The World Cup may be over, but Croatia's water polo team is playing in the European Championships in Barcelona!
The Croatian men's water polo team kicked off Group C of the European Championship in Barcelona with a victory over the Netherlands on July 16, 2018.
After just four and a half minutes of play, it was already 4-0 for Croatia, and their advantage grew until the middle of the third quarter when it was 10-3. In the last eight minutes, the intensity of Croatia’s defensive game fell, and the Netherlands managed to score the same number of goals as the first 24 minutes of the game. The game ended 15-8 (4-2, 3-1, 4-1, 4-4) for Croatia.
Ante Vukičević was the best player for Croatia with four goals, followed by Josip Vrlić and Maro Joković with three, Loren Fatović with two, and Luka Lončar, Anđelo Šetka, and Javier Garcia with one goal. For the Netherlands, Robin Lindhout scored three goals to be the best for the team.
In the second game of Group C on July 18, 2018, Croatia easily overcame Turkey with 23-2 (4-0, 7-1, 6-1, 6-0). Lovre Miloš was the best for Croatia with six goals while Loren Fatović closely followed with five. Ante Vukičević and Andro Bušlje scored three goals, Maro Joković two, and Marko Macan, Josip Vrlić, Javier Garcia and Ivan Buljubašić each had one.
Greece, who defeated Turkey 27-1 in the first round, will play the Netherlands on Wednesday.
On Friday, July 20, the final round of the group, Turkey will play the Netherlands (14:00), while Croatia and Greece will meet in the evening (20:30). The winners of the four groups go directly to the quarterfinals, and the second and third best from each group will play for the remaining four places in the quarterfinals.
