The fourth game and the fourth consecutive victory – it’s a great series for our U19 national team women at the World Cup in Group A, which is being played in Osijek and in which Croatia holds the leading position.
The Egyptian national team proved to be a somewhat atypical team, which was also visible in this meeting of the fourth round. Our girls easily created a series of points, with which they separated themselves from their fighting rivals, but as soon as they relaxed a little, the Egyptian girls “knocked on their necks”. In the first set, Croatia achieved a seemingly easy 25:16 with a combined series of 13:3. In the second set, after a series of 12:1 and a lead of 15:9, Egypt came back to equalize 21:21, but a new series of our girls followed – 4:0 for the final 25:21.
The third set had a similar course – a 5:0 series led to an 8:6 lead, and then a combined 10:1 to 19:12. In the meantime, the Egyptian women consolidated and resisted, but the difference in quality was still obvious. In the end, Croatia won convincingly with 3:0 (25:16, 25:21, 25:15) in just 75 minutes of play.
Svetlana Ceca Ilić, national team selector, said emotionally after the game:
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Today, we gave our fans a bit of peace – there was less drama than they are used to from us. It was a much calmer game, which may be the result of yesterday’s day off, which was good for all of us. We wanted this game to end like the last set – clean and concentrated – and I think that is exactly the reason why this team works so well. This is a team that already has its own identity, its path, knows what it wants, and grows in it every day. Day by day, we are getting into a better and better position, which makes us all every day we are dedicated to what we do and we do our best. I congratulate the entire team, who prepare video materials for the matches day and night, but of course, the biggest congratulations go to the girls because they put it all on their backs. I think they deserve a big bravo for these four games
The statistics confirm Croatian dominance: attack points 36–27, blocks 7–5, service 11–3, and there were 17 errors compared to 20 Egyptians. Although the number of errors is still not optimal, they are, unfortunately, an integral part of the game.
On Monday, July 7, also at 18:15, our national team will play the last match of Group A against Thailand, who lost to Egypt 1:3, but beat Canada 3:1 – which calls for extra caution.
SOURCE: Croatian Volleyball Federation
