Croatia crushes China to set up quarterfinal against Serbia
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
(Photo credit: HVS/Andrea Masini/DBM)
The Croatian water polo team has secured a spot in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris as well as a quarterfinal spot at the World Championships after thrashing China 22-4 in the Round of 16 on Sunday.
With the victory over China, the Barracudas secured their place at the Olympic Games in Paris, which was a priority of coach Ivica Tucak.
Croatia now meets Serbia in the quarterfinals, on Tuesday.
Regarding the match with China, there was really no doubt about who was the “boss” in the pool, more skilled, and faster. After the first quarter 5:2, at halftime already 10:3..
From the first to the last minute, several things were clear. Not only is Croatia a much better team, but our players entered the game maximally motivated, serious, and disciplined. From the first to the last second, they defended and attacked with full force.
The closest the Chinese came to scoring against the Barracudas (besides a clear 0:0) in the beginning, were their reductions of our lead to 3:1 and 4:2. However, they didn’t score more than 2 goals in any quarter. Just that in the first. In the second half of the game, only 1 goal for China. On the other hand, Croatia’s perfect 9-9 in the power play. Although the opponent is of a lower rank, in matches of such uneven quality, the numbers are not usually this impressive.
All our players, except the goalkeeper, scored a goal. Konstantin Harkov stood out the most, and he was later declared the player of the match.
