Portugal and Croatia to decide first in Group C

With one round of matches remaining for Group C at the 2019 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, the eighth-final places are all decided, with Croatia, Portugal, Brazil and Hungary sure to proceed. Kosovo and Bahrain are set to contest the President’s Cup, and will battle for fifth place in round five on Monday 22 July in Pontevedra. 

GROUP C
Feature match: Portugal vs Croatia
Pavillon Municipal de Deportes de Pontevedra, 18:30 local time

The top team in Group C will be decided with what can be expected to be a great game between Portugal and Croatia. The two teams count on generations that have ranked among the top five at the two European championships in their age category – Croatia took the silver medal at the U18 EHF EURO 2016 and Portugal placed fourth at the U20 EHF EURO 2018. 

This time around, Croatia seem to have the upper hand entering the encounter. They take the court as the group leaders, with the maximum eight points, while Portugal sit in second on six. The winner of this match will top the group. 

Both sides took some time to settle into their campaigns, but they have only grown stronger with each round at Spain 2019. After Portugal were defeated in their opening clash versus Brazil, they took three straight wins, versus Bahrain, Kosovo and Hungary. 

“The team deserved this victory, we have worked hard to get it. We had a somewhat broken start of the tournament, but we are on the right track,” said Portugal line player Luis Frade following the round four victory versus Hungary. 

Croatia have not only won all of their games, but have never had a difference of less than four goals in their favour at the final whistle. 

“This victory is a great prize for the whole team,” said Croatia left back Halil Jaganjac after the round four match. “We are doing a good tournament – for now we have four victories in four games, and I hope we continue in this line, playing as a team. In each game we had a different MVP. In this team the group prevails, and that is the main reason why we are playing well.” 

Group ranking to be decided 

Round five for Group C will start with Bahrain meeting Kosovo at 16:30 local time. Both teams are looking for their first wins, after hard-fought campaigns that have seen them produce strong games but ultimately come up short in every round – particularly Bahrain. Bahrain lost to Croatia by nine goals in round four, but prior to that, they have been agonisingly close to victories in most games. Against Brazil they lost by one goal scored in the last seconds, and versus Portugal the difference was just two. 

The day will close with Hungary and Brazil taking the court at 20:30 local time in Pontevedra. Depending on the results in the Croatia versus Portugal match, Brazil could move up to second place with a win.