Sweden’s EC adventure continues on Tuesday evening when they face Hungary. Lukas Sandell raises a finger of warning for Hungary’s game distributor, Gergö Fazekas.
– A skilled midfielder who is good at finding opportunities for himself and his teammates, says Sandell.
Sweden lost Sunday’s match against Iceland by eight balls.
– We were not at all satisfied with our performance. At the same time, we can’t sit and brood over that loss any longer, says the right-handed junior Lukas Sandell at Monday’s press conference in Malmö.
A decisive factor was Sweden’s defensive play, which did not manage to stop the Icelanders at all.
– We didn’t get the aggressiveness at the back that we wanted. We are used to getting a first strike on the attackers that we face, but this time we failed. Gisli Kristjansson is a far too good handball player if he is allowed to play on his terms. It was little one man show when we didn’t get a hit on him.
Lukas Sandell will play from the summer of 2025 in the German Rhein-Neckar Löwen. Before that, he represented Hungarian Veszprem for two years.
Therefore, Eslövssonen Sandell has a good grasp of Tuesday’s opposition:
– Hungary is a team more focused on shooting. It will be a physically tough match for us. I’m pretty sure it won’t look that pretty. Hopefully we can defend better this time and get our counter play going. In that case, we won’t be stuck in a set game for 60 minutes, explains Sandell.
One player in the Hungarian team that Sweden needs to watch out for is the middle nine Gergö Fazekas.
– It will be incredibly important that we meet him. We can’t let him control the game.
However, Hungary lacks its experienced middle six I think Banhidi.
– It’s a super big break for them. Banhidi is one of their most important players. He is amazingly good in the attacking game and is good at catching the ball and scoring goals. It is an advantage for us that he is not with us.
This summer, your parent club Eslövs HF merged with Eslövs IK and formed Eslövs HK. How much do you follow your old parent club?
– I am good friends with the sports manager in Eslövs HK. I think it’s fantastic that the clubs have finally merged. It is super important for handball in Eslöv.
Kick-off in the match between Sweden and Hungary is at 20.30 on Tuesday evening. The match is played in Malmö Arena.
Text: Olof Thyrelius
Photo: Bildbyrån
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