PHOTO: Croatia Beats Finland 39:20

The team from Finland were not a hard match for Croatia’s handball team, so everyone was thinking about Hungary before it even started.

Zagreb’s “Dom Sportova” building was the venue for Croatia’s latest handball match, which the Croats played living up to their reputation. True, they were playing against the weak team from Finland, but a result of 39:20 is certainly a good result, regardless of how weak the rival is.

The Croatian team came out onto the court in front of eight thousand spectators, with only two first-team players: Metlicic and Vori. This is the reason why things were slow in the beginning. Finland controlled the game, and even took the lead with 1:0, but after 4:4 it was the end for them. Croatia gained a 7:4 lead, and at half time Finland only had ten points, whilst Croatia had twice as much.

The second half passed more leisurely and had smoother game-play, and Finland was trailing behind 15 points. At the end it finished 39:20, which prompted the huge applause of all present, and made the players happy. Duvnjak scored the most goals for Croatia, nine of them. He is a worth replacement for Balic.

It should be stressed that the debut player Manuel Strlek played well, who scored all three penalty shots he took, and added two more in-game goals. Buntic also played well with three goals, as well as Spoljaric, who was solid in defence.

However, this match was only training and many things will need to be improved for Hungary. Firstly the defence, which received goals against amateurs easily, and the offence was a little bit selfish, especially Bicanic.

At the end of the match, everyone was happy with two points, but they were aware that it was already counted on in advance, and everybody was thinking of Veszprem. Everyone besides Spoljaric, who experienced the match in a special way.

“I was gone only six or seven months” joked Spoljaric. He continued by saying that he expects to play in the World Championship and that it will be hard in Hungary, because they are not the favourites because of the acoustic hall, and the very strong rival.