Handball: Sweden teaches Swiss Nati a lesson

Nobody imagined returning to the big handball stage in the Swiss camp. The Nati is picked up in the Scandinavium of Gothenburg in front of 12,000 almost exclusively in fans dressed in yellow and blue according to all the rules of art.

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The beginning is still promising: after a ball win, Andy Schmid scores the first Swiss European Championship goal after a 14-year break. From then on, however, the Vice European Champion took over.

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After just eight minutes, Nati coach Michael Suter takes his first timeout and replaces an additional field player in the attack for the goalkeeper. It is the tactical measure that has often brought Switzerland success against large nations, but it is a serious issue against the Swedes. From 6: 3 after eight minutes, the co-hosts set to 11: 5 after a quarter of an hour. The strong Swedish goalie Andreas Palicka (defense rate 44 percent) hits the orphaned Swiss goal twice. The lightning-fast wings of the “Tre Kronor” encounter little Swiss resistance on their counterattacks.

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After all, the still young and inexperienced Nati doesn’t completely break apart despite the catastrophe start. Top scorer among the Swiss, where all players can sniff EM air, is Andy Schmid with four goals. But the five-time Bundesliga MVP has already shown much better caps than at this 21:34.

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This result is not a broken leg. But the Swiss have to prove against Poland on Sunday and against Slovenia on Tuesday that they have learned the right lessons from this handball lesson.

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