Slovenia sealed their third win in four matches at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship with proper domination of the Islamic Republic of Iran (38:21), throwing off the main round in Krakow in style.

Main Round Group I

Islamic Republic of Iran vs Slovenia 21:38 (9:20)

Slovenia did exactly what was expected of them and even more in the preliminary round in Katowice, with some brilliant passages of play that enabled two clear wins against Saudi Arabia and co-hosts Poland. Yet their last match in the preliminary round was a loss against France, which meant that no missteps could be allowed in the main round if Uroš Zorman’s side wants to qualify for the quarter-finals.

The first match in the main round in Krakow, some 100 kilometres from the Spodek Arena in Katowice, was the easiest one on paper, as Slovenia faced the Islamic Republic of Iran, a team coached by Veselin Vujović, one of the European side’s former coaches.

This is why Vujović hoped to have at least a chance to derail Slovenia’s bid for a win, having proper knowledge and some excellent insights into a team that can really deliver some excellent performances when they are clicking the right way.

And it clicked the right way they did, even from the get-go, with the European side taking a commanding 9:3 lead after only 14 minutes and outplaying Iran by every metric, but most efficiently on fast breaks. Two players really stood out in this passage of play, as centre back Aleks Vlah and right wing Blaž Janc fired from all cylinders, scoring four goals each and eight of Slovenia’s first nine goals in the match.

Nevertheless, coach Uroš Zorman was pacing frenetically near the bench, chastising his players for every mistake they made despite their comfortable lead. Zorman’s approach was too fiery, applauding every goal and correcting the mistakes, and Slovenia responded in excellent style, leading by 11 goals at the break (20:9).

In the second half, Zorman did not leave anything to chance, despite constantly changing his lineup, with only two outfield players failing to score at least one goal in the match. Slovenia finished the match with an excellent 79% efficiency in attack. The highest number of goals was scored by back Domen Makuc, who only entered the court in the second half but scored six times, earning the hummel Player of the Match award.

Vujović, on the other hand, was left perplexed at times by the mistakes made by his team as the Islamic Republic of Iran converted only 21 of the 45 shots they made for a 47% attacking efficiency, while Slovenia’s goalkeepers made only nine saves between them.

Therefore, it was not necessarily about Slovenia shining in defence, but rather about Iran missing shot after shot, racking up the misses and the balls turned over, and finishing with 15 attacks wasted through mistakes.

The gap grew even wider by the end of the second half, with Slovenia deploying a 9:2 run between the 45th and 55th minutes, as Iran failed to get any tempo going, eventually conceding a 21:38 loss, the second-highest in history for the Asian side, with the record still holding since 2015 when they lost by 19 against Croatia, 22:41.

Iran’s chances of progressing to the quarter-finals are virtually zero now, even if they win the next two matches against France and Poland, while Slovenia face a must-win match against Spain in two days’ time. A win there would see Zorman’s side back in the battle for the quarter-finals, yet they will need to correct some costly mistakes if they are to push for a place among the top eight teams in the world.

hummel Player of the Match: Domen Makuc (Slovenia)