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Sweden started the European Handball Championship with a necessary victory against the Czech Republic in Herning, but most agree that the game must be improved if the other teams in the group are to be beaten.
Bella Gulldén has a clear opinion on what will be most important in Saturday’s meeting with Spain.
– Be more compact in the defensive game and stay focused. If you relax against Spain for a second, it will plunge into every hole that exists, so we will have to be focused all the time, says the experienced midfielder who is making his 15th international championship with Sweden.
Another aspect there An improvement is required, highlighted by both Gulldén and the captain of the national team, Tomas Axnér, is to adapt the physical game to the refereeing level.
– I think that for a long time we are very behind in the established defensive game (against the Czech Republic), but we are a little short of taking a free kick when there are longer sequences of play. I think it’s a bit of uncertainty, which we dare not address because the judges set the level where they did it, says Axnér.
Before the championship, many made a historic decision to use only female judges in the tournament, as opposed to before, when the best judges judged regardless of gender.
– There must be good referees in the championships, the best must judge when the best players play, says Axnér and continues:
– I wish I had added a couple to ensure quality. There are many good judges, but there would be some more and a little more confusing. This should not be a test operation.
The league captain thinks that the low level of tolerance put Sweden at a disadvantage in the opening match, in which they suffered seven two-minute suspensions compared to four for the Czech Republic.
– We want to stop playing, take free throws, play very physically and win duels at the top of the pitch. When I look at the expulsions we receive, I think four of them are judged too harshly.
The referee level also made too many penalty shots in the match, where Sweden received a total of ten, but only managed to use five.
– As the level has started in this championship with many two minutes and penalties, we must have a bigger dividend. We have to spend some time training him, says Gulldén.
Usually she is safety herself on penalties, but against the Czech Republic she stepped aside after missing two chances out of three.
– It was said that Melissa (Petrén) and I were going to take the penalties, but when we both got burned, someone else had to step forward. This penalty shootout is a bit new, he says, pointing out that he’s not actually a penalty taker at his French club’s Brest Bretagne.
– You have to get into it. I have never been insecure, and it was not yesterday (against the Czech Republic), but I have not taken penalties in two, three years.
But will you continue as the first penalty taker in the future?
– I do not know, we will hear from Tomas but it has been said before that I am.
Read more:
“It’s about seeing what he does and putting the ball in the other corner”
Linn Blohm shone in a pale European Championship premiere against the Czech Republic
Guide: European Women’s Handball Championship 2020
