Croatia Records First Defeat at 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship

Daniela Rogulj

Slobodan Kadić

January 19, 2025 – Croatia lost to Egypt 28:24 and failed to secure first place in their group.

Croatia suffered a defeat to Egypt in the third round of the World Men’s Handball Championship on Sunday in Zagreb. Egypt thus secured first place in Group H with a score of 28:24. They will carry four points into the second round, and Croatia two. This defeat has made Croatia’s path to the quarterfinals much more difficult.

Egypt took a four-goal lead (6:2) in the sixth minute, and Croatia chased them the entire game. In the 21st minute, Ivan Martinović had a chance to equalize at 9:9, but Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed Aly saved his shot.

Aly recorded eight saves in the first half, with Egypt leading 14:11. Ahmed Hesham was the top scorer with four goals, as was Ivan Martinović for Croatia. Croatia’s goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanović managed to make six saves and score one goal.

At the beginning of the second half, it was goal for goal, and Croatia came to -1 in the 39th minute when Marin Jelinić scored for 19:18. Dagur Sigurdsson’s team again had another chance to equalize, but Martinović hit the crossbar. From that moment on, Croatia sank.

For almost 10 full minutes, Croatia did not score a goal. Egypt took advantage of this and scored four goals in a row for a five-goal lead. By the end of the game, Croatia did not manage to get closer to less than -4, which was ultimately the final difference.

The most efficient player for Croatia was Ivan Martinović with six goals, but from 13 attempts, while Filip Glavaš scored five. Kuzmanović recorded 10 saves, and Ivan Pešić three from seven shots. Mohamed Aly was excellent for Egypt with 14 saves, while the best scorers were Omar Yahia with six goals and Seif Elderaa with one less.

Croatia still moves onto the second round, with the first match on Wednesday, January 22, at 6 pm.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required
Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender: Male Female
Country:
Birthday:
Please don't insert text in the box below!

Leave a Comment