EGYPT were forced to battle hard to stave off a strong challenge by Bahrain before they won an absorbing main round game, 26-22, last night in the 28th International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s World Handball Championship at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden.
Having started the second half leading 13-9, Egypt crept further ahead with goals by Ahmed Moamen and Yehia Eldaraa after Bahrain captain Husain Alsayyad scored the first goal within 30 seconds of resumption.
Egypt were now leading 15-10 but Bahrain struck again through Mohamed Mohamed to make it 11-15 before Elderaa and Mohammad Sanad (two goals in quick succession) put the Egyptians further ahead at 18-11 with 24 minutes left in the match.
Ali Eid and Ali Merza then scored two goals within a minute for Bahrain with the scoreboard reading 13-18.
The see-saw battle continued for the next few minutes with Egypt managing to convert their attempts at goal more regularly than the Bahrainis and, as the game entered its final 10 minutes, the Egyptians were leading 23-17.
Mohamed Ali then scored for Bahrain to make it 18-23 in the 51st minute but Egypt retaliated less than a minute later through a fine goal by Ahmed Mesilhy to make it 24-18.
Bahrain inched closer over the next three minutes, thanks to two goals by Alsayyad and one by Merza, to make it 21-24 and just under five minutes left on the clock.
Egypt replied within a minute with another goal by Elderaa – his fifth of the game – but Bahrain struck back in the 57th minute through Mohamed Mohamed to make it 22-25 with the prospect of a tight finish to the game looking possible.
However, Egypt had decided to play it safe and, after Sanad netted one more goal to make it 26-22 with two minutes left to play, they resorted to playing defensively which resulted in neither team being able to score again before the final buzzer sounded.
Bahrain were left to rue the many opportunities they couldn’t capitalise on after a strong start in the first half – they led 9-8 at one point – with head coach Aron Kristjansson saying the missed chances cost them the game.
“It was a good game,” a disappointed Kristjansson told the GDN by phone from Malmo after the match. “We fought hard, we were strong in defence and attacked very well too.
“And we created many good opportunities but, unfortunately, we missed those chances to score which, essentially, cost us the game.”
Kristjansson added that, while he wasn’t happy about the loss, he was proud of his players who, he said, gave the game their all.
“Obviously, I’m not so happy that we lost,” he said. “But hats off to the players – they put their hearts and souls into the game and gave it their all.”
The team would now regroup, Kristjansson said, and focus on preparing for their last main round game against Croatia tomorrow.
“Croatia are a very strong team with players turning out for top European clubs,” he explained. “We need to prepare as well as we can so that we can try to finish the round with a win.
“As it stands, we are now out of the running for a place in the quarter-final – Egypt and Denmark are the two teams that will probably go through – so we will try our best to finish in third or fourth place in this six-team group.”
The Bahrain-Croatia game will start at 8pm tomorrow.
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