Norway cruises to the Euro Cup semi-final
Round 4 of the Women’s EHF EURO Cup started with two clear home wins and the first major (and expected) decision: Norway are the first team to qualify for the final tournament in September after their second win against Poland in the current double-header. Meanwhile, Czechia took the points against Türkiye and can still hope to progress in their final matches against Denmark and Hungary in April.
I’m very pleased with the defensive side of our game. Our goalkeeping was good and we defended well — focused and solid throughout. With the ball, it was a bit more inconsistent, and our fast-break play is still too slow. We were some way off there. The same goes for our attacking play. The line players didn’t get much reward — they should have received more balls. They haven’t been involved for a while, and it was a bit difficult to find them. So we still have some shortcomings in our play with the ball.
It was a difficult game for us. We struggled especially in attack, and then they scored some easy goals. In defence we fought hard, but in some situations that wasn’t enough. Of course, Norway are a really good team, and they showed that we are still a step behind them.
I started with the same instructions as always: close the space and make the saves. At first, the defence was very porous, but then the players helped me more and I managed to make some good saves, just like Sabrina Novotná. I was nervous at the beginning. The defence then came together, the girls followed the coaches’ instructions and valued the ball more, and after that things started to work well.
I’m really looking forward to the championship — not everyone gets the chance to play it on home court. We have to take better care of the ball, avoid rushing, and play the full sixty minutes so that our defence works well throughout the entire game.
We are trying to improve day by day as we prepare for the European Championship in Antalya. We are growing and improving step by step. I hope we will continue to get better. We lost today, but we will work even harder.
