Handball World Cup in Egypt a year ago.
Then Sweden won clearly with 34-20 against the Russian team and advanced to the quarterfinals.
It will not be that simple today.
At least if you can believe the Swedish camp.
- It is a physical team, they are very big.
They play by a different philosophy than we do.
They shoot a lot from nine meters while we try to get to six-meter positions, so it will be an interesting match because we are completely different.
They have played really well and have developed since Egypt a year ago, says Hampus Wanne.
Unlike Sweden, Russia went straight into the group stage.
They won against Slovakia and Lithuania and also took a dramatic challenge victory against Norway.
- They have developed.
In Egypt we had a fantastic meeting with them and read them completely.
Now hard a little more finesse now but they are still very brutal and go a lot at nine meters, says Wanne.
Assistant national team captain Martin Boquist shares Wanne's view of the opposition.
- It is a Russia that in the World Cup last year showed that they are on track.
They make each other better, have good defensive play and the goalkeeper has the second best save percentage, he says.
Have they surprised you?
– Både ja och nej. De har gjort tre solida matcher i rad och nu ska de göra en fjärde. I VM tog de tvärslut mot oss, jag tror det var deras femte eller sjätte match. Men det blir tuffare i morgon än på VM. Då orkade de inte – det kommer de att göra nu, säger Boquist.
Sverige går in i mellanrundan med noll poäng och har fyra matcher som väntar. Tre lag står på två poäng: Ryssland, Tyskland och Spanien.