Sweden earn first points with strong win

GROUP B

Sweden vs Serbia 27:21 (14:9)

• when Sweden took a five-goal lead into the break, it looked very much as though the Scandinavian team were on track for victory. And when they hit a 10-goal advantage only 10 minutes into the second period (21:11), the victory was all but confirmed — but then came Serbia’s comeback
• spearheaded by a great performance from goalkeeper Kristina Graovac, who made 16 saves at a rate of 52 per cent, Serbia closed the gap late in the game. However, the closest they came was four goals, at 23:19 in the 52nd
• Sweden profited from a great start to the match that saw them leading 5:2 after eight minutes and 7:3 after 15 — and left Serbia with the difficult job of the chase
• Defence supported by a strong Jessica Ryde in goal was the key for Sweden’s early control, as Ryde recorded a huge 55 per cent save rate through the first 20 minutes
• Graovac received the player of the match award

Jessica Ryde: the last key for Sweden?

Since she caught attention at the EHF EURO 2020, Jessica Ryde has become an important player for Sweden — and with every championship, ever more important. The Scandinavian side are considered by many as one of the favourites at the EHF EURO 2022, and Ryde’s continued development could be the final factor that takes them to new heights.

Winning a medal or a title without a strong goalkeeper is a tough ask, so the form of Ryde — and her co-goalkeeper Johanna Bundsen — will be critical if Sweden are to play for the silverware at the EHF EURO 2022. On Friday night, Ryde showed that she is continuing her upward trajectory — upwards to the podium perhaps?

Tomas Axner, Sweden coach: "I’m happy about the win. It was a tough game. The opening games are always tough and it’s always tough to play a game like [that against] Serbia, with a lot of experienced players. I’m very happy about our defence. We put a lot of effort in the work of defence and we had a good goalkeeper [Jessica Ryde], so that was very helpful for us. And we got many stops in the game and could also score some easy counter goals from our good defence.

Uros Bregar (SLO), Serbia coach: "It was difficult. They took advantage from the start. In the first 10 minutes we were running up and down without our heads. After, we found some good attacks and we came just two or one goals behind, but also, we didn’t score on the fast break. It is true that Sweden played good defence today. We are not surprised, but also we didn’t find some good solutions. In the second half, we continued to come closer. Our goalkeeper, Kristina [Graovac], was really good, but still it was far away to do something better."