Late surge help Tunisia win African derby

Tunisia are the only President's Cup participants who managed to earn one point at the group stage. Now they finally claimed their maiden win at Poland/Sweden 2023, beating Morocco in an all-African encounter. 
Following this match, Tunisia lead Group II alongside North Macedonia, with both teams having two points, while Morocco and Algeria have zero points. 

President's Cup Group II

Morocco vs Tunisia 25:30 (13:13)

The final five-goal gap became possible thanks to Tunisia's impressive 5:0 run late in the match. Morocco scored their last goal of the match in the 50th minute – after that, their rivals shut up their shot and grabbed a victory.

But for most of the encounter, the fight was very close. Led by Issam Rzig, Tunisia opened a 5:1 lead seven minutes into the match, but Morocco managed to hit back. Midway through the first half, the "Atlas Lions" drew level and later pulled in front as Tunisia netted only once between minutes 14 and 24.

However, the match then made another twist as Ghassen Toumi's goals propelled Tunisia to a 3:0 run and a 13:12 lead. They were very close to winning the first half, but Nabil Slassi equalised for Morocco in the last second before the break.

The second half presented a different scenario, but although Morocco could never get in front, they did not allow their rivals to pull clear for a long time, drawing level quite a few times. Reida made a big impact, finishing the match with nine goals, one more than Tunisia's top scorer Rzig.

However, Tunisia's goalkeeper Mehdi Harbaoui did a good job, boasting a 38% save rate, which was one of the factors that helped his team to win. 
In the next match on Saturday, Tunisia will meet North Macedonia, while Morocco will play another North African derby against their geographical neighbours Algeria. 

hummel Player of the Match: Mohamed Amine Bentaleb (Morocco)