In group B, both Hungary and Portugal ended their first round with a loss. In round 2 on Sunday Portugal will have a tough time in the Budapest Handball Arena as the hosts seek to delight their fans and keep their main round hopes alive.
The second match of the day features the two round 1 victors, with the main question being whether the Netherlands can overcome Iceland after their surprise win against Hungary.
GROUP B
Portugal vs Hungary
Sunday 16 January, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV
- the teams have met twice at the EHF EURO so far, both winning once. Most recently, Portugal won 34:26 in the main round in 2020
- Hungary comes to the match after losing 28:31 to the Netherlands, while Portugal fell 24:28 to Iceland
- Hungary’s key players in the first match were Mate Lekai, who scored eight times, and Richard Bodo, who netted six times including one shot at 137.8km/h
- Rui Silva and Victor Iturizza were the spinning wheels of the Portuguese team against Iceland
- the hosts will play their 66th European match, while on the other side, this is number 35 for Paulo Pereira’s team
Paulo Pereira, Portugal coach: “Hungary are a very strong team. They play at home, but also we have our options again. When you are alive, you have options.”
Istvan Gulyas, Hungary coach: “The most important thing is to control the game and control the whole match. We were helpless, making mistakes against the Netherlands and we need to fix that for the second match.”
Iceland vs Netherlands
Sunday 16 January, 20:30 CET, live on EHFTV
- this will be the first EHF EURO encounter between the teams. Overall they have played eight matches and with eight wins, history is on Iceland’s side
- Dutch right back Kay Smits was the tournament’s top scorer with 11 goals after the first round. However, the Icelandic team were efficient in all positions with nine scorers in the first match
- Netherlands coach Erlingur Richardsson is hunting for two points against his home country
- goalkeeper Björgvin Pall Gustavsson is the most experienced Icelandic player with 242 international matches played
- Iceland are heading to their 65th EHF EURO match, while the Netherlands reaches their fifth
Gudmundur Gudmundsson, Iceland coach: “We saw the Netherlands play very well against Hungary. I think they deserved to win. They were better from the beginning to the end. Having said that, of course I know we are facing a very strong opponent. We saw them play a training game against Sweden and they performed very well also in this game, so we are preparing for a very difficult game against a good team.”
Erlingur Richardsson, Netherlands coach: “It will be a special game for me. We showed that we can play good games and we have been showing that for the last years. We have played some good games against strong teams. Iceland is a strong team and I know their goal here is to go to get medals, but for us it’s like, we have to just keep on showing that we can play good games. Iceland need to win that game, so we can be not too relaxed, but we have to be still aggressive and want to take the next step, so it will be of course an interesting game.”
