Opening Ceremonies in Asuncion, Paraguay
Yesterday, the Panamerican Handball Federation (PHF) Jr Men’s Championships started with Brazil and Argentina scoring big victories in the opening round of Group play. Argentina defeated the Dominican Republic 44-19 and Brazil beat the U.S., 52-24. In the more closely contested 3rd match of the day hosts Paraguay beat Uruguay, 30-22.
After last night’s action, the group standings are
Group A
Argentina 1-0-0 2 points +25 GD
Paraguay 1-0-0 2 points + 8 GD
Uruguay 0-1-0 0 point -8 GD
Dominican Republic 0-1-0 – 25 GD
Group B
Brazil 1-0-0 2 points +28 GD
Chile 0-0-0 0 points +0 GD
USA 0-1-0 points -28 GD
PHF Jr Championships webpage: Link
Today’s matches in Group A has yesterday’s winners and losers playing each other. Argentina will be solid favorites over Paraguay, while Uruguay and the Dominican Republic will likely play each other for the 3rd place spot in the Group.
Group B will see favorites Brazil take a day off while Chile in the USA play in a match that will likely determine 2nd place for the group. That match will be played at 1730 Local Time (1630 US East Coast Time).
Live Streaming Video: Link
Brazil vs USA
The U.S. played Brazil competitively in the first half and was only down 23-14 at the break. The 2nd half was a different story as the U.S. tried a lot of different player combinations and was overwhelmed by Brazil’s deep bench. The end result was 52-24.
Despite the big setback, USA Coach Mark Ortega, had an overall positive outlook on the opening match, noting that the team played hard for a full 60 minutes and has not yet had a full practice together. 2 starters for team USA only arrived the day of the match and surely were still working off some of the jet lag travel from a long journey. He also singled out the play of goalkeeper Rene Ingram who had 8 defensive stops in the first half. Coach Ortega is confident that his team will keep improving, particularly at the offensive end as they gain experience playing together.
Video of the match: Link
USA Scoring
Sam Hoddersen, 6 Goals
Antoine Baup, 5 Goals
Abou Fofana, 4 Goals
Cedric Kolmann, 3 Goals
Paul Skoruba, 3 Goals
Sebastian Wheeler, 1 Goal
Michael Lee, 1 Goal
Amar Amitovic, 1 Goal