Bittersweet loss to Croatia for Germany as main round ends

GROUP I

Germany vs Croatia 24:30 (14:13)

• thanks to Iceland and France winning the earlier games, Germany celebrated their sixth semi-finals berth in history and their first since 2016, when they won the title
• none of the German players featured more than 40 minutes in the match, with coach Alfred Gislason opting to rest his stars before the final weekend in Cologne
• Croatia have finished outside the top 10 at the EHF EURO for the second time in history. The 11th-place finish is their second worst, after 16th in 2002
• 21-year-old goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanovic produced a fantastic match for Croatia, his best at the EHF EURO 2024, with 22 saves for a 48 per cent saving efficiency
• Kuzmanovic, the Grundfos Player of the Match, who featured in only five matches at this EHF EURO, jumped to seventh place in the top goal scorer standings, with 55 saves, an average of 11 saves per match

Croatia finish off on a high

Hosts Germany had not secured safe passage to the semi-finals before the final matchday of the main round, but after rivals Austria and Hungary lost their matches, they were through and this clearly altered Alfred Gislason’s plans. The coach opted to rest his starters as much as possible, while Croatia were already out and had nothing to lose.

After a strong 4:0 run to end the first half with a narrow lead, 14:13, Germany faltered in the second half and Croatia produced one of their best halves. Igor Karacic led the way with six goals, followed by Domagoj Duvnjak, with four goals, as the two experienced stalwarts were virtually unstoppable.

But Croatia go home and Germany progress to the semi-finals. Another sold-out evening in the LANXESS arena is scheduled for Friday, when the hosts will come back to the semi-finals after an eight-year wait, hoping for a better outcome than in this last match of the main round.

Photos © Kolektiff Images