Slovenians are once again among top eight
Slovenia - Macedonia 30:28 (16:15)
Slovenia are in the quarter-finals of the 24th Men's Handball World Championship in Qatar. The team coached by Boris Denic beat Macedonia 30:28 after great battle in the thrilling Balkan clash. The best example of how tight the encounter was in the first half was Slovenian's Skube break-away goal making 11:9 in 21st minute. This was first time that one team pushed ahead with minimal advantage. The Macedonians used their strongest weapon against their rivals – fast breaks. However, they had difficulties to beating Gorazd Skof from the 7 meter line.
The Macedonian handball icon Kiril Lazarov missed two, while experienced Slovenian goalkeeper saved also the shot of his ex-compatriot Renato Vugrinec. That was the main reason why the team coached by Ivica Obrvan lost its domination 15 minutes into the match (7:6). The another reason was an outstanding shooting performance of Sebastian Skube, who had 100% (5/5) in the last ten minutes of the first half. 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 37th minute due to a rough foul on Uros Zorman. The Slovenians took the advantage of 6 vs 5 on the court to go on up three - 21:18. Lazarov and his teammates didn't give up even with the absence of Mirkulovski, however, it did put them in serious trouble for the last 20 minutes of the game.
They fought back to make it 22:21 in the 42th minute, but still there was no chance for them to level the score. Slovenia maintained their rhythm with players of the bench. Their playmaker Marko Bezjak netted his first goal for 27:23 nine minutes before the final whistle. That wasn't the end for Macedonian as they scored two fast goals for 27:25 in 54th minute, when Slovenian right back Jure Natek knocked in a hat-trick (30:27). However, the Macedonian team still had chances to push it right to the line, but Pribak (twice), Manaskov and Georgievski couldn't beat fantastic Skof between the posts in the decisive moments. The top scorer in the winning team was Dragan Gajic with nine goals, while Kiril Lazarov and Goce Georgievski netted seven each for Macedonia.
