Sofia Hvenfelt got injured, Linn Blohm received a match penalty.
And Norway had 19–15.
How could the handball women turn it around to victory in the Olympic premiere?
Good question. We had a match plan that we followed to the letter, says national team coach Tomas Axnér.
Setbacks can – if handled correctly – be strengthening and unifying.
That was the case when the national handball team managed to get out of trouble and turn it around to a clear victory against the Norwegians.
Axnér had many reasons to rejoice over the 32–28 victory. This was one:
I'm incredibly happy that we were able to beat Norway for the first time during my tenure as national team coach.
This was another:
We got a good hit with the 7-6 game the last 20 minutes, when we got to good positions in almost every attack. We've trained on it, didn't show it to them, and it was a surprise element we could take advantage of.
Carin Strömberg stepped in and did strong defensive work as center back
I'm grateful that we have Carin in the squad who goes in and solves the position as center back. She does it really well. It was a prerequisite.
We also have a goalkeeper who stands on her head. We have to acknowledge that. She saved many free shots when we didn't quite get it right in the exchanges, says Axnér about Johanna Bundsen.
