Denmark advances to the OS semifinal – for Sweden, the tournament is over.
In the end, it's incredibly small margins that decide. It hurts, says Andreas Palicka.
Oscar Bergendahl had the opportunity to equalize in the final stage, but substitute goalkeeper Emil Nielsen saved. The question is whether Sweden wouldn't have had a penalty when Magnus Landin defended himself in the situation while having both feet inside the goal area.
I don't have much to say about it. It is what it is, says Palicka about the missed penalty.
Unstable group play
After an unstable group play in Paris, Sweden knew that the team's best OS performance would be required to shake off giant Denmark in Lille.
It didn't start well, and national team captain Glenn Solberg took a timeout for Sweden to get better control over the Danish offense.
Denmark had taken the lead to 11–7 in just over 18 minutes, Sweden was in a situation where it was necessary to stop the bleeding.
The match got a scene change. The Danish nine-meter stars Mathias Gidsel and Simon Pytlick increasingly got stuck in the Swedish defense block.
In the Blue and Yellow, Felix Claar was back after missing the last two matches due to health problems. Claar's entry sharpened the offense, and the East Goth shot five goals himself before the break.
Bergendahl missed the opportunity
Then the score was 16–16, and the match was wide open before the second half.
It continued to be until the end.
The excellent Pytlick scored 30–28 – his ninth goal – with less than seven minutes left and ensured that Denmark led by two goals for the first time in a long time.
Sweden chased frantically in the final minutes. Mikkel Hansen, the star veteran, missed a penalty that could have given Denmark a two-goal lead again with just 54 seconds left.
He hit the crossbar, Sweden got an equalizing opportunity. Oscar Bergendahl's shot with just over 15 seconds left was saved by Emil Nielsen.
Then Denmark could hold on.
Never won OS gold
Before the OS tournament, Denmark and France were the big gold favorites, with Sweden as the top outsider.
France was eliminated by Germany in an extension drama earlier on Wednesday afternoon.
And now the Swedes had the chance to eliminate Denmark, the only team that went undefeated through the group play in Paris.
But what could have become a potential gold opportunity became instead a blue and yellow farewell to the OS.
And Sweden will have to wait four years to try to take that OS gold that previous national team generations have been and nosed on in four finals, without reaching all the way.
