The men’s national handball team lost 25-33 to the mighty Croatia in Varazdin in the opening of the fifth qualifying group of EURO 2024, but showed itself capable of “looking into the eyes” of one of the biggest schools of the sport, in view of the second meeting in Greece.
The athletes of Giorgos Zaravina fought in the first half, but they could not withstand the superiority of the “Croatians” and they turn to the match of the second competition against the Netherlands next Sunday in Chalkida.
The Croatians took a 3-0 lead and, despite going down to 3-2, kept the +3. The National team improved its defense and, with Toska, Liapi and Tziras as pioneers, initially reduced the score 11-10 and equalized 13-13 at 25′. The Croatians, however, picked up their pace and finished the half with a 5-0 run 18-13.
In the second half, Croatia reached +9, Greece went down 27-20, but that was it.
The five minutes: 3-2, 7-4, 10-7, 11-10, 13-12, 18-13 (day), 21-14, 22-17, 26-19, 28-22, 29-23, 33- 25
CROATIA (Croatian Horvat): Maric, Duvniak 2/4, Sarac 1/1, Karasic 3/5, Musa, Cidric 1/1, Matanovic 1/1, Madic 5/7, Lucin 3/5, Jaganiacs 2/2, Kuzmanovic, Martinovic 5/9 , Sipic, Sego, Glavas 6/6, Jelinic 4/5
GREECE (Giorgos Zaravinas): Kostakidis 0/1, Boskos 1/2, Liapis 3/3, Mylonas 3/5, Mallios, Michaelidis, Passias, Toskas 4/6, Boukovinas, Papavasilis 3/5, Dombri, Tziras 5/7, Kandylas, Papadionisiou 3/ 4, Arabatzis 3/4, Papantonopoulos
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