The narrow defeat against Italy last Wednesday. On Thursday they had no chance against Great Britain, who won 6-3. Things got off to a difficult start for Lag Niklas Edin, the reigning Olympic curling champion.
Skipper Edin got off to a particularly poor start. Against Italy he had the chance to give Sweden victory with his last stone. Against Great Britain there were an unusually large number of missed shots by the world’s most deserving curlers, and Sweden could do nothing to harm the British.
– I have to play almost flawlessly, especially against these teams we played against. “Joel (Retornaz) and Bruce (Mouat) miss almost nothing and I usually don’t either, but if I don’t find my game it will be very difficult,” said Edin.
The teams met countless times and know each other well. That’s why it’s often little things that decide who has the last stone in the first round, for example.
Sweden had a unique opportunity to get the hammer on the tee shot that precedes each game in the preliminary round, but Edin sent his stone more than a meter away from the center of the nest and so things went uphill.
Things got even steeper when Edin continued to miss and the British were able to take a 4-1 lead at half-time after the Swedish back four only had a hit rate of just over 50 percent.
The Olympic final in Beijing is considered one of the greatest championship games of all time. Sweden also won the European Championship semi-final against Lag Mouat before Christmas and then won the entire championship.
This time the Scots showed why they are considered the best team in the world.
After two initial Due to the defeats, the champions are under pressure, especially since another favorite, Canada, awaits them in the next round. Edin said the team expects at least one win in the difficult first three games and now they’re just trying to get it right against Canada.
Vice-captain Oskar Eriksson tried to look positive.
– It’s always better to lose early and win at the end of a tournament. It is not the first time that we have negative game statistics at the beginning, said Eriksson, recalling the Olympic tournament in Pyeongchang 2018, where the USA started with four losses and then won the final against Sweden.
“But it is clear that with every defeat we suffer, the chance of getting into the playoffs becomes smaller, so we have to turn the situation around,” said Eriksson.
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