“We will make it more difficult for them” – Sports – svenska.yle.fi

Finland won the first match against Great Britain in the first stage of the qualifiers for the 2025 World Handball Cup. The difference was class and Finland eventually won by nine goals.

It wasn’t a pretty game from either team. Great Britain stood up surprisingly well against the Finnish men in the first half. Finland didn’t make things any easier for themselves when the team was hit with three two-minute suspensions in the first half.

Up front, for Finland, it was a lot about creativity from Benjamin Helander, Max Granlund’s shooting and Frederik von Troy’s counter-attacking efforts. And they said hello. The aforementioned contributed to ten of Finland’s eleven goals in the first half.

In the Great Britain national team, it was Francisco Pereira who caused the most havoc in the Finnish defence. Pereira scored three goals for Great Britain in the first half.

– Great Britain came out with great energy and played strongly in defence. At times when we create chances, we are rewarded very poorly, Finland captain Ola Lindgren tells Yle Sporten.

– It is not usual for us to enter the match as favourites. We had a little bit of a hard time dealing with it, so it became a little stressful in the offensive game.

After 30 minutes of play, the score was 11-8 to the Finnish men.

The goalkeepers kept the numbers low

The counterattacks went well, until it was time to finish. There, the ball often went to British goalkeepers McClelland and Ferrer or into the post.

Although Great Britain’s goalkeepers played well, Finland managed to pull away significantly in the second half. Many thanks to goalkeeper Mikael Makela who played great. He blocked 16 shots and had a save percentage of 52 percent.

– Makela played incredibly well and we have security in him and in defense that we can build on in the next match, says Lindgren.

In the end, there was no talking about it and Finland, who were favorites before the match, kept up the pressure. The men’s national team eventually won by 9 balls and the match ended 25-16.

In addition to Mikael Makela in goal, Helander was the leading player on the field. He was the top scorer of the match with his nine balls and was able to create many on his own.

The coach wants to see tougher matches in Karis

After Thursday’s win, Ola Lindgren insists the team needs to make it tougher for Great Britain when the two teams meet again on Saturday in Carres.

-We became a bit stagnant and lost momentum in the offensive game. “We need a little more aggressive attacks, and before the next game, we shouldn’t make things easy for them,” Lindgren urges.

Robin Granlund, who usually plays in the GuIF in Sweden, was injured at the start of the match and the team management are waiting to find out if he will be available on Saturday.

– We will see if we need to bring a new player to the match since we have 16 players anyway. We will wait and see how his foot is.

Finland plays the second game of a doubleheader against Great Britain on Saturday, November 4 in Karris.