In the first game after the European Championship in Croatia, the Croatia handball team was defeated by Sweden.
In the first of a two-game series in Sweden, the Croatia handball team was defeated by Sweden 32:25 (17:13), reports Gol.hr on April 5, 2018.
From the start of the match, the European finalists controlled the result, and by the end of the game, came to a convincing victory. Krešimir Kozina scored five goals for Croatia, while Andreas Nilsson scored six goals to be the best for Sweden.
Croatia Coach Lino Červar was not pleased with the friendly meeting.
"This game was good for us, first and foremost, to see our shortcomings. I think that we lagged behind them a lot during the game, and we have to be aware of it - we cannot brag but be realistic. We need a lot of work to do better. The young players did not justify their worth, except for Kozina and Šega. What worries me is we are not at the tactical or technical level yet. Because of that, we have a lot of work left, and we have to take lessons from this game,” said Červar.
The best goalscorer of the game, Krešimir Kozina, particularly emphasized the poor play in the opening match.
"We had a terrible start to the game. We cannot open like that against Sweden; they are still the finalists of Europe. This is their first domestic game after the championship. You could see that they still had the euphoria around them, and they went into the game furiously. We have some new faces, some young players who will need time. I know that everyone is impatient now, but these players from 19, 20, 23 years of age will need games. I think that's why these friendly games are good and I think it is important that we did not give up until the last minute, though the result was not good. I hope that we can correct it for the next game,” said Kozina.
The second match between Sweden and Croatia will be played on Saturday in Norrköping.
Translated from Gol.hr
