It was Saturday evening in Argentina and football superstar Lionel Messi was playing for his club Paris Saint-Germain in a crunch tie in the French League, against Lens. At the same time, in the Palacio de los Deportes de Torrevieja, Argentina women’s national team enjoyed their first-ever win against a European team at an IHF Women’s World Championship, against Austria.

That win made the Argentina side trend on Twitter at the same time as Messi, an otherworldly feature for a side that had previously won only 14 of their 65 games at the world handball flagship competition and had never qualified for the main round.

It was only 22 years ago that Argentina were making their debut at the IHF Women’s World Championship, conceding three painful losses against Germany, Denmark and North Macedonia, scoring 24 goals and conceding 108.

Nos despertamos y parece que fue real, no fue un sueño lo de ayer ?

Lo soñamos durante 22 años y lo conseguimos ???? pic.twitter.com/oKhbIvfbsu

— Sel. Argentina Handball ?? (@CAHandball) December 5, 2021

Four years later, at Croatia 2003, the South American side scored 40 goals and conceded 116 against Ukraine, Romania and Norway. But their progress has been fantastic in the past years, as Argentina progressively got closer to European teams. By Japan 2019, they lost against Sweden by only seven goals, 23:30, paving their way to bridge the gap up until the point they took a historic 31:29 win against Austria at Spain 2021.

For a country that is not a handball powerhouse, but whose federation just celebrated its centenary, the South American side are clearly on the up, as the roster for Spain 2021 boasts 11 players who are playing abroad, being influenced by European handball.

“We are so happy to have won this game, both for myself and for my team. It is the first time we won against a European side, therefore it is truly a special moment for us. We fought through thick and thin throughout the whole game and we are just going to celebrate the moment,” said Argentina’s centre back Elke Karsten, who scored 11 goals in the game.

Since 2013, when she made her debut for the Argentina national team, Karsten has been a mainstay in the South American side, celebrating her 100th game for Argentina in the maiden game at Spain 2021, against the hosts. Coincidentally, she also scored her IHF Women’s World Championship 100th goal when she hit her first against Spain, boasting 113 goals in the competition before the final preliminary round match against PR of China.

While she may still be only 26 years old, this is her fifth edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship, and the stats keep piling for Karsten, who has also just hit the 300-goal milestone in her international career.

Her life story has been also nothing short of spectacular, navigating through a tough loss, the worst one in life, after her father passed away when she was only 13. Karsten, who also relied on him to be there when she took up handball, felt that everything crumbled, but the loss helped her mature early. Therefore, she was not averse of taking risks, becoming the first-ever Argentinian player to take the court in the Hungarian league, for DVSC-Schaeffler, and then moving to Norway to ply her trade for Molde HK.

At Molde, she also became the first Argentinian to ever don the court in the second-tier European competition, the EHF European League Women, adding to her overwhelming experience, despite being only 26 years old.

With an actual average age of 26.3 years, Argentina are not the oldest team in the competition, but coach Eduardo “Dady” Gallardo relies on an experienced core, as left back Manuela Pizzo is playing her sixth World Championship, the same as right wing Luciana Mendoza. Karsten is just behind, with five.

“We were close to a win many times before, but we just could not do it. But this time around, when it got really close, we really upped the tempo and we were just ready to do it. I am so proud of my team,” said Gallardo after the win against Austria.

For a country that has 40,000 players, both men and women, the win against Austria really hit home, especially when putting everything into context. Here was a side that had a winning percentage of 21.2% before Saturday’s game and really showed heart, grit and courage when Austria cancelled a seven-goal deficit to come back to only one goal.

“We had previously won a friendly game against Finland, but matches against European sides were too tough for us. But that win reassured us that we can do great things, when everything goes to plan. We sacrificed a lot, but we proved that if we fight and stay humble, we can win these games,” concluded Gallardo.

Now, Argentina have only one step to complete. They can even lose by six goals to PR of China in their last game in Group H and still proceed to the main round of the IHF Women’s World Championship – for the first time. They will be favoured against the Asian side, but need to show the same passion as in the game against Austria and would head to the next phase of the competition with a two-point tally.

Games against domestic rivals Brazil, Japan and EHF EURO 2020 bronze medallists Croatia await. Yet, for Argentina, this could really be their best tournament ever, having set their sights on improving on the 16th-place finish at Japan 2019.

To do that, they need to finish fourth in Group IV of the main round, which will also take place in Torrevieja. Only then, the likes of Karsten, Mendoza or Pizzo will be truly happy. But the route, the actual path that they have been carving for themselves in the past decade, is what matters the most. 

Photos: RFEBM / J. L. Recio