January 22, 2020 – The Croatia water polo team met Greece for the quarterfinal match of the European Championships in Budapest on Wednesday.
Croatia had the first attack of the game, which was unsuccessful. Greece came back to score the first goal of the game for 0:1.
Croatia quickly came back to equalize with a goal by Josip Vrlic a minute and a half into the game.
Maro Jokovic increased Croatia’s lead to 2:1 with five and a half minutes to go. Andro Buslje made it 3:1 with just under four minutes to go. Marko Jokovic made it 4:2 with 2:15 to go in the first quarter.
Lovre Milos hit a rocket for 5:2 with a minute and a half to go. Javi Garcia scored with 13 seconds left for 6:3 to end the first quarter.
Vrlic scored his second goal of the game to open the second quarter for Croatia for 7:3. Jokovic increased the lead to 8:3 with five minutes to go.
Vrlic scored his third goal for 9:5 with less than three minutes to go, and Vukicevic made it 10:6 a minute later, which is how the second quarter ended.
Fatovic had a one-on-one with the keeper, which resulted in a 5-meter penalty. Jokovic scored for 11:7 with just over four minutes to go in the third quarter.
Vukicevic nailed the back of the net for 12:8 with three minutes to go, and Garcia scored for 13:8 with 1:22 left. The third quarter ended at 13:9.
Greece opened the final quarter with a goal for 13:10.
Croatia scored its first goal of the fourth quarter with 3:26 to go – Garcia scored for 14:10.
With just 30 seconds to go in the game, Croatia had the final attack. Loncar lost the ball and Greece attacked for the final time. Bijac made the save to give Croatia the 14:11 victory!
Our ‘Barakudas’ will play against Spain in the semifinal, who stopped Serbia in the earlier quarterfinal game on Wednesday.
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