The second matchday of the 2018 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in Kazan, Russia, confirmed the 12 teams who will compete in the main round and the four in the consolation round from tomorrow.

2018 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship
Preliminary Round – Day 2

- Title holders Croatia along with Spain and Sweden end preliminary round with maximum points
- Debutants Vietnam progress from Group B
- Uruguay win battle of Pan-America in Group A against Argentina to finish second
- Hosts Russia finish second in Group D
- Group C sees Qatar, Denmark and Oman all finish on four points to qualify

Group A
While Croatia and Iran had both already qualified for the main round, there was still pride to play for and the Croats showed plenty of it, winning 2:0 to end their preliminary group campaign with three wins out of three.

However, the big game in the group today was the all-Pan-American match-up between Uruguay and Argentina with the winner going through and the loser going out into the consolation round. Despite a strong first period when Argentina won by three points at the death (19:16), they literally threw it away as they were too relaxed, scoring just three times (five points) in a disastrous 10 minutes.

It went to a shootout and with Uruguay having lost their previous two games by the decider it was maybe their experience which counted as they put the pressure on Daniel Rodriguez to score for Argentin but his shot was saved, and Uruguay continue their journey in Russia.

Results
CRO-IRI 2:0 (23:22) (22:17)
URU-ARG 2:1 (16:19) (15:5) [8:6 SO]

Group B
Both games went to a shootout in group B and both games decided the top two and bottom two teams. 

Spain ensured they made it three wins from three with a 14:12 shootout win over Hungary on the central court as the Hungarians were left wondering what might have been after Bence Zakics missed a last-second penalty in the first period and Spain won it on the golden goal thanks to Gonzalo Perez de Vargas smashing home.

But the real drama and emotion was over on court two as both Vietnam and New Zealand knew a win in their match would see them into the main round on their senior world championship debut.

Vietnam won the first set clearly, by four points, but New Zealand, knowing history could be on their side, rallied and came back from 14:11 down with just over 60 seconds left to win 17:16 in the end, thanks to a pair of two-pointers from Nicholas Shields.

But in the shootout New Zealand lost their way as Vietnam opened the scoring with a spinshot through Nam Tien Huynh, Tim Rayner could only score a one-point shot and then the Asian side took at 6:1 lead after Ryan Roselli saw his spinshot saved at 4:1.

Vietnam then extended their lead to 6:1 but missed their next two penalties as New Zealand came back to within one (6:5). With Rayner in possession of the next ball he took the opportunity to shoot directly at the unguarded Vietnam goal only to hit the post and with the miss, Vietnam created their own little piece of history.

Results
ESP-HUN 2:1 (19:18) (16:22) [14:12 SO]
VIE-NZL 2:1 (18:14) (16:17) [6:5 SO]

Group C
Oman overcame their continental rivals Qatar in a shootout after a game full of passion which boiled over at times as the Omanis had both Yasir Al Harthi and Mehdi Al Suleimani disqualified.

Both teams went through to the main round, along with Denmark, who beat Australia 2:0 in the other group C game played at the same time.

In the clash of Asian rivals, Qatar had taken a time out with just five seconds left in the first period as Oman were 20:18 up, but after a well-rehearsed set play, Hani Kakhi had his shot saved by Hussain Al Jabri in the Omani goal.

After just three minutes of the second period, Al Harthi was sent to the stands with a red card and Qatar powered ahead to win 21:15.

Maybe it was their energy spent on celebrating, or something else, but Qatar did not start well in the shootout as Kakhi again missed a crucial scoring opportunity and Usama Al Kasbi then smashed past Amir Denguir in the Qatar goal to put his side 6:2 up and seemingly coasting.

But Qatar were not done as they brought it back to 8:8 and a change of ends. Hani Al Dughaishi subsequently spurned the chance to take an unassailable lead for Oman as he took too many steps and the impetus was now with Qatar, who started the sudden death part of the shootout first.

It was not until the fourth round of shots that there was a miss or save as Qatar's Hamdi Ayed saw his shot saved by Azan Al Azan. It was then left to Al Dughaishi to score the solitary point needed and spark wild celebrations from the Omanis. 

Results
QAT-OMA 1:2 (18:20) (21:15) [14:15 SO]
AUS-DEN 0:2 (18:19) (12:16)

Group D
Sweden kept their winning record in Kazan and their consistency of winning via a shootout – not making their lives any easier by having won all three games at Kazan 2018 that way and they dispatched the USA the same way today (9:8 on the shootout).

The final men’s game of the day on the central court saw another big clash for the Russian men as they took on the IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship record-holders Brazil. But with the game played in front of a packed crowd at full pace, Russia were clearly super-motivated for this one, not least thanks to the crowd chanting “Russ-i-a” throughout the match.

Russia had led early on by as much as six points (6:0) before Brazil came back into the game by the fifth minute, just one point down (10:9). Russian then extended their lead again (14:9) and when Thiago Claudio saw his shot sail over the goal after hitting the Russian bar with just over seven minutes on the clock, the host nation sensed victory.

But in a frantic final 60 seconds of the first period, Brazil came back again and when Roman Kalashnikov hit the bar for Russia, the South Americans can back within one (14:13). Egor Kochura then saw his shot saved by Pedro Wirtzbiki in the Brazilian goal and when their specialist Bruno Oliveira sped down the other end of the court to take a shot and give his side the lead for the first time, he mishandled.

Vladmir Poleatev then called a time out for his Russia side to calm the nerves and Kalashnikov immediately scored after it to make it 16:13 with six seconds left to take the win, despite Oliveira managing to get a shot in, which was saved again.

The Russians came out strong immediately at the start of the second period, going 2:0 up through Igor Neklyudov from the start and then it could have been doubled moments later when Anton Zaboltskiy’s brilliant save with his foot saw the ball ricochet all the way down to the Brazilian goal, but wide - a watching, relaxed, joking Russian team on the sideline was in stark contrast to their nerves yesterday.

But it is never a done deal against Brazil and Antonio Guerra Peixe moved his whole team about in a bid to get them to click and salvage the game as Oliveira again missed an opportunity to put his side level at 16:16 with 7 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock as his spin and lob was pushed onto the bar by Zaboltskiy.

Marcelo Machado was then shown a red card in the final minutes as the normally-reliable Gil Pires missed a penalty with under two minutes remaining.

There was even more drama to come as Konstantin Vinokur smashed his knee into Thiago Barcellos in the closing moments as the Russian attempted to further stretch the lead and even though the Brazilians came within one in the final result, Russia were safe to claim the scalp.

Results
BRA-RUS 0:2 (13:16) (20:21)
USA-SWE 1:2 (16:24) 21:20) [8:9 SO]