The paths of the women's national teams of Ukraine and Argentina in official competitions have crossed only once: in the previous round of the world championship – in 2003 in Croatia, the "blue-and-yellows" defeated the South American team with a double advantage – 28:14. The "history" repeated itself in St. Petersburg, and moreover our girls again scored twice as many goals against their opponents – 34:17! However, even this was not enough to overtake the Macedonia team in the tournament table (at the moment the Macedonians are ahead of the "blue-and-yellows" only thanks to a better overall goal difference)... \n \nThe start of the game against the Argentinians turned out to be not as easy as expected. Having opened the scoring in the confrontation thanks to Magdalena Decilio – 1:0, the "overseas" guests in the 9th minute of the match were trailing Leonid Ratner's team by only one goal – 4:5. However, a moment later Olena Reznir accurately converted a seven-meter throw, Oksana Sakada made an effective pass through the defense, Natalia Lyapina distinguished herself with a scoring breakthrough from the left wing, and Reznir completed the "+4" spurt with a quick counterattack. Thus 9:4 in favor of the bronze medalists of the Athens Olympics. Only during this "acceleration" our playmaker Hanna Syukalo was hurt: Emilia Acosta stopped the handball player of the Slovenian "KRIM" with a blow to the face... (Fortunately, our playmaker was later able to return to the court). \n \nHowever, the Ukrainians still could not build on this local success: first Reznir failed to beat the Argentinian goalkeeper Valentina Kogan in another mini-duel, then Lyapina's spectacular "parachute" was treacherously stopped by the crossbar... Fortune also turned away from Maria Boklashchuk, who could have marked her debut at the world championship with an accurate seven-meter throw: Kogan distinguished herself with another save... Thus the first half of the meeting ended with the score – 15:11. \n \nThe "time of cardinal changes" came in the second thirty-minute period. Already at its beginning the Ukrainians managed to score 7 "dry" goals into the net of Daniel Zabalo's team – 22:11, after which the latter decided to take a timeout. "Run, constantly run forward, don't let them score, and run again..." – Leonid Ratner instructed the "blue-and-yellows". \n \nThe play of our goalkeeper Tetiana Vorozhtsova in the second half was especially impressive: she saved 48% of shots on her goal, sometimes parrying so-called "dead balls" after the Argentinians' fast breaks. Such confident actions of the player of the Hungarian "Debrecen" could not but inspire her partners: forgetting about fatigue, the Ukrainians used even the smallest opportunities to add another goal to their tally. \n \nThe team of Ratner made a new "spurt" (+7) after the 43rd minute. Reznir successfully converts a handball penalty, then Shimkute increases her own scoring tally to 4 goals, after which Tetiana Shynkarenko finds herself in the epicenter of attention. The captain of the Austrian "HIPOBANK", as if in training, accurately converts two breakthroughs in a row, and this is already – 29:14! (So the score line of the last game between these teams has been surpassed!) But this time the Ukrainians have another 14 and a half minutes to increase their advantage. A "double" from Lyapina, a long-range shot from Sakada – 32:14! It all ended with a seven-meter throw in favor of Ukraine, which Olena Reznir converted. So, 34:17, and our girls still do not catch up with the Macedonians. The latter today "crushed" the Cameroonians – 44:24, thus increasing the goal difference to "+34". Instead, the "blue-and-yellows" currently have this indicator at "+25". \n \nAnd a few more words about today's game. It became a debut at the world championship