January 15, 2023 - After losing to Egypt on Friday, Croatia found their rhythm and beat the USA 40:22 in the second match of the 2023 World Handball Championship.

Croatia was after their first victory against the USA in Group G of the World Handball Championship on Sunday in Sweden. Recall Croatia lost to Egypt in the first round on Friday 22:31. 

The USA defeated Morocco 28:27 on Friday to earn its first World Championship win, breaking their 25-game losing streak.

Before tonight's game, Croatia played one match against the USA at the World Championship, in 2001 in France, when they won (41:12).

Losing to Egypt did not threaten Croatia's chance for a spot in the second round of this competition, but it made the path to the quarter-finals a bit more difficult, which was the first goal of this new Croatia team.

Josip Šarac was in the lineup for tonight's match, while Zvonimir Srna watched the match from the stands. 

Match recap

The USA did not take advantage of their first attack, but Croatia did. Karačić scored for 1:0. Blanco leveled the score for 1:1 in the 3rd minute. 

Musa scored after a nice assist from Šarac. Ian Hueter scored, but Šarac quickly countered. The USA took the lead at 4:3 in the 6th minute. 

Musa made it 4:4 two minutes later. After goals from Jelinić, Šarac, Glavaš, and Karačić, it was 9:5 for Croatia in the 12th minute. And it was 12:5 for Croatia in the 14th minute. 

After a few goals from the USA, it was 13:7 for Croatia in the 17th minute. Glavaš scored a penalty for 14:7 in the 19th minute. 

Jelinić scored for 15:7 in the 22nd minute. In the 26th minute, Šarac made it 17:8. Cindrić scored his first goal of the game in the 29th minute. 

The first half ended 20:10 for Croatia. 

A nice play and goal by Karačić opened the second half. Šarac scored his 5th goal of the game in the 34th minute and scored again for 25:12 in the 36th minute. 

Mihićev scored his first goal of the game one minute later. Karačić scored his 5th goal in the 43rd minute for +15 - 30:15.

With 10 minutes to go, Croatia was up 32:18. 

Karačić scored for 33:18 in the 52nd minute. With this result, Croatia has mathematically secured their spot in the second round. 

With five minutes to go, Croatia led 37:20. 

And with a minute left, it was 39:22 for Croatia. Mihić scored the final goal for the game for 40:22. 

Croatia's next game is against Morocco on Tuesday, January 17, at 20:30. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 14, 2022 - The Croatia men's handball team defeated Finland 21:34 in the first leg of the 2nd round of the 2023 World Handball Championship qualifiers.

Croatia has thus made a big step toward securing a spot in that competition and plays the return match in Varaždin on Saturday, April 16 at 6 pm.

FINLAND: P. Roslander 0/1, M. Makela 16/46, L. Lindberg 2/2, M. Henriksson 2/4, F. Forss 0/2, V. Gronmark 1/1, B. Helander 1/3 , R. Sundberg - / -, E. Hammarberg 0/1, R. Syrjala 1/2, R. Granlund 5/9, S. Vainionpaa 2/2, S. Sakkinen 1/3, G.Montonen 3/6, F. Karlsson 3/6, O. Norlund 0/1, coach: Ola Lindgren (Swe)

CROATIA: D. Kuzmanović 1/3, M. Šego 12/32, M. Marić 0/3, D. Duvnjak 1/1, I. Karačić 1/3, M. Maraš 0/2, M. Mamić 2/2 , L. Cindrić 6/8, V. Matanović 2/4, T. Lučin 2/3, H. Jaganjac 0/1, L. Šušnja - / -, D. Ćavar 4/6, F. Glavaš 8/10, L. L. Klarica 3/8, M. Jelinić 5/7, selector: Hrvoje Horvat

Of the 18 players brought to Finland, coach Hrvoje Horvat left Matej Mandic and Veron Nacinovic in the stands. It is worth reminding that Croatia was left without David Mandić, Željko Musa, Zvonimir Srna, Ivan Čupić, Luka Šebetić, Marin Šipić, and Ivan Martinović before these two qualifying matches due to injuries.

Croatia opened the match with the following line-up: Marin Šego in goal, Marin Jelinić and Filip Glavaš on the wings, Marino Marić as the pivot, and Domagoj Duvnjak, Luka Cindrić and Luka Lovre Klarica on the outside positions. There was only one change in defense-attack, Marino Marić - Leon Šušnja.

Croatia started calmly and used four of the first five attacks to take the 2:4 lead after only six minutes. 

