Free-flowing Spain dominate Japan to clinch main round spot
18 Jan. 2025

Spain were more composed and clear-cut than in their opener against Chile at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship and secured a main round spot with the second win of the competition, 39:20, against Japan, piling on the pressure on the Asian side, which conceded their third largest loss in their history.
GROUP F
Spain vs Japan 39:20 (20:11)
While in the first match against Chile the big guns were more or less rested, Jordi Ribera sent everything he had available in the Spain’s second match at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, against Japan, feeling that this match might be a touch more difficult than in their opener.
After being in the stands for the first match, Petar Cikusa Jelicic made his debut at the World Championship for Spain, but at first, Ribera aimed to get a fast start from his team and had the most experienced player on the court, such as Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, Alex Dujshebaev or Agustin Casado.
However, it did not go out as planned for “Los Hispanos”, which missed several good chances, as goalkeeper Daisuke Okamoto started with three saves, including two in the same attack, to help the Asian side take a 2:0 lead. It looked like a dream start for Japan, but Spain woke up quickly.
Following a 6:0 unanswered run, started with their first goal of the match after three minutes and two seconds, the bronze medallists from the 2021 and 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship editions retook control of the match, only hampered by two goals in quick succession from Japan, which cut the gap to only three goals, 8:5.
It was the last time when Japan really went close with Spain, despite Ribera having more injury woes after left wing Daniel Fernandez injured his ankle after an attacking foul during a Spain attack, leaving the game carrried by his teammates, but walking unaided after the break on the team’s bench.
With Spain already facing an injury crisis on the right wing, where Aleix Gomez and Kauldi Odriozola are out, Ribera needed to rely on debutant Ian Barrufet, but that did not make any meaningful impact, as the European side jumped to a clear 20:11 lead at the break, as Japan crumbled under the pressure.
Spain’s average attack duration was only 25 seconds until the 48th minute, with Petar Cikusa Jelicic and line player Abel Serdio scoring each six goals until that moment, while goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas worked wonders between the posts, with 13 saves and a 48% saving efficiency.
As their defence won more and more balls, with Japan exceeding 20 turnovers in the match, Spain relied on fast breaks to bring the goals and with 10 minutes to go the gap was even bigger than at the break, 33:16, with Japan’s lack of experience being the deciding factor in the match.
Eventually, Japan did not avoid another big loss, 20:39, with the Asian side conceding their third largest loss in history, with Spain seeing Serdio and Petar Cikusa score 13 goals between them, with the latter being named the hummel Player of the Match.
With two wins in two matches, Spain are now in the main round, and will take at least two points into the next phase of the competition, with the decider against Sweden deciding the number of points they will carry over.
On the other hand, Japan lost their second match by double digits and Toni Gerona’s side will now face a must-win match against Chile on Monday, a win seeing them through to the next phase.
hummel Player of the Match: Petar Cikusa Jelicic (Spain)