spain (Friday, 28.01, 20.30 in Kristianstad)

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Sweden fly on the wings of success

As the teams of Main Round group I had a rest day on Monday WCh host Sweden made a huge step to the semi-finals by their impressive 29:25 victory over Croatia. If Denmark take at least on point against Argentina later this evening both Northern Europeans teams are already qualified for the semi finals before their direct duel on Tuesday.

Group II:

Sweden – Croatia 29:25 (14:12)

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Sweden: "We keep the feet on the ground"

They already reached their final destination, and they still have all chances to reach their final objective, too: Sweden, the host of the World Championship, have their fate in their own hands before the crucial matches of the Main Round in Malmö.

The team of the coaching duo Staffan Olsson/Ola Lindgren started well in the second stage of the competition by beating Serbia. But Olsson knows that the tough opponents will follow: “We are very happy with our opening victory, and we are satisfied with our performance. But the semi-final is still far away.” Sweden will meet Croatia today and Denmark on Tuesday – and especially the match against the runners-up of 2009 will be pre-decisively for the rest of the tournament. “We keep our feet on the ground,” Olsson said, “as Croatia is one of the big contenders for the medals. We have to prove our performance again and again.”

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Spain, Sweden, Croatia and Germany start with victories

The Main Round started with a surprise: Germany beat Iceland, it was the first defeat for the Northern Europeans in Sweden. Aside Spain (against Norway) and Croatia (against Argentina) took clear victories. Sweden can hope for the semis after beating Serbia.

Group I:

Spain – Norway 33:27 (15:12)

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Nordic triple: Iceland, Denmark and Sweden win their groups

The final decisions in the groups B, C and D had been taken: Denmark (by beating Croatia), Sweden (by winning against Poland) and Iceland (by beating Norway) are the winners of the groups B, C and D. Iceland and Denmark start the Main Round with the optimum of 4:0 points, as Sweden arose like Phoenix from ashes.

Group B:

Iceland – Norway  29:22 (12:12)

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Argentina beat host Sweden – seven teams already qualified for the Main Round

Seven nations already qualified for the Main Round after 42 of 60 matches of the Preliminary Round: After France (group A),, Croatia (C),  Norway (B) and Poland (D) now Iceland, Hungary (both B) and Sweden (D) took the tickets to Malmö/Lund and Jonköping. Despite celebrating the Main Round qualification, the WCh host was shocked by losing against Argentina, Iceland took their fourth victory against Austria – thanks to this result also Hungary was qualified for the last 12 round.
 
Group B:
Austria –Iceland 23:26 (16:11)

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France and Croatia in the Main Round

Like Croatia in Group C before, France have already qualified for the Main Round in Group A after their clear (and third) victory over Bahrain. Host Sweden (against Korea), Iceland (against Japan) and Denmark (against Serbia) made huge steps to the Main Round after their each third victory, as they each only need one more point now. Norway have beaten Austria, as Egypt took their first points in the Northern African duel against Tunisia.

 

Group A:

Tunisia – Egypt 23:27 (10:11)

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Sweden like a blizzard, Austria overrun by Japan

As the groups A and C had a match free day on Saturday groups B and D were playing – and Japan was the big surprise as they beat Austria. Poland had enormous problems to beat Argentina and host Sweden overran Slovakia like Iceland did against Brazil.

Group  B:  Japan – Austria  33:30 (18:11)

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Statements after the Bronze final

Valero Rivera, Spanish coach: „It was a match of two equal teams. Our attack decided the game, but I have to say that the match was imprinted by strong goalkeeper performances, too. I am absolutely satisfied with our result, as we worked hard for two years to go so far, not only during this tournament.”

Staffan Olsson, Swedish coach: „It was a tough and hard match for our team, but in the end I am proud of what we did during the game. My players fought until the very end and tried hard to win. In the end the Spaniards were the lucky team. My contract as national coach is valid until the summer and currently I don’t know if I will extend it. I will wait some weeks to decide.

Robert Arrhenius, Swedish player: We fought hard, even as it was not our match today. We are currently disappointed with the fourth place, but when we finally have realized what we achieved here we will be satisfied. Thanks to the audience for their great support in this match.

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