Croatia's Defeat and Likely Farewell to the Euros

Croatia's handball players were defeated by Hungary 29:26, almost certainly ending their chances of reaching the semi-finals.

The first half was marked by a great back-and-forth between the Croatian and Hungarian national teams. The Hungarians led throughout the first half of the match, with the biggest lead in the opening 30 minutes being four goals (9:5) in the 15th minute. However, the Croatians managed to reduce the opponent's lead to just one goal by halftime (14:13).

Goran Perkovac's squad took a 1:0 lead at the start of the match, and Croatia only regained the lead for the second time in the 40th minute of the game (17:16). The next ten minutes also brought a very exciting match with an equal score. Neither team managed to gain more than a one-goal advantage.

Hungary took a 2-goal lead (23:21) in the 52nd minute after a long time, with an opponent's player being sent off. When Croatia was left with two players less due to ejections, it seemed that Hungary could close out the match.

However, Croatia did not give up, and in the 56th minute, they managed to equalize (25:25).

Numerous mistakes cost Croatia, as Hungarian players went on a 3:0 run to take an insurmountable 28:25 lead.

Bence Imre led the Hungarians to victory with 7 goals, Richard Bodo finished the match with 5 goals, and the phenomenal Laszlo Bartucz also stood out with an incredible 16 saves.

For Croatia, Tin Lučin was the top scorer with 6 goals. Matej Mandić in the goal for the Vatreni had 9 saves, while his colleague Dominik Kuzmanović had five fewer.

In the same group, Austria and Germany will play tonight, and after that match, things will be clearer before the penultimate games of the second round of the European Championship.