Croatia beat Iceland 30.29 following a very tight encounter in which they always had the upper hand, albeit very often only by one goal.
Iceland took the court against Croatia with a perfect record of wins behind them, having topped group F after wins against Hungary, Italy and Poland. But Croatia ended their longest winning run at the Men’s EURO, which stretched to the main round in 2024
The outcome was decided very late, with Dino Slavic making a critical penalty save inside the last three minutes and Mateo Maraš clinching the victory for Croatia as he gave them a 29-26 lead in the next attack.
Iceland wing Óðinn Ríkharðsson then netted twice to reduce the deficit but it was too little too late, with his final goal scored just eight seconds before the buzzer.
Croatia scored a majority of their goals from the back court and were more effective in stopping Iceland’s leading playmakers such as Gísli Kristjánsson and Ómar Ingi Magnússon who scored most of his goals from penalty throws.
Croatia keeper Dominik Kuzmanović, who saved three penalties, won the battle between the posts as Iceland rotated Viktor Hallgrímsson and Björgvin Páll Gústavsson with little success.