Qatar coach Valero Rivera gestures at his players during their IHF Men’s Junior World Championship match against Portugal in Uberlandia, Brazil. Right: A Qatar player celebrates after scoring a goal against Portugal in their IHF Men’s Junior World Championship Group B match in Uberlandia, Brazil.
Qatar and Spain made it to the Eighth-Finals after wins over Portugal and Serbia respectively in the 2015 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Uberlandia, Brazil.
While Qatar posted a comfortable 26-20 win, Spain overturned a half-time one-goal deficit to win 28-21 against Serbia.
Qatar, playing the first match of the day, took only four minutes to find the back of the net. They quickly scored again while at the other end Portugal struggled against an active Qatar defence backed by strong goalkeeping from Rasheed Yusuff.
Miguel Martins scored the first goal for Portugal – a penalty in the 5th minute – but they had to wait almost another five minutes for the second as Qatar created fast counter-attacks that helped them race ahead on the score board to 6-1. Portugal’s second goal came just before the 10-minute mark.
Yusuff was outstanding, giving the European side’s shooters a lot of trouble, while Portugal’s Joao Moniz was not quite his usual standard between the posts. Fifteen minutes in, Qatar were up by four at 7-3.
Qatar marked Martins out in attack, which created even more trouble for Portugal, who rely on the centre back’s leadership. At the break, Qatar held a five-goal lead.
The second 30 minutes continued in the same way – Qatar played aggressive defence while Portugal fought to level the score, but they made errors in attack that allowed the Asian side to increase the score line and finish with a six-goal advantage at the final whistle.
Spain’s speedy attack met Serbia’s big back court in a battle of coaching tactics.
After five minutes the score was 3-2 in favour of Spain before Serbia turned the game in their favour – despite five technical faults already – to quickly pull ahead by three (6-3) in the 11th minute. At this point five of Serbia’s six goals had been scored by centre back Nemanja Mladenovic, and goalkeeper Vladimir Cupara had made five saves while at the other end, Spain keeper Ignacio Biosca Garcia was yet to record any.
Spain came closer as the half progressed and Biosca settled in to give Serbia some trouble. Adrian Fernandez Clemente scored a penalty goal on the buzzer to put the score at 13-12 in favour of Serbia at the break.
When the second half began a series of technical errors allowed Spain to level the score then take the lead. Ten minutes in, they were ahead by two (17-15) courtesy some stylish positional play, tactical defence and counter attacks, and by the 45th minute held a three-goal advantage.
Serbia coach Dejan Peric continuously switched up the defensive style, but it was not enough and Spain retained the advantage as the clock ticked down. When left wing Francisco Arino Garcia scored in the 29th minute to take the score to 20-27, it was clear the two points would go to Spain.
In the first match of the day, Romania beat Angola 39-29 to add two more points to their tally.
Angola were the first on the scoreboard with a well-executed play that ended with line player Enio Denilso Da Sousa. But Romania soon joined them and did not take long to create a narrow lead that prompted Angola coach Filipe De Carvalho Cruz to call the first time-out in the seventh minute.
Dan Emil Racotea played out of position in centre back, leading Romania’s attack well, but at the other end goalkeeper Ionut Ciprian Iancu was frustrated with their defence.
Despite some impressive saves from goalkeeper Fernando Tchakandja Wakela and outstanding goals in set play by Angola, Romania increased their lead to 9-3 by the 15th minute. At half-time, Romania were ahead by five – a score line they maintained through to the 45th minute (28-23).
In the last 15 minutes Romania capitalised on fast breaks and counter attacks, pulling further in front to finish with a 10-goal victory.
The top scorer of the match was Romania’s Nicusor Andrei Negru with 18 goals. (IHF)
