What a year for Croatia - the third final in 2024 and the scheduled neighbor classic with Serbia for gold

"Barracuda" beat Hungary in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games (9:8)

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One of Croatia's heroes: Marko Bijač, Photo: Reuters
One of Croatia's heroes: Marko Bijač, Photo: Reuters
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Three major competitions, three finals in 2024 - the dream year for Croatian water polo continues.

After the silver from the European Championship in Zagreb, and then the gold from the World Cup in Doha, the team of great expert Ivica Tucak will play the final at the Olympic Games.

"Barracudas" were better than Hungary (9:8) in a great semi-final and scheduled a new "ex-Yu" classic with Serbia in the match for gold.

For Croatia, it will be the third final in the last four editions of the Olympic Games, and they will be chasing their first gold medal since London 2012, after which Tucak, the former coach of Jadran from Herceg Novi, sat on the bench of this national team.

Croatia played a great match, and an incredible half-time in "La Defens Arena" was prepared by Loren Fatović, who scored five of the first seven goals of "Barracuda" from five shots (7:5).

Ivica Tucak's boys maintained a plus-two lead for a long time in the continuation, and goalkeeper Marko Bijač also worked wonders, whom the Hungarians were unable to beat even from the box - he made two saves, one of which ended up near the goal.

However, the drama was introduced in the last four minutes by Adam Nađ when he reduced the score to 9:8, but Croatia knew how to "close" the game and repel all Hungarian attacks.

In addition to Fatović, goals for Croatia were scored by Luka Bukić (two), Maro Joković and Marko Žuvela - Bijač finished the match with 10 saves.

On the long side, Marton Vamoš and Slard Janšik scored two goals each.

The grand final between Croatia and Serbia, the great rivals, will be played on Sunday, the closing day of the Games, from 14 p.m.

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