For Portugal, back at the Women’s EHF EURO after a 16-year wait, it was a strong performance that will serve as a positive boost as they look ahead to their next preliminary round encounters.
One of the top scorers of the match, Portugal’s Joana Resende, earned the Player of the Match award, presented by Grundfos. Resende netted eight goals, as did Carmen Campos for Spain.
GROUP C
Spain vs Portugal 30:24 (12:12)
- it took Portugal just over five minutes to find the goal for the first time, but once they did, they went from 0:2 behind to a 5:2 lead and kept Spain scoreless for 10 minutes — and then the contest was on
- two goalkeepers with different stories in their national teams — Nicole Wiggins, stepping into the number one role for Spain, and Isabel Góis, a stalwart for Portugal — had strong first halves, each recording almost 40 per cent in that period
- after the opening lead of 2:0, Spain only had the advantage once more in the first half, at 7:6 in the 16th minute, while Portugal mostly stayed steady in front and pulled away as clear as three, 12:9 in the 27th
- scoring the last three goals of the first period, Spain closed the gap for a level half-time score, and the last time the teams were on equal footing was in the 41st minute, 17:17
- Spain hit a three-goal advantage in the 50th minute, after which point the two-time EHF EURO finalists remained at least two goals in front to the final buzzer
Questions answered
Spain have entered an extensive rebuilding period following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while Portugal are back for only their second appearance at a major championship, making both teams were something of a question mark ahead of the EHF EURO 2024. How exactly would they measure up? The opening match for group C in Basel gave an answer to what might be expected.
Portugal wanted to be competitive at the event. The clash against Spain confirmed they are, as they led for a significant portion of the match, albeit following a shaky start, and remained in touch even after Spain were comfortable with the advantage.
With eight players playing their first game at a major tournament, just how strong Spain would be was difficult to predict. Some growing pains were evident in the national side that has been part of every major event since 2008, but players like Paula Arcos, Nicole Wiggins and Ester Somaza — all aged 24 and under — showed they are ready to drive Spain forward.
We were really focused on us and our main goal here is to fight every match. It doesn't matter if we're in front or we are behind, we need to fight, fight fight until the end, and I think this is what we did and that gave us the victory.
It was a good first game for us because it's the first game ever in a championship. We showed a good image of our team. We made some mistakes at the end of the game, and it cost us the game, but we are going to put this game aside and already think about the next game against Poland.
