Romania delivered a clear win in their opener at Germany/Netherlands 2025, with a dominating performance in the second half against Croatia, 33:24.

GROUP A
Romania vs Croatia 33:24 (13:12)

With Rotterdam also hosting a football match between local team Feyenoord and Celtic Glasgow, traffic became so intense, that a normal 20-minute dash from the team hotel to the Ahoy Arena became a 90-minute drive for Romania, with the opening match in the Dutch city being delayed for 10 minutes.

And Romania did look fazed by this delay, as they conceded five goals in the first five minutes, being down 5:2 against a young Croatia side, with seven Under-21 players in their squad and an average age of 24,1 years old, and a single player aged over 30.

Croatia delivered some excellent attacks, but when Romania did start to adapt in defence, their attacking efficiency collapsed to 46% after 30 minutes. Indeed, after their starting salvo, Ivica Obrvan’s team scored only three goals in the next 18 minutes, as Romania slowly got into the groove.

Making his debut at the IHF Women’s World Championship in this position, Ovidiu Mihăilă managed the minutes for his players carefully, constantly rotating the back line, with six different players featuring at least one minute in the first 10 minutes of the match.

And then, Romania started hitting their shots. The pivotal moment of the first half was a 6:0 Romania run with five different players scoring at least one goal, which turned a two-goal Croatia lead, 6:8, into a four goal lead for Romania, 12:8.

Nevertheless, Romania went back to their erratic ways in attack at the end of the first half, with back Sorina Grozav, who was the team’s top scorer with four goals, missing two penalties, enabling Croatia to bounce back, as Obrvan used a seven-on-six attack to finish the first half.

With only one goal separating the two teams, 13:12, at the break, it was anyone’s match, but once again Romania opened a three-goal lead early in the second half, as they now moved to a different tactic, using more and more the line player.

Gold medallist at the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, Lorena Ostase, scored three consecutive goals in the space of three minutes and three seconds to take the score to 17:14, the point of no return for Croatia.

And when Croatia did try to do something in attack, Romania’s goalkeeper, Yuliya Dumanska, provided some key saves, finishing the match with 13 stopped shots and a 41% saving efficiency, constantly frustrating Croatia throughout the second half.

Therefore, the gap ballooned to nine goals, 32:23, with three minutes to go, as Mihăilă continued to rotate his team, giving time to all players, in order to be properly accustomed to the competition.

Eventually, Romania improved their chances for a main round place with a clear-cut win, 33:24, against Croatia, leaving their opponents in a tough situation, in a must-win situation against Denmark and Japan for the next two matches.

hummel Player of the Match: Yuliya Dumanska (Romania)