Last ten minutes lift Portugal past Korea

14 Jan. 2023

Last ten minutes lift Portugal past Korea

Portugal celebrated their first win at the 28th IHF Men's World Championship after a strong performance near the end of the match. Korea are now the only team in Group D without points.

Group D

Portugal vs Republic of Korea 32:24 (15:12)

Just as expected, Portugal were the first to gain the two-goal lead as Leonel Fernandes assisted Alexis Borges for 3:1. Goalkeepers Donguk Kim and Miguel Ferreira stopped some nice shots, but their teammates were not inspired to play a good role in the attack with technical faults.

However, as soon as we hit the 10-minute mark, Portugal saw a break as André Gomes netted for the first four-goal lead (7:3). Korea did not give up and made a run for it, with speed and agility narrowing the gap to two.

The best description of Portugal's play is Ferreira's eight saves at 50% save efficiency, and they were ahead by only two in the 20th minute of the match. Turnovers and slow reactions in the defence saw Korea still causing headaches to Portugal, who were in a do-or-die match for the next round.

A two-minute suspension for Changeun Ku near the end of the first half gave Portugal a chance for a new break as Fernandes netted the third time in the match to make it 15:11, but Yeon-bin Kim took care of reducing the deficit with a nice buzzer-beater.

Portugal continued to have the same problem in the second part of the match, despite being in front. They could not gain more than a three-goal lead and Korea kept rebounding. Young-jun Park took advantage of the empty goal, narrowing it to only 20:21 in the 40th minute and bringing it to a boil.

If there had been more experience in Rolando Freitas' team, they could have turned the tide and made their fellow countrymen desperate, but two lost balls and one-on-one misses saw them still as a team trying to make it even. 

Manuel Gaspar could be called Portugal's hero as he saved Dong-hyun Jang's penalty shot, a goal which would have seen Korea level.

The match was decided in the last ten minutes of the clash. Minho Ha scored 24:25 in the 52nd minute of the match and consequently, it was Korea's last goal. A series of Gaspar saves and Korea's missed shots lifted Portugal to a 7-0 goal run for the final 32:24 win.

"We made a good match, much different than against Hungary. We were not that accurate at the start, maybe. Portugal changed the game with a new goalkeeper and a 7-on-6 game where we received many easy goals. We played more with heart and we have to have more patience in the future. I see progress and development, and that is what is important", said Rolando Freitas at the press conference after the match.

André Gomes was unstoppable from the left back and ended the match as Portugal's top scorer with a seven-goal outing: "It was a very good match. In my opinion, it was a high-level match, and Korea are doing a good job. In the first match against Iceland, we played well but didn't have luck; against Korea, we continued at the same level and won. Now we have to focus on the last match against Hungary."

hummel Player of the Match: Hyeon-sik Lee (Republic of Korea)