Croatia will fight for a medal at this year’s European Futsal Championship after a convincing quarter-final win over Armenia in Kaunas.
Following their second-place finish in Group A — behind France but ahead of Georgia and Latvia — Marinko Mavrović’s side met Group B winners Armenia, who had previously beaten Ukraine and the Czech Republic and drawn with Lithuania.
Croatia did most of the work early on. Mataja opened the scoring in the third minute before Vukmir doubled the lead in the seventh. By half-time, the scoreboard read 3–0 after Mataja struck again in the 16th minute.
In the second half, Croatia held their ground, with goalkeeper Piplica standing firm, securing a repeat of their famous 2012 success when they reached the semi-finals as tournament hosts.
In the other quarter-finals, France beat Ukraine 4–2, while Portugal face Belgium and Spain meet Italy on Sunday. Croatia will play the winner of Spain vs. Italy in the semi-final on Wednesday, February 4th, at Arena Stožice in Ljubljana.
