A second consecutive significant win saw Croatia clinch a place into the main round at the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, with the hosts pulling no punches before taking a 54:18 win over Rwanda, the highest in history in this age category for the hosts.
 
The situation is wide open in Group F, where North Macedonia opened their account after a nip-and-tuck game against Montenegro, with the gritty 20:29 win enabling them to continue hoping for a place in the main round.
 

• Group A

Croatia vs Rwanda 54:18 (25:9)
 
Entering the game as huge favourites, Croatia had their share of issues in the first eight minutes, first by taking the win for granted and then hampered by Rwanda’s surprising 5-1 defence, which took the European side’s centre back, Vito Glivetic, into a man-to-man situation.
 
Therefore, Rwanda pushed and took the lead twice, 1:0 and 2:1, but it was a short-lived lead, as the hosts bounced back immediately, with space opened between the central and intermediate defenders, ripe for the taking by Croatia’s left back Aleksandar Čaprić.
 
Čaprić was unstoppable in the subsequent 23 minutes, scoring at free will via his excellent breakthroughs, finishing the first half with eight goals. Left wing Marko Bajan added seven goals, with the two players combining for 60% of Croatia’s goals in the first 30 minutes.
 
The pair was also the fulcrum of a 10:1 Croatia run between the eighth and the 16th minute, where the backbone of the win was created, as the gap ballooned to 15:5 in just the space of eight minutes, with Rwanda failing to address their shortcomings, despite a time-out taken to break Croatia’s streak.
 
With their key starters rested in the second half and Rwanda insisting on the 5-1 defence which blocked Croatia’s centre back, the gap continued to grow, as Croatia constantly exploited Rwanda’s woes in defence, with the 30-goal lead achieved by the hosts after 48 minutes, 42:12.
 
Not only Croatia scored the highest number of goals in their history at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, but they also secured their largest-ever win in the competition, beating the previous record set against Algeria in 2007 (45:19), a 26-goal win.
 
Thanks to the 54:18 win, Croatia secured their main round berth, with Portugal also qualifying for the next phase of the competition. The two sides will face off tomorrow, as the winners will take the points into the next phase at Croatia 2023.
 
On the other hand, Rwanda conceded another big loss, with only Burundi (115 goals) and New Zealand (109 goals) conceding more than the African side (104 goals), which will face Algeria on Saturday in a fiery clash. 
 
hummel Player of the Match: Aleksandar Čaprić (Croatia)

 

 

 

• Group F

Montenegro vs North Macedonia 20:29 (10:12)

After missing a chance to take points from Norway on Wednesday, North Macedonia claimed their first points at Croatia 2023, winning the Balkan derby against Montenegro and greatly improving their chances for a main round spot.

Both Montenegro and North Macedonia are level on two points, and a win against last-placed Georgia on Saturday should see the North Macedonians through to the top 16. At the same time, Montenegro will face a harder task playing against the group leaders Norway.

Excellent goalkeeping was a key to North Macedonia's success, as David Brestovac, who was named "hummel Player of the Match", stopped 13 balls for a 46% save efficiency, and Ivan Galevski, who replaced him in the last quarter of the game, made five more saves.

Brestovac made five saves already in the 10 opening minutes, helping his team to lead 2:0 before Igor Mrvalkevic scored Montenegro's first goal in the 11th minute. A balanced game followed, in which both teams took turns in the lead, but North Macedonia had the upper hand late in the first half to create a two-goal cushion (12:10) by the break.

And after the restart, North Macedonia pulled clear, as they also managed to improve their shot efficiency. Interestingly, their goals were evenly distributed between 14 players, as none of them scored more than three times, and goalkeeper Galevski also netted once.

Montenegro's Andrej Dobrkovic became the top scorer of the match with seven goals, but his team came up short, as they were limited to just a 48% shot efficiency. The Montenegrins had some hopes midway through the second half when they closed the gap to 17:20, but North Macedonia responded with a 4:0 run, which basically removed all questions. 

hummel Player of the Match: David Brestovac (North Macedonia)

Photos: Croatia 2023/Kolektiff images