Argentina finished on the fifth place at the 2025 IHF Men’s Under-17 World Championship, with a 39:27 win against Brazil, while Tunisia bounced back against the USA to secure a 44:41 win for the seventh place.

PLACEMENT MATCH 5/6
Brazil vs Argentina 27:39 (12:20)

The South American derby between Brazil and Argentina for the fifth place at the 2025 IHF Men’s Under-17 World Championship had little history, as the latter side delivered a better overall performance, securing a 39:27 win.

Brazil led only four times during the match, in the first nine minutes, as Argentina then took control with a 3:0 run, immediately followed by a 6:0 unanswered run, with Nicolas La Delfa scoring four of the nine goals between the ninth and the 18th minutes.

La Delfa ended up to be the top scorer for Argentina in this match, with 10 goals, as well as for the entire competition, with 33 goals in five matches, and his performance really lifted Argentina to a comfortable lead at the break, 20:12, with goalkeeper Francisco Perez also adding nine saves in the first half.

Brazil centre back Eduardo Rodrigues also tried his utmost to weather the storm, scoring eight goals and added six assists, however Brazil were far away from Argentina and could only limit the damage in the second half.

Right back Lautaro Agustin Roa added seven more goals, while Ignacio Lopez Munell added six for Argentina, which led throughout the second half by more than 10 goals, eventually sealing the 39:27 win.

Player of the Match: Nicolas La Delfa (Argentina)

PLACEMENT MATCH 7/8
Tunisia vs United States of America 44:41 (21:23)

The first 30 minutes of the Placement Match 7/8 between Tunisia and the United States of America produced the highest-scoring first half at the 2025 IHF Men’s Under-17 World Championship, with the two sides combining for 44 goals, in a match which both sides had an average duration of attack under 25 seconds.

There were four lead changes and the USA led by as many as five goals, 15:10, as their attack produced at a high volume, but the biggest difference was between the number of turnovers, as USA finished the first half with 10, as opposed to Tunisia’s five, while the African side had a lower attacking efficiency, under 50%, than USA.

It looked like the American team had a good run when they used a 4:1 partial to create their maiden five-goal lead, 15:10, but then Tunisia roared back, helped by an excellent match from centre back Moenes Garrache, who became the fulcrum of the team’s attack.

Fellow back Mohamed Ali Chouk had three goals between the 18th and the 22nd minutes, helping his side bounce back and take a 20:19 lead, but the USA, under the guidance of centre back Jorge Gomez de Santiago, managed to bounce back and took a 23:21 lead at the break.

Gomez de Santiago, who leapfrogged Ramy Mahrous and Ahmed Elsayed in the top goal scorer standings, before Qatar take the court in the bronze medal match against Spain, was immense for the USA, finishing the match with 12 goals, to improve his overall tally in the competition to 47 goals.

But as USA led by two goals, 37:35, with nine minutes to go, Tunisia bounced back and opened a 5:1 run, with Omar Helaoui scoring two goals and Garrache adding two more to bring a 40:38 lead with four minutes to go.

Helaoui and Chouk scored once more in the dying minutes to secure a 44:41 win for Tunisia, in the highest-scoring match so far in the competition, as the African side finished on the seventh place, while the USA ended up eighth.

Player of the Match: Moenes Garrache (Tunisia)