Det känns lite som att EM börjar på allvar efter att Blågult lämnat gruppspel och mellanrunda i Bratislava bakom sig för att spela de avgörande medaljmatcherna i Budapest. Inte minst eftersom EM-matcherna nu kommer få den inramning de förtjänar.

I Bratislava fick knappt 2 000 åskådare – en femtedel av kapaciteten – komma in i den ganska ödsliga arenan. I Budapest släpper man in 20 000 på läktarna.

– Det är knappt att man tror på det förrän man ser det, säger Sveriges försvarsjätte och vikarierande lagkapten Max Darj på landslagets pressträff i arenan.

”Häftig upplevelse”

The upcoming audience party will be a little extra special for Blågult because both the World Cup and the Olympics last year were played without an audience, due to the corona restrictions in Egypt and Japan respectively.

- We have been without an audience for so long, it will be a great experience.

But it is important that we continue to be calm and not get too charged, says Darj.

Peter Johannesson, a successful goalkeeper in the feat against Norway, is also looking forward to making saves in front of a large audience.

- You have missed it.

Handball is an audience sport and we have talked about it sometimes - to fuck what it's boring when you can almost hear someone sneezing on the other row of benches.

"Extremely well"

The Swedish goalkeeping and defense game has been important keys on the road to the European Championship semi-finals.

In the four matches in the intermediate round, Sweden only conceded a total of 85 goals, just over 21 goals per match.

- If those numbers are correct, it's incredibly good, says Darj wide-eyed.

At the same time, he states that France, who turned a five-goal deficit into a victory against Denmark to win their group, may be the toughest challenge so far for Sweden in the European Championships.

- France is known for bringing a lot of power.

They want to push us down as much as possible and eventually get a shot from seven to eight meters, if they succeed it will be difficult for our goalkeepers to save.

- We should not change so much but continue to do what we have done well all along.

Then we'll see how far it goes.