Portugal qualifies for the 2023 Handball World Cup
The Portuguese handball team qualified this Sunday for the 2023 World Cup, by beating the Netherlands, Eindhoven, by 35-28, in the second leg of the qualifying play-off.
Three days after the defeat by 33-30, in the first leg, Portugal retreated from the goals of defeat by three, after reaching the break at 17-15 defeated.
The Portuguese team thus acquired fifth in a World Cup, after having participated in the 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2021 editions.
The 2023 World Cup will be played in Sweden and Poland between the 11th and 29th of January next year.
Entering with a deficit of three goals (30-33) at the Indoor Sportcentrum, in Eindhoven, the ‘quinas’ team, 14th in the world ‘ranking’, dominated full time and only allowed two draws against the Dutch team, 17 .ª, who was already beating at halftime (17-15).
Martim Costa, with 10 goals, was then the ‘heroes of the sea’ scorer, supported by six assists, while Kay Smits, with eight attempts, led the Netherlands, who also tried to reach the final stage 6 years ago.
With Pedro Portela, Miguel Martins, Alexis Borges and Diogo Branquinho back in the starting ‘seven’, Paulo Jorge Pereira’s students squandered an advantage until (2-2), but soon they will start with greater flexibility without the ball and variability in the attacks.
Between the entries in meters and ‘shots’ from afar, Portugal benefited from the unpredictable brothers Francisco and Martim Costa, each one joining three irlos in the opening stage, to gradually grow in the score and equalize the tie after 16 minutes (10- 7).
Immediately afterwards, the Icelandic Erlingur Richardsson asked for a break, unable to wake up in the Netherlands, resentful of the ‘blackout’ of the ‘star’ Luc Steins, who, after shining in the first game with 17 assists, was left by four goals and four definitive passes.
Paraville total that of nine of nine defenses, which I circumvent with three attempts, first shots and reached five, until defenses to goalkeeper Gustav, local.
Only alternative), Portugal continued to adapt to the defensive system, adopted by the Netherlands in the final 10 minutes of the first half and did not last in the attack (17-15) .
Without ever allowing any advantage to the Dutch, Paulo Jorge Pereira’s team rescued coolness in transitions and took advantage of the exclusions of Samir Benghanem and Jasper Adams to come back with three goals to the highest (24-21), in the 42nd minute.
In the best version of the ‘heroes of the sea’, guided by Miguel Martins, Martim Costa and Alexis Borges, rookie Miguel Espinha stood out, closing the goal seven times in 15 attacks by the Netherlands, whose pretensions cooled down with the progress of the clock.
The set of Er Richardsson ended up seeing seven goals from archived during 8 years with the biggest cleavage 60 months (35-2 months) to ecta minutes (35-2 months) (35-2 months after the destruction of Euro2022, by the way decreed by neer (31-2333) ), celebrate their fifth consecutive presence in the biggest international handball competitions.