Sweden book main round berth after beating Cuba

Sweden celebrated their second win in two games, this time against Cuba, and secured an early main round spot with one group match to go. On Monday, the Scandinavians will play Brazil for first place in the group and the points to carry over to the next stage, while Cuba will only progress to the main round with a win over Czechia – which seems unlikely.

GROUP G
Cuba vs Sweden 17:46 (9:25)

Clara Lerby stood out in the Swedish attack early in the match, scoring three goals in the opening 10 minutes. Tyra Axner also did well, and the European team pulled clear at 10:2, capitalizing on their rivals’ mistakes time after time.

Sweden boasted an 81% shooting efficiency in the first half, while Cuba only had a below-par 36%. As a result, the Scandinavian team quickly extended the gap, and following two consecutive goals from Elin Hansson, they hit the 20-goal mark already in the 25th minute, leading 20:9.

The Swedish defence worked well, and Filippa Idehn had a 47% save rate in the opening 30 minutes. Cuba scored their last goal before the interval in the 24th minute, and then Sweden had a 7:0 surge to end the first half on a high.

After the break, Tomas Axnér’s team steadily kept the game under their control. While their shooting efficiency somewhat dropped – credit to Cuba’s goalkeeper Niurkis Mora, who finished the game with 10 saves – the Scandinavians continued to extend the gap while rotating their squad and saving energy for the next games.

They scored 21 goals in the second half, which is a little fewer than before the break, but overall, 11 of their players put their names on the scoresheet, with the unstoppable Lerby netting 11 times, and Axnér adding eight more. Idehn boasted a 48% save rate with 14 saves, as Sweden won by an even bigger margin than in their only previous encounter with Cuba, 49:25 at Denmark 2015.

hummel Player of the Match: Clara Lerby (Sweden)