The United States of America returned to the World Championship with a bang after 22 years. Great saves by Pál Merkovszky and Aboubakar Fofana's six goals carried the USA to a historic win. The Atlas Lions will have to wait for another event to break the curse of the opening match, as they have never won at the start of the world's flagship handball competition.

Group G

Morocco vs United States of America 27:28 (12:12)

One of the day's most interesting matches started with goalkeepers in the spotlight. Jamal Ouaali opened with two straight saves for Morocco and Pál Merkovszky responded by saving a penalty shot. As a result, the United States of America welcomed their first World Championship goal after 22 years as Ian Hüter scored 1:0.

The two were on the same level throughout – Ouaali finished with ten saves at 25% save efficiency, while Merkovszky was slightly more skilful with 11 saves at 30% efficiency and a hummel Player of the Match award.

After a short 2:2 equalizer, a series of mistakes saw Morocco trail by three after 10 minutes as Domagoj Sršen fast break set the 5:2 lead of the USA.

There was no other option than a time-out for Noureddine Bouhhdioui's team as the Moroccan head coach tried to calm his players and rewrite tactics. However, Morocco could not find their rhythm and the USA kept having a decent lead.

Two two-minute suspensions in succession saw Robert Hedin's team in trouble, but they still managed to defend themselves and retain the three-goal lead. It took around eight minutes for the African side to narrow the gap as Rezzouki Reida scored for 8:9 after Alae Laaroussi's seven-metre shot save.

Amine Harchaoui's goals towards the end of the first half brought Morocco level with the opponents, going on a break at 12:12.

Morocco took three minutes into the second part to get their hands on the first lead (14:13) after a steal by Reida and a 2:0 goal run. The inexperience of the USA started to show as they slowed down the pace for a short time. 

However, everything changed in the last 15 minutes of the match. The USA were back level again, responding well when they were down by two. They stepped up a gear and turned the match around for a 23:20 lead.

What happened? Morocco were pretty shaken up after a direct red card to one of the most important players in the squad, Mohamed Amine Bentaleb. And Andrew Donlin was on fire in the second half, netting four times, two in time for making a first three-goal lead.

The luck was only on the USA side for a short time. Head coach Hedin received a red card after pressing the team time-out buzzer after a turnover, denying Morocco a clear goal. The mistake was punished by yet another clear penalty shot by Harchaoui, scoring for 25:25.

In a nail-biting finish filled with mistakes, missing the empty goal, nice shots and counter-attacks, the USA picked up a victory and wrote history.

Morocco will try to redeem themselves in an African derby against Egypt, while the USA have a tough task ahead against Croatia.

hummel Player of the Match: Pál Merkovszky (United States of America)