Sweden is ready for the round of 16 in the European Volleyball Championship for the first time on the women's side and is tipped for defeat against the higher ranked Bulgaria.
- If you are to be realistic, I do not think they will beat Bulgaria.
They (Bulgarians) have an advantage of playing at home, today there were a lot of people in the hall and good pressure, then they have also played in that hall for a week now.
Plus that Sweden does not have experience of playoffs at this level, says Andréa Jacobsson.
- I do not think you should hope for too much.
The expert is of the opinion that it can be a tuition fee for Sweden rather than advancing in the tournament.
- If Sweden can play as disrespectfully as they did against both Turkeit and the Netherlands, I think it will be very instructive for them, but to believe in victory… no, we should probably be realistic and say that Bulgaria should sort it out.
How big a bang would it be if Sweden won?
- It would be huge.
It would be this year's sports effort.
Firstly, it is huge that they are in the European Championships, secondly that they make it to the playoffs.
Should they also win a play-off match, they are in the top eight in Europe.
They are ranked 34th in the European rankings.
Had they moved on here, it would have been enormous.
That Sweden does not have to face Poland - which fell in the group final against Bulgaria - Andréa Jacobsson sees as something positive.
- There are never any easy opponents when you go to the playoffs, but if you look at the world ranking and European ranking and so on, Poland is ranked higher than Bulgaria. Poland also has a different history in championships. I think in some way that it is positive for Sweden that it is Bulgaria, if you dare to say so.