Holders Spain ease past Tunisia to reach last eight

Spain’s Cristian Ugalde (second from right) in action against Tunisian goalkeeper Marouen Maggaiz (right) yesterday. (EPA)

By Yash Mudgal/DohaDefending champions Spain, Slovenia and Croatia entered the quarterfinals of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship yesterday.Spain easily defeated Tunisia 28-20 at Lusail Multipurpose Arena, while Slovenia edged past FYRO Macedonia 30-28 in a thrilling Balkan clash and Croatia defeated Brazil 26-25 at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in the pre-quarterfinals.Spain started the game without any rush playing with unhurried confidence. They duly opened scoring and progressed to a 4-0 lead within five minutes. The beginning of the match was almost all about Spain with a notable exception for the Tunisian veteran Tej’s powerful throw from the line, repelled by the Spanish goalkeeper Perez de Vargas, who was in his best form.The Spanish were heads and shoulders above their opponents in both attack and defence. It took the Tunisians, who were easily defeated by runners-up Denmark in the last edition at this stage, more than seven minutes to score their first goal off a Raul Entrerrios’ mistake and a subsequent fast break by the Tunisians. Further down, the Tunisians scored some more but the goal difference was hardly ever less than four goals. In the last third of the first half, the goal difference between Spain and Tunisia was nine goals at 14-5. The Spanish dominance in the field of play was simply undisputed. In the second half, the Spanish increased their lead straight from the start and it looked like the Tunisians’ main concern was to reduce the goals deficit to single figures, which, at times, they were successful in.The festive atmosphere of the match was largely due to the incessant beating of the drums and non-stop singing and chanting by the Tunisian fans, who were in clear majority in the stands.Cristian Ugalde was Spain’s top-scorer with six goals and Oussama Boughanmi was Tunisia’s most prolific scorer with five. Spain will play a Scandinavian team in the next round of the competition –either Iceland or Denmark.SLOVENIA WINFirst half of the Slovenia-Macedonia match was so tight that Sebastian Skube break-away goal to make it 11-9 in favour of Slovenia came in the 21st minute. The Macedonians used their strongest weapon against their rivals – fast breaks, however, they had difficulties beating the experienced Slovenian goalkeeper, Gorazd Skof, from the seven-meter line. Macedonian handball icon Kiril Lazarov missed two, while Skof saved a shot by his ex-compatriot Renato Vugrinec. That was the main reason why the Macedonians, coached by Ivica Obrvan, lost their domination within 15 minutes into the match (7-6). Skube was also in command in the last ten minutes of the first half as he scored five out of five for the eventual winners. His fifth, right before the half-time buzzer, put the Slovenians a goal up (16-15).One of the most experienced players in the Macedonian squad Filip Mirkulovski was sent off in the 37th minute due to a rough foul on Uros Zorman and the Slovenians took the advantage of 6-5 on the court to go up by three goals at 21-18.Centre back Lazarov and his teammates didn’t give up despite Mirkulovski’s absence. They fought back to make it 22-21 in the 42th minute, but they just couldn’t level the score.Slovenia maintained their rhythm with players on the bench. Their playmaker Marko Bezjak netted his first goal to make it 27-23 nine minutes before the final whistle.That wasn’t the end for Macedonia as they scored two fast goals in the 54th minute, before Slovenian right back Jure Natek scored a hat-trick (30-27).While the Macedonians still had chances to push it down to the wire, Nemanja Pribak (twice), Dejan Manaskov and Goce Georgievski couldn’t beat the fantastic Skof between the posts in the decisive moments. Dragan Gajic was once again the top-scorer for the winning team with nine goals, while Kiril Lazarov and Goce Georgievski netted seven each for Macedonia.“It was a very difficult match for both the teams, physically and mentally. My players left their hearts on the court for this victory,” Slovenia coach Boris Denic said.CROATIA IN QUARTER-FINALSThe Brazilians played out of their skin putting pressure on the favourites, who had to give a 100 percent to find their place among eight best teams on the planet.Croatian coach Slavko Goluza had said a few days ago that he would rather play against some European team than Brazil, but his words got their real meaning after the first 30 minutes of the match at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena.The Croatian stars had a lot of trouble against the aggressive and deep defensive system of Cariocas, who also wanted to surprise clear favourites in this match with a short period of pressing.The bronze medallists from the 2013 world championship in Spain opened the match in the best possible way with a 4-1 led helped by right back Marko Kopljar, but there wasn’t a hint of routine about the win of Goluza’s boys.Brazil managed to get back in the game with good defence and a lot of running, which gave them the chance to score easy goals. Playmaker Joao Pedro Silva scored three of his four goals in the first half to put his team ahead at 9-8 after 16 minutes.That was just the beginning of the strong Brazilian performance. One of the heroes was Luzi Ricardo Nascimento, who saved three seven-meter throws. The Brazilians ended the first 30 minutes two goals up 15-13 on the wings of some fantastic saves from their second goalkeeper.Croatia opened the second half in style. Powerful defence provided four goals from fast breaks which gave way to a 5-0 run making it 18-15.However, the Brazilians stayed calm and were ready to fight up until the last minute. Jordi Ribera’s boys were again in the lead after 44 minutes of play (20-19).The rivals were on level terms 22-22 in the 53th minute, when second Croatian goalie Filip Ivic saved a seven-meter throw, providing a chance for Marko Kopljar to score his fifth goal for the European side.Both teams missed a few chances before the Croatian bench took a time-out 80 seconds before the end. Domagoj Duvnjak took the responsibility into his own hands and scored with only 40 seconds to go before the final whistle.The top-scorers were Kopljar (Croatia) and Silva (Brazil) with five goals each. Croatia will play with the winners of the Sweden-Poland clash in quarterfinal.RESULTSQatar 29 Austria 27Slovenia 30 Macedonia 28Spain 28 Tunisia 20Croatia 26 Brazil 25TODAY’S FIXTUREPRE-QUARTER-FINALSAt Lusail Multipurpose Arena6:30 pm - Germany vs Egypt9:00 pm – Denmark vs IcelandAt Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena6:30 pm – Poland vs Sweden9:00 pm – France vs Argentina