Domagoj Duvnjak pushed forward, resulting in a series of mistakes for Finland. Thus, in the 12th minute, Croatia doubled its advantage to 4:8. After the first quarter, they could have been up by 8 or 9 points, but it was 6:10. 

Horvat started with a series of substitutions. Igor Karačić, Vlado Matanović, and Tin Lučin entered, and Marko Mamić also defended. Croatia made good use of Finland's exclusions, and at the end of the 20th minute, Croatia was up by 6 goals - 7:13. However, Croatia went without a goal for five minutes, and Finland was helpless against Marin Šego (10 saves).

At halftime, Croatia was up by seven goals (9:16), and 8 Croatia players were among the scorers.

Finland did well in the second half. They came to minus 5 with two quick goals and forced Croatia to get serious. Croatia responded with two goals by Filip Glavas, one from seven meters, and quickly calmed down the growing ambitions of the hosts.

After 13 minutes of play, Croatia went up by 10 (15:25) with the first goal by Marko Mamic. As expected, Horvat started several new changes to give all players the opportunity in the match. The young Dominik Kuzmanović was in goal. Croatia's advantage grew from attack to attack until the final 21:34. Along with the excellent Marin Šego, who had 12 saves, the top scorer for Croatia was Filip Glavaš, with eight goals from 10 attempts. Luka Cindrić scored six and was chosen as the best player for Croatia. 

Source: HRS

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 30, 2021 - The Croatia handball Euro 2022 prep continued with a friendly match against Slovenia on Wednesday night in Celje.

On Wednesday, the Croatia men's senior national team suffered a heavy defeat in a friendly match against Slovenia in Celje (33:26). It was the first meeting after three hard training days in the second phase of preparations in Poreč. Nevertheless, Slovenia sent a serious warning to Croatia. The team will have two days off before final preparations in Osijek.

Both national teams were incomplete and missing players from the Bundesliga. In addition, Zvonimir Srna left Zagreb earlier in the day due to an illness (not coronavirus). In any case, Slovenia showed more and deservedly celebrated the win as payback for the defeat they suffered against Croatia in Novigrad / Cittanova in early November.

Neither team was ready for solid, aggressive defense from the very beginning. Luka Cindrić put Croatia ahead for the first eight minutes. Slovenia then took the lead and lost their advantage only once.

Like the first meeting recently in Istria, Slovenia entered Croatia's 6-7 meters when they wanted and scored. In the 12th minute, Slovenia was up by 2 for the first time (8:6). However, Croatia did not give up and was always 1-2 goals behind. Croatia made eight technical errors in the first half and constantly offered Slovenia a new opportunity to stay ahead. 

Croatia failed to equalize in the last minute of the first half, and Jože Baznik brought Slovenia to +2 at halftime (17:15). Croatia conceded 17 goals again in one half, which speaks volumes about the defense.

Slovenia easily went ahead by 5 points at the beginning of the second half. However, Croatia caught up after about ten minutes.

In the first 15 minutes of the second half, Croatia scored only 4 goals. Slovenia was more aggressive, concentrated, and took advantage of Croatia's mistakes. In the last five minutes, Slovenia was up by 7 for 30:23 and managed to maintain that lead almost without much effort until the end.

Slovenia's top scorers were Blaž Janc and Gašper Marguč, with seven goals each. Croatia's top scorers were Luka Cindrić and Luka Šebetić, with five goals each.

Croatia had only 48 percent of the attacks (Slovenia 56 percent). Slovenia scored 7/7 counters (Croatia 4/4). Croatia had 13 technical errors / lost balls to Slovenia's 12. Slovenia played 6 minutes with a player less, and Croatia 14. 

HRS

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

January 24, 2021 - Croatia and Denmark will meet on Monday in a decisive match for Croatia's fate in the quarterfinals of the World Championship in Egypt. What can we expect? 

Croatia suffered a shocking defeat to Argentina on Saturday night, complicating their path to the quarterfinals of the World Championship in Egypt. While a win would have locked in a spot among the eight best national teams, Croatia must now defeat reigning Olympic and World Champions Denmark and rely on a Qatar victory against Argentina to push them through to the next phase of the tournament. 

Argentina and Qatar play from 6 pm on Monday, and Croatia and Denmark meet two and a half hours later - at 8:30 pm CET.

Denmark is no stranger to Croatia, and behind Spain and France, it is a national team they have met the most times. Namely, Croatia and Denmark have played 18 times, with an even win-loss ratio - both teams have nine wins and nine losses, and they have never drawn. 

At the World Champs, Croatia and Denmark have met a handful of times.

