The Croatian ‘Barracudas’ scored a late goal Saturday evening in Doha to tie up the match against Italy (11-11) and force a gold medal penalty shootout. Croatia would win the shootout 3-2 to be crowned 2024 water polo world champions! It is Croatia’s 3rd world title after winning the tournament in 2007 and 2017. Croatia was lead by Konstantin Kharkov and Jerko Marinić Kragić in scoring. The duo scored 7 out of the 11 goals for the Barracudas, and scored both of their penalty shots that tipped Croatia over in the end with a 3-2 win in the shootout. Marko Žuvela scored the winning penalty shot that landed Croatia the coveted World Champions title.
Croatia’s World Championship sees the Barracudas secure a spot into the highly contested 12-nation Paris summer Olympics. This qualification comes after falling just short in the European Championships that were hosted in both Dubrovnik and Zagreb last month. Croatia’s loss in the final to Spain rendered them out of Olympic qualifying, until the Barracudas rallied in the this years FINA World Championships in Qatar. This puts Croatia in a strong spot going into the Olympics this summer, entering the tournament with a World Championship under their belt, and what some might say an unlucky 2nd place medal in the Euros last month. It is safe to say the Barracudas are ready to make some noise this summer in Paris.
It was nerve wrecking watching the match and it looked like we were going to lose when we equalised with 5 seconds to go to make it 11 – 11 and take us to penalties. Penalty shoot out started badly with Fatovic missing with our first shot, however our reserve goalkeeper Anic saved one penalty and the other miss for Italy hit the post. Match could have gone either way with the lead changing many times and, in the end, luck was on our side. Great result and now on to the Olympics and hopefully another medal.
Well, we narrowly lost in the Euros last month and had to settle for silver. We’ve been a contender for every recent waterpolo tournament, and sometimes luck goes either way. We were unlucky last month, but now it bounced our way this month.
Croatia and Italy are probably the favorites (along with Hungary and Spain) in the upcoming Olympics. Can go either way with any of these four teams.
Yes, I agree it will be us, Italy, Spain and Hungary as the most likely winners in Paris. Serbia is in the rebuilding process and have been struggling for the last couple of years.
Nikada ne odustaj – Cardiac arrest Is a little more dangerous in Water, but we have to be true to form. Majstori S Mora