Chile with one last chance to break the tie vs Argentina

After 3 days of competition at the Men’s Pan American Championships in Argentina the dust has cleared somewhat.  Here’s a quick rundown.

Group A

USA:  Team USA was off on day 2, but came out firing on all cylinders on day 3 with a 43-28 victory.  The 43 goals was a far cry from the miserly 13 scored against Argentina on day 1.  The victory also shows improvement for the USA as the two teams met last year at the PANAM Games and the USA only came away with a 39-35 win in that contest. The win kept Team USA’s hopes of a semifinal berth alive, but upcoming are two much tougher foes, Greenland and Chile.  First up is Greenland (tonight at 7:00 PM, U.S East Coast time).

Greenland:  Two tough losses against Chile (28-31) and Argentina (18-24) have ended Greenland’s dreams of a return to the World Championship.  The best they can hope for now is 5th place

Argentina/Chile:  These two sides played to an entertaining 23-23 draw last night with both teams having a chance to win the match in the closing minute.  This is the second time that Chile has played Argentina close having narrowly lost to Argentina 26-25 in last year’s PANAM Games semifinal. The draw leaves both teams on top of Group A with 5 points each.  Argentina, however, has a +14 advantage in goal differential and has an advantage in terms of remaining opponents.  They play Venezuela tonight while Chile’s remaining game is vs. the USA on Friday.

Video: Arentina vs. Chile (Final minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSJe8ghguGY&feature=player_embedded#! (Courtesy of Mundo Handball and much better quality than the webstream feed)

Group B

Brazil/Uruguay: These two sides have already advanced to the semifinals with easy victories over Paraguay and Mexico.  They play tonight to see who will be seeded 1st and 2nd

Paraguay and Mexico: They play tonight to see who will play in the 5th place match and who will play for 7th.

Tournament webpage: http://www.handballargentina.org/escuela/?p=2749