In Portugal in 2003, on the road to the gold, Croatia celebrated 33:27 in a second-round match. Four years later, in Germany, Croatia won 28:26 in the second round in which Ivano Balić excelled with nine goals. In Sweden in 2011, in front of a packed Malmo Arena, Croatia lost 34:29. Kasper Sondergaard led Denmark with ten goals, and Mikkel Hansen scored nine goals. Croatia suffered an even heavier defeat in the 2013 semifinals. After seven consecutive wins, Denmark beat Croatia by 14 goals (34:20) and went on to the final. In the end, Croatia received the bronze medal, which is the last medal from the World Championship.

The two sides have met the most at the Euros, nine times, with four wins to Croatia and five to Denmark. You might remember the especially painful Euro 2008 final when Denmark won 24:20. 

But the European medal is just one of many in Denmark's collection. Namely, they have won the second-most medals won in European Championship history, with a total of six - two gold (2008, 2012), one silver (2014), and three bronze medals (2002, 2004 & 2006). Only Spain has more.

And let's not forget that as of January 2019, they are the reigning Olympic and World Champions. Denmark topped France in Rio and Norway at the World Championship hosted in Denmark and Germany two years ago. 

But when Croatia plays like we know they can, they are a force to be reckoned with, too. 

The Cowboys' shaky World Championship campaign can be attributed to a few things. For starters, captain Domagoj Duvnjak and Luka Cindric had just played in the Champions League final before traveling to Egypt. If they weren't already fatigued, Duvnjak also battled COVID-19 and Cindric an adductor injury, which sent him back home to Barcelona to recover. 

Furthermore, Igor Karacic and Luka Stepancic had to cancel their preparations with Croatia due to injuries, and Marin Sego and Manuel Strlek were still in the process of recovery. Recall, Sego didn't return to the starting lineup until the 19th minute of the Qatar match, thus missing Croatia's first two group stage matches against Japan and Angola. 

To make matters worse, several team members complained of stomach problems the day before Argentina, and Ivan Martinovic and Domagoj Duvnjak were in the worst condition. Martinovic missed training and tested for coronavirus as a precaution, but the result was negative. Other players felt weaker symptoms, which was undoubtedly concerning before the most crucial match of the tournament so far. 

Fortunately, two hours before yesterday's match, the Croatian Handball Federation confirmed that everyone would be ready, though we failed to see that reflected on the court.

Croatia was mostly lost in the attack against Argentina, and the game went down as one of the worst in Croatian handball history.

Coach Lino Cervar even resigned from the bench afterward and said that Croatia must be led by someone else. Cervar's harsh reaction came while Croatia still technically has a chance for the quarterfinals - and one Qatar player could be their hope. 

As mentioned before, Croatia is no longer dependent on itself and must rely on Qatar on Monday in the clash against Argentina.

Namely, Gol.hr reports that Qatar can also make it to the quarterfinals with a win against Argentina and a Croatia defeat against Denmark. 

Qatar will indeed play their best for a victory, especially since the team's top player returned to the squad only yesterday after coming down with COVID-19. Rafel Capote scored nine goals in his first match at the tournament yesterday against Bahrain and showed that he is in great form and ready to overcome Argentina.

Capote is a great shooter, and in addition to the always unpleasant Saric in goal, Qatar has several serious players who can challenge Argentina. 

So, who will it be? Monday is D-Day. Tune in from 6 pm CET! 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

January 15, 2021 - Croatia and Japan draw in the first round of Group C at the World Championship in Egypt. 

After the tournament host Egypt and Chile opened the 2021 World Handball Championship on Wednesday, and a day later seven more first-round matches were played, the Croatia handball team met Japan to begin their Group C campaign at the World Championship in Egypt. 

On Thursday, coach Lino Červar wrote off four players for the first round of the competition, thus cutting the player list to 16 names to begin Croatia's journey at the World Champs.

Croatia is the favorite of Group C, which also includes Angola and Qatar.

Croatia v. Japan Recap

Strlek put Croatia in the lead in the first minute for 1:0, though Japan equalized moments later from a 7-meter shot for 1:1. Japan took the lead in the 3rd minute for 1:2.

Strlek scored the equalizer for 2:2 in the 5th minute. Japan scored for 2:3 in the 6th, and 2:4 in the 7th. Japan was up by 3 goals in the 10th minute, up by 4 in the 11th, and up by 5 just moments later.

Martinovic gave Croatia life again in the 12th minute for 3:7 and again for 4:7 in the 14th. 

Mamic scored for 5:8 in the 15th and Maric for 6:9 in the 16th.

Japan was up by 5 goals in the 19th minute - 7:12. 

Horvat scored for 8:12 in the 20th minute. 

