January 26, 2020 - The Croatia water polo team met Montenegro in the game for third place and the bronze medal at the European Championship in Budapest.

After falling to Spain on Friday in the semifinal, Croatia met Montenegro in the bronze medal game on Sunday. Croatia and Montenegro had already met in the group stage of the tournament when Croatia won 11:10.

Croatia won the sprint and, thus, the first attack of the game, which resulted in no goal. 

Jokovic scored the first goal of the game from a penalty with 6:25 to go in the first quarter and 0:1 Croatia.

Jokovic scored Croatia’s second goal from another penalty for 0:2. It was 1:2 with just over a minute to go. Vukicevic scored for 1:3, which is how the first quarter ended.

Montenegro opened the second quarter with a goal for 2:3 with 7:25 to go.

Vrlic scored for 2:4 with six minutes to go and Bukic scored for 2:5 with 4:38 to go.

The game was 3:6 for Croatia with two minutes to go in the second quarter.

Loren Fatovic scored for 3:7 with 1:41 to go.

Josip Vrlic scored for 4:8 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. With 2:22 left, Montenegro decreased Croatia's lead to 6:8 - and to 7:8 with 47 seconds to go.

Montenegro won the sprint in the final quarter though neither team was able to score until there were just over five minutes left. Fatovic increased Croatia's lead to 7:9. Montenegro came back to -1 for 8:9 with 4:52 to go.

With 1:36 left, Montenegro equalized at 9:9 - and with 1:00 left, they took the lead for 10:9.

Croatia was unlucky in their final attack, and Montenegro took the win and the bronze medal. 

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

January 22, 2020 - The Croatia water polo team met Greece for the quarterfinal match of the European Championships in Budapest on Wednesday. 

Croatia had the first attack of the game, which was unsuccessful. Greece came back to score the first goal of the game for 0:1.

Croatia quickly came back to equalize with a goal by Josip Vrlic a minute and a half into the game. 

Maro Jokovic increased Croatia’s lead to 2:1 with five and a half minutes to go. Andro Buslje made it 3:1 with just under four minutes to go. Marko Jokovic made it 4:2 with 2:15 to go in the first quarter. 

Lovre Milos hit a rocket for 5:2 with a minute and a half to go. Javi Garcia scored with 13 seconds left for 6:3 to end the first quarter. 

Vrlic scored his second goal of the game to open the second quarter for Croatia for 7:3. Jokovic increased the lead to 8:3 with five minutes to go.

Vrlic scored his third goal for 9:5 with less than three minutes to go, and Vukicevic made it 10:6 a minute later, which is how the second quarter ended.

Fatovic had a one-on-one with the keeper, which resulted in a 5-meter penalty. Jokovic scored for 11:7 with just over four minutes to go in the third quarter.

Vukicevic nailed the back of the net for 12:8 with three minutes to go, and Garcia scored for 13:8 with 1:22 left. The third quarter ended at 13:9.

Greece opened the final quarter with a goal for 13:10. 

Croatia scored its first goal of the fourth quarter with 3:26 to go - Garcia scored for 14:10.

With just 30 seconds to go in the game, Croatia had the final attack. Loncar lost the ball and Greece attacked for the final time. Bijac made the save to give Croatia the 14:11 victory! 

Our 'Barakudas' will play against Spain in the semifinal, who stopped Serbia in the earlier quarterfinal game on Wednesday.

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

January 16, 2020 - The Croatia water polo team met Montenegro in the second leg of the European Championship in Budapest on Thursday. 

In the first match, the ‘Barakudas’ defeated Germany 17:9. The match against Montenegro was decisive to win the first place in the group, which secures a spot in the quarterfinals. 

“We have really positive results against them lately. We easily won in the quarter-final of the Kazan World Championship, in the semi-final of the Olympic Games, the quarter-final of the European Championship, some big matches where we had them as an opponent and we managed to win,” said national team coach Ivica Tucak just before the start of the match.

Montenegro opened the game with a goal by Brguljan three minutes in. Croatia’s first goal of the match didn’t come until Andro Buslje scored for 1:1 with less than two minutes to go in the first quarter. 

Luka Bukic scored during an extra-man play for 1:2 Croatia, which was the final score of the first quarter. 

Bukic opened the second quarter with his second goal for 1:3. Maro Jokovic nailed the net for 2:4. Xavi Garcia increased Croatia’s lead to 2:5, while Josip Vrlic was brilliant in front of the goal for 2:6. The second quarter ended at 3:6 for Croatia.

Croatia’s brilliant defense prevented Montenegro from reducing the result in the third quarter, and goalkeeper Marko Bijac was unstoppable in goal. Croatia scored the first goal of the third quarter with four minutes to go - Luka Loncar increased the lead to 3:7.

Hrvoje Benic hit a rocket for 3:8, while Bukic recorded his third goal with just over two minutes to go in the third quarter. The game was 4:9 for Croatia. 

With less than two minutes to go, Vrlic scored his second goal of the game for 5:10, which was the final score of the third quarter. 

Montenegro reduced the deficit to 8:10 four minutes into the last quarter. And it was 9:10 with three minutes to go. Croatia had yet to score in the fourth quarter. 

Montenegro made an incredible comeback to equalize with just over two minutes to go. It was a completely different game for Croatia, and Tucak was not happy.

Xavi Garcia scored a crucial goal with just over a minute to go to put Croatia back in the lead for 10:11, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. 

Bijac, however, made an incredible save to crush Montenegro’s hopes. The game ended at 10:11 for Croatia. 

Croatia will play its final game of Group A against Slovakia on Saturday at 4 pm.

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