The Croatia men’s water polo team wrapped up the World Championship group stage in style, edging out Greece 10–9. With this win, Ivica Tucak’s squad finished the group with a perfect 3-0 record, claiming the top spot in the group and securing their place in the quarter-finals.
Up next for Croatia is a Sunday showdown against the winner of Romania vs. the runner-up from Group B, or whoever loses in today’s clash between Spain and Hungary.
Things didn’t look good early on in the game. Croatia came out flat, struggling to find rhythm in attack and committing too many fouls. Greece took full advantage, firing in three goals in the opening four minutes to grab a commanding lead. Coach Tucak called an early timeout to regroup.
Zvonimir Butić finally got Croatia on the board in the sixth minute, but after the first quarter, Greece still led comfortably, 4–1.
Just as Greece owned the first four minutes of the first quarter, Croatia responded with four dominant minutes to open the second. Konstantin Kharkov tied things up at 5–5, but Greece managed to sneak into halftime with a narrow lead after Stylianos Argyropoulos scored to make it 6–5.
The third quarter was where Croatia flipped the script.
Goalkeeper Marko Bijač put on a clinic between the posts, while Marko Žuvela netted two quick goals to give Croatia its first lead of the night at 7–6. Greece answered back with a goal from Konstantinos Genidounias to tie it at 7, but Croatia didn’t flinch. Butić and Loren Fatović found the back of the net to send Croatia into the final eight minutes up 9–7.
Ioannis Alafragkis cut the lead to one with a counterattack goal, but Fatović responded with his third of the night to make it 10–8. That turned out to be Croatia’s last goal, but it was enough. Greece added one more through Dimitrios Skoumpakis, and had a chance to tie it in the final seconds, but came up empty.
Marko Bijač was nothing short of spectacular, racking up 14 saves to keep Croatia in control. Fatović led the scoring with a hat-trick, while Butić and Žuvela each scored two.
