In the opening match of Group H at the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship in Arena Zagreb, the African champions, Egypt, enjoyed a perfect start of their campaign, thanks to a solid team performance, comfortably defeating Argentina, 39:25.

GROUP H
Egypt vs Argentina 39:25 (21:11)

The South American side team, which has considerably renewed their squad after playing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, did not enjoy a single lead in this match, falling behind early. Egypt earned three penalty shots already in the opening minutes, converting two of them, which helped them to open up a 5:2 lead by the sixth minute.

Then Argentina suffered two blows when they lost key defender Pedro Martinez, who saw a red card for a heavy hit on Ali Zein. 12 minutes later, left wing Ramiro Benacedo also received a red card for a rough challenge on Ahmed Khairi, leaving Argentina even more vulnerable. 

In contrast, the Egyptians looked disciplined, and they punished their rivals for mistakes time after time, steadily increasing the gap. Goalkeeper Mohamed Aly recorded a 41% save rate in the first half, and right wing Mohammad Sanad was on fire, scoring all his six goals in this match before the break. Their team relied on counterattacks and led by double digits at half-time, 21:11, boasting a 75% shot efficiency.

Soon after the restart, left back Tomas Canete became the third Argentinian players to receive a red card, which further reduced his team's options. However, the South Americans somewhat improved their performance compared to the first half. Partly it was due to Egypt relaxing their approach and losing momentum for a while, as they scored just four goals during 10 opening minutes of the second half.

Argentina's line player Lucas Moscariello did a good job in the second half, scoring six of his seven goals after the break, which helped him to become the top scorer of the encounter.

However, Egypt firmly held their advantage, hardly giving their rivals a chance for a strong comeback, and as Juan Carlos Pastor rotated his squad, 13 of 14 outfield players netted at least once.
 
In their next match on Friday, Egypt will face Bahrain, while on the same day, Argentina are scheduled to meet the co-host Croatia. 

hummel Player of the Match: Ali Zein (Egypt)