Croatian handball players showed sporting pride and playing quality, achieved their first victory in the 2nd phase and kept Iceland away from the fight for the semi-finals.
"Cowboys" celebrated 23:22, in a dramatic match in Budapest.
Iceland remained at two wins (in the last round it outclassed France), has two defeats, and Croatia reached Montenegro and the Netherlands with one triumph.
There are many calculations until the end, now Croatia is in the game for the third place in the group, which brings the match for the fifth position in the championship and a direct qualification to the next EURO.
With a great game in the first part of the second half, Croatia overturned minus two after 30 minutes (12:10 for Iceland) and took the lead 19:14.
The "Cowboys" had a cheerful Pešić in goal, they played confidently in those moments in the attack and it seemed that they were surely heading for the first victory in the 2nd phase.
The Icelanders, however, started to take risks, they attacked with seven players, managed to turn the score to 22:21, but Croatia found the strength to get back into the match, and Anto Gadža's goal 14 seconds before the end resulted in victory.
Along with goalkeeper Pešić, Tin Lučin was the best in the Croatian team with six goals, as many as Ori Torkelson scored for Iceland.
Bonus video:
