Portugal will play one-on-one with the Swedish champion

Portugal will play on Sunday against European champion Sweden in the regular handball stage of Euro 2024 in Hamburg and, if won, will guarantee progress to the semi-finals and the best classification ever.

The Portuguese team, which lost only to three-time world champion Denmark (37-27), won two games in the “main round” – against Norway (37-32) and Slovenia (33-30), and on the other hand, reached the third round of Group I is on the same level as Sweden.

If they beat the Scandinavians – a result that is also key for the pre-Olympic tournament – Portugal will have six points with one round left to play, surpassed only by Denmark, leaving them ahead of European champions Norway and Slovenia. .

Winger Leonel Fernandes admitted in an interview with Lusa that Sweden “are one of the best teams in the world” and “the clear favorites” even given “their history in these competitions”, but Portugal could surprise.

“I feel like we’re at a very interesting stage, as a team, as a selection, and we have the goal of going into the game head-to-head and winning,” said Leonel Fernandez, 25, one of Paulo’s coaches. Jorge Pereira is undeniable.

Leonel Fernandez emphasized that “defensive cohesion” is key to the national team’s success, which ended up being a “positive surprise” given the absence of some players in those specific roles due to injury, such as Vitor Iturriza and Daimaro Salina.

“We had to come up with a new plan, which worked great and worked great. Collective interests are realized. One of our best weapons is defense,” says the experienced Porto winger.

His teammate and club colleague, also experienced winger Antonio Areya, 33, believed that everyone knew well what Sweden was worth, “taking into account what kind of team they are and what their results are, both at the European Championships and at the world championships.” .

“This is not the first time we have met Sweden. We have had both positive and less positive results, so it is not a surprise for us. We know how they play,” said Antonio Areia.

The winger, lethal from free kicks from seven yards, said the most important thing about knowing the quality of Sunday’s opponents was that Portugal knew their level and what they could do to beat Sweden.

“This will not be the first time, and it is for this purpose that we will go out tomorrow. [domingo]”, said António Areia, admitting that “a cohesive defense, very mobile and very united in all sectors, has been the key to the team’s success.”

The winger said the team had “players in great form defensively” and that process was one of their main weapons, and emphasized the spirit of mutual assistance between everyone “and then combining everything with an effective attack.”

“We have very fluid handball. The game is going well for us. Basically it is about a combination of good defensive performances, good efficiency and good pace of play to be able to win,” said Antonio Areia, cautious about the midfielder’s dream of a final . .

The Portugal international admits that everyone can dream whatever they want, but questions whether this is the right path.

“Our next dream is to beat Sweden. This is what we are focused on. We know what this victory can bring us, but the main goal is to follow the game plan to get a positive result. think about the sequence of this victory, but for now we are only talking about the game,” he said.

Since former Norway international Glenn Solberg, 51, took over as Sweden coach in 2020, the Nordics’ consistency has been remarkable and the results reflect their quality.

In 2021, he won a World Championship silver medal after losing the final to Denmark (26–24) and a fifth place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to Covid-19), which also included a debut appearance in Portugal.

In 2022 they broke a 20-year drought to become European champions, dethroning two-time champions Spain with a 27-26 final triumph, and finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships, losing the bronze medal to Spain. (39-36).

These results made us forget about the disappointing performance at Euro 2020, where Sweden as host finished in seventh place and, among other results, lost by 10 goals to Portugal (sixth place).

At the European Championships, no team has won the title more times than Sweden (1994, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2022). France has lifted the trophy three times (2006, 2010 and 2014), to which it also adds silver in the European Championships. 2018.

Only Spain (nine medals) and Denmark (seven) have reached the podium more times than Scandinavia (six).

So far at Euro 2024, Sweden have won four games and lost one, with three-time champions Denmark (28-27) as well as Portugal, who with four wins have already equaled their best 2020 record, capped by a historic sixth place finish.

Thanks to its acquired status and the fact that it appears in this edition in Germany as the winner of the trophy, Sweden is naturally one of the big favorites.

“This Sweden is an ‘old friend’ of our team. In recent years we have had good matches against the reigning European champions and they feel that our team has a strong weapon to beat them,” he said in a message from the Handball Federation. Channels of Portugal (FAP), Paulo Jorge Pereira.

The national coach believes that “Sweden has one of the best central defenders in the world.” [Jim Gottfridsson]being the core of the team, has an excellent defense of 6/0, not very dynamic, but with a high positional sense and great competence in one-on-one fights.”

“The technical quality and significant efficiency of their wingers is also a dangerous characteristic that we will have to respond well to in our defense,” admitted Paulo Jorge Pereira.

Portugal, which is present at the final stage of the European Championship for the eighth time and third in a row, reached the “main round” for the third time (2002, 2020 and 2024), with the best result being sixth place. achieved four years ago.

The 24-team editions (2020, 2022 and 2024) feature Portugal for the second time in the “main round” (2020 and 2024), as well as another time in 2002, when 16 teams competed. , finishing ninth.

Portugal, which will host the competition in 2028, joins Spain and Switzerland after hosting the first competition in 1994, with the best result of sixth place achieved in 2020. In 2022, she ranked 19th.