In the European Championship play-offs in Bratislava, the group stage, they will face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Thursday and then Spain and the Czech Republic.
- We have finally trained handball and we will go to Bratislava with two handball sessions and a training match in the legs, not what we thought or expected but we will make the best of the situation and we are happy to finally get going, says the 29 -year-old midfielder who is a professional in German Flensburg-Handewitt on a daily basis.
The rematch before the championship, the second match against the Netherlands on Sunday, was canceled due to infection in both teams.
The national team management is now looking at the gross squad of 17 players, in addition to the 18 who have been selected for the European Championships, to ensure that some of them are now coronated to be included in the European Championship squad if possible.
Looking at the 35-man list
- We have talked about the 35-man list and which we want to have tested.
It is in all positions because we know that it goes fast (with the spread of infection), said national team captain Glen Solberg at a press conference on Saturday.
How does it feel to play a championship when the infection seems to increase rather than decrease?
- You just try to turn that off, me as a human being too.
You just want to play handball.
There are other wise people who will make those decisions.
We athletes just try to do what we love and play handball, says Gottfridsson.
Sweden was second in the World Cup a year ago and went to the quarterfinals of the Olympics in Tokyo this summer.
So what does it look like before the European Championship finals?
- We have something going on and want to build on that achievement, at the same time it is often said that a European Championship is more difficult than a World Cup, but we are humble before the task and take one match at a time, says Gottfridsson.