It was a must-win for Slovenia after a surprising loss to host nation Qatar on Monday following the wins against Chile and Belarus.

The first half saw Slovenians having hard time adjusting to the unconventional Brazilian defence, never managing to earn a comfortable lead. The period ended with Slovenia leading by a goal (19:18).

In the second half, Slovenia managed to take a four-goal lead in the 43th minute, but the Brazilians had a 5-0 run of their own late in the period to turn the score in their favour (28:29) in the 50th.

Slovenia broke the Brazilians only in the last minutes of the match with two quick goals and kept the lead until the end, securing another top 16 finish for the country at world championships.

The leading scorer at the tournament, Slovenia's Dragan Gajić, had another huge scoring game with 12 goals.

After a day-off on Thursday, Slovenia will wrap up the preliminary stage with a match against the reigning world champions Spain on Friday.

Slovenia's group A will cross in the knock-out stage with group B featuring Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Austria, Tunisia and Iran. Croatia and Macedonia have already qualified.

Slovenia are defending fourth place from Spain two years ago, their biggest success so far at world championships.