A few hours after Egypt secured their spot in the main round, Sweden followed their example and defeated Chile, climbing to the first place in Group G thanks to a better goal difference. 

Sweden and Egypt now have four points each before their encounter on Monday. On the same day, North Macedonia and Chile, who have no points, will determine the third team advancing to the main round. 

GROUP G
Chile vs Sweden 26:41 (16:20)

In the first half, both sides did better in attack than in defence. But Sweden were overall a more agile and creative side from the early minutes on and quickly went 3:0 in front.

It was Lukas Pellas, the left wing from Montpellier Handball, who was a key figure in Sweden’s attack. He scored five goals out of five attempts before the break. His efforts helped Glenn Solberg’s men to lead 10:6 by minute 15. 

Chile also had their leaders: left back Erwin Feuchtmann and line player Esteban Salinas were not easy to stop, and their goals saw the South Americans cutting the deficit to 14:16.

Yet, a string of goals by Lukas Sandell and a couple of saves by Mikael Aggefors helped Sweden to increase the gap to 20:14 before Erwin Feuchtmann answered with his two goals late in the first half to make it a 20:16 half-time score in favour of the Scandinavians.

After the break, Sweden improved their defence, and it was Andreas Palicka’s turn to make saves, helping his teammates to score from fast breaks. hummel Player of the Match Pellas was crucial again, netting both from the penalty line as well as open play, and Sweden enjoyed a 6:1 run to lead 26:17.

“We were good during some parts of the game, but also made a lot of mistakes, which allowed Sweden to score easy goals from counterattacks,” said Chile’s coach Mateo Garralda.

After he called for a timeout, the South Americans fought back and reduced the gap to 23:29 by the 45th minute. The Salinas brothers, Esteban and Rodrigo, were now the driving force of the team.

However, Chile’s successful runs never lasted too long, as Sweden were clearly the dominant force and always claimed the initiative. Solberg rotated his players, but the Scandinavians conceded only three goals in the last quarter of the match and ultimately hit a 40-goal mark, with Pellas scoring 12 times. 

“Of course I’m happy with two points. In the first half, we were not so good in defence but scored 20 goals. In the second half, we played better in defence, and our goalkeeper Andreas Palicka did a great job,” said Solberg. 

hummel Player of the Match: Lukas Pellas, Sweden