PORTLAND BEGINS WITH VICTORY!

The first test of the "new" Portland San Antonio of Coach Javier Cabanas has ended in victory. Portland won 30:25 against CAI Aragon, who were finalists in the last EHF Cup. It was the first match without Javier Equisoain on the San Antonio bench. It was an intense match that was very useful for the coaches in their preparation for forthcoming season.

Tomas Svensson really made use of his holidays and has come back to the team in a very fit condition. The Swede made 17 saves in a really challenging game. Everybody looked for the changes in the first match of Cabanas. There were differences in attack and defence. Kjelling, Ruesga and Balic each played some minutes in defence, something that was not very usual with Equisoain. Balic defended the entire second half in the advanced 5:1 system. In addittion, Jorgensen and Juancho Perez played in offence.

Portland's new recruits, Fernando Hernandez and Cristian Malmagro, scored their first goals for San Antonio. This got them off to a fabulous start in their first match. Malmagro was finally able to play after recovering from his back injury. Vugrinec and Andorinho were out due to various physical problems.

After the match, Javier Cabanas said that "the team needs to work. It was the first match only. Defensive actions are right, because Portland is a very strong defensive team. However, we must work a lot on attack actions. We made some mistakes that we must improve. We are very well physically and it is very important. New players, Cristian and Fernando, played well in their first match".