The championship Handball World Cup Male comes to a critical stage for Brazil and Portugal. In the second round of the main phase, the Brazilian team was defeated, while the Portuguese conquered an important result.

Brazil lost to Hungary by 28 x 25 and has three points, needing a series of combinations of results to have a chance to go to the quarterfinals. The national team faces Iceland on Sunday (22).

Portugal, in turn, confirmed its favoritism against Cape Verde by 35 x 23, and is in second place in Group 2. The two best teams qualify, and Portugal has an advantage of 24 in goal difference against Brazil.

Brazil had gone through preliminary phase in second place in its group, while Portugal qualified in first place. The teams carry the results of the preliminary phase in the second (only from the matches against the qualified teams).

The World Cup will give the first wave of the handball at the olympics Paris 2024champion or runner-up in case Olympic host France takes the title.

With the best placement in 2019, a ninth place, Brazil competes in the event for the 16th time, appearing uninterruptedly since 1995. In the last edition, in 2021, it finished 18th. The Portuguese are playing in the World Cup for the fifth time, with the best result being 10th in 2021.

Brazil 25 x 28 Hungary: missed chance in the last minutes

Hungary led the first half by a small margin, but almost lost control of the match. Brazil tied before the break and saw Sipos, highlight of the opposing team, take a red card.

In the second half, Brazil reached 24 x 25. The Brazilian team had the chance to draw with a head-to-head duel between Raul Nantes and Mikler, but the Hungarian goalkeeper won. With one more goal, the Europeans put an end to the hopes of the Brazilians.

Portugal 35 x 23 Cape Verde: second half settles game

After a slower first half against Cape Verde, Portugal improved in the second half with the entry of Manuel Gaspar, who closed the goal. In the last 20 minutes, the Portuguese scored triple the goals of the Africans, opening the large advantage.

In the last round, Portugal tries to qualify when facing co-host Sweden on Monday (22).

“It was a great honor to play again against another Portuguese-speaking team, after Brazil, and to have our Prime Minister [António Costa] no game. At the beginning, it was a difficult game against Cape Verde, they started playing seriously and we lost a lot of balls. In the second half, we took it step by step and took the lead. We were calmer”, said coach Paulo Pereira.