Czechia earn long-awaited win in fiery clash against Tunisia

After two draws and two losses, at the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship, Czechia finally claimed their first victory in the competition, with a 32:26 win against Tunisia.

MAIN ROUND GROUP I
Tunisia vs Czechia 26:32 (12:19)

Xavi Sabate's side has struggled in attack throughout the tournament, scoring just 76 goals in their four previous encounters, an average of 19 goals per matche. But against Tunisia, they improved their shooting efficiency, netting as many as 32 times, after hitting the number of goals registered in the draw against Poland, 19, at half-time.

The goals were far and few between the two sides early in the game before Czechia used a 3:0 run to take a 5:2 lead in the 11th minute. It was actually Tunisia which had big problems in attack, netting just once between the fourth and the 17th minutes. By the 20th minute, Tunisia's coach Mohamed Ali Sghir took two timeouts, as his team were down 6:12 and looked out of sorts.

The Africans had 13 turnovers before the break, which helped their rivals to score from fast counterattacks time after time. Dominik Solak found the net four times in the first half, propelling his team to a 19:12 lead, as Czechia scored more goals for 30 minutes than for the entire previous game against Italy.

Shortly before half-time, Tunisia's left back Mohamed Ridha Frad received a direct red card for a rough challenge on his opponent, which only added to his team's woes. Looking for a strong comeback, the Africans tried to play seven-on-six in attack, but it did not help, as 10 minutes into the second half, Czechia further increased the gap to 24:15.

Back court players Anouar Ben Abdallah and Achraf Margheli scored nine and six goals respectively for Tunisia, but overall, their team struggled against Czech goalkeeper Tomas Mrkva, who boasted a 37% saving efficiency before being replaced by Jan Hrdlicka  midway through the second half. And while the European side slowed down in the last 15 minutes, they had no problems clinching a six-goal win, as centre back Lukas Morkovsky became their top scorer with six goals. 

Following this result, Czechia have three points in their account, and they will end the tournament with a match against Denmark on Saturday, having no chance of progression to the quarter-finals, irrespective of the last result. On the same day, Tunisia, who are now certain to finish bottom of Group I, and also out of contention, are scheduled to meet Germany.

hummel Player of the Match: Tomas Piroch (Czechia)