Sweden fell in the must-win game against Portugal. With this, the dream of a semi-final in the CE U19 also disappeared.

– Of course it’s sad not to move forward, says national team captain Jesper Östlund National handball team.

There were several possible scenarios that could have taken Sweden to the EC U19 semi-finals. What was clear, however, was that all scenarios required the blues and yellows to score against Portugal.

And it certainly looked promising in the opener. Sweden were in control in the first half and led for a time with three goals. However, Portugal played out during the half and finished strong. This brought the score at halftime to 14-14.

The start of the second half continues in the same style as the first. The teams traded goals with each other and it looked like it could turn into a thriller.

With twenty minutes to go, Sweden lost their rhythm and looked clearly stressed. The team tried to change the game plan, but it wasn’t reflected in the goal production. In the end, Portugal were too strong and won the match 30-23.

Thus, the Swedish semi-final dream is dead and Sweden must concentrate on the classification matches.

– When we go a little further, we feel that Romania and Portugal are on a better level than us. Overall, I think we did well to get to this main round, but we haven’t done enough since, Östlund told National handball team.

Sweden Scorers: Moa Wallin 6, Felicia Granat 4, Stella Huselius 4, Ida Landberg 2, Ellie Hammarström 2, Emma Mihailovic 2, Stina Wiksfors 2, Sara Smedberg 1

The results of the day at CE U19:
main tower
France – Montenegro 33-31
Sweden – Portugal 23-30
Switzerland – Romania 36-41
Hungary – Denmark 41-23
losing round
Croatia – Iceland 26-35
Serbia – North Macedonia 30-19
Netherlands – Germany 25-29
Norway – Czech Republic 23-31