Five games in less than a week, several objectives met, the possibility of doing some management in relation to the initial options for the first (and last) time. In the prelude to the semifinals of the European Under-20 Handball Championship, and with this objective already achieved, it only remains to find out who the rival would be (which was Sweden, after beating Germany), Carlos Martingo I took the opportunity to rotate some players at the last meeting of main round against Hungary -saving those who have been the great figures of the team, Francisco and Martim Costa. The Magyars ended up stopping the team’s unbeaten streak in Vila Nova de Gaia (33-30) but that did not change the ranking or national confidence.
“Sweden will demand the best from Portugal, but I think we can beat them if we are at the best level. We will do everything possible to achieve this and by Friday we will recover the athletes physically and mentally. I’m sure we’ll be prepared to face an excellent team. In ten days, we have played seven games. Nonetheless, we have managed to manage the playing time of each athlete. I don’t think any of them are too overwhelmed and the game against Hungary also gave some a complete break. I think we’ll be at our best in the semi-final and ready to play 100%”, highlighted the national coach after a loss to Hungary that didn’t change the direction of the team.
With the brothers Francisco and Martim Costa in the spotlight, along with goalkeeper Diogo Rêma, Portugal overcame their rivals until the decisive stage with a range of resources at stake that allowed them to dream of that place in the final. He won games in attack (Poland and Denmark), he won games in defense (Norway), he won games with heart and a lot of resilience (Spain, with the decisive goal in the last seconds). Now followed by Sweden, who after a final of the tournament with wins against Montenegro, France and Croatia lost to Serbia but stamped the classification against Germany, a chronic candidate for the title. And the National Team returned to its best level, winning 25-24 and scoring a place in the final against Spain, who had previously beaten Serbia 32-29.
It should be remembered that, at the European under-20 level, Portugal had only reached the fight for medals, with a final loss to Denmark in 2010 and a fourth place finish in the 2018 edition.
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Source: Observadora
