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A chance for Croatia to reclaim its handball heritage..?

A chance for Croatia to reclaim its handball heritage..?

There is a famous saying in sports: “You are only as good as your final result”. For Croatia, at the IHF Men’s World Championship, this result is their worst ranking in 14 competitions – 15th.

These exhibitions have seen him as a regular since 1995, and he has collected five medals – one gold (2003), three silvers (1995, 2005, 2009) and one bronze (2013).

But Egypt 2021 was a disaster due to the high quality of Croatian handball. Despite going unbeaten in the opening round, with group wins against Angola and Qatar, a 29:29 (14:17) come-from-behind draw against Japan in their opener made for a nervy stay in North Africa.

This meant one point short of advancing to the main round, where they won their second match against Bahrain 28:18, but lost to Argentina (19:23) in their second match, one point in the quarter-finals. Out of .

Following their defeat against Argentina, Croatia coach Lino Cervo announced that he would be stepping down after Egypt, despite his team having a chance to qualify with a win against Denmark, which he Couldn’t handle it, eventually losing to the world champions 26:38.

They then finished fourth in their main round group, and after their final matches were played, they were automatically ranked 13th-16th. Sitting on the bench next to Cervar all along was former junior coach Hrvoje Horvat, and wasted no time in announcing him as the new coach a few days later.

Horvat failed his first test. Croatia missed out on qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on goal difference, and their showing at the recent European Championships ended with an eighth-place finish, their lowest in 20 years.

He was also on the bench alongside Horvat in Sweden's 20:22 final loss against Spain after their silver medal at the 2020 European Championships.

The sheer quality available to Horvat to choose from is incredible, with household names such as captain Domagoj Donjak, Luka Cindrić, and Igor Krasic available, with numerous national and international club titles and awards to their name. are complete with But the key, as always, is to mold them into a winning team rather than a collection of individuals.

Their relatively easy 2022 so far, following the European Championships, saw them easily defeat Finland in their Poland/Sweden 2023 qualification play-off – a 34:21 victory in Finland and a 36:22 win at home. , while the 2024 men’s first round of European Championship qualification took place in October where they won 30:27 in Belgium and 33:25 at home against Greece.

Before Poland/Sweden 2023, Horvat will work with his team in three phases, all in Croatia. From December 17-23, the team will train in Zagreb before heading to Porec. From December 26 to 30, they will play twice against Italy and return to Porec from January 1 to 10 for the Croatia Cup, featuring North Macedonia and Israel.

“In the first and second phase of our preparations, our team will not be complete because we will miss players from the Bundesliga (Germany), so the real team practice will start in 2023,” Horvat told ihf.info.

“This will be my first senior World Championship as head coach, and our mission is to return to the circle of handball’s best nations – one of the few national teams capable of winning medals.

“The opening of the championship is very important for us, and it will be a very intense match against Egypt. I respect all opponents because all teams play handball these days.”

Coach: Hrvoje Horvat

Key players: Domagoj Duvnjak (centre/left back), Luka Cindrić (centre back), Igor Karacic (centre back)

Qualification for Poland/Sweden 2023: Qualification Europe – Phase 2: 70:43 aggregate win against Finland

History in tournament: 1958*: 8th, 1961*: 9th, 1964*: 6th, 1967*: 7th, 1970*: 3rd, 1974*: 3rd, 1978*: 5th, 1982*: 2nd, 1986*: 1st, 1990*: 4th, 1995: 2nd, 1997: 13th, 1999: 10th, 2001: 9th, 2003: 1st, 2005: 2nd, 2007: 5th, 2009: 2nd, 2011: 5th, 2013: 3rd, 2015: 6th, 2017: 4th, 2019: 6th, 2021: 15th
*as Yugoslavia

Group at Poland/Sweden 2023: Group G (Egypt, Croatia, Morocco, United States of America)

News Source: IHF

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