Classic Scandinavian rematch; three teams hunt main round wins
Group II will be back in action in Hamburg on Friday night with their second main round games, starting with Slovenia and Portugal.
While Slovenia, the Netherlands and Norway are on the hunt for their first wins in this stage, Portugal, Denmark and Sweden aim to take another victory — but as Denmark and Sweden face each other, either one or both of the teams are certain to see their perfect records at the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 come to an end.
We are playing against Portugal, a young team that plays very fast handball and like to run. We need to prepare for it.
They have been amazing in the last couple of years. They have extremely fast players, they play very appealing handball and it is very difficult to defend against them. If we are at our best, the Netherlands will need to be at their best also if they want to do something. It will be an interesting match up, we are looking forward to it.
We will prepare and try to make their life difficult. let's see what we can do. Of course, we hope Norway will not have revenge feelings after their performances so far because it will make things a lot tougher for us. But also, it is our job to put a lot of speed into the game and try to keep the tempo to our advantage. Maybe that will be our strength as they are not in the best mood at the moment.
It will be a classic game. We played against Sweden many times. We know each other very well, we are playing in the same clubs, we are friends, so we can't surprise each other. It will all depend on the day. It is going to be a tough game and also a key game for us for the semi-finals. We look forward to Friday.
Very tough game. Right now, they are the best team in the world. However, we are not far away and I hope we will show that on Friday and to keep the game tight until the last minute.
