PHOTO: Croatia Beats Slovakia, Still Undefeated

Croatia´s defence had a bit of trouble at the beginning, but stabilized after 20 minutes. After that Croatia convincingly led the match.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - Slovakia were Croatia’s last obstacle towards the semi-finals at the World Handball Championship, and the battle for medals. However, even though nobody should be underestimated, Croatia had an easy job winning the match 31:25 to secure the semi-finals.

Take a look at the photo gallery: Croatia vs Slovakia – First Half.

Croatia started playing aggressively against Slovakia from the beginning, so that in the first 30 minutes they had a significant lead and easily entered the second half.

Unlike premier matches, Croatia’s first attack was not successful, Metlicic’s shot was saved by Paul, and Slovakia gained the first opportunity to take the lead, which was exploited by Sulc. Croatia also missed the next attack, and gave Slovakia an opportunity for a two point lead, which did not happen because Croatia’s defence was working perfectly.

Vori punished Slovakia’s inefficiency, and had Cervar let Sprem play Croatia would have the lead. However, Hrvatin missed a clear chance. After five minutes it was 1:1, which was a sign that great pressure was in the minds of the team.

Duvnjak broke the tension and brought Croatia the lead, but Slovakia equalised and took the lead in less than a minute, only to have Duvnjak score again in the eighth minute for 3:3. However, soon Alilovic saves a goal and Duvnjak assists Hrvatin in scoring his first goal, and around ten seconds later he scored another goal from a counter attack.

Unfortunately, Croatia’s defence showed signs of weakness and Slovakia was penetrating it in all ways, just like previous opponents. Croatia cannot aggressively break opponent’s attacks from the beginning. However, at least their offence works, and they can score basically whenever they want. In the 14th minute it was 10:7 for Croatia.

Croatia then slowly started to pull away from Slovakia, because Slovakia were not so precise with their opportunities created in offence. That is due to lack of experience, but Croatia needs to be concerned for leaning on the inefficiency of the opponent, instead of defence.

Croatia’s coach Lino Cervar put in Losert to stop the Slovaks, and even though it did not succeed immediately, it did succeed. Venio saved one hard shot and Croatia had the opportunity to get a three point lead via Duvnjak and Valcic. However, it did not work out straight away, so Losert had to defend another shot, so that Horvatin could score from a counter attack in the 18th minute for 12:9.

Then Balic, Lackovic, Zrnic and Kopljar entered, which brought nothing besides a new injury for Ivano Balic. During an attempted shot he ended up on the floor. The referee did not even call a foul.

This gave extra energy to the Croatian team, and after Losert’s saves and excellent end to plays, Croatia had a four point lead, but Balic could not make friends with the referee at all. But when he is angry, Balic is the best.

He got his fellow players into the action and Croatia started increasing their lead. Near the end of the first half the score was 17:13, and the last attack was for Croatia. Lackovic used it for 18:13, a good score to start the second half with.

Croatia play more freely in the second half

Take a look at the photo gallery: Croatia vs Slovakia – Second Half.

The gained advantage in the first half allowed Croatia to play more freely in the second half, and soon the score was 21:14, but the Slovaks did not give up and came back to 21:17, and used the suspension of Tonci Valcic.

The Slovaks scored four goals in a row and took the score to 21:18.

The public woke up at those moments, spontaneous cheering started, and the players took off on the field.

The inexperienced Slovaks could not bear that burden and Croatia easily kept the score to their four of five point advantage. In the 43rd minute it was 23:19.

Croatia was heading to their next expected win, which made them relax a bit, which the Slovaks used to return to a three point difference. However, this was an alarm for the Croatia players, who were forced to shift their play into a higher gear, making Alilovic impassable and the offence unstoppable.

This made the Slovaks nervous, which earned them two quick suspensions, and the result of that must be clear. Easy shots for the already stronger Croatia achieved the score of 27:22 in the 52 minute, which was the score Croatia had against Hungary, only in this match it was reached quicker.

Croatia only increased their lead by the end of the match, it was a delight to watch them play, because when they set themselves free, it is hard for anyone to stand up to them. The match ended with a convincing score of 31:25, and the man of the match was Tonci Valcic again. The Croatian singer Marijan Ban can be happy that the Croatia team has so many wins, because his song is played each time that occurs, making him more popular.

We hope to hear his song again in the grand final.