Egypt reach knockouts with draw against Sweden

Egypt’s Aly Mohamed is blocked by Swedish players during their match yesterday. Mohamed scored 4 goals in the 25-25 draw. PICTURE: Anas Khalid

By Yash Mudgal/DohaCrowd favourite Egypt and twice runners-up Denmark qualified for the pre-quarterfinals of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship yesterday.Double Olympic champions and European champions France, who had already qualified for the pre-quarterfinals along with Sweden, registered an easy 32-26 victory over African champions Algeria at Duhail Sports Hall. Denmark defeated Russia 31-28 in the late Group D match at Lusail Multipurpose Hall to enter the next round.Egypt held former champions Sweden 25-25 in another thrilling Group C match to qualify for the knock-out stage. Both the teams had their chances to take a win, but in the end both sides had to be satisfied with the result. The result leaves Sweden on seven points while Egyptians have two less. The frantic support of Egyptian fans in a yet another sold-out Ali Bin Hamad Al Atiyyah Arena in Al Sadd was a clear sign that Sweden won’t have it easy.“It was a very tough game, and a big battle between the two teams. I am satisfied with the way we came back and got the draw because Egypt were leading for most of the game. We showed our character in the last minutes and this is a positive from the match,” Sweden coach Ola Lindgren said.Sweden began with Johan Sjostrand between the posts, instead of No. 1 goalkeeper, Mattias Andersson. However, Sjostrand was not to blame for the less-than-impressive performance by the Swedes.Sweden took an early 6-4 lead, thanks to winger Niklas Ekberg, but after a time-out from the African side, two main characters on the court started to stand out: goalkeeper Karim Handawy and left back Aly Mohamed. Egypt leveled the result and even took a 10-9 lead four minutes before the half-time break. Johan Sjostrand stopped a shot from Mohamed Ramadan just before the buzzer to keep his team in balance at 10-10.But the second-half was an example of how one outstanding player can change everything on the court. And this player was the experienced Egyptian right back Ahmed Elahmar, who took the game into his own hands. Egypt started to build up a run of goals with him as the leader and the score read 17-13, forcing the Swedish coaches Olsson and Lindgren to call time-out on the 40-minute mark.Egypt were five goals up 23-18 with 13 minutes left; the game seemed to be heading in one direction but the Swedes had other ideas.Swedish defensive giants found a way to stop Elahmar. And the Scandinavians scored a few easy goals and mounted a late comeback.Swedish right wing Ekberg scored a hat-trick of goals to take his team back in the lead (25-24) with only three minutes left on the clock.Elahmar scored the late equaliser with only 80 seconds left, which was his ninth goal of the night. Sweden found themselves with the ball and only a matter of seconds left, but, frustratingly for the them, they couldn’t find a winner.“I am thankful to God for the draw which is a big result for Egypt. However, we had the opportunity to win it, but it didn’t happen because of a few mistakes we committed in the last minutes. We were a little bit unlucky, but, on the other hand, to tie with Sweden is not something that happens very often,” Egypt coach Marwan Ragab said.On his prediction for the next round, the coach said, “I have no prediction for the next round. The only thing I am thinking about is the Iceland game. I will repeat it once again that we will take it one game at a time. However, I am sure that my team will give its best and play with a big heart.”Ekberg was the top-scorer for Sweden with 10 goals.In the next match in the arena, the French started aggressively and opened the score in the first minute, doubling the score 20 seconds later en route to a 32-26 victory over Algeria in the group C match.Yet, Algeria showed from the outset that they were not here purely for statistics and experience. After Algeria evened the match, the French increased their attacking power and retook the lead with the game developing at a very fast pace. France were extremely organised but it didn’t prevent Algeria from finding loopholes in their defence regularly, reducing the French lead to three to four goals. Messaoud Berkous was particularly dangerous with his sharp shooting for Algeria. Valentin Porte was the most prolific scorer for France at this stage. It’s worth mentioning that France’s powerhouse Nikola Karabatic was on the bench during the first-half.Closer to the break French slowed their pace a bit, concentrating mainly on increasing their advantage before half-time yet keeping their defence solid. They were quite successful with these tactics.Algeria started the second-half with frantic attacking activity, scoring a couple of goals on the wings of enthusiasm and determination which notably reduced the French goal difference.The French tried to reduce the tempo as well as Algerian enthusiasm. Still Algeria were not showing any signs of tiredness or lack of energy, being pushed to attack by their constantly singing, chanting and drum-beating vociferous fans.Midway through the second half, the French lead had been reduced to a solitary goal without much luck or precision in scoring. Nikola Karabatic was still nowhere to be seen in the field of play. The game was so tense at this point that both teams were committing numerous fouls.However, the French managed to increase pressure on the Algerians and started to widen the gap for good. Guigou was France’s top-scorer with seven goals whereas Berkous was the most prolific scorer for Algeria with 11.