Croatia advance after last-gasp draw with Switzerland

GROUP A

Croatia vs Switzerland 26:26 (14:12)

• Switzerland imposed their rhythm at the start of the match, with a strong and transformative defence, they made Croatia nervous and had a lead for the first 10 minutes
• after an initial 1:0 lead, Stela Posavec helped Croatia back into the lead with two straight goals midway through the first half, guiding the Croatian attack alongside Tena Japundza
• Croatia had a four-goal lead for the first time in the 38th minute when debutant Sara Senvald netted for 18:14
• the match turned around seven minutes before the final buzzer, when Swiss team captain Manuela Brütsch saved three important attacks and delivered a turnover for her team; Tabea Schmid equalled and Xenia Hodel scored for a 24:23 lead
• in a nail-biting finish Croatia's Katarina Pavlovic scored two second before the buzzer to get Croatia the draw they needed
• Daphne Gautschi was awarded Player of the Match; Tena Japundza was Croatia's top scorer with nine goals and Swiss young right wing Mia Emmenegger also netted nine times

Croatia reached the desired goal

Ahead of the EHF EURO, Croatia's head coach Nenad Sostaric said reaching the main round of the competition was the first goal. Despite only getting a draw against Switzerland, his wish came true. Croatia showed they are struggling with some aspects of the game: they have a good defence, but the pattern of technical errors and nervous attacks from previous matches showed against the Swiss side, too. Without their top scorer against Hungary, Valentina Blazevic, coach Nenad Sostaric started with Stela Posavec, but he also added two debutants to the team: Sara Senvald and Tina Barisic. Croatia failed to put the game out of reach for Switzerland when leading by four in the second half – and nearly paid the price for it.

Katarina Pavlovic - right back, Croatia: “I am satisfied in a way. The match against Switzerland was the toughest one in this tournament. We were struggling for the whole 60 minutes. The most important thing is we did not give up in the end when the Swiss team was leading and we secured that very important draw. I had a joker for the end, aiming at the left side of a goal."

Mia Emmenegger - right wing, Switzerland: “This tournament was very exciting. We won our first point. We had ups and downs. we had nervous times in all three matches but we can leave the tournament with our heads high. We played well and even got a draw against Croatia.”