JOENKOEPING, Sweden – Egypt is the first team from Group G to secure the main round at 2023 World Handball Championship after sealing an 11-goal victory over Morocco.
The Pharaohs will close the group stage against the United States and try to claim the top of the group. Morocco will clash with Croatia.
Egypt vs Morocco 30-19
Morocco knew they had a tough challenge ahead. Still, they entered the match with full concentration. Having the first lead of the match, they could even have gained a two-goal lead, but Egypt’s third goalkeeper Mohamed Aly said not today and saved two times in a row.
“We were not under stress like we were on the first day against Croatia, but we are satisfied with the second victory. We played against Morocco, who have improved a lot in the last few years”, said Egypt’s head coach Roberto Parrondo at the press conference after the match.
Aly made it to the squad list after head coach Roberto Parrondo decided to give goalkeeper Karim Hendawy and team captain Mohamed Mamdouh Shebib a rest as his team had already qualified for the main round.
The 5-0 series of goals saw Egypt take the 5-2 lead after three turnovers in succession by the opponents. However, the Pharaohs did not capitalize on Morocco’s mistakes. Moreover, Atlas Lions’ team captain Alae Laaroussi responded with his five saves at 50 per cent save efficiency and assisted Ryad Lakbi to cut the lead to one (5-6).
It took five minutes for Morocco to score their sixth goal against Egypt. What happened? Well, Aly, again. The 30-year-old goalkeeper of Elemental Sinfín allowed his team to create a new 5-0 goal run for 11-5 on the scoreboard. Morocco only managed to reduce the deficit to 13-9 before the break.
Egypt soon restored their lead and was propelled to the biggest in the match by eight goals. It was obvious that the Moroccan players did not have the experience to keep up with an opponent like Egypt. Lack of strength in shots and not-so-good anticipation stopped them from netting for six minutes.
Besides that, Morocco could not find a solution against the Egyptian defence, now backed up by Abdelrahman Homayed, who picked up where Aly had left off. In the end, Homayed had a total of 14 saves at a rate of 58 per cent, which makes an overall 52 per cent of the two goalkeepers combined.
Egypt was on the course for victory, with Parrondo giving a chance on the court to players who had little to no minutes against Croatia in round one. For comparison, left wing Omar El-Wakil and right wing Mohammad Sanad never entered the court while they played for more than 50 minutes against Croatia.
The score stretched out to 26-16, hitting the double-digits for the first time in the match. Not much changed as the final whistle was approaching. Egypt celebrated a clear win and a main round berth, giving them a good position ahead of the last round of Group G.
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