Croatia hit 40-goal mark in outclassing the USA

Croatia had no problems against the United States of America and celebrated their first victory at the 28th IHF Men's World Championship. It was an important match for Croatia's confidence and now both teams are looking towards the last matches in the group.

Group G

Croatia vs United States of America 40:22 (21:10)

Croatia came out in their strongest lineup, fully focused on claiming a clear win. The United States of America really tried to make Croatians sweat in the opening minutes of the match, even gaining a 4:3 lead after Nikolas Zarikos's goal.

Following turnovers and mistakes in defence, the USA slowed down in rhythm, allowing Croatia to make a 7:0-goal run. Zarikos again scored first for the USA after six whole minutes, in which time Croatia set 12:5 with three goals by Josip Šarac. Šarac started his first World Championship match after stepping in instead of injured Zvonimir Srna.

The obvious difference between these two sides was the greater experience, star players, rich handball history and a desire for redemption after a 22:31 defeat against Egypt. While Croatia is a handball country, the USA is still developing our beloved sport. And that can be seen in the statistics – the USA had a total of 22 turnovers in the match.

As we were approaching the halftime break, Croatia reached the double-digit lead and goalkeeper Dino Slavić was at eight saves, preventing the Americans from reducing the deficit. At this point, the USA converted only 42% of shots, while Croatia clearly dominated the first half with 83% attack efficiency.

In the second part, head coach Hrvoje Horvat started with Dominik Kuzmanović between the posts and every player available got his playing time. Just like Robert Hedin on the other side, he tried to give as much valuable experience to his players as possible, playing their only second-ever match at the World Championship.

An in-flight goal by Igor Karačić on Filip Glavaš's assist set the biggest goal difference so far in the match (30:15). With each new goal, Croatian fans in the stands were getting louder and louder while showing respect to the USA.

The USA's left back Gary Hines did not let go easily as he produced some nice goals for his team, like the one for 18:32, as he led the way with seven in total. The blistering end saw Croatia grabbing the biggest lead and hitting the 40-goal mark almost with the buzzer.

Croatia look towards the last match of the group against Morocco, while the USA will take on the group leaders Egypt.

"The result speaks for itself. After a shocking defeat by Egypt, we needed a match like this where every segment of the game worked. Every player got enough playing time. It was beautiful to play in front of so many fans who were cheering for us", said head coach Hrvoje Horvat to RTL television.

hummel Player of the Match: Gary Hines (United States of America)