The United States of America secured the first place in Group B at the 2025 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, with their second win in a row, 45:25, against Azerbaijan. Nigeria finished second and joined the American team in the knockout phase of the competition.

GROUP B
United States of America vs Azerbaijan 45:25 (19:11)

After Nigeria’s win against the Republic of Moldova earlier in the day, the USA knew that only a win – by any margin – would see them through to the semi-finals from the first place in the group, as they would have a better goal difference than the African side.

The USA team had a much bigger experience than Azerbaijan, which had lost the previous two matches by the same margin, 12 goals, against Nigeria and the Republic of Moldova and were, by any means, the big underdog, sure to finish on the last place in the group.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan kept USA in check, despite going down early, 4:1, after only five minutes in the match, as the USA stormed off to a great start. But the favourites for the group win were somewhat unimpressive in attack, converting only 51% of their shots in the first 30 minutes.

Yet the USA spent, on average, only 20.56 seconds in attack in the first half, with plenty of changes made by coach Robert Hedin, with every outfield player trying to shoot at least once in the first half.

It was no surprise, then, that Amar Amitovic and Drew Donlin, USA’s best scorers in the first two matches, led the charge in this match too, each scoring four times, while goalkeeper Per Merkovszky, one of the most experienced players in the squad, saved nine shots for a 50% saving efficiency.

The gap grew only at the end of the first half, when USA used a 5:2 run to close the first 30 minutes with an eight-goal lead, 19:11, ensuring that the scenario against Nigeria, when they had a six-goal lead at the break, but drew the match after 60 minutes, would not happen again.

With the result already decided, USA marched on in the second half and had four 3:0 unanswered runs in the first 15 minutes of the second part, delivering some excellent moments of handball, with Azerbaijan scoring only two goals between the 34th and the 45th minutes, as the gap ballooned to 16 goals at that point, 32:16.

The USA continued to pounce and had all of their outfield players score at least one goal, with Amar Amitovic and Drew Donlin each scoring six goals each and Maximilian Binderis adding seven goals to deliver a 45:25 win, as the American side beat the record for the number of goals scored in a single match at the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, set against Malta in 2019, 44.

With Bulgaria sealing the first place in Group A and USA in Group B, the American side will now face the second-placed side in Group A in the semi-finals, which will be decided after the match between Great Britain and Paraguay.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan finished last in their group and will meet the third-placed side in Group A, trying to search for their maiden win in the competition.

Player of the Match: Maximilian Binderis (United States of America)