ZAGREB, Croatia — Egypt has secured a place in the main round of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, following their second consecutive victory in Group H, where the African champions decisively defeated Bahrain 35-24 in Zagreb.
Next up for Egypt is co-hosts Croatia on Sunday while Bahrain will take on Argentina.
Both coaches made one change each to their squads of 16 ahead of this clash with Egypt coach Juan Carlos Pastor brining in debutant centre back Seif Hany for left back Abdelrahman Abdou, while Aron Kristjansson saw his hand forced, as line player Sayed Mahmood Alfalahi came in for the injured Abdulla Alzaimoor.
The early battles were even as Pastor opted to start with goalkeeper Karim Hendawy, who did not feature in their opening win against Argentina.
But after Ahmed Adel put Egypt 3:2 ahead after five minutes his side moved up a gear and pushed the lead to four two minutes later (6:2), thanks to a Yahia Omar fast-break.
Bahrain did their best to keep in touch, but by the 14th minute, thanks to Hendawy – the 36-year-old ending the half with eight saves (42%) – the lead had grown to five (10:5), moving to seven (16:9) just before the break as the Bahrain attack could not find a way through the Egypt defence.
A late burst just before the break brought the difference back to five (16:11), but Egypt kept doing just enough to keep their noses in front, pushing Bahrain into making technical mistakes and causing Kristjansson to rip his accreditation off in frustration at one point.
One of the highlights for Egypt was the debut of Al Ahli’s Seif Hany, part of the Egyptian men’s youth squad who won the 2019 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in North Macedonia.
Having missed the opener against Argentina, he was brought on for the last quarter and within three seconds of stepping on the court, had already scored his first goal.
According to the International Handball Federation’s official website, Pastor had called for his side to be faster in attack after their opener and Hany – and his team – certainly answered that request.
Egypt, in the opening match of Group H in Arena Zagreb, enjoyed a perfect start of their campaign, thanks to a solid team performance, comfortably stunning Argentina, 39:25.
The South American side team, which has considerably renewed their squad after playing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, did not enjoy a single lead in this match, falling behind early.
Egypt earned three penalty shots already in the opening minutes, converting two of them, which helped them to open up a 5:2 lead by the sixth minute.
Then Argentina suffered two blows when they lost key defender Pedro Martinez, who saw a red card for a heavy hit on Ali Zein. 12 minutes later, left wing Ramiro Benacedo also received a red card for a rough challenge on Ahmed Khairi, leaving Argentina even more vulnerable.
In contrast, the Egyptians looked disciplined, and they punished their rivals for mistakes time after time, steadily increasing the gap.
Goalkeeper Mohamed Aly recorded a 41 per cent save rate in the first half, and right wing Mohamad Sanad was on fire, scoring all his six goals in this match before the break.
Their team relied on counterattacks and led by double digits at half-time, 21:11, boasting 75 per cent shot efficiency.
Soon after the restart, left back Tomas Canete became the third Argentinian players to receive a red card, which further reduced his team’s options.
However, the South Americans somewhat improved their performance compared to the first half.
Partly it was due to Egypt relaxing their approach and losing momentum for a while, as they scored just four goals during 10 opening minutes of the second half.
Argentina’s line player Lucas Moscariello did a good job in the second half, scoring six of his seven goals after the break, which helped him to become the top scorer of the encounter.
However, Egypt firmly held their advantage, hardly giving their rivals a chance for a strong comeback, and as Juan Carlos Pastor rotated his squad, 13 of 14 outfield players netted at least once.
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