A man of the match performance by Faruk Yusuf was the motivation needed as Nigeria under 23 national handball team defeated Moldova 25-22 on Thursday to seal a semi final place at the 5th 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% shooting efficiency, 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 and still 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 Faruk 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 and Nigeria went 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 semi final of the competition for the first time for an African side.
The Republic of Moldova, which lost two of the three matches in the group, are heading to the Placement Matches.
