Czech Republic 26:30 Croatia (13:13) After defeating the Polish squad, Croatia beat the Czechs. Despite the success, the performance was less than brilliant. The Czechs stopped Ivano Balic and the other Croatins were confused. The first 30 minutes of the match between Croatia and the Czech Republic ended with 26 goals -- divided equally. However, this was not result of and aggressive defending from the teams, but of the many mistakes made. One could have believed that the teams were not going for the greater number of goals, but for the mistakes made. The expectation was that Croatia would defeat the Czechs easily, but the first half showed something different. The Czech were not better either with a slow game with no ideas. However, it is also true that they took advantage of the many unforced mistakes of the Croatians (10 missed shots, 10 technical mistakes). Lino Cervar's side were never leading by more than two goals and when Ivano Balic was replaced by Josip Valcic they even gave that away. The Czechs equalised three times with quick goals from Karel Nocar and Jan Filip. They even took the lead at a point. At the end, the 7-meter shot of Zlatko Horvat equalised to make it 13:13 at the break. The decisive moments arrived in the 40th minute when the Croats scored three in a row. Balic scored and Petar Metlicic gave two assists for Zlatko Horvat behind his back. It was 23:19 for Croatia within a short time. After that Pavel Pauza's team had no real chance. With two points Croatia have secured their place in the Main Round.
