With a superb and dazzling attacking display, Chile recorded their first win at the 27th IHF Men’s World Championship with a convincing 44:33 win against the Republic of Korea.

This was also the largest margin of victory for Chile at an IHF Men’s World Championship and the game in which they scored most goals.

PRESIDENT’S CUP GROUP II
Chile vs Republic of Korea 44:33 (24:17)

The President’s Cup is a chance for teams to redeem themselves after failing to progress to the main round, so that was exactly what Chile tried to do against the Republic of Korea.

From the eliminated teams, only Tunisia have scored more goals than Chile’s 84 in the first three games, therefore Korea, which conceded the most goals in the preliminary round, 113, had their work cut out.

It was full-on attack from the two sides from the start, with Chile taking the early lead, as backs Rodrigo Salinas and Erwin Feuchtmann had a hand in all of the South American side’s first 12 goals.

As Korea tried to cut Chile’s three-goal lead, 12:9, Salinas and Feuchtmann pressed even more the wilting Korean defence, to combine for 15 goals and five assists in the first half.

Boasting an 86 percent shooting efficiency after missing only four shots, Chile cruised to a 24:17 lead, as the two teams tied for the most number of goals scored in a first-half at Egypt 2021, 41, recorded in another game played by Korea, against Slovenia.

It was an afternoon of broken records for the Chilean side. First, their last goal scored in the first half, by the same Salinas, was their 1000th at the IHF Men’s World Championship.

But in pursuing their win in the second half, they also broke their record of goals scored in a game at the World Championship, 35, against Japan and Bahrain at France 2017.

The two teams continued to trade goals and Chile were impossible to stop, taking a 44:33 win, as this was the game with the second highest scoring game at Egypt 2021, 77, only three behind the 80 scored in the match featuring Slovenia and Korea.

It was also Chile’s largest margin of victory in the competition, beating the nine-goal win against Australia, 32:23, at Spain 2013.

With his 12-goal performance against the Koreans, Salinas jumped to the first place in the goal scorer standings, tying Sander Sagosen with 30 goals, while his teammate, Erwin Feuchtmann, is now third with 26.

hummel Player of the Match: Erwin Feuchtmann, Chile