Following the first day of results yesterday, four teams in the men’s competition are in a strong position today to confirm their place in the main round as the 2018 Youth Olympic Games heats up in Buenos Aires.

2018 Youth Olympic Games – Buenos Aires

Matchday 2: Men’s Preliminary Round – Tuesday 9 October

- Argentina, Italy, Hungary and Spain all on maximum points can seal main round spot later today
- Teams without a win – Paraguay, Mauritius, Uruguay and Venezuela – fighting to stay alive
- Italy start the day with the best goalscoring (102 goals) and defensive (50 conceded) records in the whole men’s competition
- Home team Argentina face Portugal and Mauritius

For the match schedules and results click HERE and HERE. How to Follow the Games HERE.

Men’s Preliminary Round: Group A
The second day of men’s action gets underway with a group A cracker on the centre court as joint table-toppers Spain and Hungary play each other in the morning clash.

While it is spicy enough with both teams fighting for the group lead, Spain beat Hungary in the final of the U17 EHF EURO final in Zagreb last year and the Hungarians will be out to show the Spanish that it was just an off-day for them.

Venezuela and Uruguay, both on zero points, will at least get off the mark today as they play each other in the afternoon session with the Venezuelans looking the stronger of the two teams already, having lost three of their four periods yesterday by just two points.

Thailand and Chinese Taipei can both end the day potentially in joint top spot with games against the leading pair in what is sure to be a day full of action and emotion.

Matches (all times local)
10:00 ESP vs HUN 
10:00 THA vs URU 
10:00 VEN vs TPE 
14:30 HUN vs THA
14:30 TPE vs ESP
14:30 VEN vs URU

Men’s Preliminary Round: Group B
Memories that lasted a lifetime were created yesterday, particularly for the Argentina side, playing in front of a home crowd featuring many friends and relatives, but the South Americans will need to ensure that those experiences are not the only thing they will remember as they face a tough opening matchday two game against Portugal, who are desperate to get their second win, following their shoot-out loss to Croatia.

The Croatians themselves are busy replicating their men’s senior team, after both of their games ended in shoot-outs yesterday, with a win and a loss. They have to start their day against Italy, who can boast the best scoring and defensive record in the men’s competition so far, having scored 102 points (on average, 51 points per game) and conceded just 50 in their two games.

Paraguay or Mauritius will definitely end the day with some points as the two bottom teams clash in the third of the morning session encounters.

Italy take on Portugal in the second session – a repeat of their Mauritius U17 World Championship encounter which Italy won 2:0 as they went on to win silver with coach Vincenzo Malatino admitting before Buenos Aires would put “everyone in difficulty” in the group – he will be hoping that it will not be his side that face any problems today and will be celebrating main round qualification at the end of the playing day.

Matches (all times local)
11:40 ARG vs POR
11:40 ITA vs CRO
11:40 PAR vs MRI
16:10 ARG vs MRI
16:10 POR vs ITA
16:10 CRO vs PAR