Japan had its biggest lead in the 22nd minute - 8:14. Martinovic scored for 9:14 moments later. 

Japan took advantage of Croatia's shaky defense and scored in almost every attack. Croatia missed many certain goals, which came back to haunt them. 

Horvat scored for 11:16 in the 25th minute. 

With one minute to go in the first half, Cindric scored for 14:17, which was the result going into halftime. 

Maric scored for Croatia to open the second half and bring them only two goals behind - 15:17 in the 31st minute. Cindric scored for 16:18 in the 33rd minute. Cupic made it 17:19 in the 37th.

Japan was up by four goals in the 39th minute. 

Maric scored for 18:21 in the 40th minute. Horvat scored for 19:22 in the 42nd. 

Duvnjak finally scored for 20:22 in the 43rd minute and again for 21:22 in the 45th. Cindric scored for 22:23.

Croatia finally equalized in the 48th minute thanks to a Brozovic goal for 23:23! It took them nearly all game.

Duvnjak made it 24:24 with 10 minutes to go and Maric scored yet again for 25:25! 

Cindric scored for 26:26 with 7 minutes to go and 25:25 with 5 minutes to go.

Cupic scored from 7-meters with 3 minutes to go - 28:28.

Cupic scored for 29:29, which was the final result of the game.  

The three best teams from each group will advance and transfer points to the next round. 

In the second round, there will be four groups with six national teams each, and the two best will advance to the quarterfinals, from which they will play by knockout until the end of the competition. 

Group C intersects with Group D, which includes Denmark, Argentina, Bahrain, and DR Congo.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

January 14, 2021 - The Croatia handball team will open the World Championships on Friday against Japan for their first step to the gold medal. 

While some national teams already had to cancel their appearance at the World Championships in Egypt and the World Handball Federation (IHF) scrambles to find replacements, the Croatia handball team is waiting for the start of the competition. A new round of testing has shown that Croatia has no reason to worry. The complete delegation is negative on both tests that were conducted upon arrival in Egypt.

Coach Lino Cervar has one special task until the first match against Japan on January 15 - to mentally prepare the players for what awaits them in Egypt, first at Borg El Arab hall in Alexandria, and hopefully later in the second and final round in Cairo. It is essential that everyone stays healthy and follows the strict instructions of the doctors, but also the hosts. The experiences of other national teams show that only one infected person can bring unrest to the entire team and destroy everything they have been carefully building for months.

The Croatia handball team stays at the Tolip North Hotel, about 80 kilometers from Alexandria, or the hall where they will play. This hotel hosts all national teams and journalists who follow the competition in groups C (Croatia, Japan, Angola, Qatar) and H (Slovenia, Russia, Belarus, and Korea). It is a bubble that can only be left when going to matches, and only with special transport and escort of the competition organizers.

But unlike a similar bubble at the European Handball Championships recently in Denmark, there is room to walk here; you can even get to the sea, especially if temperatures remain around 17 degrees. Unlike Korea, Japan, and Belarus, Croatia is located in the annexes/villas of Hotel Tolip. There are three players per accommodation, which is approximately 120 square meters.

On Wednesday, Croatia held their first training session in the hall where they will play. They had their last real training on Monday night. 

Marin Sego, member of the Croatia national team:

"Impressions are good, the accommodation is good, the temperature is fine, it's not too warm. We had two tests yesterday, settled into a room until the results came, and thank God, we were all negative. This morning we had breakfast, a walk and stretching and in the afternoon we go to the gym for training. We can take a walk in the fresh air within the resort. We already watched the video of Japan; they are fast and quite dangerous. We have to be focused on our game, and I don't think there should be any big problems."

Ivan Cupic, member of the Croatia national team:

"The most important thing is that all the results are negative, that is what we hoped for, and why we are satisfied, that is the first step. We are isolated here in the accommodation and hang out with each other. We will spend two days before the match analyzing Japan, talking to each other, and welcoming the opening of the World Championships with maximum concentration. We are all experienced and collected enough; we know it is a long tournament. There will certainly be a bit of positive nervousness, but I believe we will take that first step already against Japan. Because of the whole situation that is happening in Croatia, in all these troubles, our thoughts are there as well, and I hope that we can help people forget about the problems for two to three hours and try to make them a little happy."

Source: HRS

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

The Croatia men's handball team look forward to two friendlies against Sweden - but who is on the team?

While the World Handball Federation has yet to announce the nominees for the world's best handball players of the year, the European Handball Federation has eased the nerves by offering supporters a chance to vote for their favorite in 2017 - and it's a Croat.