Zamalek SC delivered a perfect performance in their opening match at the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, with a XX:XX win over Handebol Taubaté, in the third and final match of the first day of this edition of the world club handball flagship competition.

GROUP A
Handebol Taubaté (BRA) vs Zamalek SC (EGY) 25:30 (6:18)

During the draw for the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, which took place in New Alamein City, Zamalek SC were the team which could have lamented their luck the most, as Handebol Taubaté looked to be the strongest team from Pot 3, which would mean that the Egyptian side had a tougher path towards the semi-finals.

Nevertheless, Zamalek set out to secure the win in the match, but the Egyptian side provided one of their best wins in the history of the competition, on their sixth appearance, with a flawless defensive display in the first half, where they conceded only six goals, two of them coming in the first four minutes.

Taubaté, arguably the most experienced side from Pot 3 of the draw, took the lead early, 2:1, and looked strong in attack, but everything collapsed after Zamalek’s goalkeeper, the experienced Karim Hendawy, started entering his stride. At the end of the first half, Hendawy had eight saves for an otherworldly 62% saving efficiency, lifting his side to a 18:6 lead.

The main vector for that gap was a 6:0 run, which turned the match on its head, with Zamalek using another 5:1 run to open the 12-goal gap at the break, fueled by a fantastic outing from centre back Mohamed Omar, who had four goals, three assists and two interceptions to help his side build this gap.

The Egyptian side continued to press after the break, when the biggest lead reached 16 goals, 23:7, followed by a four-goal unanswered run from Taubaté, which had a meagre 31% shooting efficiency in the first half. That run prompted Zamalek’s coach, Fernando Barbeito, to take a team time-out, instilling new confidence in his team.

But with Zamalek’s starters getting more and more tired and with a match against Veszprem coming up, Taubaté managed to limit the damage, as the time passed in the second half, with the Brazilian side winning the second half by a whopping difference of seven goals.

That four-goal unanswered run created the buffer needed by Taubaté to keep the gap under control, while Hendawy was replaced between the posts by Mahmoud Khalil, eventually finishing the match with 16 saves, for a 48% saving efficiency. In attack, the Egyptian side was slower in the second part, scoring only 12 goals.

Yet in the end, it was still Zamalek which clinched the win, by the lowest margin in the first day of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, 30:25, with their outstanding performance in the first half deciding the outcome of the match, but questions marks will be raised over their drive and performance in the second part, when the Brazilian champions were clearly better.

Both sides will now face Veszprem HC, with the first one being Taubaté, on Saturday, while on Sunday, Zamalek aim to deliver an even better performance than in this opener.

Player of the Match: Karim Hendawy (Zamalek SC)