Portugal secured their main round berth at the 2024 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship with the second win in two matchdays, dominating Uzbekistan, 44:25. Subsequently, the other European side in Group G, Montenegro, also made it through to the next phase.

GROUP G
Uzbekistan vs Portugal 25:44 (12:20)

Over their last participations at the world handball flagship competition in the younger age categories, Uzbekistan proved to be a team with a penchant for attack, scoring a lot of goals, while their shortcomings were proven in defence, where towering backs dominated them time and time again.

But for the first 10 minutes against Portugal, the Asian side really delivered one of their best performances in the past years, matching the European team goal-to-goal, with four of their first five goals being scored by right back Sarbinaz Saparbaeva.

Once Portugal figured out Uzbekistan’s gameplan, they shifted their defence and tried to stop Saparbaeva and fellow back Sevinch Erbakaeva, who combined for 11 of Uzbekistan’s first 15 goals, and that worked like a charm, especially as Portugal forced plenty of turnovers from their opponents, which then became easy fast breaks.

Goalkeeper Matilde Rosa, Portugal’s captain, saved 10 shots for a 45% saving efficiency in the first half, while right wing Lola Ribeiro converted five fast breaks, as Portugal used a 7:1 run to create a large gap, 13:7, after 17 minutes.

Sure, there were mistakes in Portugal’s attack, 15 turnovers in the first half, five more than Uzbekistan, but the European side still had a comfortable lead, 20:12, with six converted fast breaks, which really tilted the scales into their way, as centre back Constança Sequeira had six goals and six assists, dominating the court.

As Portugal rotated their starters for rest in the second half, the gap continued to grow, as 11 of their 13 outfield players scored at least one goal, constantly pushing in order to possibly leapfrog Montenegro in the standings, which had a higher goal difference after the first match, handing Portugal the first place in the group in case of a draw between the two European sides.

As Montenegro had a +29 goal difference, Portugal needed to win by 16 goals or more and it was right back Luciana Rebelo, the most experienced player in this Portugal team, who took over, scoring nine times in the second half, including eight times in the last 13 minutes, to open the needed gap, with Portugal cruising to a 44:25 win. Therefore, they now have a +33 goal difference, being currently on the first place in the group standings.

With four points after two matches, Portugal tied Montenegro, as both sides made it to the main round, with their mutual match on Saturday deciding the team which starts the main round as the favourite to qualify to the quarter-finals.

On the other hand, Uzbekistan conceded another double-digits loss, after the one against Montenegro and will feature in the last match against Guinea, where they have the chance to secure the first win at North Macedonia 2024.

Alkaloid Player of the Match: Constança Sequeira (Portugal)