Cairo (AFP)
Portugal, opponent of France on Sunday at the World Handball Championship in Egypt, rose to the level of the best nations in the space of two years thanks to its backbone of FC Porto, improved means and the contribution of naturalized Cubans.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Seleçao is no longer the only one on the international sports scene.
Since 2020 and their remarkable eruption at the Euro, with successes over France, Bosnia, Sweden and Hungary, the "Herois do Mar" (the heroes of the sea) have taken a lot of weight, to the point of acquire the status of seed in this World Cup.
A status to which the Lusitanians have done honor by dominating Iceland, Morocco and Algeria in the first round, before giving in nothing (29-28) against Norway's Sander Sagosen in the main round.
This did not affect their ambitions, now overflowing: "to come to the big championships and win medals", dares the left-back Gilberto Duarte, aged 30.
The Montpellier player was absent due to injury to the Euro, and after a year 2020 disrupted by the pandemic, he felt the difference.
“A lot has changed, from the logistics to the team itself, and the mindset is not the same. We are making progress in every championship and every qualifying campaign. Every year is better. and better ", relishes Duarte.
For a selection whose only and meager references dated back to the beginning of the 2000s - round of 16 at the 2001 World Cup in France - the Euro changed everything.
"For a long time we weren't qualified and the first time we come back to a big competition we put in a great performance", explains Duarte.
"Trust is everything."
- The exploits of Porto -
"We had good players, and also good coaches, but so far we weren't there to show it," said Paulo Pereira.
A coach since 2016, this French-speaking person is harvesting the fruits of a handball culture that is well established in the country's three illustrious multisport clubs, FC Porto, Benfica and Sporting, to which must be added Belenenses, another Lisbon team.
The national team is thus made up half of players from Porto: goalkeeper Alfredo Quintana, center-halfs Rui Silva and Miguel Martins, pivots Victor Iturriza and Daymaro Salina, left-backs Fabio Magalhaes and André Gomes, wingers Diogo Branquinho and Antonio Areia.
"They play together all year round, they have a lot of common experience," said French coach Guillaume Gille.
Especially if, in parallel, Porto progresses in the European hierarchy: last season in the Champions League, the club from the north of the country thus achieved the feat of winning in Kiel (28-27), future European champion , and in Montpellier (27-22), crowned in 2018.
For Pereira, who went through Porto then the women's teams of Angola and Tunisia, the means of the selection have also constantly improved.
"We were 5-6 people in the staff, now there are 10", recalls the one who was, at the beginning of his mandate, to be the video analyst himself.
- Iturriza, defensive tower -
Another important factor is the naturalization of 4 Cubans, all players or former Porto players: goalkeeper Quintana, pivots Salina, Iturriza and Borges, the latter having joined Duarte in Montpellier.
"They are very strong physically but had a lot of difficulties with the details, the basis of the game," said Pereira of their integration.
"Little by little, they have grown and are helping us a lot."
Naturalized in 2020 after breaking with the Cuban federation "for political reasons", Iturriza (1.94 m for 120 kg) is eager to rub shoulders with Ludovic Fabregas and Luka Karabatic, "great pivots", according to him.
If with Iturriza and Duarte, Portugal "can really have a defense", according to Pereira, "they lack a more efficient goalkeeper and, in attack, someone to score at 6m," said RTP journalist Nuno Perlouro.
Even without that, Portugal now believes in its chances on Sunday against the Blues.
"For us, it's a final," announces Magalhaes.
© 2021 AFP