Live blog: Poland dash Portugal's hopes in close match
Round 2 of the Women's EHF EURO 2024 begins on Saturday, starting at 15:30 CET in Basel before games continue later on across all venues. Losses for some teams in this round will mean their main round hopes end, while others are looking to practically secure themselves a spot in the next stage of the tournament.
15:15
The winner of this game will go into Monday's matches still with a chance of qualifying for the main round, but the loser will know they are out. It's a difficult match to call - in round 1, Portugal lost 24:30 to Spain after leading for much of the match, while France outclassed Poland 35:22.
15:00
Remember the first match of the day throws off in only 30 minutes - get your match predictions made in the Home of Handball app before Poland play Portugal!
These two sides have met just four times previously, and the historic balance stands at three wins for Poland and one for Portugal, although the most recent of those games was played in 2014 and therefore this generation are meeting for the first time.
14:25
Our Stat of the Day today focuses on Sweden vs Hungary. Based on their first-round games, this should be a fast-paced affair. Both teams featured in the top three shortest attacks on day 1: Hungary third with an average attack of 23.5 seconds, Sweden first with an average attack of 21.8 seconds, faster than any attacks at the EHF EURO 2022.
14:00
Today's Women in Handball focus on the EHF Activities Instagram channel highlights Austria's Dutch coach Monique Tijsterman, and Montenegro's coach Suzana Lazovic. They are the only two female head coaches at the tournament; notably, Lazovic took over from another woman, Bojana Popovic.
Let's hope they blaze a trail for more women to follow in the future.
13:43
Sweden vs Hungary promises to be one of the best matches of the day, with two teams in good form going head-to-head in a bid to top group A. Here's what two of their key players had to say about the match when they spoke yesterday.
We have to focus on ourselves. We have to be patient in our attack, but also focus on our defence. They have really good individual players with a lot of skills, but we also have that. What we know is that the last games against them have been really intense in that way that they have been even very close into the end.
We know that this is going to be the hardest game in the group and we are expecting a really hard and tough game because both teams are here to win the group and of course, this game. As individuals, the Swedish players are really, really good, but as a team they can make also good things both in attack and in defence, and we are expecting a really running game. We have to run a lot, but we will try to stop them as good as possible, and I think in attack we have to be a little bit patient.
