Egypt down continental rivals, inside world’s top eight for fourth, successive time

Despite being behind against Cape Verde for long periods in this continental clash, Egypt did enough to get the two points, and with it, became the first team from Zagreb to qualify through to the quarter-finals of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.

MAIN ROUND GROUP IV
Cape Verde vs Egypt 24:31 (13:14)

While Iceland play a waiting game to know if they are through to the last eight, after their earlier victory against Argentina, Egypt secured their final spot and will face France in the quarter-finals, irrespective of the result of the last match between Croatia and Slovenia.

Cape Verde welcomed back first-choice goalkeeper Elico Fernandes to their starting line-up following injury and he immediately made an impact, helping his side secured a four-goal lead (8:4) and force Egypt coach Juan Carlos Pastor to take an early time out for the African champions.

In front of a large contingent of Icelandic fans, willing them on in their similarly-coloured blue kits, Cape Verde once again evidenced their quality on the global stage.

Delcio Pina was the spearhead of a 5-1 defence early on, stopping the Egyptians from getting through, but with a team full of experienced, elite-level players, pushed on by Yahia Omar and Ali Zein, not to mention the nagging and harrying of the Cape Verdean players by Ahmed Nafea, Pastor’s side came back into it and the game was all-square (11:11) in the 26th minute.

Egypt pushed ahead just before the break (13:12), with what can only be said to be an organised chaos of defence, including 3-3, 5-1, 4-2 and whatever it took to disrupt Cape Verde, which they did.

Fernandes ended the half with five saves, and his counterpart, Karim Hendawy six and the tightness of the game continued up to the 37th minute.

But a disastrous period for the side who only made their IHF Men’s World Championship debut in 2021 saw the Cape Verdeans turnover the ball repeatedly, despite shouts of ‘tranquilo’ (calm) from their ranks.

Then up stepped Yahia Omar for Egypt, repeatedly punishing the Cape Verde defence, ending with 11 goals, the best player award and another spot in the global last eight.

And in a nice moment of Fair Play, both teams started shaking hands with 10 seconds left on the game clock, knowing their journeys were going in very different ways.

hummel Player of the Match: Yahia Omar (Egypt)