Group G: Two intercontinental encounters in Round 2

After winning their first matches at the 27th Men’s World Championship, Egypt and Sweden will try to secure their spots in the main round on Saturday, playing against North Macedonia and Chile respectively.

Egypt vs North Macedonia 19:00 CAT

The hosts Egypt started the tournament with a 35:29 victory against Chile and find themselves currently in second place in Group G, behind Sweden with only one goal difference.

Although the ‘Pharaohs’ somewhat slowed down in the second half, their coach Roberto Garcia Parrondo was overall happy with their performance and told the media that he expects the team to improve during the competition. 

Egypt were missing their veteran Ahmad El-Ahmar, as the 36-year-old right back suffered from pain in his back after a friendly match with Japan and Parrondo did not want to risk his health. However, now the coach expects El-Ahmar to be ready for the game on Saturday.

Egypt will meet North Macedonia for the second time at an IHF Men’s World Championship, and interestingly enough, their previous encounter also took place in the Land of Pharaohs, as the home side defeated their European rivals 30:24 in 1999.

The upcoming game will be special for Parrondo, who was an assistant coach of the Balkan team between 2017 and 2019. Besides, the Spaniard led HC Vardar to their 2019 EHF Champions League triumph.

North Macedonia, who replaced Czech Republic at the World Championship just before it threw off, opened their campaign with a 20:32 defeat against to Sweden.

However, coach Danilo Brestovac believes that his team will show signs of improvement on Saturday. “I expect a better game against Egypt, we will prepare well for the game, and I hope for a good result,” he said.

Chile vs Sweden 21:30 CAT

Similar to Egypt, Sweden began the competition on a positive note, as good defence and fast counterattacks saw the ‘Tre Kronor’ defeat North Macedonia by 12 goals.

“We followed our game plan to 100 per cent, we played a fantastic defence, which resulted in many fast breaks. I am very happy, especially given that we had only two trainings before this match,” Sweden’s coach Glenn Solberg said after the match.

Hampus Wanne had a special impact for the Scandinavian team, finishing the game with 11 goals. However, the left wing preferred to focus on the team effort in his post-match comments.

“We have about ten players who are making their debut at this level. But this match showed that we definitely can play handball,” he said.

Now Sweden hope to earn another win on Saturday, when they will play against Chile. The two teams have already faced each other ten years ago, and actually it was Chile’s first ever match at the World Championship. Tre Kronor, who hosted the competition, then claimed a 28:18 win.

Despite an opening defeat against Egypt, La Roja still hope to reach the main round. Yet, even though they desperately needs points, it will hard for Mateo Garralda’s men to upset their Scandinavian opponents.