PHOTO: Arena Opened with Victory against Russia

Russia was defeated with nine goals difference in a friendly match that was an overture for the upcoming world handball championship.

Zagreb’s Arena, the newly constructed handball hall, was opened with the intention of hosting the World Handball Championship that is taking place in Zagreb from January 17. Croatia played against Russia yesterday and by winning 33:24, they could get a medal. The gold one, we hope. 

Croatia played an excellent game

In order to test whether everything was functional, Saturday was set as the date for a friendly with Russia. During the preparations not everything went as planned because the hall is not fully functional, but with regards to the comfort of the public and players, everything went right.

So the players did not have a difficult time to play the best that they could, with an audience of  almost 15,000.

The start of the match did not seem as promising because Croatia’s Cupic missed a penalty. But a minute later, Igor Vori corrected this and started the game right. And then the audience was in for a surprise.

At exactly 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the game, the match was halted and referees Josip Posavec and Vladimir Sokol were given an award because they were retiring from refereeing after 22 years. After the ceremony, the refereeing was continued by Vjekoslav Lovric and Hrvoje Petkovic. And the real match could start.

All this probably disrupted the focus of the players because Croatia’s Duvnjak also missed a penalty, just as Russia’s Igropulo did. But then the players must have warmed up. After 14 minutes, the result was 7:3 for Croatia, in the 28th minute it was 16:8 and at half-time it was 16:9, which was more than a good result.

Coach Lino Cervar divided the minutes equally and was successful 

In continuation of the game the players could not play with the same tempo because the Russians had to compose themselves a bit, so for most part they were four points behind. But this was also probably the result of Croatia’s coach Cervar deciding to put in the game Horvat, Vukic and Somic, who had to warm up.

The heated atmosphere in the hall was lacking 

But as the three were warming up, the Russians made it to only three goals difference in the 47th minute and it seemed that the game would end badly for Croatia. But Horvat and Igor Vori worked together and scored, increasing the score difference to six in the last six minutes.

Croatia won, but there was a lingering feeling that the capacity and for form of the hall were not used adequately.

Many spectators watched the match totally peacefully, without stimulating the players, which should change before the championships because the Croatian team, wounded with injuries, should be spurred with phenomenal cheering.

See the photo gallery Croatia Open Arena with Victory against Russia.