Croatia fought its way into the semi-finals of the European Handball Championship in a close game against Hungary – even as group winner of the main round group II. Host Sweden is therefore out.
The vice world champion secured his ticket to the round of the last four with a 27:25 (13:15) against Hungary in Malmö, Sweden. This means that the Croatians will go into the semi-finals against Germany or Denmark on Friday as group winners.
Croatia has been struggling for a long time
However, the team of coach Dagur Sigurdsson, coach of Germany’s European Championship success in 2016, had to tremble against the Hungarians, who had already been eliminated. It wasn’t until the 46th minute of the game that the team took the lead for the first time, and at one point they were even four goals behind. On Wednesday evening, no Croatian scored more than four goals; on the other hand, Bence Imre was the most successful thrower with seven goals.
Co-host Sweden has already been eliminated before the end of the main round against Switzerland (8.30 p.m.), but the record European champions have already secured the placement game for fifth place as third in the table.
