Tunisian Handball Team Falls to Croatia in Quarterfinal Nailbiter

The Tunisian national handball team lost to Croatia last night in a thrilling match, ending their bid for a medal at this year’s Olympic Games in London.

The quarterfinal match saw the North African team face the only undefeated team in the tournament. The odds heavily favored Tunisia’s European rivals.

The match was anything but ordinary. Croatia, the favorites, opened up the game with a goal after 1:30. 30 seconds later, Tunisia responded with a goal of their own. Within another ten seconds, Croatia had once again seized the lead. Tunisia then responded with back-to-back goals.

The Carthage Eagles held the lead for much of the first half, but never by more than a few points. The first half was marked by a tit-for-tat scoring frenzy, with each team responding to the opponents lead with goals of their own. In an unfortunate turn of events, Heykel Megganem, team captain and Tunisian flag bearer during the opening ceremonies, was disqualified near the 25 minute mark, leaving the Tunisian team without a leader on the court. The first half ended with the score favoring Tunisia, 11-12.
As the second half began, Croatia began to pull away, starting with a scoring run that saw the Croats put away four goals, while Tunisia only responded with one. Halfway through the second half, the score was decidedly in Croatia’s favor, 21-17. Tunisia would switch goalkeepers, substituting Wassim Helal for Marouen Maggiaz, in an attempt to stop the scoring frenzy.

In the final minutes, Croatia still held a commanding lead. Tunisia would launch a valiant offensive in an attempt to salvage their Olympic aspirations. Tunisia scored five goals in the final eight minutes, and at one point Croatia only had a slight advantage of two points. As Tunisia peppered the opposing net with shots, Croatia was saved only by the effectiveness of goalkeeper Mirko Alilovic, who mustered a 32% save percentage, making many of those saves in the final minutes.

Tunisia continued to score, putting away another goal with just seconds left in the second half. It was not enough to close the gap, though, and Croatia bested their African opponents, 25-23.

The game featured standout performances from much of the Tunisian team. Scoring leaders included Kamel Alouini and Wael Jallouz with four goals each, and Aymen Toumi with three. Goalies Maggiaz and Helal posted save percentages of 28% and 33%, respectively. On the whole, the performance was a team effort, with all but one athlete recording a shot or assist and nine Tunisians combining for the 23 goals.

Tunisia’s handball team was the country’s greatest hope in the team competitions this year. Despite qualifying for three team sports, volleyball, basketball, and handball, the latter was the only sport that saw any victories from the African nation.

Despite a slow start in the tournament, suffering tough losses to Iceland and Sweden, the Tunisian team managed victories over Great Britain and Argentina, pushing them into the quarterfinals, representing Tunisia’s best performance in the sport during its Olympic history.

This bright spot comes amid dual medals from Tunisian Olympians Habiba Ghribi in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase and Oussama Mellouli in the Men’s 1500m Swimming Freestyle, marking one of the most successful Olympics in Tunisian history.
Croatia will face France in the semifinals tomorrow at 8:30 p.m.