THE SPORTS GROUND: BAHRAIN MISSION SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISHED

CROATIA – BAHRAIN 36:22
Croatia: D. Kuzmanović 12/21, I. Pešić 2/13, D. Duvnjak 2/2, M. Šoštarić 8/9, J. Šimić 1/1, Z. Srna 1/4, I. Pavlović 1/1 , M. Maraš 4/4, M. Mamić -/-, L. Cindrić 3/4, I. Martinović 2/3, T. Lučin 4/6, L. Šušnja 1/1, M. Šipić -/-, F. Glavaš 5/6, M. Jelinić 4/4, Coach: Dagur Sigurdsson (ISL)
Bahrain: H.Isa 1/10, M. Ali 6/31, A. Eid 6/8, M. Rabia 1/2, Q. Qambar 3/4, A. Kadhem 1/2, M. Ali 0/1 , H. Ali 1/1, M. Alzaimoor 1/2, A. Abpulkarim -/-, A. Alzaimoor -/-, J. Khamis 1/3, R. A. Abdulla 0/2, M. Ahmed 2/5, M. Mohamed 3/ 8, Coach: Aron Kristijansson (ISL)

The Croatian men’s senior handball team defeated Bahrain 36:22 in the 1st round of Group H and thus successfully started the 29th World Championship, jointly organized with Denmark and Norway. In the second match of the Croatian group, Egypt easily beat Argentina 39:25.

Croatia opened the 29th World Handball Championship with a match against Bahrain in a great atmosphere in the Arena Zagreb, almost filled to the brim. Out of the 18 players he registered yesterday for the start of the competition at the championship, coach Dagur Sigurdsson decided to send Veron Načinović and Luka Lovra Klarica to the stand. Therefore, the Croatian starting line-up was as follows: Dominik Kuzmanović in goal, Marin Jelinić, and Filip Glavaš on the wings. Marin Šipić started the game on the line, and Zvonimir Srna, Domagoj Duvnjak, and Ivan Martinović began the game on the outside positions. One change of defense, attack, was done by the selector.

The Croatian national team started extremely hard, aggressively, and mobile in defense. Bahrain hit the wall at the start, and scoring the first goal took four and a half minutes. They gave him an empty door because we were already left with one less player in the early stages.

Croatia created its first four-goal advantage in the 10th minute, when it took the lead (6:2). Although there was a little creative break of five minutes, Bahrain did not get any closer. In fact, with the first goal of captain Domagoj Duvnjak, and then with a new counter by Marin Jelinić, the Croatian national team went to plus six in the 16th minute (9:3). And so she forced the Icelander on the Bahraini bench to call for a minute of rest.

It didn’t help him much because Croatia was in its film and tempo. When it was played in defense, Dominik Kuzmanović was there, who already had six saves in the first 20 minutes. In addition, the Croatian coach rotated the team a lot, trying to distribute the minutes already in the first half.

The Croatian team ended the first half with a difference of eight goals, 17:9. They had even 74, and Bahrain 47 percent of realization. We forced the guests to commit as many as nine technical fouls. The Croatian goalkeeper finished the half with eight saves, Bahrain’s five saves.

With three goals, right at the beginning of the second half, Croatia raised its advantage to eleven goals (20:9). Since his team could not score for seven and a half minutes, Aron Kristijansson asked for a minute of rest.

In ten minutes of the second half, Croatia scored six goals and conceded only one goal. And that made us very happy because, regardless of the plus 12, they played as seriously, responsibly, and disciplined as possible. Bahrain fell into a hole they couldn’t get out of, so their coach already used up his second minute of rest in the 12th minute of the restart. In those moments, Luka Cindrić and Mario Šoštarić played brilliantly for us, and together they scored six goals.

Even before the end of the third quarter, the Croatian handball players were 15 points ahead (25:10). Ivan Pešić stopped at the Croatian door in those moments. The coach continued with the rotations, so soon, all the players on the score sheet had some minutes.

It ended 36:22, a result we can all be delighted with. Twelve players entered the list of scorers. Mario Šoštarić was the best scorer, with eight goals and only one miss. However, the player of the match was Dominik Kuzmanović, who made 12 saves. Bahrain’s first name is Ali Eid, and it has six goals.

In the Croatian group’s first meeting, Egypt played against Argentina and easily won 39:25, confirming its strength. Argentina was already without two players who received straight red cards in the first half, and another joined them later. In the second round, Croatia will play against Argentina at 8:30 p.m. in two days; before that, Egypt and Argentina will meet at 6:00 p.m.

SOURCE: Croatian Handball Federation