Croatia beat Egypt 21-19 and will face Spain in the quarter-finals of the World Handball Championship
Croatian handball fans and the part of the media tends to underestimate the success of the Croatian Handball Team, so even after getting through to the best-eight in the World, there is a lot of dissatisfaction. On January 22, 2017, the Olympic Champions, Denmark, and the European Champions, Germany lost their matches, and are out of the tournament.
On the other hand, Croatia is in the quarter-finals of a major tournament, sixteenth time in a row. So, we strongly feel that the team earned some credit, especially as it is missing some key-players in France, and its best player arrived there after he was out of training due to the knee injury.
Croatia beat Egypt, standing strong in the defense throughout the first half, and the new goalkeeper in the roster, Ivan Pešić did a great job, saving 40% of the Egyptian shots.
The second half was not as smooth as the first for the Croatians, as the Egyptians changed their defensive system, which caused some confusion in Croatian attack.
After some adjustments, and with Pešić making some big saves again, individual quality of two midfielders, Duvnjak and Cindrić prevailed.
One to concern coach Babić is the ankle injury for Luka Stepančić, who left the court in the final minute of the match.
Croatia will face Spain on Wednesday in the quarter-finals.
