The Croatia men’s handball team met Serbia on Saturday night to advance to the second round of the European Championship in Hungary. Recall, Croatia fell to France in the first match of Group C on Thursday.
Coach Hrvoje Horvat is still battling the coronavirus among his players. Today, Zvonimir Srna and young goalkeeper Matej Mandić dropped out of the squad. This match saw the return of Luka Cindrić, which was certainly a huge advantage for Croatia.
The hall tonight was also sold out, with around 8,000 fans estimated and several Croatia fans in the stands.
Recap
The match started with Croatia’s first attack saved by the Serbia keeper. A controversial foul on Cupic saw Marsenic receive a 2-minute suspension and Croatia retook possession. Serbia received another exclusion in the 2nd minute of the match. Croatia scored the first goal with 2 extra players for 1:0.
Croatia intercepted the ball on Serbia’s first attack and Cupic scored for 2:0 in the 3rd minute. Martinovic made it 3:0 in the 4th minute!
Serbia made it 3:2 in the 7th minute. Jaganjac scored for 4:2 one minute later. Serbia made it 4:3 in the 10th. An incredible goal by Martinovic made it 5:3 in the 12th. Lucin scored for 6:4 two minutes later.
Serbia scored a penalty to equalize for 6:6 in the 16th minute and took the lead for the first time in the match in the 18th minute (6:7). Jaganjac equalized for 7:7.
Cindric put Croatia back in the lead in the 22nd minute for 8:7.
Serbia retook the lead in the 26th minute for 8:9. Cindric equalized at 9:9 in the 27th minute. Lucin put Croatia back ahead a minute later for 10:9.
A quick counter-attack saw Cindric score for 11:9 going into halftime.
The second half started with no goals from either side in the first 3 minutes. Serbia scored for 11:10 in the 33rd. Martinovic scored for 12:10 moments later.
Martinovic made it 13:12 in the 37th. Two huge saves by Sunjic stopped Serbia’s attacks. Cupic made it +3 in the 39th – 14:11.
Martinovic scored his 5th goal from a penalty for 15:12 in the 41st. Cupic scored for 16:13 a minute later!
Lucin scored for 17:13 in the 44th and again in the 46th for 18:15.
Cupic scored for +4 in the 49th minute – 19:15. Lucin made it 20:16 in the 53rd. Martinovic made it 21:17 with 4 minutes to go!
Cupic scored for 22:18 with less than 2 minutes to go. Goalkeeper Sunjic scored in an empty goal for 23:18! The match ended 23:20 for Croatia!
Croatia plays Ukraine in the final match of Group C on Monday, January 17 at 18:00.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
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