Placement Match 5/6: FYR Macedonia vs Hungary 22:26 (11:14)
Despite knowing a win would re-write history for the third time in a few days for Macedonian handball, Ile Temelkovski's side could not keep an early lead past 15 minutes against a Hungarian side who finished in their best position in this tournament since 2005 when they won bronze on home soil.
Younger age competitions prepare players for the step up to senior level but both teams on court here in Algeria featured numerous players already regulars for the highest level of their countries.
Two of them - Filip Taleski for the Macedonians and Patrik Ligetvari for the Hungarians - had a quiet day in front of goal with four and three goals each respectively.
But their teams are not just about these individuals as, again, Filip Kuzmanovski provided the impetus for the Macedonians, helping his side to an early two-goal lead twice before 10 minutes was on the clock (6:4, 7:5), but that was the last time his side would lead as, finally, the Macedonians ran out of energy in the competition.
At 11:9 down after 21 minutes, Temelkovski tried to break the slide with a team time out, but it did not do anything to shift the balance and a 14:11 score to Hungary ended the first half.
Any chance of a catch-up from the Macedonians was quickly killed off in the second half as a 3:0 run put them out of contention in the 38th minute (17:12).
"We are happy to finish in this place but I am so very, very tired and the whole team too," said Hungarian centre back/playmaker Matyas Gyori. "The win is the important thing for us.
"Really? I didn't know that," he answered after being informed he was named best centre back in the Algeria 2017 All-star Team. "I am more happy now. I was in the All-star Team as left back in Poland three years ago (at the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2014) and now, I am the playmaker in the Hungarian team."
Placement Match 7/8: Russia vs Tunisia 36:21 (9:18)
Russia coach Stepan Sidorchuk told IHF.info that his players apologised to him after another insipid display - their second one in a row - following their quarter-final defeat against Denmark on Thursday.
Exactly a week ago these two teams played out a thrilling 29:29 (15:14) draw but the result and performance in this match could not have been any more different.
Skander Zaied was again top-scorer in the match for his side, his eight first-half goals put him up to 76 for the tournament and he will wait and see if Lasse Moeller can score 12 or more to draw even, or overtake him, when the Dane plays in the final later tonight.
Zaied was joined on eight by Anouar Ben Abdallah as a physically and mentally tired Russian side found themselves 5:0 down within six minutes and it nearly doubled up to half-time (18:9).
That early run prompted the first of two first-half time outs from Sidorchuk but Russia simply not could respond to his prompting, such was their tiredness.
Marwen Ben Dhia then played the outside defender in the 5-1 Tunisia formation to kill the game as Russia threatened to build some momentum. His close management of Ruslan Dashko ensured that Tunisia could stop any build-up from their opponents and Sidorchuk again took a time out after 15 minutes.
The second half saw Russia outscore their opponents in the first six minutes but a 9:0 run put the game to bed over the next 13 minutes (30:14 to Tunisia), with roughly the same time of the match remaining.
Russia did not help themselves though with eight two-minute suspensions, three of which came against Victor Furtsev, who was shown red (their third in two matches) in the 55th minute after pushing Zoubaeir Gouri.
“We lost our match against Hungary but we got the morale to win this game,” said Tunisian left back Skander Zaied about their disappointment after losing their 5-8 Placement Round first match yesterday. “The Russians were really tired and, overall, we did really well in this competition.
“In any handball competition you win and lose, against Hungary we lost and that was really hard for us but this is handball.
Zaied currently stands on 76 goals – 12 ahead of nearest rival Lasse Moeller who is on 65 strikes and plays in the final later today.
“It is really important for me to end as top scorer in this competition but what we are aiming for is the team result and that is what we are working for.
“I would be very happy if I could end as the top-scorer.”
Their finish, in seventh, is Tunisia's best result at this competition since 2011 (3rd), while for Russia, eighth-place is their best finish since 2001 (1st).