The eighth-final clashes from 2017 IHF Men’s Youth (U19) World Championship Groups C and D see Portugal meeting Tunisia, Slovenia taking on Croatia, Poland facing unbeaten Spain and Russia playing Korea.

 

All matches will be played at Olympic Palace B, Tbilisi on Wednesday August 16.

 

Eighth-final: Portugal vs Tunisia 14:00 local time

 

Portugal have been one of the biggest surprises at Georgia 2017, suffering only one loss in the preliminary round and looking very much on their way to topping the group before an upset in Round 5 against Brazil.

 

Last summer Portugal ranked 10th at the Under 18 European championship, where their fellow Group C competitors Croatia finished as silver medallists. Portugal opened their debut IHF Men’s Youth World Championship campaign with a 30:30 draw against Croatia that made a statement early on, before beating Argentina 30:28, Republic of Korea 33:24 and Poland 24:22.

 

The team entered Round 5 on seven points at the top of the table with the chance to win the group if they recorded a fourth victory, but then encountered a surprise of their own as they were defeated by Brazil 27:26. From first place at the end of Round 4, the results on the last day of the preliminary round saw Portugal drop to third behind Korea and Croatia, and therefore draw a theoretically more difficult eighth-final opponent.

 

African champions Tunisia also showed their strength immediately at Georgia 2017, beating Slovenia 29:26, Mexico 37:19, Russia 31:30 and Serbia 37:27. They finished with only one loss in the preliminary phase, against group winners Spain at 24:27 in Round 2, which meant they ranked second on the table.

 

This clash should be an exciting one between two well-matched opponents with very similar styles of play despite their different backgrounds, and it is very difficult to see who has a better chance of claiming a victory – it seems almost certain the outcome will be determined only in the final minutes.

 

The strong goalkeepers – Diogo Valerio for Portugal and Tunisia’s pairing of Fradj Ben Tekaya and Selim Brini – and the steadfast defence capable of changing between systems will be the key factors in this match.  

 

Eighth-final: Slovenia vs Croatia 16:15 local time

 

Two opponents who know each other well meet for the second Group C versus D encounter of the day. Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2016 silver medallists Croatia and the team that ranked fourth at the same competition, Slovenia, will put on a great show with both employing similar tactics that mean it will be a clean match where the finest details will prove crucial.

 

The teams met at the European championship last summer, where Croatia were the team to end Slovenia’s trophy dream when they won the semi-final 40:36. That four-goal distance was created in the first half, which finished with a 21:17 score in Croatia’s favour – which is interesting considering Slovenia’s Round 5 loss against Spain was mainly due to their performance in the first half.

 

In that encounter Slovenia trailed 10:17 at half-time, before recovering for a much more even second period they only lost by one goal, though the match was decided at 22:30 due largely to the deficit created early in the match. Slovenia played a reasonably strong preliminary round, losing 26:29 to Tunisia in their opener but winning their next three matches – 32:19 against Mexico, 26:21 versus Russia and 36:23 over Serbia. However, it seems they have more to give and may be able to step their game up a level as they enter the knock-out stage – but will it be enough against Croatia?

 

Croatia had a slow start to their campaign, drawing 30:30 against Portugal before being defeated by Republic of Korea 31:33. “It was a really hard start. None of us came well into the games,” said Ivan Martinovic about Croatia’s Georgia 2017 campaign following their first win in Round 3. “We saw in the first two games we were really bad – first a tied game then we lost. In the first half today [against Poland] we also lost, then we turned around – something changed in our minds.”

 

Once they found their form Croatia only became stronger, beating Poland 33:28 after trailing 12:20 at half-time, winning 40:24 against Brazil then defeating Argentina 31:19 in their Round 5 match.

 

The Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2016 runners-up may not have started strong but a championship is all about performing at the right time, and it seems the positive results in the last preliminary matches have set Croatia on the path to success just when they need it most.

 

Eighth-final: Spain vs Poland 20:45 local time

 

Spain enter the eighth-finals with nothing but wins in their account, while Poland made it to the knock-out stage thanks to two victories. After Poland secured a place at Georgia 2017 as the replacement for Venezuela only weeks before the World Championship began, they started their campaign with two victories – first beating Argentina 26:22 then Brazil 29:25.

 

They were defeated in the remaining rounds by Croatia, Portugal and Republic of Korea, though the score lines against Croatia and Portugal were reasonably close, indicating Spain cannot afford to underestimate their eighth-final opponents.

 

Nevertheless, Spain are in superb form. With a deep squad that allows coach Alberto Suarez to rotate his line-up significantly throughout every match, and two strong reliable keepers in Adrian Torres and Kilian Ramirez, the team that ranked sixth at the 2016 European championship are a formidable rival for any side. It appears they have the edge in this encounter, but nothing can be known until the teams take the court.

 

Eighth-final: Republic of Korea vs Russia 20:45 local time

 

Republic of Korea enter the eighth-finals on the back of an exceptional preliminary round campaign. Considering they qualified for Georgia 2017 as bronze medallists at the Men’s Asian Youth Championship, they were not seen as the dominant side in a group that included the likes of Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2016 runners-up Croatia and Pan American champions Argentina.

 

However, Korea opened with a bang and did not look back. In Round 1 they beat Brazil 35:33, defeated Croatia 33:31 in the second preliminary match, beat Argentina by a clear 44:27 and finished with a 38:28 victory over Poland. Their only loss was at the hands of Portugal in Round 3, though they still ended up above the European side on the final Group C ranking thanks to their eight points.

 

Korea proved throughout the group phase that their style of play is very difficult to counter, and Russia are looking at a tough 60 minutes on court versus the Asian side that relies on extremely fast counter attacks and positional play supported by keeper Jaepil An at the other end of the court.

 

Though Russia made their way to the eighth-finals with just two wins in the group phase, they recorded close score lines in the majority of their matches. After a difficult first loss to Spain (20:32), Russia beat Serbia 29:24 and won their Round 5 encounter against Mexico decisively to book their eighth-final place. In Round 3 and 4 they lost to Slovenia by five and Tunisia by just one goal, coming heartbreakingly close to claiming the two points in those encounters.

 

Nevertheless, they have shown they are a strong squad overall with excellent 5-1 defence their speciality and a very reliable keeper in Maksim Popov. Popov ranks fourth in his position ahead of the knock-out stage, with an average save rate of 38.7%.