The Croatia water polo team won first place in Group B at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, with a maximum six points after defeating Kazakhstan 21-5 (6-1, 5-1, 5-1, 5-2).
The Croatia water polo team closed out the group stage of the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea on Friday against Kazakhstan. Having already secured first place in the group earlier this week, and with certainty that Croatia would easily overcome the Kazakhstan team, the game ended 21:5, reports Gol.hr on July 19, 2019.
Recall, Croatia managed two convincing wins against Australia (14-4) and the USA (17-7) in the first and second round of games.
Croatia had a 6-0 advantage over Kazakhstan in the first seven minutes – and at the end of the fourth quarter, Croatia was up by 18 (21-3) before Kazakhstan scored two consecutive goals to reduce the defeat in the last moments.
The most effective for Croatia was Maro Joković and Anđelo Šetka with three goals, while Loren Fatović, Andro Bušlje, Xavi Garcia, Ante Vukičević, Luka Lončar, Josip Vrlić, and Hrvoje Benić scored two, and Lovre Miloš scored one. Five of Kazakhstan’s players scored one goal.
Croatia will play in the quarter-final on Tuesday at 8:30 am against the winner of the Germany-South Africa match, which is scheduled for Sunday at 11:30.
Second place in Group B went to the USA, who topped Australia in the 3rd round 12-11.
Croatia, Serbia, Italy, and Hungary are the only teams to directly place in the quarter-final of the tournament.
Only the two national teams that play in the final will qualify for the Olympic Games, and if one of them is Serbia, who have already qualified for the Olympics after winning the World League, then the third-placed team from the tournament in South Korea will travel to Tokyo.
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