President’s Cup Group I: Two continental derbies to be held on Friday

19 Jan. 2023

President’s Cup Group I: Two continental derbies to be held on Friday

There are two South American and two Asian teams in the President's Cup Group I. The rivals from the same continent will clash on Friday, as Chile meet Uruguay and Saudi Arabia face Republic of Korea.

Chile and Korea won their opening matches at the consolation event on Wednesday. They will try to build on that success, while Uruguay and Saudi Arabia hope to end their losing streak. 

  • 15:30 CET: Chile vs Uruguay

After three frustrating defeats at the group stage, a 26:23 win against Saudi Arabia was a breath of fresh air for the Chilean team. The South Americans were down at half-time but hit back after the break to celebrate their first victory at the Men's 2023 World Championship.

Erwin Feuchtmann and captain Rodrigo Salinas led by example, combining for 12 goals in that match. In particular, Feuchtmann netted seven times to become the top scorer of the entire championship with 30 goals after Wednesday's matches.

"Now we want to redeem ourselves and the President's Cup is our goal. We still have something to fight for and we will fight," he said. 
In contrast, Uruguay are still waiting for their first win at Poland/Sweden 2023 after losing four matches in a row. The South Americans are still unable to find solutions for their defensive woes, as the team coached by Nicolás Guerra have conceded 152 goals in four encounters. 

At the same time, they somewhat improved their attacking game against the Republic of Korea on Wednesday, but a 30:37 defeat saw Uruguay extending their losing streak. But now they hope to end it in the next match against Chile.

And while the Chileans are seen as favourites, the recent meetings of the two teams at the South and Central American Championship brought mixed results. In 2020, Uruguay won 28:25 to finish third ahead of fourth-placed Chile. But in 2022, the rivals swapped their positions, as Chile won a bronze medal match against Uruguay (29:21). 

  • 18:00 CET: Saudi Arabia vs Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea finished in penultimate 31st place at the previous World Championship in Egypt, but now they have a chance to do better. After three defeats against the European sides in the competitive Group D, the Koreans opened the President's Cup with a seven-goal win against Uruguay.

Their next rivals will be fellow Asian side Saudi Arabia, who opened the President's Cup with a loss against Chile and extended their losing streak to four matches. However, now they are determined to do better.

The two Asian sides met multiple times in the past, including two encounters at the World Championship. Saudi Arabia had the upper hand both times, winning 24:22 at the group stage in 2013 and 27:26 in the 21/22 Placement Match in 2019. More recently, they faced off at the 2022 Asian Men's Championship, where Saudi Arabia beat their rivals again, 27:22 at the group stage. 

Except for Korea's right wing Kim Jin-young, who plays for the Spanish side CB Ademar León, both sides rely entirely on players from their domestic leagues. However, they are coached by foreigners: Rolando Freitas from Portugal works with Korea and the Dane Jan Pytlick is at the helm of Saudi Arabia.

"We are happy to have won the first match of the President's Cup. We were a bit tired after the journey, so I must admit that it was a difficult match for us. We want to go step by step, so now our goal is the next match against Saudi Arabia," Freitas said after his team's maiden win at the championship.