Sweden couldn't have had a better start to the Olympics.
32–28 against the gold favorite Norway was a powerful statement from the blue and yellow handball ladies.
What can you say? A very good start, of course, says Nathalie Hagman.
Dumb things to do against one of the world's best handball teams:
+ Not scoring a goal for over seven minutes.
+ Losing both their center players.
+ Getting a red card with only minutes left to play.
It was as if Sweden really tried to lose the Olympic premiere. It just didn't work.
I'm still wondering what just happened, says Sweden's Linn Blohm after Thursday's upset win, 32–28.
In a swinging first half, goalkeeper veteran Johanna Bundsen initially lined up saves and even scored a goal. Sweden had a three-goal lead at one point, but Norway came back and took the lead 17–15 after 30 minutes.
"Saves us"
The second half started catastrophically for Sweden, which didn't score a goal for over seven minutes. That Norway was still within reach goal-wise – at most leading 19–15 – the outfield players could thank Bundsen for.
She saves us in many situations today. I think we step up our defense in the second half and get them where we want them. But they still manage to get the ball and when they finally get to 100% situations, Bundsen takes them. Without her, we wouldn't have won, says Linn Blohm.
When Blohm got her third two-minute penalty early in the second half, Sweden was out of center players. The other, Sofia Hvenfelt, had already been injured in the first half.
But it feels like it was the best thing that could happen today, that I got the red card, because something happened there. Everyone just came together as a team and kept going. So I just sat there and enjoyed it, I got goosebumps. Everything we've trained on, everything worked, says Blohm.
Middle player Carin Strömberg and right winger Emma Lindqvist had to fill in and did it with honor. At the same time, Nathalie Hagman got going.
With over 800 national team goals in her bag, she knows how to find the net. In principle, on her own, she took Sweden back into the match and equalized to 22–22 with 17 minutes left to play.
Now I think it's best with center players in that position, but today I think things work and then a lot goes our way. Today we have flow, and that was enough to win against Norway, says Hagman.
Tough red card
All the way up to 27–27, it was completely even. Then Emma Lindqvist got a red card with only minutes left to play, and Norway got the chance to decide.
Instead, Nina Koppang and Jamina Roberts scored each goal in numerical inferiority and gave Sweden a two-goal lead.
With less than two minutes left, Nina Koppang punctuated the match with Sweden's 30th goal.
Sweden won in the end with 32–28 and thus defeated Norway for the first time since 2017.
Next up for Sweden is Germany on Sunday. The Germans started just like Norway with an unexpected loss, 22–23 against South Korea.
Group A: Norway, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea.
Group B: Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, France, Brazil, Angola.
The top four in each group advance to the quarterfinals.
Sweden's matches (all in Paris):
25 July: Norway 32–28.
28 July: Germany (14.00).
30 July: Denmark (21.00).
1 August: South Korea (11.00).
3 August: Slovenia (16.00).
Quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal matches will be played in Lille on 6, 8, and 10 August.
