Croatia opened the European Water Polo Championship in Dubrovnik, and after the drama, won
SPAIN – CROATIA 12:14 (9:9) (1:2, 5:2, 2:2, 1:3)
SPAIN: Aguirre – Munarriz, Granados, Perrone, Larumbe, Tahuli, Sanahuja
Bench: Bustos, De Toro, Cabanas, Mallarach, Barroso, Lorrio
CROATIA: Bijač – Butić, Burić, Fatović, Harkov, Vrlić, Bukić
Bench: Lončar, Biljaka, Vukičević, Marinić Kragić, Žuvela, Popadić
The European Water Polo Championship has started, and Croatia has defeated one of the tournament’s favorites – Spain. The Spaniards fell after the drama of the fives. Croatia won by 14:12. In fact, coach Ivica Tucka’s idea was to make the force “work in the pool, ” which meant exerting the highest possible pressure. And that was a winning combination because they didn’t allow a group of energetic stars to “dance” in the pool and cause a mess in the Croatian ranks.
The Spaniards are players with a devastating shot, it is difficult to stop them, and an answer should have come. Rino Burić and Matias Biljak had great attention towards the players of Spain. Because someone should have looked after them from the start to the end of the game. There was no panic, even though the first goal was scored only in the third minute of the match, regardless of all the chances created beforehand.
We entered the last quarter with the defense functioning very well, but the offense was in trouble. Many mistakes were made by Croatia, and Spain knew how to take advantage of them. But for the hosts, there was no surrender. They didn’t write it off. At the end of the meeting, the score was 9:9. What would Croatia be without drama if it didn’t have to? Croatia was better in the fives and ultimately won 14:12 against one of the tournament’s main favorites.
