Chile defeat Argentina in South American classic

South and Central American champions Argentina defeated by bronze medallists Chile in the opening match of the fourth round of group D games at the Pavillon Municipal de Deportes de Pontevedra.

GROUP D
Chile vs Argentina 25:22 (14:10)

At the final buzzer Chile’s Vicente Gonzalez fell to the floor having made his 11th save of the match and his teammates piled onto the prone goalkeeper on court in pure happiness.

Chile had eased to a three-goal win over the South and Central American champions and got their first two points of Spain 2019 and with them, killed the chances of the Argentina side progressing through to the eighth-finals.

It was bittersweet though as Chile themselves will not be progressing through to the knockout stages after three previous losses.

But they started this South American clash full of vigour, racing to 9:3 lead (12th minute), thanks to five goals from Aaron Codina as his side dominated the Argentina defence, slicing through with ease and causing Fernando Capurro to take a time out within the opening 10 minutes.

Chile did their best to invite Argentina back through their own ill-discipline with suspensions for Benjamin Illesca and Jose Luis Lopez, and their opponents did partially, but they could only get within three up to the break where they went in for some rethinking four goals down (14:10).

Julio Baumann had registered six strikes for Argentina by the break and Gonzalez five saves, but the expected early second half onslaught from the Argentinians never came despite more Chilean suspensions (Baumann and Francisco Ahumada) inviting them to come back. 

A 4:0 run (35-40th minute) put Pablo Nunez’s Chile up 18:12, and the game was over as a contest right up until the last 90 seconds when Tomas Canete had an opportunity to bring his side within one, but he shot over. 

Maximiliano Cabrera then went down the other end to score his sides’ 25th goal and spark the Chilean celebrations. Baumann ended with nine goals for Chile, while Pedro Martinez Cami and Tomas Ezequiel Flores finished with four goals apiece for Argentina.

“Our plan for this match was very clear even though we knew it was not going to be easy,” said Chile coach Pablo Nunez after the match to SpainHandball19.com. “Yesterday they played a great match against Denmark in which they made a big effort to stay in touch, but we knew that if we played with a lot of intensity and understanding of their tactics, we could hurt them.

“We were lucky to keep the game in our favour by making adjustments to our 5:1 defensive system and were aware that 90% of the match would depend on this.”

Best Player of the Match: Vicente Gonzalez (CHI)