After four minutes they went up 4-0 and halfway through the first half the lead was up to 12-3.
– We stand well at the back and go for it forward and get some easy goals, says Elin Hansson, who scored the first two goals of the match.
But Germany woke up after the tough start so at the halftime break Sweden led 15-12.
Six minutes into the second half, Germany had caught up when they equalized at 17-17. Even though it swung back and forth a bit after that, Sweden never ended up at a disadvantage. Then they could instead push away towards the end and win 30-23.
– We run more and have better goalkeeping and defensive play. That’s how we want to play handball. On the whole, we play a better game in the phases we want to be good at, says Nathalie Hagman, who was Sweden’s top scorer with seven.
The expert praises fit
One of the highlights of the match was when Jenny Carlson found Anna Lagerquist on the line with a pass that fooled the entire defense.
– A fantastically nice “look away” pass where Jenny Carlson looks at others, holds and passes to Lagerquist. Very nice, says SVT’s expert Mikaela Mässing.