for two of our handball players at once: the goalkeeper of Lviv's "Halychanka" Viktoriia Tymoshenkova and the right... left [winger] of Kyiv's "Spartak" Maria Boklashchuk. It is pleasant that our playmaker Tetiana Shynkarenko found "her game": today she gave many wonderful passes, although, admittedly, her partners were unlucky in converting all these passes. In addition, the best legionnaire of the Austrian championship converted 4 of her 5 shots (80%). Moreover, as many as 4 handball players of our team demonstrated one hundred percent efficiency – Natalia Lyapina (scored 5 of 5 balls), Iryna Shutska (3/3), Hanna Syukalo (2/2) and Iryna Shybanova (2/2). \n \nHowever, today such efficiency was demanded by the opponent itself: objectively, the Argentinians are in the status of true outsiders of the 2005 world championship. Instead, tomorrow's opponent of the Ukrainians needs no introduction – the current world champions, the team of France... \n \nUKRAINE – ARGENTINA – 34:17 (15:11, 16:9) \n \nUKRAINE: Tetiana Vorozhtsova – saved 12 of 25 shots, Viktoriia Tymoshenkova – 0/4 / Natalia Lyapina – 5 goals, Olena Reznir – 5, Tetiana Shynkarenko – 4, Regina Shimkute – 4, Oksana Sakada – 3, Olena Yatsenko – 3, Iryna Shutska – 3, Iryna Shybanova – 2, Hanna Syukalo – 2, Anastasiia Borodina – 2, Maryna Verheliuk – 1, Maria Boklashchuk \n \n"TO BE OR NOT TO BE FOR OUR TEAM IN THE MAIN ROUND?" – UKRAINE AGAINST FRANCE... \n \nIn official tournaments, the "blue-and-yellows" have met the handball players of France 11 times. 7 matches ended in victory for the Ukrainians' opponents, three times our girls came out on top, and one meeting ended in a draw. The last time they played each other was in the match for the "bronze" medals of the Olympic Games in Athens, and then Leonid Ratner's team defeated the opponents by a margin of three goals – 21:18. In addition, at the World Cup tournament \nin November of this year the Ukrainians frankly mocked the handball players of France – 30:17! Admittedly, before the championship in St. Petersburg, three more players who participated in the main starts of the four-year cycle in Greece joined the roster of the current world champions. \n \nAs for the characteristics of the French national team, the average age of this collective is 25.1 years, and the average height – 175. \n \nBe that as it may, today (in the game of the final round of the preliminary round of the competition) the Ukrainian team in the game against the French handball players will be satisfied only with a victory, which is what we wish our girls! \n \nWorld Championship – 2005. \n \nPreliminary round. 4th round. \n \nGroup "A". \n\nRussia – Croatia – 29:28 (18:16, 11:12) \n\nNetherlands – Japan – 35:27 (19:13, 16:14) \n\nUruguay – China - 18:45 (7:24, 11:21) \n\n1. Russia – 8 points \n2. Netherlands – 6 \n3. China – 4 \n4. Croatia – 4 \n5. Japan – 2 \n6. Uruguay - 0 \n \nGroup "B". \n\nHungary – Korea – 42:29 (22:13, 20:16) \n\nAustralia – Angola – 8:47 (5:26, 3:21) \n\nSlovenia – Norway – 22:29 (10:16, 12:13) \n\n1. Hungary – 7 \n2. Norway – 6 \n3. Slovenia – 5 \n4. Korea – 4 \n5. Angola – 2 \n6. Australia - 0 \n \nGroup "C". \n\nAustria – Denmark – 42:35 (23:17, 19:18) \n\nGermany – Brazil – 32:24 (17:9, 15:15) \n\nPoland – Côte d'Ivoire – 31:26 (13:17, 18:9) \n\n1. Germany – 6 \n2. Denmark – 6 \n3. Austria – 6 \n4. Brazil – 4 \n5. Poland – 2 \n6. Côte d'Ivoire - 0 \n \nGroup "D". \n\nUKRAINE – Argentina 34:17 (15:11, 16:9) \n\nRomania – France – 28:26 (16:12, 12:14) \n\nMacedonia – Cameroon – 44:24 (22:9, 22:15) \n\n1. Romania – 8 \n2. France – 6 \n3. Macedonia – 5 \n4. Ukraine – 5 \n5. Argentina – 0 \n6. Cameroon – 0 \n \nTomorrow in the final round of the preliminary round in our group will play: \n\nUKRAINE – France \n\nArgentina – Cameroon \n\nRomania – Macedonia \n