Croatia has clinched their spot in the main round of the Euro’s on Tuesday thanks to a 31-25 win against Romania. While Croatia were able to walk away with a comfortable 6 goal cushion to end the match things were not always pretty. For most of the first half Croatia looked lethargic, allowing a far worse Romania side to keep the game within a goal or two. It took Croatia until the last few minutes to snap a 3 goal streak from Romania and wake up, scoring 4 goals in a row to close out the half. Perkovac must have delivered more morale at the half because just like against Spain Croatia came roaring out the gate. Within a few minutes Croatia had extended their lead to 6 and never looked back. Croatia’s play in the second half was far more organized and ruthless, keeping Romania at bay and making them look more like the side they were expected to be. Other than Srna getting a red card Croatia were a far more efficient and well oiled machine.
Youngster Luka Lovre Klarica continued his stellar performance this tournament by grabbing himself 7 goals and 5 assists. This performance rightfully earned himself a Man of the Match on Tueday night. Matej Mandić handed over more minutes to another goalkeeper in the Premijer Liga, Dominik Kuzmanović of Nexe Našice. Kuzmanović, who was the main goalkeeper during the World Championships back in 2023 proved his value to the team on Tuesday. Kuzmanović recorded 6 saves and had a save percentage of 29. Other players such as Marin Jelenić, Mario Šoštarić, and Filip Glavaš were notable contributions to the team on Tuesday.
Croatia will now head into the main round of the tournament along side Austria, who knocked out Spain in 33-33 draw. Since Austria advanced to the main round their match with Croatia on Sunday will count as points in the main round. This means both Croatia and Austria will enter the main round with a point to their name. Croatia and Austria will be joined by France, Germany, Hungary and Iceland. Croatia’s first match will be on Thursday against Group A winners, France. The French enter the main round with momentum after beating the tournament hosts, Germany, in their last match up. This means France has two points entering the main round and a slight advantage over Croatia. A win over France would not only set up a possibility of advancing to the semi-finals but, build up Croatia’s resume as a serious contender if they can beat both Spain and France.
Losing 34 – 32 to France means that we essentially need to win our three remaining matches against Hungary, Island and Germany to progress to the semifinals. Tough ask but possible.
We need to have less expectations with handball. Croatia no longer produces elite players where making 1/2 of Euros, Worlds and Olympics was almost expected. Now we need to play perfect games to beat the top countries. There are no more players like Balic, Metlicic, Dzomba and others.
Very disappointing that Spain could not beat Austria. The Austrians equalized with 9 seconds to go. Would have been great had we carried over 2 points and +10 goal difference as it is, it is only 1 point and goal diff of 0.
Playing France first is also not good news. To have any chance against them we need another display like against Spain. If we lose, we will in all probability need to beat all other teams?
One of our all-time greats Duvnjak is getting very little playing time, however when ever given a chance to come on he has not impressed, and I cannot believe how slow he is. A shadow of once a great player, so sad to see, and I think it is time for him to retire from international handball.
Really unfortunate that Spain couldn’t beat Austria, going to be tough now and that draw v Austria really hurts. On paper it’s not the toughest group, but Croatia will likely need to win out to get into the semifinals. There is a chance they can still go through by losing to France, but would need help elsewhere.
Can you explain why Austria and Croatia both get a point for the next round? Croatia’s record over all is superior to Austria’s.
You only get to carry points over to the next round from teams that have also progressed. Since we tied Austria and they progressed, we take that pint over. Croatia was actually rooting for Spain to win today. That would have meant carrying over 2 points since we already beat them.
100% agree, playing France and Hungary as their first two games will be tough. Both topped their group and looked strong minus France tying Switzerland. Win both of those games and Croatia would be likely to make the semis