Photo: Sascha Klahn for the EHF
Croatia have defeated their curse in place 3/4 placement matches: After having lost the three Bronze finals at the EHF EURO events in 2004 and 2006 and at the Olympic Games 2008, this year they finally made it to the podium in Belgrade. In a tough struggle on a medium level the Balkan team took a 31:27 victory over Spain.
It was the second Bronze medal for the Croatian men after 1994 and the in total fourth EHF EURO medal after winning Silver in both 2008 and 2010. Ivano Balic and his team-mates managed to extend their medal series at EHF EURO events. On the other side Spain seemed too tired and too weak to win their in total fifth EHF EURO medal.
After the final whistle the Croatians danced on the field and jumped for joy on the bench. Top scorers were Balzenko Lackovic and Daniel Sarmiento with seven goals each – both were later also awarded best players of the match.
Both teams caused an enormous number of technical errors in the game, especially before the break, lost balls and missed passes or chances. Both seemed to be tired and uninspired – and also hectic. The Croats had fate in their hand to control the game after a great start.
Thanks to their HSV Hamburg duo Igor Vori and Blazenko Lackovic (eight of 12 Croatian goals in the first half) they had no problems to take on a 10:5 lead, as the Iberians were unlucky in attack.
It took them 23 minutes to score their third field goal. But suddenly the Croats lost their rhythm, did not hit the back of the net for seven minutes until the score was 11:7. Led by right wing Victor Tomas the Spaniards started a catch-up chase up until the half time score of 13:12.
Thanks to Spanish improvement in attack and a decreasing performance of the Croats the game was open again.
When Tomas had to leave the court due to a thigh injury, the Croats were back on track with a four goal margin after 39 minutes. Still Lackovic took the responsibility, scoring in an unstoppable way from the left back position, assisted by Ivan Cupic’s penalty goals.
The general performing level remained low, the number of mistakes was still high on both sides. But by taking the easy fast break profit from some missed Spanish shots, the Croatians increased the gap to six goals at 22:16 – and seemed to be on the winner’s in the middle of the second half.
All of a sudden not the game on court caused the loudest cheers from the stands in Beogradska Arena, but the announcement notice that Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic had won the thrilling six hour five sets final of the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal in Melbourne – the first of three titles Serbia hope to win on Sunday including the European Championship Finals in handball and water polo.
Those emotions from the stands seemed to give the exhausted handball players some intermediate extra power. Life and passion returned to both teams, with their final 12 EHF EURO minutes to go and a Croatian five-goal lead.
But – as usual in this EHF EURO – nothing was decided yet. The Iberians received a great amount of penalty shots, which brought them as close as two goals four minutes before the end. But when Roberto Garcia failed from the seven meter line and Ivan Cupic scored his seventh goal to 29:26, the Croatian Bronze curse was finally broken. In the end Igor Vori decided the Bronze final with the 30:26 which made their bench jump for joy.
It was the second Bronze medal for the Croatian men after 1994 and the in total fourth EHF EURO medal after winning Silver in both 2008 and 2010. Ivano Balic and his team-mates managed to extend their medal series at EHF EURO events. On the other side Spain seemed too tired and too weak to win their in total fifth EHF EURO medal.
After the final whistle the Croatians danced on the field and jumped for joy on the bench. Top scorers were Balzenko Lackovic and Daniel Sarmiento with seven goals each – both were later also awarded best players of the match.
Both teams caused an enormous number of technical errors in the game, especially before the break, lost balls and missed passes or chances. Both seemed to be tired and uninspired – and also hectic. The Croats had fate in their hand to control the game after a great start.
Thanks to their HSV Hamburg duo Igor Vori and Blazenko Lackovic (eight of 12 Croatian goals in the first half) they had no problems to take on a 10:5 lead, as the Iberians were unlucky in attack.
It took them 23 minutes to score their third field goal. But suddenly the Croats lost their rhythm, did not hit the back of the net for seven minutes until the score was 11:7. Led by right wing Victor Tomas the Spaniards started a catch-up chase up until the half time score of 13:12.
Thanks to Spanish improvement in attack and a decreasing performance of the Croats the game was open again.
When Tomas had to leave the court due to a thigh injury, the Croats were back on track with a four goal margin after 39 minutes. Still Lackovic took the responsibility, scoring in an unstoppable way from the left back position, assisted by Ivan Cupic’s penalty goals.
The general performing level remained low, the number of mistakes was still high on both sides. But by taking the easy fast break profit from some missed Spanish shots, the Croatians increased the gap to six goals at 22:16 – and seemed to be on the winner’s in the middle of the second half.
All of a sudden not the game on court caused the loudest cheers from the stands in Beogradska Arena, but the announcement notice that Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic had won the thrilling six hour five sets final of the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal in Melbourne – the first of three titles Serbia hope to win on Sunday including the European Championship Finals in handball and water polo.
Those emotions from the stands seemed to give the exhausted handball players some intermediate extra power. Life and passion returned to both teams, with their final 12 EHF EURO minutes to go and a Croatian five-goal lead.
But – as usual in this EHF EURO – nothing was decided yet. The Iberians received a great amount of penalty shots, which brought them as close as two goals four minutes before the end. But when Roberto Garcia failed from the seven meter line and Ivan Cupic scored his seventh goal to 29:26, the Croatian Bronze curse was finally broken. In the end Igor Vori decided the Bronze final with the 30:26 which made their bench jump for joy.
The Source: ehf-euro.com
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