Croatia lost everything within five minutes
CROATIA – HUNGARY 22:23 (11:8)
CROATIA: Bešen, P. Posavec, Šenvald, S. Posavec, Mičijević, Milosavljević, Kalaus, Kalaus Zulj, Ježić, Burić, Brkić, Barišić, Birtić, Blažević, Prkačin, Pijević
HUNGARY: Szollosi-Schatzl, Albek, Debreczeni-Klivinyi, Bode-Biro, Marton, Topfner, Papp, Pasztor, Vamos, Klujber, Juhasz, Bordas, Kuczora, Gyori-Lukacs, Bukovszky, Simon
Croatia is leading against Hungary in the last game of the second round of the IHF World Championship. Croatia had a good game, albeit with black holes in attack. Croatia did not score a goal for a good eight minutes in the first half, and if they had scored everything they had, the difference in the result would have been much greater.
Tea Pijević was one of the main Croatian players again. And our strikers managed to get up after the black hole and somehow keep under control both the game and the result. It is interesting that Hungary scored only four goals after half of the first half. And the reason for this is the already mentioned Pijević, who had six saves at that moment.
Hungary has several stars and well-known handball players, although it came to this championship without important names. But it didn’t look like that. Because Croatia created opportunities, but according to the good old custom, the Croatian handball players managed to miss a few easy chances to score.
The first suspension happened in the 21st minute, and Hungary continued to play strongly and fight. However, in the 23rd minute of the match, Nikolina Zadravec led Croatia to a four-goal lead again. Specifically, Tea Pijević continues to defend well. In the 24th minute of the match, Hungary scored only six goals, and this was the result of the defense of Pijević and the mobility of the Croatian defense.
In the 26th minute of the match, Mičijević scores a goal for the goal difference, but Gyori-Lukacs fights back and scores Hungary’s goal after almost six minutes of play. Then Ivica Obrvan calls for a minute of rest to refresh the girls’ heads, prevent easy goals conceded, and prepare for the goals scored.
Croatia is leading at halftime of the match against Hungary. Towards the end of the half, the impression was spoiled because Croatia missed a seven-pointer, and Hungary scored two goals and reduced the difference from a five-goal advantage to just three goals for Croatia.
Croatia opened the second half with a goal from the penalty spot, and Hungary kept missing and making mistakes. But after a few minutes, both teams went goal for goal, and Croatia had a four to five-goal lead.
The first dismissal for Croatia happened in the 42nd minute of the match, and then Obrvan went into the game without a goalkeeper. However, in the middle of the second half, Hungary scored four quick goals and was only two goals behind. Croatia has fallen into crisis. But what would be Croatia without drama?
Of course, Croatia lost the advantage, and with three and a half minutes to go, they only had one goal advantage. Croatia has fallen and entered a mental blockade. Hungary took advantage of that, started playing more and more aggressively, and had the advantage a minute before the end. And they won in the end.
Croatia lost the most important match at this stage of the competition. Everything Croatia was building in the 55th minute of the match fell in the last five minutes. This is the defeat of Croatia as such, and they have defeated themselves. This will hurt for some time because no one is clear about what is happening towards the end of the match. Croatia stops here on its way to the IHF World Cup.
Too bad, but there will be more competition. Because the Croatian women’s handball team is not the top of the world handball team, they can always be the “Queens of shock”! We look forward to seeing you in further competitions.
