The USA men’s and women’s teams beat their Canadian neighbours twice this week to qualify through to the 2019 Pan American Games – the first time either USA team has qualified for the tournament since the 2011 edition in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The 2019 Pan American Games will be held in Lima, Peru from 26 July to 11 August and will feature both men’s and women’s handball competitions with places for Tokyo 2020 up for grabs and the USA confirmed their places at the continental event after the two-legged play-offs took place in the United States and Canada.

The matches between the two North American neighbours – all livestreamed on IHF.info, via Facebook – saw the first legs played on Sunday (2 September) afternoon at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum at Auburn University, Alabama, in the south of the country, and the second legs take place last night (Wednesday 5 September) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

First Leg: USA vs Canada 22:20 (12:11)

Second Leg: Canada vs USA 16:26 (6:14)

The first leg was a tough defensive match with the USA taking a tight first-half lead, but thanks to goalkeeper Sophie Fasold, who was introduced into goal in the second period, her exceptional work between the sticks prevented the Canadians from taking full advantage of a below-par American attack as the away team took a three-goal lead - which could have been more if not for Fasold’s performance. 

Her performance inspired her teammates to dig deep and draw the game level, before eventually taking the lead with Nicole Andersen scoring eight goals to top the charts for the home side.

The second leg, in front of a sold-out Montreal crowd, was more straightforward as the USA women – coached by Christian Latulippe, former assistant of the Canadian men’s team – won by 10 goals to ensure there would be no need for any complicated mathematics. 

Restricting the home side to just six goals already made the result clear at the break, as Anderson again ended the game top-scorer for her USA side, with seven strikes.

First Leg: USA vs Canada 36:24 (18:14)

Second Leg: Canada vs USA 27:27

New USA head coach Robert Hedin got off to a perfect start as he successfully guided his American side through the play-offs to book the second USA Team Handball ticket to Lima, thanks to an impressive 12-goal aggregate win over Canada in the two legs.

As a player, Hedin was a two-time Olympic medallist for Sweden in 1992 and 1996 and won EHF EURO gold in 1994 and bronze at the 1993 IHF Men’s World Championship, while as a coach, he led the Norway men’s team for six years and his sides’ eight-goal first leg win, thanks to a strong offensive display, saw the overall result nearly decided already.

A four-goal lead at the break, combined with an impressive second-half defensive display - which saw just 10 goals conceded in the second period – was enough for the USA team to make the journey to Canada full of confidence as Aboubakar Fofana finished top-scorer on nine goals. 

The match in Canada, played in a great atmosphere, saw the Canadians salvage something from the series as they caught the USA right at the death, despite being behind most of the game, to draw 27:27.

However, that was more than enough for the Americans to qualify through and at the final buzzer, they confirmed their tickets to Peru, to join the women’s team making the journey south next year. 

Gary Hines, Adam Elzoghby and Ty Reed scored five goals each for the USA.

For more information about the 2019 Pan-American Games visit their website at: https://lima2019.pe/en