A sold-out 5,054 spectators at the Arènes de Metz in north-east France witnessed an epic all-European clash between Slovenia and Iceland, with Veselin Vujovic’s Slovenian side edging Geir Sveinsson’s Iceland by just one goal, while another full house saw Spain overcome Tunisia.

Tunisia vs Spain 21:26 (10:12)

Going into the match, Tunisia had only beaten Spain once in 22 matches and the European side ensured that it stayed a solitary victory as they never looked in trouble in the Arènes de Metz. After their opening group win against Iceland, Spain coach Jordi Ribera had asked for his players to show more concentration and they did for the whole 60 minutes, despite a strong and loud Tunisian fan presence around the arena.

FC Barcelona club teammates Wael Jallouz and Victor Tomas exchanged their sides’ first goals in a blistering opening 90 seconds as both aimed to establish their authority on court. But by the 12th minute Tunisia had already turned over the ball three times as they found themselves 5:3 down after the classically-strong Spanish defence shut them out for nearly seven minutes.

Tunisia coach Hafedh Zouabi had seen enough and he called the first team time out of the match after just 15 minutes in the hope of the game not slipping away. He saw signs of improvement as Tunisia came back within three (8:5, 9:6) with just 10 minutes left of the opening period – thanks to a strong performance from man of the match Makrem Missaoui in the Tunisian goal.

Spain’s devastating duo of Valero Rivera and Victor Tomas made it eight goals between them in the first 30 minutes as their Spanish side went on a 3:0 run with five minutes left, but Tunisia, finding themselves 12:6 down, showed some fighting spirit to go on their own run – a 4:0 unanswered streak just before the half which featured an impressive full-court goal from the French-based Amen Toumi, who, despite Missaoui’s slight overthrow, managed to catch the ball in mid-flight, swap hands and smash home.

This had followed a last-minute first half team time out from Ribera, looking to keep Spain’s lead, but it did little as Spain turned over the ball again and then Issam Tej opened up the Spain defence for Mosbah Sanai to power through and take his side into the break just two goals down (12:10).

Tunisia’s influential pivot Tej had a quiet game by his standards and with injuries affecting the Tunisia squad in the second period, Spain kept their distance throughout, going up by four in the 39th minute (17:13) after Rodrigo Corrales pulled off a save for Spain and provided David Balaguer, quickly becoming one of the stars of Group B, an opportunity down the other end to score.

It was then the other Spanish goalkeeper, Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, who denied the Tunisians from the 7m penalty mark as Spain saw out the last 10 minutes to ensure a 100% record at France.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidias: Makrem MISSAOUI (TUN)
 

Quotes after the match:

Amen TOUMI (TUN): “We played a great game today against Spain, one of best teams in the world, but unfortunately we didn't win. We did the maximum in the second half but we didn't succeed. We will be more confident for the Iceland match and we want to win tomorrow to help us qualify for the next round.”

Marouan CHOUIREF (TUN): “This second lost is honourable, because Spain are a great team. We played well and it's good preparation for the match against Iceland tomorrow which is a very important game for us. If we win, we can go through to the next round.”

Iosu GONI (ESP): “Our strong point is the defence and counter attacks and today, it made the difference. We were less good in our nine-metre shooting but we need to continue on to our games against Angola, Macedonia and Slovenia who we will play to decide the first place of the group.”

Valero RIVERA (ESP): “We played a great game and it made the difference in the end. In the second half, we had to stay concentrated and Tunisia were difficult. Our goalkeeper stopped may goals and we were successful with a lot of our counter attacks. Our next game is Angola, and we will take each match after the other.”