Men's Youth WCh Argentina 2011 (1/4 finals): Seven Europeans and Egypt | Handball Planet
IHF

Men’s Youth WCh Argentina 2011 (1/4 finals): Seven Europeans and Egypt

As expected, the last day in group A was thrilling from the beginning till the very end. During the first half of the match between Serbia and Croatia both defenses dominated. So it was a race on eye level between both teams. Croatia led after 30 minutes with 11: 10. In the second half Croatia controlled the match most of the time. The Serbs fought hard, but the Croatians defended their advantage. But than the Serbs came closer and closer until they reached the final result of 22:22. Nevertheless Serbia didn’t make it to the first two ranks in their group. The last match in group A was a real thriller. Only with a victory Slovenia could get the possibility to reach the quarterfinal. Slovenia fought with great initiative, leading 16:15 after 30 minutes. And in the middle of the second half the South East Europeans even showed their best handball and increased their lead after 45 minutes to a four-goal-difference (24:20). Seven minutes before the end, it seemed to be clear that Slovenia, by leading 27:23, had won this encounter; But Sweden stroke back, caught up to a 29:30 two minutes before the final whistle and scored the 30:30 just before the end of the match. While the Scandinavians celebrated their qualification for the quarterfinal on the field, the youngsters from Croatia cheered on the tribune.

In the last preliminary match of group B France and Egypt started nervous and made a lot of unforced errors during the first 15 minutes. The half time result in this high speed match was a 16:15 for France. In the first minutes of the second half the French team had slight advantages and lead at this time (50.) with 27:23. This result was a preliminary decision and so France consequently left this match as the winner (32:27). For the French youngsters this match was kind of their revenge for the 21:22 defeat at the semi final of the last years Youth Olympics in Singapore.

Brazil won his last game in group B and reached the 3th place in their group. In the match against Qatar the South Americans were on the same level as their competitors during the first half. The 14:14 draw after 30 minutes was the consequently result. But in the second half Brazil played with more speed – and the team from Qatar became more and more tired. So the Brazilians took the lead, the match was decided after 45 minutes, when Brazil lead with 24:19. The final result was a clear 32:27 for the team from the Copacabana.

Nobody could stop Germany during the preliminary round. Also Denmark was playing without a real chance the last game of their group. Based of their excellent defence, the team of coach Christian Schwarzer destroyed the hope of the Danish youngsters to be ranked first in the group. After 18 minutes Germany was already leading 10:5 and on half time the German supporters witnessed a clear 16:10 on the scoreboard. During the second half Germany kept their concentration 30 minutes long. It was a hard day for Denmark, but after the tough fight against Russia the day before; the Danish youngsters might have been a little tired. Finally Germany won with 27:24 and will now meet Spain in the quarterfinal.

Tunisia and Korea played a very intensive match in group C. The North Africans started good, leading 7:5, and then the Asians fought back and turned the match after 20 minutes, reduced their mistakes and reached a 16:14 lead at half time. In the second half the spectators saw an equal match. Nevertheless Korea defended their lead and won 31:29 in the end. With this victory the Asians step up to the third place in the ranking of group C.

The match between Spain and Switzerland in group D was an intensive, hard but not unfair. And it was during the first 20 minutes on eye level. Only in the last ten minutes of the first half, Spain could increase their goal difference 13:11. But Switzerland didn’t give up. The youngsters from the heart of Europe fought with all their power and made it really difficult for Spain to break their resistance. Despite their advance of 22:18 after 45 minutes Spain couldn’t relax. Switzerland fought caught up to an intermediate result of 26:27 after 55 minutes. And already two minutes later Switzerland took the lead with a two goals advance (29:27). That was the decision for the team of coach Michael Suter. Host Argentina took their second victory at the Men’s Youth WCh. The South Americans didn’t have any difficulties in their match against the team from Gabon. After 18 minutes the youngsters from Argentina lead with 12:8 and on half time with 30:20: The match was decided. So Argentina scored from 28:18 lead after 45 minutes to a final 37:24 victory.

Overview of the upcoming matches:

Placement matches 17 – 20

Bahrain-New Zealand

Tunesia-Gabon

Placement matches 13 – 16

Serbia-Qatar

Russia-Chile

Placement matches 9 – 12

Slovenia-Brazil

Korea-Argentina

Quarterfinals

Sweden-Egypt

France-Croatia

Germany-Spain

Switzerland-Denmark

Text: IHF

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