The semifinal of the European Men’s Handball Championship 2020 took place Friday night in Stockholm, Sweden. After double extra time and a lot of twists during the game, Croatian ‘Cowboys’ won 29-28 and reached the finals! The final match of the championship is scheduled for this Sunday at 4:30 pm, and you can say the most of Croatia is already impatiently waiting the duel.
Croatia started well against the previously unbeaten Norway and after the opening 20 minutes enjoyed a three goal lead mostly thanks to Marino Marić, Luka Stepančić and Zlatko Horvat. Croatian goalkeeper Marin Šego has done his part in the first half with six saves and Croatia went into the halftime break with 12-10. In the second half, Croatia had a chance to stretch the lead to four goals but this shot was saved and the game took turn. After a long time, Norway managed to take a lead 17- 16 with just 18 minutes till the end of the match.
Matej Ašanin made two crucial 7-meter penalty saves in the final four minutes and gave Croatia a chance of victory but the last attack of the game went without score. The scores were locked at 23-23 which lead into the first extra time. The extra time end tied 26-26 which lead to another really intense extra time. The Croatian defensive player Željko Musa scored a winning goal five seconds before the end of the second extra time with just his third goal of the Handball EURO 2020 but also the most important one!
Croatia will in the Sunday’s final play with the current European champions – Spain.
Photo source: Twitter HRS
