The clash of the European heavyweights takes place in the Uralian Palace of Sport later as Sweden play France in their quarter-final clash of Russia 2015.

Head Coach Ulf Nystrom spoke with IHF.info after his side beat Egypt 31:26 in the Eighth-Finals.

IHF.info: The Swedish men’s senior team drew with Egypt at Qatar 2015, the Swedish men’s junior team lost to Egypt at Brazil 2015, but you have now beaten them at Russia 2015. How does that feel?

Ulf Nystrom: I’m glad for the victory and that we’re now in the quarter-finals. We got better and better as the game went on, especially in the second half.

The first 15-18 minutes I think we were really good and played well in defence. We managed to have a lot of counter attacks on the Egypt players. I saw that they were a little bit tired at the end of the first half and I told our guys to run and play hard and keep it together in the defence and go for counter attacks.

I was actually part of the coaching side with the Sweden men’s senior team in Qatar - it was a great game there with a great crowd - a tough game.

Maybe when this tournament is over I will send the guys from the other team's a text message (jokes).

IHF.info: Do you think Egypt were still tired from their exploits after beating Germany?

Ulf Nystrom: Maybe, but when they play their defence they are working hard on their feet and upper body. It demands a lot of energy to play that way over 60 minutes.

I told our guys to run from the 9-metre on one side of the court to the 9-metre on the other side; we wanted to make Egypt run and make them more and more tired - I think we managed that quite well and it allowed us to rest a couple of players for the match against France, which I wanted to do as it is going to be tough.

IHF.info: Does it help having the 23:23 draw with Poland in your group and a tough win over Hungary rather than winning all your group games easily as the players are more prepared for future tests?

Ulf Nystrom: Absolutely. I think that they can learn all the time in this environment when there are so many talented players around and so many of the best players in the world at this age group.

They learn all the time not only on the court, but all the other things around; preparing themselves to play, this championship, you know, is a very good environment to learn in.

IHF.info: We know coaches always like to praise the team, but tell us about what Felix Claar brings to your team…

Ulf Nystrom: He’s the Ice Man - he’s cool as ice. He doesn’t get very excited; you have to talk a lot to him to get him really excited.

But he’s cool. He like it when the games are tough and when there are the small margins [between winning and losing] he likes these opportunities and he’s a very good player with the ball.

He has great vision and understanding for the play and these are his most talented gifts.

IHF.info: What are your thoughts on the France match?

Ulf Nystrom: We have played them two times and they won two times but it was a long time ago. I think we are more prepared than ever to give them a real fight.

Obviously they are a very strong team with many talented players as always but I think we are ready to go for it and bring the fight to the end.

They have a lot of key players and are a strong team. They are male senior and junior World Champions and they will go for it in this tournament.

I have great respect for them, but I really want to beat them.