The IHF Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament I enters its second day in Gdansk (POL) with FYR Macedonia playing Tunisia knowing a loss will see their Rio 2016 dream die and those of their opponents fulfilled. The South Americans of Chile need maximum points against Poland to push for their ticket across their continent in August, but the hosts looked strong at the ERGO Arena with an opening day win.

FYR Macedonia vs. Tunisia – ERGO Arena, Gdansk, Poland
Saturday 9 April, 18.00 hrs (local time)

Tunisia sit top of qualification group 1 thanks to a better goal difference than Poland after they beat Chile by six, while the Macedonians lie in third after losing by five against the hosts in the opening games of the weekend in Gdansk.

The north African side know a win will see them through to Rio 2016 and unless Chile cause an upset against Poland in the second match, Ivica Obrvan’s side know a loss will mean the end of the road.

Tunisia are slight favourites going into the match due to their depth of experience at international tournaments, especially at the Olympic Games, where they finished in the last eight (quarter-finals) at London 2012, while their opponents have never qualified.

But FYR Macedonia have a deadly weapon who can turn on the magic and ruin the lives of opponents – Kiril Lazarov. The right back is just 15 goals short of his 1,000th international strike and his eight strikes in the loss against an inspired Poland team will worry Hafedh Zouabi’s side.

Zouabi has his own deadly weapon however; the lethal Oussam Boughanmi.  The left winger scored 11 goals from 14 attempts and was named best player of the match against Chile and, along with pivot Marouan Chouiref (six goals), they will be a test for the Macedonian defence.

Coach Zouabi said in the press conference after the Chile win that the key opponent on the Tunisian road to Rio is FYR Macedonia and revealed that the African players have been preparing for to face them for the last two months.

Chile restricted Boughanmi to just two second half goals and the Macedonian pivot Stojanche Stoilov and goalkeeper Borko Ristovski, if they play at their peak - which they did not against Poland - should be able to limit their chances.

Encouragement for the Macedonians comes in the fact that Tunisia could not pull away from Chile until the end of the first half, with the talismanic duo of Issam Tej and FC Barcelona’s Wael Jallouz having relatively quiet games, but the Europeans will need to be more disciplined as constant two-minute suspensions from early in the game until late ruined any chance they had of getting something against Poland.

As the FC Barcelona club teammates Lazarov and Jallouz prepare to go toe-to-toe, this game promises to be the stand-out clash of the day in Poland.

Poland vs. Chile – ERGO Arena, Gdansk, Poland
Saturday 9 April, 20.30 hrs (local time)

In front of a sold-out impressive ERGO Arena, hosts Poland more than lived up to the pressure of being a home side in their all-European tie as they beat FYR Macedonia by five goals (25:20) to erase their bad memories of a disappointing home EHF EURO 2016.

New coach Talant Dujshebaev saw his side go clear as the match entered the last 10 minutes at +8 (23:15) but their mental fortitude to kill the game off - lacking at EHF EURO 2016 - came back to haunt them as with four minutes of the match remaining the Macedonians were within four (23:19), but his side hung on – mainly thanks to his constant shouting and direction from the sidelines and they now sit on the verge of Olympic Qualification.

Left back Michael Jurecki was named player of the match and his drive and motivation, along with the performance of goalkeeper Slawomir Szmal (44% save rate overall and 50% at 7m penalties) and Karol Bielecki (seven goals) will be a tough test for the South Americans.

Chile, missing their influential player Marco Oneto against Tunisia in their opener, relied on the HBC Nantes right back Rodrigo Salinas, who scored seven strikes in the first 30 minutes (11 in total) and if Poland can nullify him, then their job surely will be complete, but the South Americans gave Tunisia a scare in the first half, within two goals for most of it, before the Africans moved away in the second half.

For further information on the Rio 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Gdansk, visit the Polish Handball Federation mini-site HERE.

You can also follow the events from Poland on Twitter (@ZPRP_official),Facebook and Instagram (@handball_phf).