For the first time since 2016, Denmark have made it into the semi-finals at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, with a dominating performance against Portugal, 49:22, the largest win between the four quarter-finals played on Thursday evening in Skopje.

Moreover, Denmark scored the largest number of goals in history in the quarter-finals of the world handball flagship competition for this age category, beating the previous record by six goals.

QUARTER-FINALS
Portugal vs Denmark 22:49 (10:21)

Portugal were eyeing their maiden semi-finals berth at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, but their hopes were quashed from the start of the match by a flawless Denmark team, which steamrolled their way into this quarter-finals, delivering a performance which left Portugal wondering what it could have been.

By the time Portugal scored their first goal, after three minutes and 11 seconds, Denmark were already up by four goals, opening a huge gap. Another 5:0 Denmark run later, fueled by three goals each from left back Laura Maria Thestrup and left wing Matilde Vestergaard, the Scandinavian side had 9:1 lead, which, of course, was impossible to turn around.

Even without their top player of this generation, Julie Scaglione, who was not called up for this edition of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, Denmark continued to deliver an excellent performance and opened an even bigger lead at the break, 11 goals, 21:10, as Portugal were really struggling in attack and in defence.

In fact, six of Portugal’s 10 goals in the first half came through centre back Constança Sequeira, who is the team’s top scorer at North Macedonia 2024, highlighting the issues in Portugal’s attack, which hit only 41% of the attempted shots in the first half, as opposed to Denmark’s otherworldly 77%.

Denmark’s goalkeeper Stine Skovbo Almind continued to save shots in the second half, but it was really the Scandinavian side’s defence which truly impressed, forcing 17 turnovers from Portugal until the 36th minute, leaving their opponents no chance to truly fulfil their dream of sealing their maiden semi-finals berth.

Portugal took their third and final team time-out in the 38th minute, when they were already down 16 goals, 14:30, but they could not change much. Sequeira scored 11 goals, to take her overall tally in the competition to 43 goals, the third largest number of goals scored, but that did not change much in terms of the final result.

The Scandinavian side continued to score at free will, breaking the record for the largest number of goals scored in a quarter-final at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, previously held by Russia, which put 43 past the Netherlands in 2014, in a totally dominating 49:22 win, as Denmark just missed out on the 50-goal mark by a single goal. 

Denmark will now face France in the semi-finals, their seventh berth for the penultimate act in the Scandinavian side’s history, having progressed to the final in four out of the six previous times.

Portugal head to the Placement Matches 5-8, where they still have a chance to secure their best finish ever at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, which is currently the sixth place.

Alkaloid Player of the Match: Matilde Vestergaard (Denmark)