Slovenia will play two more games in the 5-8th place play-offs in a bid to secure a berth in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

Slovenians were not impressed by the favoured France as the match started, but the French quickly showed who is who, opening an early 6:1 lead from which Slovenia never recovered.

While the French kept filling the Slovenian goal, Slovenia had a 12-minute scoring drought, mostly owing to the inspired French goalie Thierry Omeyer, who had as many as eight saves in the first 15 minutes.

France build an 8-goal cushion by the end of the first half (18:10) and came out of the gates in the second to crush any hope for the Slovenians to come back, scoring three goals to increase the lead to 21:10.

In the remainder of the match, Slovenia improved its attack, while the French relaxed a little bit, allowing Slovenia to cut their lead to four goals in the 49th minute (24:20).

This sparked a final blow by the French, who went on a 4:0 run to seal the deal at 32:23 and earn the semi-final match with the reigning world champions Spain.

Slovenia will meanwhile play Denmark on Friday in the 5-8th place play-offs, with the winner playing the winner of the Croatia-Germany game in the fifth-place match.

Slovenia will be looking to avoid finishing eighth as the first seven teams from the tournament will make it to one of the three Olympic qualifying tournaments.