A Qatar player (in white) shoots at the Angolan goal post during their Men’s Junior World Championship match.
Group B at the 2015 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship continued saw a close match between Angola and Qatar, which ended in a second victory for the Asian side.
Angola had been playing better every time they stepped on the court at Brazil 2015; a fact made clear on Thursday when the scoreboard showed 6:6 after 15 minutes. Angola’s attack may have been struggling, but they attributed the score line to fast breaks and defence backed up by keeper Fernando Tchakandja Wakela.
With five minutes left in the half, Qatar crept ahead to a three-goal lead (11:8), holding a two-goal advantage at the break.
When the second period began Angola made it clear the game was far from over – within the first minutes they levelled the score before two fast breaks from right wing Otiniel Anderson Pascoal put them two goals in front (12:14, 35th minute).
Qatar once again decreased the score line to draw equal midway through the half (17:17).
A red card after three two-minute suspensions for Angola’s Ljliano Patrik Pedro had Angola one player down at a crucial point in the match (21:19, 22nd minute), before Wakela saved a fast break goal in the 23rd minute to keep the score where it was.
Qatar began to pull further away but Angola came heartbreakingly close again – a fast-break goal on the buzzer ended the match with just a one-goal difference, and Angola were forced to leave with the zero points they began the game with.
“We are improving our game match by match. We need more matches like this to improve our level. We don’t have important matches constantly.
“Today we just missed because we didn’t believe that it was possible to win. Qatar also took advantage the numerical superiority in the second half to win,” said Angola head coach Filipe De Carvalho Cruz.