Despite taking a clear lead, the Swiss women's national team had to shake off their historic first victory at a European Handball Championship against the Faroe Islands in Basel. Comments on the 28:25.
"I'm not happy with the performance," says national coach Knut Ove Joa. "Inviting them into the game like that is not what we wanted." The 47-year-old Norwegian was annoyed that despite leading 19:9 in the 37th minute, the Swiss still had to fear for their historic victory - they were only 25:24 ahead in the 58th minute. Although they had found solutions, they had missed too many clear chances. But the most important thing was to have won, Joa made clear.
Daphne Gautschi played a big part in the Swiss team securing the two points they had budgeted for. The build-up player, who plays for Plan-du-Cuques in France, scored the last three goals and was the best scorer of the game with eight goals. "At some point, we got scared of our own success," Gautschi said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The sixth-oldest player in the Swiss team at the age of 24 commented on the too many mistakes: "You could see our youthfulness and sometimes our insecurity. Everyone knows we can do better." What did she notice during the timeout after the Faroese team made it 24:25? "On the one hand, a lot of nervousness, but on the other hand, our team spirit. Everyone supports each other 100 percent."
Tabea Schmid, who scored seven times for the Swiss team, was named player of the match. The 21-year-old circle player, who works in Copenhagen, added: "I'm very proud that we just kept going. It would be important to keep a cool head for the next few games."
Their next opponents are Olympic bronze medallists Denmark, who started the tournament with a 34:26 win over Croatia, on Sunday at 18:00. "I'm really looking forward to this game, we have nothing to lose," said Schmid. "We can play very nice and good handball. We have to bring that to the court and inspire the crowd." The closing words belong to Gautschi: "We have a bright future ahead of us, hopefully on Sunday."
SDA
