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Photo credit: European Aquatics / Tom Dubravec / CROPIX
Croatia have made a great start to the 2024 European Water Polo Championships in Dubrovnik tonight.
In the first round of Group A, Croatia won on penalties against Spain, with the match normally tied 9-9 after 32 minutes ending 14-12.
Croatia tied the score at 8-8 with two straight goals, and at 9-9 with 36 seconds left, they had a chance to score the winning goal despite having a man advantage with nine seconds left. However, they were unable to score, and the winner was decided in a penalty shootout.
Photo credit: European Aquatics / Tom Dubravec / CROPIX
All five Croatian players made no mistakes.
Loren Fatovic and Luka Vukic were the top scorers in the Croatia match, with two goals each. Bernat Carne Sanafuja, Felipe Rocha Perrone, Álvaro Ortega Granados and Marc Larumbe were the top scorers for Spain, each scoring two goals.
Croatian fans in Dubrovnik Photo credit: European Aquatics / Tom Dubravec / CROPIX
Croatia will play France in the second round on Saturday, while Montenegro will face Spain in the other match.
The third and final round is scheduled for January 8th, with Croatia facing Montenegro and Spain facing France. The top two teams in their group will advance directly to the quarterfinals, with third and fourth place advancing to the round of 16.
Coach Ivica Tučak said: “We have not achieved anything yet. We have just opened the door to the possibility of getting a good position in the group.” The “real” will come later, I have said a million times. I’ve also said that. I’m glad that we played the right game and showed strong water polo. I’m going to keep this momentum going, but I’m not feeling elated because I haven’t accomplished anything.
Photo: European Swimming/Bozo Radic/CROPIX
We executed our defense as agreed, except for a little bit of an oversight with the extra player situation. I think I could have played better and I didn’t recognize some situations when I was alone. Well, I may be a little responsible because I expect perfection from my players. ”