After the loss to Denmark and the draw with the Faroe Islands, the Croatian women’s senior handball team has a deciding match against the host Switzerland. This is the unfolding of the story that was realistically expected in Group D, considering the prominent role played by Denmark as the favorite. The winner of the Switzerland-Croatia match takes everything and moves on to Vienna, that is, the second round. The defeated one ends the championship.
Our women’s handball players have so far played an excellent first half against Denmark and defensively a correct match against the debutants of the Faroe Islands. But offensively, she still had a lot to do. Switzerland, on the other hand, dominated for 40 minutes against the island national team and almost gambled away everything, and against Denmark, despite their excellent fighting spirit, they couldn’t do it, as did Croatia.
When we played Switzerland ten years ago, it was a one-way street, and the Croatian handball players won easily. But in the meantime, Switzerland has made great progress, invested a lot in children and clubs, and studied and worked with a whole range of academies. Today, her players are in some of the best European clubs, and they have been led by Scandinavian experts for several years. All of that is certainly felt in their game.
So let’s see who the strikers of that national team are. First, it is the great all-around attacker Tabea Schmid (21 years old, 177 cm, Copenhagen, Denmark). In 36 appearances for the national team, she scored 164 goals, which is a high average of 4.5 per game, especially when it comes to playing on the line. He builds incredibly well, cooperates excellently with the outside line, and when he receives the ball, it’s either a goal or a seven. Failures rarely stay at her place. She scored seven goals from nine attempts with the Faroe Islands, three of which were into the empty net after a quick cross, and 8 of 11 with the Danes.
No less critical player for the Swiss is Daphne Gautschi (24, HBPC Plan du Cuques, France). At just 16 years old, she was bought by the outstanding Metz. There, she was educated until she was 20 years old. After that, she had two loan spells in Germany before signing for the French club in 2023, where our Dora Krsnik used to play. She is the one who takes responsibility for the most critical moments. She is unbelievably brave. She goes head-to-head. He is a big consumer of balls but also scores a lot. In the first match, she had an effect of 8 out of 13. In the second against a more solid defense, 4 out of 9.
The third significant name is young Mia Sofia Emmeneger (19 years old, Viper Kristiansand, Norway). She is a teammate of our Ana Debelić, who is unfortunately not on the team because she is injured. We met her in Ljubljana two years ago when we played to a 26:26 draw, and she scored seven goals for us at 17. She has a great hand and shoots almost from the blind spot, a rarity for handball players. A player for whom the European giants will soon be vying, given that the Vipers are having financial difficulties. Against the Faroe Islands, she was not in her element because she had a 3/7 or 43 percent performance. With Denmark, 5 out of 7 was much better.
And when we add to all that the excellent goalkeeper Lea Schupbach, another one who plays outside in the Bundesliga (27 years old, TuS Metzingen), it is clear that you have a serious team in front of you.
Switzerland was taken over by the Norwegian Knut Ove Joa after the Dane Martin Albertsen. For years, he led younger Norwegian national teams and clubs. His potential in the education and development of young female players, growing in Switzerland “like mushrooms after the rain”, was recognized by the Swiss federation and gave him confidence. In addition to his electoral duties, he was also hired as a coach in the most critical handball academy in that country, Concordia. And should I list further? Or simply put, the system is everything.
Croatia used the day between the two matches for another detailed analysis of their opponents, mutual discussion, and analysis of past performances and what awaits them. She also had two training sessions and hopefully found a winning formula for the second round.
By the way, Croatia and Switzerland played against each other five times. Our national team has four victories: it was a qualification for the World Cup, another time a qualification for the EP, and we have the already mentioned draw from Slovenia from two years ago. Let’s hope that streak without defeat continues in Basel.
EHF EURO 2024: GROUP D, ROUND 3:
6:00 pm: DENMARK – FAROE ISLANDS
8:30 pm: SWITZERLAND – CROATIA
