After leading by as many as six goals in the second half of their winner-takes-all clash against Bahrain on Sunday (19 January), Argentina had to sweat it out for the final seconds of the 60 minutes before sealing their main round spot at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship with a 26:25 win.

This represents the third time in the past three IHF Men’s World Championships (2021, 2023, 2025) that the South American side are through to the next stage, coinciding with the expansion of the event from 24 to 32 teams.

Giving their all

“Things were not going well during the last five minutes. I was exhausted. I had cramps in my legs four times, but we played with our heart,” said Argentina centre back Pedro Martinez Cami Garcia to ihf.info about holding off Bahrain in the closing seconds.

“In my mind, with this passion and trust on this team, I already knew that we would not lose this match and would win.”

The win against the Asian side had come after defeats to Croatia (33:18) and Egypt (39:25) in their earlier preliminary games which had seen a total of 32 turnovers in both, but against Bahrain, they recorded just one in an almost perfect first half, which saw them take a five-goal (16:11) into the half-time break.

“This has been our main problem for many, many years; that when we have these 5,10, minutes of not playing good handball, with some turnovers, we lose the games. Or, when we are winning, then the other team come back in the match,” said the 24-year-old.

“This has been our weakest point, because when we play our best handball, we can compete against every, almost every national team so we have to keep working on this.”

New teams, new challenge

Rodolfo Jung’s team will now face Croatia, Slovenia and Cape Verde in the main round, where they will stay in Zagreb, and Martinez is looking forward to the new challenge.

“Our main objective now is to compete in every match. We have no pressure now and will play our best handball across the next three games,” said the Sporting Clube de Portugal player.

“We would like to win every match and we know that Slovenia and Iceland will be really difficult, but we also know that if we play our best handball, we can compete against them. We don’t want to lose the matches in the way we lost against Egypt and Croatia, because this team can compete for at least 40, 45, 50 minutes.

“If we win against Cape Verde, for us, it will be a really, really good tournament. We want to qualify for the next Olympic Games and we have to start building a new team from now on.”

 

 

 

 

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Preparing for the future

That new team is starting to take shape, with nine of Argentina’s 16-man squad in Croatia playing in their first IHF Men’s World Championship. The squad, with an average age of 26, now sees 25-year-old Martinez one of the most experienced in it, lying third in national team appearances – a complete difference from being the fourth-least experienced in the 14-man Paris 2024 Olympic Games squad.

“It's really weird for me, because at the last tournament with the national team, the Olympic Games in Paris, I was still the youngest player, the one who has to carry the balls and all the stuff,” said Martinez.

“Now, I'm older, and one of the most experienced guys in the team, along with Lucas Moscariello, and I'm trying to give a good example to the young players. Outside the court, I’m trying to give advice if I can and trying to work hard, trying to inspire these new young players.”

So, who’s carrying the balls now?

“Juan Gull,” says the centre back, smiling. “I feel weird (not carrying them) because I'm only carrying my shoes and my bag and I feel like I should be carrying something else, but I will get used to this.”

New coach, familiar face

Anyone seeing the Argentina squad line up will notice the family names of coach, Rodolfo Jung and centre back, Martin Jung – with the father-son duo joining up for their first IHF Men’s World Championship in Croatia after Rodolfo took the role last September. 

And Martinez is quick to point out that the family link does not affect the squad balance, although it does allow for a bit of fun, within reason.

“I am lucky that I already had this situation at Colegio (Ward, handball club) in Argentina, because Rodolfo was my former coach there and Martin was also my teammate, so I already feel this experience,” said a laughing Martinez when asked if they joke to Martin about getting special treatment from his father.

“They are professional (together). We can make some jokes, like at dinner in the hotel, but when we train, are in a video session or in a match, we are all professional and we are all the same inside the court.”

Those video sessions from coach Jung helped his side to their victory over Bahrain, with Martinez and his players pouring over every aspect of their Asian opponents, thanks to the coaching staff analysing their videos over a 15-day period.

And in the media conference following that victory, coach Gull revealed that his players may have got a little bit “tired” of watching them, but Martinez appreciated the attention to detail.

“I'm, in a way, a ‘nerd of handball’, when I have to play in these kinds of matches,” said the player, who has appeared over 140 times for the senior side.

“I'm used to watching many, many videos and, maybe, this is one of the pieces of advice I would give to the young players: that we have to study more, watch video together, discuss about the players we are playing against. The young players will have to learn and have to get used to this, because it’s our only way to work hard and try to compete against the main teams in these kinds of tournaments.”

Key players missed on court, but not in squad

In addition to the nine world championship debutants, the South American side are also without a wealth of experience, missing the brothers of Diego and Pablo Simonet, crucial players inextricably linked to the rise of the Argentinean men’s squad in recent years, and have also had to replace key player Lucas Moscariello after the line player fractured his hand against Croatia in their second match.

“’Mosca’ was one of our most important players inside the court, and also, he's one of the captains of the team,” said Martinez about the player, who is staying in Zagreb to support and assist his team.

“For me, and for all of the players, it's good to have Mosca close to us, because in a way, we will play also for him. He would do anything to play in this match, and he wasn't lucky because of this injury. We play for our country, but also for him.

“I spoke with them some days ago and they are in contact with us,” added the player about the Simonet brothers, who are missing the championship for personal reasons. 

“They were my inspiration when I was younger and it is a privilege for me to play with them at so many tournaments. Now, it’s unlucky they are not in this tournament, but I hope – and would love – to have them again as teammates. This time they are not here, but I think they will be back, and they will help this team to achieve big, big things.”