The Portuguese women’s beach soccer team won the bronze medal this Saturday at the Krakow 2023 European Games by beating hosts Poland on penalties in Tarnów, after drawing 2-2 in regulation time and extra time.
Katarzyna Nowak, with a hat-trick to the goalkeeper in the third minute, opened the scoring, but Ema Toscano equalized in the second half, with a free kick deflected by the sand, in the 22nd minute, after the expulsion of Wiktoria Kaczmarek.
Dominika Dewicka made it 2-1 for the Poles, in the 23rd minute, but Inês Cruz restored the tie, in the 25th minute, without extra time to break the tie.
In the penalty shootout, Portugal won 3-0, with Jamila Marreiros defending two shots, and climbed to the last place on the podium in a tournament of only six teams in this modality that is not part of the Olympic program.
This is the first medal for the women’s team in the European Games, right in their debut, while the men’s team, which is still fighting for third place today, has two podiums, a gold in Minsk 2019 and a bronze in Baku 2015.
Portugal now have 15 podium finishes at Krakow 2023, with three golds, seven silvers and five bronzes already won.
The third edition of the European Games takes place until Sunday in Krakow and in the Polish region of Malopolska, with 30 sports on the program and 48 participating countries, including Portugal, with a delegation of more than two hundred athletes.
Source: TSF
