Bratislava, 12 January – Quotes from Sweden coach Glenn Solberg (NOR) and goalkeeper Andreas Palicka (SWE) at a media call on Wednesday.
Glenn Solberg (NOR) – coach Sweden
On the opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina:
"We have respect for them, as we have respect for all teams. The Bosnians definitely have a good team, with many players from Champions League or European League clubs and an outstanding goalkeeper in Benjamin Buric. It will not be easy. The times when you had an easy match at an European Championship are over since some years."
On being the favourite:
"Maybe we are the favourites. It is our aim to win the match, as we want to win any match."
On the overall goals of Sweden at the EHF EURO 2022:
"Our first objective is to proceed to the main round. If we manage this, we want to continue winning more matches, but we should not talk about the end of the tournament before it even has started."
On left wing Hampus Wanne, who was out with Covid-19:
"Hampus had three negative tests and is back in the team to play on Thursday. The only player missing is Lukas Pellas, the rest are fit and ready."
Andreas Palicka (SWE) – goalkeeper
On the goalkeeper duel with Bosnian Benjamin Buric in the opener:
"He is in a brilliant form in Flensburg, now at the national team with pride and confidence, he can become a key figure – we really have respect for him. Goalkeepers are crucial in all matches, so this duel can be really decisive. But first of all, we look upon our performance and our team, we are focused not to cause any negative surprises."
On the current strengths of the Swedish team:
"Sweden is always Sweden, and we count on a tough defence, goalkeeping and counter-attacks. What might be new is the width in our squad. We integrated some young players such as Karl Wallenius or Eric Johansson. Additionally, Felix Claar and Lukas Sandell made a huge step ahead at Aalborg – so I hope that this new width of our squad can somehow become an advantage for us."
On their hopes of winning another medal:
"The EHF EURO is the toughest and most equal of all major tournaments, up to eight teams will fight for the medals in the end, and little things will decide, whether you win a medal or not. You have to focus on every opponent and you should not have in mind if you are favourites or not, as proved by our lucky last-second win against Bahrain at the Olympic Games. If we show all our strengths, we can beat every team at the EHF EURO, but on a bad day, we can lose against any team."
On the potential of becoming EHF EURO champions 20 years after Sweden’s last gold medal:
"2002 was then, 2022 is now. We have different teams, but of course, all players dream of a medal, not only because of this jubilee."
