Egypt have the chance to become the first non-European team to win a group at an IHF Men’s Junior World Championship since 2009 when they meet France on Monday afternoon in Vigo. The last non-European team to achieve this was Brazil, in 2009 – but Egypt will be focused on clinching first place and the best possible route through the knock-out round rather than the history at hand. 

The last preliminary round match for Group B will see the African champions enter the court as group leaders – and they hope to leave it that way, with a final win versus the squad that won the 2017 Youth World Championship. 

In the other Group B games in round five, Republic of Korea will play Australia and Nigeria will take on Sweden. 

GROUP B
Feature match: France vs Egypt 
As Travesas Sports Hall, 14:00 local time

It is a situation that was probably not foreseen before this point in the Junior World Championship – France, with a generation that has lost just two matches in their history at major international competitions and collected no less than two titles and one silver medal at those events, are second-ranked on the table. 

However, they sit behind worthy group leaders. Egypt arrive in round five with maximum points after four strong victories, over Australia, Nigeria, Sweden and Republic of Korea. France also defeated Nigeria, Korea and Australia, but lost to Sweden in round four. 

Egypt have played spectacular handball. They can rely on the goalkeeper with the sixth-highest number of saves at Spain 2019 – Abdelrhman Taha Ali, with 38 at 38%. He sits just five saves behind Germany’s Till Klimpke in first. In attack, their top scorer is Shehab Abdalla Ahmed, with 21 goals – but Omar Sami Dahroug counts the competition’s highest accuracy, having maintained an incredible 100% efficiency across the four games played, with a tally of 17. 

With many strong individual talents, Egypt are looking to be a real threat to the medals at Spain 2019 – and that is exactly as they saw it even before the competition began:

“We came to Spain to win the World Championship,” Mohamed Magdy Elazhary told ihf.info earlier in the competition. “We will focus on the matches and will surprise everybody.”

France can certainly match Egypt’s level of individual talent, and a thrilling clash can be expected, with the winner to finish on top of the group. 

Korea and Nigeria to decide last eighth-final place

The final match day for Group B will begin with Republic of Korea aiming for their second victory as they take on Australia. Korea are currently fourth in the group and therefore in a position to reach the eighth-finals, but they need a win in order to ensure their passage to the next round. If they do not take the victory, the Asian team will face the chance of elimination – as Nigeria could move up to four points and pass Korea if they beat Sweden in the following game. 

Nigeria take the court versus Sweden on two points, having beaten Australia. As Korea defeated Nigeria in their mutual clash, they rank ahead of the African side, but they are far from safe and round five could see them slip to fifth if they lose and Nigeria win. 

Korea and Australia will throw off round five at 10:00 local time in Vigo, before Sweden meet Nigeria at 12:00. Sweden are safely through to the eighth-finals, with six points. If they take a win and France are defeated, they will clinch second.