Nigeria’s Under 23 Men Handball team lost to the United States of America 31-28 in the third place match of the 5th IHF Emerging Nations Championship in Varna, Bulgaria.
The Coach Solomon Yola’s tutored team had played a pulsating 31-31 draw against USA in the opening match of the competition and at the time the USA, arguably the most experienced team in the competition, had an 18:12 lead at the break, only to falter and save a draw late in the match, 31:31.
In this third place match, it was pretty much same in the first half with USA taking an early lead and Nigeria somehow managing to hover around, despite their scoring efficiency plummeting throughout the start of the match. USA Goalkeeper Pal Merkovszky also helped the USA build this lead as he made some vital saves.
As in their previous matches, the African side – which secured the best finish for any African side at the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship – had their teething issues in the first half, being easily outplayed by their opponents but slowly they got back into their elements as right back Faruk Yusuf, right wing Kareem Ajibike and John Shagari especially helped the team. Shagari in the last 13 minutes of the first half scored four times and dished three assists to help a struggling Nigeria have a respectable 19-14 loss in the first half.
The USA had a better shooting efficiency and converted 83% of their shots, while Nigeria had a 61% shooting efficiency after 30 minutes.
In the second half, Lukas Hansen and Jonas Stromberg combine to score 10 goals while Amar Amitovic and Andrew Donlin – USA’s top scorers in the first four matches – had five goals between them, as USA opened the second half with two consecutive goals to extend their lead.
Nigeria’s Faruk Yusuf did his best to counter the USA, scoring 13 goals and taking his overall tally in the competition to 40 goals, the second best in the competition, but it was too little, too late and nothing that could really impact the outcome of the match as they lost 31-28.
Nigeria finish fourth in this competition as against the previous two 7th place finishes they had in
Meanwhile, Great Britain defeated host Bulgaria 29-25 to be crowned champion of the 5th IHF Emerging Nations Championship.
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