The Brazil Men’s National Team has been very active in January as part of their preparation for the PANAM Handball Championships in April. They played 3 matches against Cuba (all 3 wins 28-19, 31-30, and 28-24). They then travelled to Spain where they played in a in a tournament against Spain, Ukraine and Russia and followed that up with a couple matches vs some top Spanish Club teams and Japan.

13 January 22 Brazil vs Russia 32
14 January 18 Brazil vs Spain 37
15 January 22 Brazil vs Ukraine 28

18 January 19 Brazil vs BM Aragon 30
20 January 28 Brazil vs Japan 30
22 January 30 Brazil vs Barcelona 39

This trip has probably been a minor disappointment for Brazil, as I’m sure they’d like to move to the top tier of national programs like their Women’s team has. These results show that they still have quite a ways to go yet. It’s probably safe to say, however, that they weren’t fielding a full strength team. In particular, their top player, Bruno Souza, who plays with 1st Division Goppingen, has been injured and did not play. If you add a consistent backcourt scorer, I would guess these games could have been closer.