Handball: Nigeria beat Moldova to qualify for semifinal

A man-of-the-match performance by Faruk Yusuf was the motivation needed as Nigeria’s U-23 national handball team defeated Moldova 25-22 yesterday to seal a semifinal place at the ongoing Fifth IHF Emerging Nations Championship in Varna, Bulgaria.

The team, led by Coach Solomon Yola, knew that they needed to win as Azerbaijan was already out of contention and Moldova was also eager to win as well. The European team had the upper hand in the early part of the first half as Ion Saharnean delivered a good match between the post, but Faruk Yusuf swiftly delivered a fantastic performance, scoring six goals and adding four assists in the first half, contributing directly to 10 of the 14 goals that Nigeria scored to Moldova’s 12 despite a 48 per cent shooting efficiency by Vladislav Caraman and Roman Zacaciurin, who are the two Moldovan backs with the most prolific records so far in the competition.

As shown in previous matches, Nigeria had a good second half but for the first part of the second half, the Republic of Moldova kept close, with the gap not exceeding three goals.

They were stuck at two goals, 19:17, with 17 minutes to go, as Yusuf was handed some precious rest moments in attack during the first minutes of the second half.

The decisive blow came when Yusuf, who is Nigeria’s top scorer in the competition with 19 goals, eight of which came in this match, was back on the court. He led Nigeria on a good run as Goalkeeper Obinna Okwor saved three shots in a row.

While the European side managed to stay afloat, they clearly lacked the firepower to mount a comeback, as Nigeria eventually emerged as winners, 25:22 to be in the semifinal of the competition. It is the first semifinal for an African side. The Republic of Moldova, which lost two of their three matches in the group, will head to the placement matches.