Portugal advances to Bosnia and Herzegovina in qualifying for the Handball World Cup

After making it 2–1 through Pedro Portela, in the sixth minute, in a start to the game with few goals, the ‘quinas’ team led the score until the last second, given their superiority in defense and their readiness to nullify the Balkan attempts. of reaction, before cementing the advantage in the final 15 minutes, a phase in which captain Rui Silva stood out with four goals.

In the second leg duel, scheduled for Sunday, in the Bosnian city of Tuzla, the team led by coach Paulo Jorge Pereira leaves with a comfortable lead of 10 goals, thus being close to guaranteeing the third consecutive qualification for a World Cup and the sixth of the your story.

In front of more than a thousand spectators at the Pavilhão Desportivo Unit Vimaranense, in Guimarães, the Portuguese team gave up little space to the Balkan attacks, ‘blocked’ the paths to the goal to be defended in a 6×0 system and took advantage of several counterattacks to cement the advantage throughout of the first 30 minutes.

More effective from the right wing than from the left, Portugal began to distance themselves on the ‘marker’ with goals from winger Pedro Portela and full-back Salvador Salvador, and improved in the interior game with the arrivals of center Victor Iturriza and central Rui Silva, before António Areia, also right winger, equaled Pedro Portela as the Portuguese top scorer in the first half, with three goals.

After recurring obstacles to shooting at the Portuguese goal, Bosnia-Herzegovina benefited from combinations from the right between Milan Vuksic, the match’s top scorer, with seven goals, Pavle Pavlovic and Senjamin Buric and converted three free-kicks from seven meters to contain the Portuguese advantage, of four goals at half-time.

The pace of the match dropped at the start of the second half, with three goals for each side and several failed attacks in the middle, before the Portuguese team, at times oscillating in its offensive performance, grew towards its best phase in the last quarter of an hour, with the understanding between the interior elements, namely Rui Silva and Joaquim Nazaré, resulting in countless spaces between the opposing defense that dictated a more robust advantage, before Pedro Portela closed the score with two free kicks from seven meters.

Game at the Unidad Vimaranense Sports Pavilion, in Guimarães.

Portugal – Bosnia and Herzegovina, 29-19.

At halftime: 14-10.

Under arbitration by Marion Kull and Alvar Tint, from Estonia, the teams lined up and scored:

– Portugal (29): Gustavo Capdeville (gr), Pedro Portela (5), Joaquim Nazaré (2) Salvador Salvador (4), Alexandre Cavalcanti (1), Luís Frade (3) and Diogo Branquinho. They also played: Miguel Martins (1), Victor Iturriza (2), António Areia (3), Leonel Fernandes, Manuel Gaspar (gr), Rui Silva (5), Fábio Magalhães (1), Gonçalo Vieira and João Gomes (2) .

Coach: Paulo Jorge Pereira.

– Bosnia‐Herzegovina (19): Benjamin Buric (gr), Ibrahim Haseljic (1), Luka Knezevic, Marko Panic, Mislav Grgic (1), Marko Majstorovic (1) and Senjamin Buric (1). Also playing: Milan Vuksic (7), Mirco Herceg (4), Dejan Malinovic, Pavle Petrovic (3), Adin Faljic, Harun Hodzic (gr), Adi Mehmedcehajic, Nemanja Pestic (1).

Coach: Damir Doborac.

March on the scoreboard: 1-1 (05 minutes), 4-2 (10), 7-4 (15), 10-6 (20), 12-9 (25), 14-10 (halftime), 16-12 (35), 17-13 (40), 20-15 (45), 24-16 (50), 27-18 (55) and 29-19 (final result).

Attendance: around 1,500 spectators.