France and Netherlands edge closer to Women's EHF EURO 2026
Round 3 of the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers concluded with the favourites, France and the Netherlands recording dominant away wins against Croatia and Switzerland to maintain their perfect records. Ukraine, Finland and Bosnia and Herzegovina collected their maiden points in the qualifiers, leaving Lithuania, Kosovo and Italy, respectively, still without points.
I really liked the way we started the game, especially our defensive performance in the first half. I thought we were very focused and disciplined, and we didn’t underestimate Croatia. I also really liked our overall commitment. Everyone had the chance to play and we did some really good things. We had a long difficult spell at the beginning of the second half, which is probably the only downside. But for a team that only had two training sessions this week, I think what we did was pretty good. I’m really happy with the effort and commitment we showed.
There has been a generational transition in both national teams, and both sides are also dealing with injuries. At times we played well, but at other moments it wasn’t as good, so we still need to find the right balance in our game if we want to achieve the results we’re aiming for. It was more difficult at the beginning because they punished every mistake we made. In the second half we were stronger and showed improvement. I would also like to thank the fans for their support. The atmosphere in Bjelovar was really great and it means a lot to us to have that kind of support from the stands. We just need to stay persistent and keep working.
First and foremost it was important for us to show ourselves that we are capable of winning these kind of important games. I feel we could have decided the gam at an earlier stage, but Kosovo had a good goalkeeper and our throwing was maybe not best possible. Good defending from our side and that was a big help.
I was quite satisfied with the first half. We played well and had good momentum for long stretches. At the same time, the opponent punished our technical mistakes immediately, and they are very good at that. We also have many new players in the team, so I’m happy to see how they are integrating and contributing already.
The game had a lot of ups and downs. I think we changed a few things in defence and attack, and towards the end of the first half we gained more control. In the second half we played quite solidly, so in the end it was a good win and we can be happy with the performance.
For the next game, we need to start better and be sharper from the beginning. We created a lot of open chances but didn’t score all of them, so we need to be more efficient in front of goal. At the same time, we can take the positive things with us — we showed that we can adjust during the game and improve as it goes on.
Mariia Gladun helped us a lot in the second half. She saved some important shots. This gave the team confidence. I am grateful to the team — the players managed to find the strength within themselves, showed character and came back from a four-goal deficit to take the lead and win the match. Today, the team showed their fighting spirit.
