This Sunday, ABC de Braga beat FC Porto, by 25-24, and won the Portuguese Handball Cup, whose final stage they played in Loulé.
A defense by Humberto Gomes (ABC), with a seven meters free-kick from Hugo Santos (FC Porto), in the last move of the game, guaranteed victory for the Braga, in a very disputed game until the final minute.
ABC was almost always ahead, thanks to an aggressive behavior in defense and the bet on quick attacks, which had already allowed Sporting in the semi-finals on Saturday.
On the contrary, the white and blues were up to date "no", with several balls in the "irons", which earned them a maximum disadvantage of five goals in the 24th minute (12-7).
In the last five minutes of the first half, the six-time national champion recovered again and reduced the difference to three goals at half-time (13-10).
In the second half, FC Porto seemed to want to change the course of events and, in four minutes, managed to draw (14-14).
In a very close match, ABC once again took the lead due to FC Porto's mistakes, but the FC Porto team recovered and reached the advantage in the match for the first time, in the 52nd minute (21-20).
But ABC recovered again and FC Porto ended up wasting their last opportunity, when they won a seven-meter free-kick, with time running out. In marking, Hugo Santos allowed a great defense by Humberto Gomes, who decided the match for Braga, setting the final result at 25-24.
Carlos Resende, ABC's coach, in closing remarks, admitted that FC Porto «could have scored the seven-meter free-kick, taken the game to extra time and, eventually, the outcome could have been different, but, as a colleague once said. friend, in the finals the winners are always fair».
For the coach of Braga, the victory in the Cup was only a surprise «for those who were not aware of what we said at the beginning of the season. From the first moment the team presented itself, we said that our goal was to win the Cup, the championship and the Challenge Cup. We knew it was going to be difficult, but we are in this fight».
Carlos Resende added that his team still has "two very important semi-finals, against Sporting [national championship playoff] and against Stord Handball, from Norway [Challenge Cup semi-finals] to be able to dispute two more finals".
The ABC goalkeeper, whose defense allowed his team to win, was naturally very happy. «it had a fantastic taste, first because it was in the last second and then because I won a Portuguese Cup at the club of my heart, almost at the end of my career».
Rui Silva, assistant coach of FC Porto, admitted that his team was “sad”, “because, once again, the Portuguese Cup slipped out of our hands in the last game, but aware that we did our best and fought to to win".
However, he underlined, «it was an excellent handball game, an excellent final, an excellent promotion of the sport, with two very combative and very competitive teams. The final result is synonymous with that, with the difference of one goal».
The Final Four of the Portuguese Cup for Senior Men in Handball was played in Loulé, at the Pavilhão Desportivo Municipal, on the 28th and 29th of March.
On Saturday, in the semi-finals, ABC beat Sporting by 33-30, while FC Porto beat Benfica by 28-27.
During the break in the Final of the Portugal Fidelidade Cup, checks with the ticket receipts from the Final4 matches of the competition were handed over by the Municipality of Loulé and the Portuguese Handball Federation, to social charities in the municipality of Loulé.
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