Maritimo secures place in the final of the Portugal Men’s Handball Cup

This Saturday, Maritimo secured a place in the men’s handball Portuguese Cup final by beating Povua 28-21 in a match dominated from start to finish by Madeira’s host team.

The first game of the Final Four, played at Pavillão do Maritimo in Funchal, got off to a promising start as the hosts opened the scoring thanks to João Miranda and Cleriston Novais equalized shortly after with a seven-meter strike. free kick.

That was the melody of the game in the first five minutes, when Maritimo held the lead, never to miss it.

Povua went 14 minutes without goals, thanks also to the island’s defender Diogo Valerio, who had a “thousand and one” save, joining Delcio Pina’s “goal streak” (six in the first half), which allowed the Madeirans to leave. at the break with a comfortable score of 13-6.

In the second half, the Red-Greens showed no signs of slowing down against an opponent who already had some physical wear and tear, maintaining a minimum distance of 11 goals for Povoa de Varzim until the 50th minute.

In the final 10 minutes, the Poveiros showed signs of still wanting to play the game, cutting the lead down to six, but were ultimately unable to face the Madeirans, who ended up winning 28–21.

Defender Radule Radulovic took over the island’s goal in the second half, showing performance at the same level as his counterpart in position: Delcio Pina finished the match as top scorer with nine goals, while Povua’s Per Jonsson scored eight. .

The Madeira team reached a spot in the Portuguese Cup final after knocking out Artistica de Avanca Bioria (27-26) as well as Vitória de Setúbal (25-26) and Boavista (41-23) from the top division. Division II.

The second game of the semi-finals of the competition will take place at 17:00 at Pavilhão do Marítimo, between Sporting CP and Porto.