Euro 2024 handball is over for the Portuguese team. Paulo Jorge Pereira’s men missed out on third place in Group II of the “main round“, after drawing, in the last round, with the Netherlands (33-33). Even with this draw, it was still possible to advance to the fifth place game, but, shortly afterwards, Slovenia beat a Denmark in savings and he took third place and the right to be in the fifth place game next Friday.
The national team thus fails to achieve one of its objectives for this European Championship, which was to equal or improve its sixth place in 2020 (it will place 7th or 8th), but can still dream of a place in the pre-tournament. that gives places to the Paris Games next summer – will have to wait for the classification of Group I, which will be closed this Wednesday.
Still, Portugal had a European Championship with many high points. In addition to the expected victories against Greece and the Czech Republic, the “Heroes of the Sea” were brilliant in their triumphs against teams as accredited as Norway or Slovenia, ending up weakening unexpectedly against the Netherlands – a victory instead of A draw would have guaranteed presence in the fifth-place game.
This confrontation with the Dutch was not the best of the games for the team coached by Paulo Jorge Pereira in a European Championship where they already performed at a very high level. Against a team that still did not have any points in this “main round”, Portugal was, above all, very ineffective in attack, wasting a huge performance from young Diogo Rêma in goal – it was he who kept Portugal in the discussion about the result in the first half .
The national team managed to take the lead in the first attacks, but then there always seemed to be some precipitation at the time of the shot. And the Dutch, led from the bench by the legendary Swede Staffan Olsson and with nothing to lose in this European Championship, managed to put themselves in the lead, but also facing difficulties in attack because Rêma was inspired.
Rêma’s 13 saves, with an effectiveness close to 50%, were almost as many as the Portuguese goals in the first half hour. With the Costa brothers far from being successful in other games, it was worth António Areia’s cool-headedness from seven meters and some good shots from Luís Frade in the pivot zone to keep the score at respectable levels at half-time – 15-17 in favor of the Dutch.
The national team didn’t improve much in the second half, but managed to make the most of an opponent’s exclusion to lose by just one. Martim Costa began to hit the Netherlands’ goal more and, in the 51st minute, Portugal finally regained the lead, through a well-aimed shot from Pedro Portela.
In the last minute, Portugal had possession of the ball to keep the difference between two goals, but Frade was unable to beat the equally inspired Dutch goalkeeper Ravensberg. In response, the Netherlands managed to equalize (33-33) and, with his last breath, Kiko Costa even tried to penetrate, being blocked by a free kick. The clock continued to tick, the referees went to see if the foul was worthy of a seven-metre free kick, but they maintained the original decision of nine meters and Salvador’s ball, with time running out, did not go beyond the block.
Rêma, with 15 saves, was named the game’s MVP. Martim Costa and Luís Frade, both with eight goals, were the Portuguese team’s top scorers. Rutger has Velde, with seven goals, led the Dutch, who were unable to escape last place in Group II.
News updated with Slovenia’s victory over Denmark