The Croatia women’s handball team recorded a convincing victory in the 2nd round of the 2021 World Championship in Spain.
After losing to Brazil at the opening of the World Championship, Nenad Šoštarić’s team beat Paraguay 38:16 (15:5) in the second round of Group G.
With an easy victory against Paraguay, Croatia practically secured the second round, in which three national teams from each group will be placed. The win is also important to improve the team’s morale after the initial defeat against Brazil.
Despite the great victory, one of the greatest ever for Croatian women’s handball, the match didn’t start so well. Paraguay led 3:2 in the fifth minute. However, Croatia came back with a 10:0 series and kept their advantage until the end of the match.
Ana Turk and Valentina Blažević scored the most in Croatia, six goals each.
Japan beat Paraguay beat in the first match 40:17. The World Championship in Spain is Paraguay’s fourth in history. So far, they have been to France in 2007, Serbia in 2013, and Germany in 2017. They were 23rd in the first, 21st in the last two. In 21 matches so far, they have achieved four victories (2007: Australia 16:14, 2013: Algeria 29:19, 2017: Argentina 28:25, China 23: 21), one draw (2013: Australia 18:18), and suffered 16 defeats. The hardest was against Norway at the 2007 World Cup in France of 50:12, or minus 38 goals.
CROATIA – PARAGUAY 38:16 (15: 5)
CROATIA: Bešen, Kapitanović, Pijević; P. Posavec 1, Krsnik, S. Posavec 4, Mičijević 1, L. Kalaus, Ježić 4, Burić, Šimara 2, Dežić 5, Debelić 5, Turk 6, Mamić 4, Blažević 6.
PARAGUAY: Acosta, Fleitas, Gimenez, Acuna 5, Dos Santos, Faria 1, Fiore 1, Fernandez 3, Gonzalez 1, Leiva 1, Insfran 3, Miskinich, Rolon 2.
EXCLUSIONS: Croatia 10 minutes, Paraguay 14 minutes
PENALTIES: Croatia 6/6, Paraguay 3/7
In the last match of the group, the “Queens of Shock” will face Japan on December 6.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
Source: HRT
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
