PHOTO: Bildbyrån
The national handball team gets a fresh start this week.
And Jim Gottfridsson would rather look ahead than dig into the past.
– But we players have always felt good, he says.
The Olympics ended with a heavy medal miss and just over a month ago the national team captain announced Glenn Solberg that he leaves Blågult.
– I was as shocked as everyone else in handball Sweden and hadn’t heard anything about any back roads, says Jim Gottfridsson.
After Solberg’s departure, there were media reports that the Norwegian had frozen out the assistant captain Michael Apelgren during the Olympics. “Very magnified, but no smoke without fire”, said Apelgren himself when he recently took over the job as national team captain.
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Gottfridsson, the now 32-year-old game distributor and national team star, says this:
– I don’t want to go into Glenn’s relationships in the coaching team, that is a question that must be answered by people higher up in the association. But we players have always felt good and we players have always come to all camps. And three medals in five years, one might say, is MVG in the rating.
Gottfridsson’s words
This week’s international matches will be the first with Apelgren as the main manager. The same Apelgren who has recruited Jim Gottfridsson to Pick Szeged from next season.
– The fact that we have a good relationship is not something you need to brag about, it’s nice for me to have a coach who believes in me. Unfortunately, this may not have been the case in Flensburg for the past year and a half. Both “Apel” and I are very handball nerds, we will probably sit and talk about some tactics, says “Gotte”, who is now being matched quite sparingly in his German club team.
It will be different in Blågult. Not least because Felix Claarthe Magdeburg star who usually shares the role of middle nine with Gottfridsson, is injured and will miss the WC after the turn of the year.
“It’s really boring”
For Gottfridsson, this means a new role – with greater responsibility.
– Of course, it feels very sad for Felix. But when you know that you are getting a slightly bigger role, it often feels a little liberating. You dare to make a few more mistakes in order to succeed, says Gottfridsson.
And speaking of new roles: This interview is being conducted in connection with the Scanian being presented as an ambassador for the children’s rights organization Plan International Sweden, a role he will share with the national soccer team’s star in the future Fridolina Rolfö.
But first of all there are meetings with France in Orleans (Wednesday) and Denmark in Linköping (Sunday), matches that are part of the EHF Euro Cup.
– We are thrown into a week with the two best teams in the world as opponents. And a new national team captain with new ideas. It will be very exciting.
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