LYON, France — Egypt, already qualified, defeated Argentina 34-27 in their final Group B match of the handball competitions at the 2024 Paris Olympics, securing second place behind Denmark, the three-time world champions.
The Pharaohs will now clash with Spain in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, and if they qualify for the semi-finals, they will face the winner of France and Germany.
After four straight defeats, Argentina was looking to bow out in style, and for a long time, it looked like they had a chance to win their last match in the tournament. But Egypt ultimately had the upper hand with seven points.
Diego Simonet was back in Argentina’s squad after missing three games due to an injury, and it gave his team some extra boost, so the South Americans looked inspired and quickly seized the initiative.
Spurred by some Juan Bar’s saves, they used an impressive 5:0 run to pull clear at 9:5 in the 13th minute.
However, ‘The Pharaohs” were also looking for their third win at the preliminary stage, and they started to catch up. Just like Bar, his Egyptian colleague Karim Hendawy made some saves, and the African team’s defence overall improved, helping the team to fight back into the game.
The chase was quite long, yet a 3:0 run between minutes 25 and 29 helped Egypt to finally draw level at 14:14.
They had a chance to pull in front when Hendawy threw at the empty net from his own half, but he missed, and then Pablo Simonet gave Argentina a half-time lead with his last-second goal.
Propelled by Yahia Omar and the Elderaa brothers, “The Pharaohs” enjoyed a 4:0 run early in the second half to create a 19:16 lead, yet soon it was all square again, as the South Americans hit back following a timeout.
In the 43th minute, Argentina was in front 22:21, but it proved to be their last lead in this match.
In the last quarter of an hour, the South Americans looked tired and made a lot of mistakes, so Egypt was clearly superior.
Hendawy ended the game with 15 saves and a 36 per cent saving efficiency, while Ali Zein and Seif Elderaa became their top scorers with six goals apiece.
“‘The Pharaohs” celebrated a win and now hope to finish second in Group B, while Argentina should be credited for their fighting spirit for most of the match. However, the South Americans lost all five games in the tournament, just like at Tokyo 2020, and they are on a 12-game losing run at the Olympics.
Germany, meanwhile, finished off the preliminary round at the Olympic Games with their fourth win in five matches, 36:29 against Slovenia, clinching the first place in the final standings and potentially setting up a crunch quarter-final against hosts France.
On the other hand, Slovenia finished on the second place, as they cannot go lower, due to owning the tie-breaker against Sweden and any team between Croatia and Spain, which will face off for the last ticket to the quarter-finals in the last match of the preliminary round.
Germany and Slovenia were the two teams which started with six points in Group A before the last matchday of the preliminary round and the head-to-head match was going to produce the group winner. The caveat? Finishing first might had dealt the group winners a potential match against France in the quarter-finals, as the hosts played the next match, against Hungary.
But at the Olympic Games, no team would want to concede a loss. Therefore, both Germany and Slovenia set off to try and deliver their best performance, with the first minutes of the match underlining their desire.
Germany took the early lead, 3:1, but Slovenia bounced back, set off on a 3:0 unanswered run and took the lead for the first time, 7:5.
It was always going to be a question about rhythm and the team which imposed its style of play would win the match.
Was it going to be Germany, with their fast-paced style? Or Slovenia which liked to wind the clock down and use a slower tempo, with an accent on defence?
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