Denmark knock Croatia out of semi-final race
Denmark came out on top in the rematch of the EHF EURO 2020 bronze-medal match as the main round action in group I continued on Saturday night. The 2021 World Championship bronze medallists defeated Croatia with a clear margin, 26:17, and avenged the result from two years ago when they lost the medal on the home court.
Denmark were in control early on, but Croatia played on more level footing from the 15th minute on. After a comeback, the early deficit proved too much for Croatia to recover from completely, and Denmark collected their second win of the main round. With the victory, Denmark moved up to six points on the table and Croatia stayed on two, which means both they and Hungary can no longer rank in the top two teams of the group and take a semi-final place.
The player of the match award went to Denmark back Mie Højlund, who scored four goals.
GROUP I
Croatia vs Denmark 17:26 (8:14)
- a dominant start to the game was the key as Denmark celebrated their first win over Croatia since the 2011 World Championship. Croatia managed to come within two goals (13:15 in the 43rd minute) after the difficult opening, but Denmark reopened a decisive gap
- thanks to outstanding defence, Denmark kept their opponents to just one goal in the opening 14 minutes, after allowing Sweden just one goal in the first 15 minutes of their encounter at the end of the preliminary round. It took six minutes for Valentina Blazevic to net Croatia’s first
- for the first time at the EHF EURO 2022, Denmark started with Althea Reinhardt in goal rather than Sandra Toft. Reinhardt saved 11 shots, as did Croatia’s Tea Pijevic, who was key in her team’s attempted comeback
- after the 14th minute, Croatia played on almost level footing with Denmark for some time and reduced the deficit significantly, with a partial score of 8:7 for Denmark to end the first half and no goal from Denmark for 10 minutes to start the second
- with their fourth goal of the game, scored by Paula Posavec, Croatia reached 1,400 goals at the EURO in what was their 59th. It was also captain Katarina Jezic’s 100th game for Croatia
Another huge opening from Denmark
While the current team has been rising to a new level overall, under the guidance of Jesper Jensen, the EHF EURO 2022 is really seeing a new Denmark in defence — at that end of the court, they get stronger and stronger every competition.
The fact that goalkeeper Althea Reinhardt faced only 14 shots in the opening half, versus the 23 that came Croatia goalkeeper Tea Pijevic’s way, clearly refects the superb work of the Danish defensive rotation: Kathrine Heindahl, Rikke Iversen, Anne Mette Hansen, Mette Tranborg and Sarah Iversen.
We struggled for 10 minutes (after the break), but the last 20 minutes we put ourselves back in the game plan again. It is all about concentration. I am really proud of how we kept it today.
Simone Petersen, centre back of Denmark: “We came in with a lot aggressiveness and intensity what brought us a big win today. We were always prepared in the defence and they have troubles to get big chances. This resulted to many country attacks and many easy goals for us.”
Larissa Kalaus, centre back of Croatia: “If we took our chances right in the beginning of the game we could have led 3:0. Unfortunately we didn’t and it was Denmark leading. Also we made too many technical errors in the match and paid a price for it.”
