Croatian handball players were eliminated from the main part of the World Cup after defeat by Japanese 25-19 in the match of the third round, which also decided the passage to the second round. At the beginning of the match, Croatia had a goal difference better than one goal and a point was enough for them to pass, but the Japanese women took advantage of all the weaknesses of the Croatian national team crippled by injuries.
Chosen women Edges Faced they opened the match well, controlled the rhythm and held the lead for most of the first half. With a 4-1 run, they turned 7-6 into 10-8, but the Japanese reached 10-10 at the break. The defense looked stable in the first half, and the shallow formation successfully slowed down Japanese attacks from runs. However, Croatia did not manage to capitalize on the advantage because it missed two goals and two sevens, which is moreć a well-known problem of this national team.
The beginning of the continuation brought a brief hope after the goal Kristine Parch&ccar; down 11-10, but Japan immediately responded with a 5-0 run to take control of the match. The Japanese women played 7 on 6 in order to break the Croatian defense, and the Croatian attack did not manage to connect even two goals in a row. Obrvan tried to react with a time-out and raising the defense, but to no avail. Croatia got into more and more technical errors, and Kametani made a series of defenses.
Croatia scored only nine goals in the second half and could no longer threaten. In the end, it completely fell apart, and Japan routinely brought the job to an end. Japan led the mood Natsuki Aizawa with eight hits, while Clare Francis Gray i Natsumi Akiyama added five each. Goalkeeper Sakura Cometani she saved 15 shots. They were the most effective in Croatia Andrea Shimara i Tina Barišić with three goals each, a Lucia Furious she collected čfour defenses.
The defeat means that Croatia will play the President Cup for the first time, where in Group I they will have Iran, Uruguay i Paraguay. The winners of the group will fight for 25th place, the runners-up for 27th, the third-placed for 29th, and the last-placed for 31st. Although Croatia is the favorite at this stage, the impression remains that with a weakened national team it was difficult to expect more.