01/23/2021 1:26 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 01/23/2021 3:36 PM
The Argentine men's handball team faces Croatia
, the European power, for the second stage of the
World Cup in Egypt
, in a key match for their aspirations to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in history.
In Cairo,
Los Gladiadores already collide with Croatia
, with transmission from DeporTV and DirecTV Sports.
The meeting will be practically a heads up for a place in the top eight of the tournament.
They look like a wall.
The Gladiators start the game grouped in defense to avoid any penetration of the European runner-up and they shoot towards the rival goal.
The result is a quick 1-0 from Nacho Pizarro when the clock ticked 50 seconds.
That power and overwhelming attitude translates into a 5-0 in 5 minutes -two of which played with one man less- by the hot hands of Nacho and Federico Pizarro, Diego and Sebastián Simonet and the key saves of Leonel Maciel.
After that shake, Croatia managed to get into the game and force the infractions that simplified the task to cut the distance on the scoreboard.
The fact that Argentina played 10 of the 30 minutes of the first stage with one man less is not less, in addition to generating penalties that Cupic changed for a goal every time he got in front of the goal, although for the first one it took 10 minutes .
Ivan Cupic, Croatia's key man.
Photo EFE / EPA / Anne-Christine Poujoulat
Just at 17 minutes, one of the most powerful selected in the world managed to get just two goals away and that confidence encouraged them to seek a tie, which they finally achieved at 29 minutes, when luck was not on Maciel's side and the shot Sebetic's leaked out.
For the second half, Manolo Cadenas, the Spanish coach of Argentina, will have to pay attention to two players to avoid running out of them: Lucas Moscariello and Pedro Martínez, who already received two exclusions and one more will leave them out.
Leonel Maciel against Ivan Cupic in a moment of the match.
Photo EFE / EPA / Anne-Christine Poujoulat /
The Gladiators, who trailed two points from the first round, add 4 units in the second and are third after Denmark (6 points) and Croatia (5).
Qatar (2), Japan (1) and Bahrain (no units) complete the group.
Only the first two will go to the quarter-finals
, so the match against the Croats is very important.
Croatia has just beaten Bahrain 28-18, while Denmark (world and Olympic champion) confirmed that it is the favorite with a 32-23 victory over Qatar that has it as the leader of the Main Round with ideal scores.
The Argentines beat Japan 28-24 last Thursday in what was their first victory in a second-round match at a World Cup
, where the best performances of the national team -in the previous 12 participations- were twelfth in Sweden 2011 and Qatar 2015.
