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Sweden move one step closer to Tokyo 2020

13 Mar. 2021

Sweden move one step closer to Tokyo 2020

After a thrilling opener against Germany on Friday afternoon, the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship silver medallists took their first victory in their Tokyo Handball Qualification 2020 campaign, a convincing 36:25 win against Algeria. 

Sweden now have three points on their account and play the decisive match against Slovenia tomorrow, while Algeria are out of the race for an Olympic spot with zero points. 

TOURNAMENT 3
Sweden vs Algeria 36:25 (19:10)

Sweden coach Glenn Solberg gave his key players Andreas Palicka and Jim Gottfridsson a rest in the first half, relying on Mikael Aggefors between the posts and Felix Claar and 
and Alfred Jönsson on the centre back position.

Algeria started well into the match, with goalkeeper Khalifa Ghedbane saving the first shot on his goal and Riad Chehbour scoring the first goal of the match. The African side scored another double to make it a 3:1 lead, also thanks to Ghedbane who made two more saves. 

Two goals from left back Jonathan Carlsbogård and right back Linus Persson levelled the match at 4:4 and then it was left to Lucas Pellas to score for the first Swedish lead after six minutes into the match.

A 4:0 run lifted the Nordic side to a 10:5 lead after the first quarter and caused Algeria coach Alain Portes to call a time-out. His team managed to reduce the gap to three but then Sweden started doing what they do best: scoring fast breaks to increase the lead to 15:7. The 15th goal for Sweden was not only the third fast break in a row but also the first goal for right wing Emil Mellegård.

For Algeria, right back Nassim Bellahcene scored his first international goal during his first minutes on court (8:15). However, Sweden extended their lead, and once more Mellegård scored for the first 10-goal advantage with five minutes left on the clock before the break. 

Mellegård and Jönsson then not only scored their first goals in this tournament but also were responsible for the last five goals in the first half, lifting Sweden to a 19:10 lead at half-time.

Mellegård picked up where he left off before the break, scoring his fourth goal in the beginning of the second half. He should become Sweden’s top scorer in this match with six goals – alongside Niclas Ekberg, who scored five out of his six goals from the seven-meter line. 

“It was important for us to play a good defence so that we could win the ball for going into counterattack and scoring the easy goals. It was also very good that everyone could play today,” said Persson after the match. 

Although Algeria did not give up, having Redouane Saker scoring all of his four goals in the second half, they were not strong enough to prevent the Nordic side to claim the highest victory in this tournament so far, winning 36:25.

Photo: Marco Wolf/DHB