Croatia kickstarted their Euro 2024 campaign off with a dominant win over Spain. Croatia finished the match with a commanding 10-goal lead over last European Championship’s runners-up; winning 39-29. Friday’s victory over Spain ended a massive drought against the Spaniards, marking their first victory against them since the World Championships in 2019. The Spanish denied Croatia a chance at gold in the 2020 rendition of the European Championship in Stockholm thanks to 22-20 defeat in the final. However, this year Croatia had the chance to flip the script. Croatia came out hot in the first half but couldn’t fully shake the Spanish; only leading 18-14 at the half. During the first half, Croatia’s attack was relentless as the Spanish side had zero saves during the period. Croatian head coach, Goran Perkovac, was able to motivate the boys at halftime as the Cowboys came out of the gate with four unanswered goals. There was no looking back after that as the lead only continued to grow throughout the rest of the match. Croatia ended the match 39-29, beating the Spanish by 10. Despite having a lead of 11 at one point, Croatia never took their foot off the pedal in Friday night’s demolition of Spain.
Ivan Martinović and Tin Lučin were the two stand out players in the opening match. Martinović won the EHF Player of the Match for his stellar performance; with 8 goals and 2 assists. With dominant stats like that, Martinović nearly contributed one out of every four goals on the night. Another stand out player Friday night was Tin Lučin, who had himself five goals and three assists. Lučin, who has been playing excellent at club level for Polish side Wisla Plock, carried his form into the national team. His form was crucial to Croatia’s electric start and set the tempo for the Cowboy attack. Other key performances came from Mario Šoštarić, Luka Lovre Klarica and Luka Cindrić.
Overall, Croatia have started this Euro campaign off with a bang, giving Spain their largest defeat in EHF Euro history. Croatia will square off against the Austrians on Sunday at 2:30PM (ET) in Mannheim Germany. Austria took care of Romania earlier on Friday with a 31-24 win. If Croatia defeat Austria it would all but lock up a spot in the main round and possibly a first place spot in the group.
Djokovic’s first-round opponent appears to be one Dino Prizmic, 18, of Split. AJMO !!!
You just never know Djokovic might retire with injury? I think that is the only way Prizmic can win. He has done well to come through the qualifying earning himself 106 K AUS $, biggest pay cheque in his career so far.
I could not believe what I was watching and how well we played pretty much the entire match. Best match against strong opposition in recent memory. Credit must go to the new coach Perkovac for the tactics and leaving Duvnjak on the bench for most of the match. Duvnjak has been past his best for many years now, however previous coaches did not have the guts to bench him. Good start but still do not expect us to get a medal ? however if we can maintain the form on display against Spain anything is possible.
Good day all around with our Water polo team beating Greece in Zagreb to make the Semi Final against Hungary on Sunday.
Yea I think the waterpolo semi is a bigger deal right now.
Croatia vs Greece, and if we win, we take on the winner of Italy vs Spain.
Oops. I meant Hungary.
Here are the quarterfinal highlights where we demolished Greece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlDhOnHr5YY