Futsal Planet

Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Tunisia

OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT

by Damon Shaw from Tripoli

With both teams on three points after big opening day victories, this could arguably decide who wins the group as both sides should have enough to qualify against the relative minnows of Malta and Cyprus. Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled the game against Malta while Tunisia displayed a fantastic counter attacking game against Cyprus. It turned out to be a fantastic game which both teams could have won, but Tunisia just had too much potency going forward to edge this one.

The counter attack came out on top in the first ten minutes of this game as they raced to a 2-0 lead, with captain Issam Abidi scoring one and setting up Aouni for the other after quick breakaways. Bosnia and Herzegovina, in all white, were looking more likely to break the deadlock at first, but they couldn’t finish a few good simple moves that broke down the Tunisian defence.

At 2-0, Tunisia’s game plan could come in to play very effectively as Bosnia and Herzegovina needed to push forward. Just as before the two goals, Bosnia and Herzegovina dominated possession and looked for ways to penetrate Tunisia as they were limited to long range efforts. Forward Maid Ramic had a glorious chance to claw one back as a corner came in and all he needed to do was divert it into the open goal, but he managed to place it wide from two metres! Tunisia were content to soak up any Bosnian pressure and clear their lines and had tall defender Moez Trabelsi in the way of everything Bosnia and Herzegovina were throwing forward. Just before half time however, a low shot from Tomislav Bevanda, that Ben Farhat would expect to save nine times out of 10, was allowed to slip through his grasp and over the line to give Bosnia and Herzegovina a life line going into the break.

Bosnia and Herzegovina come out from the break with purpose and their first choreographed move almost results in a goal, but the resultant shot just goes to the right of the post. Both teams stay much the same, with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s well drilled style creating half chances and Tunisia exploiting the counter attack and it’s making for an interesting match. Bosnia and Herzegovina again came close, this time through Mulahmetovic who is a creative spark for the Balkans, but his shot his the upright after he cut inside and Tunisia went straight up the other end to score through Karim Mrad.

It was turning into and end to end match and Tunisia instantly scored to reduce the deficit to one goal again through Mulahmetovic. He shot low to the bottom right hand corner from the right of the area and aided by the post he scored past Ben Farhat. Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to attack and were limited to long shots, while Tunisia sat deep and defended resolutely.

Bosnia and Herzegovina fell further behind to a Gdhami goal from a rebound before they tried to play Tunisia at their own game! It ended in disaster, but proved to be an exciting few minutes of end to end futsal. The goal, that was always coming, finally came to Tunisia from what was probably the fifth counter attack in succession! Mohamed Aouni the scorer and put the game seemingly out of reach of the Europeans.

It wasn’t to be so easy and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s long shots finally paid off. Two wonder goals, first from Ramic who, with his back to goal turned his marker and let loose into the top corner. Bevinda then cut inside, creating some space for himself and hot high in off the bar, beating the forlorn goalkeeper.

Bosnia were withing touching distance and will kick themselves for allowing Tunisia to open up a two goal lead again. A shot that Omerbegovic will be disappointed he let slip past him was let off by Brahim Ali. He got a palm to it, but it was not enough as it rolled into the goal. It wasn’t all lost as there was eight minutes remaining to salvage a result and eventually Alen Lalic donned the goalkeeper jersey to become a flying goalkeeper, the first time we’ve seen it used here in Tripoli.

The game got feisty and both teams accumulated five fouls so it was getting tense. Naturally, Bosnia and Herzegovina had all the possession and had several pot shots at goal to get within one of Tunisia, but it wasn’t until 50 seconds remained that they got the first they needed. Well worked between the back three out to the left for Mulahmetovic to fire in past the keeper and Bosnia could sense another.

The final chance fell to Lalic on his left foot and he shot high and wide and Tunisia could celebrate the win as the ball went long and the buzzer went.
It was without doubt the best game so far and Bosnia could have won it as they will rue their defensive frailties. Tunisia could well be a dark horse for the latter stages, but their coach Bouabid Lofty is only thinking about getting to the second round, after that it’s a bonus.

“We came here in Tripoli to play the second round. If we can pass it it’s good but we arrived here (with the aim) of playing the second round,” he said

Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com