Both Slovenia and Tunisia came so far but fell just short of a medal at Spain 2019 and, after a rest day of reflection and thoughts of what might have been, they met this afternoon in Pontevedra in the second match of the 5-8 Placement Round with the European side overcoming the North African team by four goals, 31:27.

5-8 Placement Round
Slovenia vs Tunisia 31:27 (17:13)
Pavillon Municipal de Deportes de Pontevedra

The large contingent of Slovenia fans inside the Pavillon Municipal de Deportes de Pontevedra were treated to yet another win from their team at Spain 2019, but, following the Portugal quarter-final loss, win number seven out of eight came in their first game of the 5-8 placement round, against Tunisia.

Ahead of the game, Sasa Prapotnik’s side could only name 14 players with line player Miha Kavcic (illness/dehydration) and centre back Miha Kotar (dead leg) both missing the game, and only Kotar in contention to return tomorrow for their 5/6 placement match where they will face Denmark.

That final game tomorrow was set up thanks to Gregor Ocvirk again who won the best player of the match award again, scored 11 goals and provided four assists while Gasper Dobaj saved 12 shots in the Slovenian goal.

Slovenia led for nearly all of the match with Tunisia managing to draw level only once after the opening minutes (13:13, 27th minute) with the sixth first-half strike from Ahmed Bannour, but a 7:0 run from the 45th-53rd minute ensured that seventh win with just over five minutes remaining (29:21).

The goals from Ocvirk put him top of the ranking for the time being, on 70 goals, nine ahead of Portugal’s Diogo Silva (61) who will play in the second semi-final against Croatia later tonight.

Unfortunately, these stats mean little to Slovenia who expected a lot more before the tournament. However, they have already recorded their second highest ranking in the championship after bronze in 2003 and 2009.

“To be fifth or sixth in the world is not a bad result for a country with less than two million people,” said assistant coach Vanja Kralj to IHF.info after the match. “Our hopes were bigger, but the guys showed their character today [to be motivated for the match].

“All we can do as coaches was tell them, ‘OK, our hopes were bigger, but you have your flag on your shirt so play for your country and for you'. It’s always better to win than lose even if you’re not playing for the semi-finals or final.

“The guys today honoured their flag, the shirt, the match, the opponent, the competition and as a coach you can’t do much, it depends on the character of the players.”

Slovenia will now play Denmark for 5/6 place tomorrow, while Norway will play Tunisia for 7/8 place.

Best Player of the Match: Gregor Ocvirk (SLO)