Battle between Macedonia and Tunisia was considered to be the key game of the whole tournament. Macedonia lost to African vice champions 26:32 (10:17) and so the Tunisians will play in the upcoming Olympic Games.
Tunisians started faster, smarter and leaded by 5 goals before the first time-out. While Kiril Lazarov was the only scoring player on the Macedonian side for the first 15 minutes, Tunisia could count on Wael Jallouz creating offense and Marouen Maggaiz with a bunch of impressive saves. African team played tougher in defense, got goals after well-performed fast-breaks and was up by 7 after the first half.
With great support from the Macedonian fans Balkan team came out very ambitious and improved their efficiency. They reduced the goals difference down to 4 what turned out to be a significant urge for African players. Maggaiz remained alert while Jalouz added another two goals. Last ten minutes consisted of a lot of contact that caused suspensions on both sides but the score difference was too big and Tunisian team achieved their dream goal.
Macedonia – Tunisia 26:32 (10:17)
Macedonia: Ristovski, Mitrevski – Manaskov 5 (3/3), Stoilow 1, Lazarov 8 (1/3), Mitkov 2, Jonowvki, Taleski, Mirkulovski 4, Markoski, Mojsovski 2, Pribak 2, Georgievski 2, Ojleski, Kuzmanovski, Peszewski.
7-metre Goals: 4/6.
Suspensions: 10 min.
Tunisia: Maggaiz, Missaoui – Tej 2, Maaref 2, Bannour 4, Bhar, Haj Youssef, Jallouz 4, Boughanmi 7 (1/1), Saied 6, Hosni 5, Ben Salah, Hamed 1, Chouiref 1, Hmida, Soussi.
7-metre Goals: 1/1.
Suspenisons: 16 min.
Suspensions: Macedonia – 10 min. (Markoski, Jonovski, Mitkow, Stoilov , Mirkulovski – 2 min.); Tunisia – 16 min. (Hamed, Tej – po 4 min.; Jallouz, Maaref, Hosni, Boughanmi – 2 min.).
Referees: Mads Hansen oraz Martin Gjeding (Denmark).
MVP: Oussama Hosni (Tunisia).
