The last three years have been a dazzling renaissance of Portuguese handball. From a long state of lethargy, it has become a tremendous vitality. In 2020, there was talk of Portugal returning to the final stages of major competitions (Euro 2020) after a 14-year absence. In 2022, the barriers that Portuguese handball can overcome again at this Euro organized by Hungary and Slovakia are being discussed. This Thursday, the team led by Paulo Jorge Pereira starts in Budapest against Iceland (19:30, RTP2) in an attempt to equal or improve on the sixth place achieved in 2020.
In three years, Portugal have reached the finals of two European Championships, a World Championship and achieved an unparalleled presence in the Olympic handball tournament at the Tokyo Games last summer, the qualification of which is more difficult than in any European or World Championship. In the last European Championship he had the best participation and during this time he won some of the world’s best teams in handball – France (three times), Sweden, Germany, Spain or Iceland. It just means that Portugal is already in the top team and that all the participants in this European Championship know what the Heroes of the Sea are capable of.
What has changed for this big leap forward in Portuguese handball? Quality has never been a disadvantage, says former international Ricardo Andorinho PÚBLICO. It was a matter of leadership. “There are two fundamental aspects. With the arrival of Paulo Pereira, there has been a clear change in strategy and leadership. There were some intangible factors with him, such as motivation and commitment, to create a team culture more in line with potential and less with things that had to do with the past,” says one of the most international players ever to compete. , Portuguese.
This return to major competition came in January 2020 at the European Championships, in which Portugal finished sixth, earning a spot in the Olympic qualifiers. But in 2022, the world is different, still fighting the pandemic that drives everything. This greatly conditioned the preparation of the Portuguese for the tournament – participation in the tournament in Switzerland was planned, which was canceled – and a lot of injuries of experienced elements (André Gomes, Luis Frade and Pedro Portela) forced the coach to make some changes to the usual batch. from the chosen ones. .
“[A preparação] it was very difficult, but I also think that we have a certain tendency to survive in chaos. Therefore, we are specialists in this, and I hope that we will again be able to survive the critical situation that we had,” analyzed Paulo Pereira, who called in the selection for this European Championships some young people with a smaller presence, such as athletes Martim Costa and Salvador Salvador, Daniel Vieira (Avanka) or Porto player Miguel Alves. He also forfeited experienced Humberto Gomes for a goal, making the final bet on Gaspard and Capdeville.
difficult group
The first goal of the Portuguese team in this European Championship is to overcome the preliminary stage, and it cannot be said that this is a fairly accessible group, although it consists of teams that Portugal have already won in the recent past. Iceland is the first opponent, already this Thursday, a team with a world handball training program (Olympic second place in 2008 and European bronze medalist in 2010), but which Portugal has already managed to win in two of the last four clashes.
After the Nordic countries, Portugal will face another difficult team on Sunday, Hungary. Lacking a full curriculum (world runner-up in 1986), she is more than used to finals (this is her tenth European Championship in a row) and plays at home, in addition to having Chema Rodriguez on the bench, an assistant. Hungarians with first-hand knowledge of Portuguese handball for coaching Benfica – the team, however, was defeated by Portugal at Euro 2020. To conclude on Tuesday, Portugal will play the Netherlands, who will be the most accessible opponents of this preliminary round.
“I hope that the selection can overcome all these problems with covid. It wasn’t easy for anyone. I think that all the Portuguese are confident that this team will be able to repeat the good results of the last few years,” says Ricardo Andorinho, who “needs respect for all opponents.” “But we have to trust the work of this team. In recent years, very important work has been done here, which must be appreciated in Portuguese handball, and we all believe that the dream should continue to be realized.”