The Men's European Handball Championship 2018 finally started today, after weeks of anticipation and atmosphere build-up, and Croatian team beat Serbia 32:22.
The games will be played in Split, Varaždin, Poreč and Zagreb (still not completely sure on that last item, though), and the most awaited game was played tonight in Split, where the home-team and favourites for one of the medals faced our neighbours, team Serbia. The tickets for this game have been sold-out for weeks, and Croatian media have been writing a lot about the tickets being sold on the so-called “black market” for huge amounts money, going up to 5000 kuna for a couple of tickets.
The first game of the day played in Spaladium Arena in Split brought us the first major upset of the championships, as Island managed to beat the obvious favourites Sweden; final score was 26:24. And finally just before 20:30 the Croatian and Serbian teams got out in front of 12 thousand very loud fans, the Croatian national anthem were sung by the Croatian Navy Klapa “Sv. Juraj” (Serbian national anthem was played from a tape and massively booed by Croatian fans at the stands), Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and a few other members of his cabinet were also at the game.
From the earliest minutes of the game it was obvious who the favourites are, and team Croatia were in the lead for the entirety of the first half, which ended in a very comfortable 14:9 lead for the home team. The second half started in the same spirit, and Croatian team managed to keep the similar goal-difference, with 2 rarely seen, amazing saves by goalie Mirko Alilović and great performances by Stepančić, Cindrić, Horvat and the rest of the team. In the end it was an easy win for team Croatia in front of the great, supportive crowd, and the only thing that cast a bit of a shadow on a wonderful night for Croatian sports was the possible injury of Duvnjak, who had to leave the court a couple of minutes before the end. The final result was 32:22, so we can say that Croatian team proved in their first game they are one of the favourites for the medals. The highest scorers for Croatian team tonight were Luka Stepnačić and Manuel Štrlek with six goals, while Luka Cindrić and Zlatko Horvat added four each.
The next game for team Croatia is on Sunday, same time (20:30), same place (Spaladium Arena in Split).
