Saitama, Japan, November 22, 2006: Argentina booked a place in the second round by scrambling past Egypt 3-1 in Pool A at Saitama Super Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
The South Americans won 25-18, 29-31, 25-20, 25-20 to improve their win-loss record to 2-3 and leave Egypt at the bottom of the six-team pool at 1-4. Argentina's second win was enough to join Poland, Japan and Puerto Rico from Pool A in the second round in Sendai, while eliminating Egypt and China.
Gustavo Porporatto out-foxed Mohamed Elnafrawy at the net to take Argentina closer to the first set 23-14, and Gaston Giani brought up set point at 24-15 with a winner from the left.
When Argentina spluttered down the stretch and missed the first three opportunities, head coach Jon Uriarte took them off for a TO to calm them down. When they returned at 24-18, Giani made no mistake this time with a crisp right-wing drive.
Captain Marcos Milinkovic and middle blocker Alejandro Spajic both scored five points in the first set, but Argentina could not stop Egyptian southpaw Ahmed Elnaeim from compiling seven, including six spikes.
Argentina led by two at the first technical break of the second set, thanks to some fluid winners on the right from Milinkovic. For Egypt, Elnaeim also displayed his defensive qualities with a stunning block on Giani.
Elnaeim and Milinkovic traded classic spikes on the right side of their respective courts, and the Argentine captain received warm applause from the neutral fans after moving his team ahead 13-10 with a series of textbook attacks before finally beating the determined Egyptian defence. On the opposite flank, a clean drive from Jeronimo Bidegain earned full marks from their vocal coach, Uriarte, as Argentina moved ahead by three at the second TTO.
Hossam Shaarawy reminded the Argentines of his skill at the net, and some pounding winners from Elnaeim enabled the Africans to pull level 18-18.
Milinkovic used all his experience and court craft to find spaces in the Egypt court, but his team as a whole had lost their rhythm and Egypt pulled two clear, 22-20, to bring about an Argentina TO.
In an untidy end to the second set, Egypt took it 31-29 on their seventh set point after Argentina had missed two opportunities to take a two-set lead. Egypt captain Hamdy Awad saved the second of those Argentine set points with a cool winner from the left before, on the next point, he blocked his opposite number Milinkovic to bring up Egypt's seventh set point. Milinkovic pushed one long to end the set tamely, 1-1.
Egypt trailed 8-5 at the first TTO of the third set, but Elnaeim struck quickly from the right on the resumption, and his blistering serve set up Ashraf Abouel Hassan for an easy winner at the net, 8-7.
Trailing 13-8, Egypt withdrew Elnaeim from the attack. Without their ace to worry about, Argentine setter Luciano De Cecco turned his attentions to Saleh Youssef, and another fine block by the youngster kept his team in command.
Argentina looked to be cruising to the third set before Egypt staged a late rally to close the gap to 22-18 and force an Argentina TO. Mahmoud Elkoumy struck twice on the left, the first after a decoy leap by the impressive Shaarawy, and a rocket serve from Abdallah Ahmed whistled past Giani.
The gap was too wide, though, and Argentina closed out the third set 25-20 to lead 2-1.
The early stages of the fourth set were full of clean spikes from both teams, although a wild one from the recalled Elnaeim gave Argentina a two-point lead, 6-4, and prompted an Egypt TO. Spajic brought up the first TTO, 8-4 Argentina.
Despite falling behind 13-9, Egypt did not want to make this last Pool A match their last match of the World Championships for another four years, and continued to unsettle Argentina.
An ace from Ahmed brought Egypt level 18-18, only for Milinkovic to settle his team's nerves with yet another hard-earned winner. A Bidegain block maintained the momentum, 21-18, as Argentina moved in for the kill.
Argentina were turning to Milinkovic on every attack now, and they took the fourth set 25-20 for 3-1, thanks to Spajic's opportunistic points at the net.
