Dramatic win sees Spain through to Paris 2024; Slovenia also seal Olympics ticket

Spain celebrated their ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a 28:26 win over Brazil, a hard-fought win which was secured in the last 90 seconds, after the South American side went head-to-head with Los Hispanos until the end.

Slovenia also clinched the second ticket to Paris 2024 Olympic Games, finishing on the second place, one place ahead of Brazil.

Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament #1
Brazil vs Spain 26:28 (14:14)

Brazil knew that their only chance to progress to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was to win against Spain, but they were up against the team which scored the largest number of goals in the first two matches in the three Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments and the hosts in Granollers, with over 4,000 fans cheering for Spain.

But Brazil’s motivation was huge and Spain could have afforded to lose the match and still win the group, therefore the match was never one to disappoint, with the South American side, which featured plenty of players who either played or are playing in Spain delivering their best performance so far.

Since the early minutes of the match, Spain were in front, thanks to an excellent performance from goalkeeper Rodrigo Corrales, who finished the first half with eight saves for a 40% saving efficiency. However, the attack was not up to par, despite 10 different players scoring at least one goal until the 35th minute.

Spain did take the early lead, though, but they could not create a gap larger than three goals, with Brazil constantly pushing and finding ways to score, in what proved to be a high-octane match, with plenty of chances for both teams, but with rather a low efficiency from the two attacks.

Yet Brazil did not manage to match Spain’s output in terms of goalkeeping stats, especially as Rangel da Rosa and Mateus Martins Nascimento only combining for two saves in the first 30 minutes. But with 30 minutes to go in the match, Brazil were still in it, as the deadlock was not broken, 14:14.

However, Spain did have the better attacking efficiency in the first part of the match, 73% as opposed to Brazil’s 59%, therefore there was the question of how Brazil were going to sustain that momentum until the end of the match.

And the simple answer, shown by the first nine minutes of the second half, was that they simply could not. Spain did beef up their defence and prevented Brazil to score more than two goals in the first nine minutes, to create the largest lead of the match, 20:16, with 21 minutes to go, with four fast breaks converted, as opposed to Brazil’s one from five chances.
It looked like game over, with Spain boasting a five-goal lead, until Brazil took advantage of the European side’s mistakes in attack and used a 5:0 run to make the match even more interesting, by tying the score, 23:23, with 10 minutes to go, with the hosts under big pressure once again.

But yet again, it was the small details which mattered and Spain were better in the closing stages, all starting with a penalty saved by Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, which enabled the European side to create their own 3:0 run, which looked to the pivotal moment of the match.

The drama was not over, though, with Brazil finding their way to their own 3:0 run to tie the match, 26:26, with two minutes to go, as the two teams went head-to-head until the end, with Slovenia – directly interested in the result, watching the nail-biting finish in the stands.

Yet Spain were there and eventually clinched a 28:26 win, with experienced line player Gedeon Guardiola, in his 202nd match for Spain, scoring the last two goals to help Spain to a 28:26 win.

Spain secured their ticket to Paris 2024, which was all but confirmed after their big wins against Bahrain and Slovenia in the previous two days, as Jordi Ribera’s side will now make their 12th appearance at the Olympic Games, where they secured three bronze medals until now.

Slovenia also made it through, as the second-placed team, with the dramatic finish celebrated after the final whistle by the European side, as Brazil left the court speechless, failing their second chance to secure a berth for Paris 2024.

hummel Player of the Match: Alex Dujshebaev Dovichebaeva (Spain)