President’s Cup: Strong performance of Saudi Arabia in Copenhagen

19 Jan. 2019

President’s Cup: Strong performance of Saudi Arabia in Copenhagen

Saudi Arabia - Angola 34:29 (20:14)



In the second match of the President’s Cup in Copenhagen today, the teams of Saudi Arabia and Angola faced each other – both of which were placed at the bottom in their respective groups.

In the first three minutes no goals were scored, but in the fourth minute Edvaldo Ferreira changed that as he netted in the first two goals of the match.

Royal Arena had to wait almost five minutes for the first Saudi Arabian goal – Mahdi Alsalem was the man, who found the back of the net.

Edvaldo Ferrerira was in general the best player of Angola this first half. In the 8th minute, he scored his third goal and put Angola three goals ahead, 4:1.

After 12 minutes, Adelino Pestana increased the Angolan lead to 4:7, but then Saudi Arabia found their rhythm. Abdulaziz Khayri made sure that Saudi Arabia kept contact with Angola, he reduced to 7:8, halfway through the first half.

Minutes later, Abdullah Alabbas could bring Saudi Arabia in front, for the first time in the game. At the same time Adelino Pestana was sent off with a two-minutes suspension.

The game went on and Saudi Arabia took a 16:13 lead, thanks to a great fast break goal. It was the third goal for Alabas.

Hassan Aljanabi was given a two-minute suspension at the other end. It was the 8th suspension for the defensive player, and he is now the player with the most suspensions in this World Championship.

Just before the break Angola’s best player Edvaldo Ferreira was suspended as well. Ferreira managed to score 7 goals in the first half. However Saudi Arabia could benefit from their one-man-advantage and took a 20:14 lead into the half-time break.

Angola started the second half with only six players on the court due to a two-minute suspension at the end of the first half.

Even though Angola fought for the victory, they could not get closer than minus four. One of the main reasons was Abdullah Aljanabi, who scored 8 goals in the match. 

Amro Mohammed from Saudi Arabia ended the match as he started the second half – with a big save.

Adeline Pestana was the top scorer for Angola in the second half (four goals). Thanks to him, Angola won the second half with one goal, but it was not enough to beat Saudi Arabia. 

The match ended 34:29 to Saudi Arabia, which means they are going to play for 21st rank against Korea tomorrow and Angola are playing for 23rd against Japan.  

 

 hummel Player of the Match: Abdullah Aljanabi (KSA)

 

Statements after the match

Denic Boris, Saudi Arabia coach: Thanks for a fair and correct game. We worked hard and played some good handball today. We haven’t been successful with winning these games, so congratulation to team for this win.

Jose Nobrega, Angola coach: Today we were missing attitude. We wanted to win, but we didn’t fight for it. I said to my players, that when you play in this tournament, you have to show the same passion every time.

Mohammed Amro, Saudi Arabia: I’m proud of my team and my coach today. We usually loose these games, because we miss something mentally. Today we won, and we taught ourselves something. I hope that we can perform on same level tomorrow.

Giovanny Muachissengue, Angola: We did not bring the fire today. We must go home and reflect about the game. We have to improve tomorrow.