For the sixth time in history, Croatia have qualified for a World Championship semi-final. On Friday, they will face Norway in Paris after beating Spain on Tuesday night at Montpellier 30:29 and by taking revenge for the defeats in the 2005 World Championship final, the 2014 EURO bronze final and the 2016 EURO semi-final. The match was a true thriller of two powerhouses.

The semi-final against the surprising Scandinavians will be the re-match of the 2016 EURO bronze final, won by the Croats.

Quarter-final: Spain vs Croatia 29:30 (15:17) in Montpellier

The first half was something like a private shoot-out between Spanish left wing Angel Fernandez and Croatian left back Marko Mamic. And like the Croats were ahead 17:15 at the break, Mamic were ahead by impressive eight goals compared to six of Fernandez.

The first 30 minutes in the re-match of the 2005 World Championship final was nearly without any defending and even less goalkeeping for 25 minutes on both sides. After the lead had changed several times, the Croats took the upper hand, but could not cast off their opponent due to their defence problems.

Spain were unlucky hitting the post four times in the first ten minutes and then could count nearly only on Fernandez’ goals. On the other hand, the Croats had been shocked quite early: Right back Luka Sebetic was ruled out by a hurting his achillles tension in minute ten and could not even leave the court on his own. Thus, Luka Stepancic needed to step in, who was injured two days ago, and was supposed only to be Sebetic’s back up.

Attended by three-time Ski World Cup champion Janica Kostelic, the Croats improved their defence in the last minutes of the first half, when also goalkeeper Ivan Stevanovic showed some saves.

Right after the break, the Croats took an impressive psychological advantage: Being down by one player due to a suspension against Domagoj Duvnjak, they scored 2:0 goals to forge ahead to 20:16, even followed by the first five-goal lead, which caused an immediate time-out of Spanish coach Jordi Ribera.

Still, their defence was not as stable as usual, even a change of goalkeeper from Gonzalo Perez de Vargas to Rodrigo Corrales did not change that much. But in attack, now Alex Dujshebaev took the responsibility. The goals of the right back brought the momentum back on the Spanish side. And when defence boss Viran Morros netted into the empty Croatian goal for the 25:24, everything was open again, and now Croatian coach Zeljko Babic reacted with a time-out.

Without Mamic on court, Croatia had problems in scoring – and were punished by Dujshebaev’s fifth strike after the break, the equaliser to make it 28:28. But the saves of Stevanovic spread confidence fot the defence, which now was much more aggressive and movable.

Thus, two and a half minutes before the end, Croatia jumped for joy, when right wing Zlatko Horvat found the gap to net in for the 30:28. After Valero Rivera reduced to 29:30, Babic took his final time-out with exactly one minute left. When Corrales saved a Cindric shot, Spain had their final attack – but Victor Tomas failed at the final buzzer.

Best player award, presented by Adidas: Marko MAMIC (CRO)