Against a Ukrainian team that suffered its third defeat in as many games, coach Horvat used the opportunity to open up his bench in the second half, with usual substitutes, including Marin Jelinic who made a very good impression.
GROUP C
Ukraine vs Croatia 25:38 (13:18)
- if Ukraine showed a strong resistance in the first half, partly thanks to Dmytro Artemenko’s flawless performance, they fell a little bit short in the last 10 minutes.
- Croatia took advantage of the opportunity and scored four goals in the last two minutes to go five ahead at the break
- Ukraine kept on struggling in the second half, with Dmyro Horiha being their only real offensive danger. However, it took 20 minutes in the second half for Croatia to take their first 10-goal advantage of the evening
- Croatia’s Ivan Martinovic, who scored seven, was elected the Grundfos Player of the Match
- Horvat’s side have now four points and can dream of a main round ticket - that depends on the outcome of the game between France and Serbia. Ukraine, on the other hand, are now eliminated
Croatia overcomes multiple absences
With many players unavailable, including Halic Jaganjac sitting in the stands due to a concussion suffered two days ago, you might think that Croatia’s spirits might be darkened. In fact it was the contrary, as players brought back by coach Hrvoje Horvat seem to adapt very quickly.
Jakov Gojun behaved like a true defensive boss, even getting his first offensive minutes in years, while Tin Lucin and Marin Jelinic were the real offensive leaders. Croatia must now pray for a break in their bad luck, but so far, it does not seem to affect them too much.
