21st WUC Handball – Results Day 1

BRA vs CHI

BLUMENAU – The kick-off of the competition was given by one of the favorites of the men competition, Poland facing the surprising team of Kuwait. Lead by a great goalkeeper and the speed of their counter attacks Poland quickly took the lead and never let it go. After 10 minutes the score was already 10 – 2 in favor of the Polish team and the game ended up in a tough score of 55-15 after the 60 minutes of regular play.

At the same time the women started their tournament with the game between Czech Republic and Uruguay. After a first quarter with a balanced game – 6-4 after 15 minutes – the Czech team clearly affirmed their position within the top teams of the women’s tournament with a fantastic second half to close the score on a very severe 52 – 11. This game was followed by a firm victory of Romania on Chile 36 – 15 showing that Romania will also be part of the teams to look closely during this event.

The games followed each other on court one with a strong win of Czech Republic on Mexico 38 -20 on well mastered match by the Czech despite a very good Mexican goalkeeper. Then Portugal faced a very surprising Chinese Taipei team. After 30 minutes, Portugal had a comfortable advance leading 18 – 13. Nevertheless the beginning of the second half was completely in favor of the Asian team coming back to 23 – 23 but the Portuguese team accelerated again in an already very fast game to finally win 36 – 28 in one of the most spectacular game of the day.

ROU vs CHI

While Portugal was struggling to get a win on Chinese Taipei, the tribunes got completely full and the atmosphere warmed up for the first game of the host country Brazil against the team which is probably the top favorite of most experts, Poland. After a very tight first half with an incredible Brazilian goalkeeper, Brazil was ahead 14 -13. The first minutes of the second half time were completely on favor of Brazil which inflicted a 5 – 2 in the first five minutes to bring the score to 19 – 15. It is the moment the Polish team finally managed to read the Brazilian defense and to impose its speed on the counter attack to finally win this game 31 – 26 on what appeared to be a top level match.

The day was then concluded by the victory of the home team in the men’s tournament over Chile 42 – 22, showing the home country could not be neglected when looking at potential winners of the event. The Brazilians ruled the court finishing the first half with a difference of 6 goals. In the second half of the game, the host overpowered Team Chile with at the final score being 42:22 in favor of Brazil.

Match Reports Day 1

(Source: Julien Buhajezuk, WUC Dept.- Photos: Eraldo Schnaider)