The series of this week’s friendly games in the outdoor pool “Skver” in Herceg Novi continued with an encounter between Croatia and France.
European champion Croatia recorded a narrow 9:8 victory in a very exciting encounter.
Friendly game, Herceg Novi
France – Croatia 8:9 (3:3, 2:3, 1:1, 2:2)
France: Crousillat 4, Vernoux 2, Bouet 2
Croatia: Bukic 3, Vrlic 2, Kharkov 2, Zuvela 1, Basic 1.
After yesterday’s 8:12 convincing loss to Montenegro, France strongly resisted the officially best European national team.
The game was balanced. The French team led twice in the first half (3:2 and 4:3). After the French’s fourth goal, the Croats netted two for a 5:4 lead. From that point until the end of the third period, the teams exchanged goals. Early in the fourth period, Luka Bukic scored his 3rd goal and one team earned a 2-goal advantage for the first time – 8:6. Still, France leveled at 8:8 with two goals from Ugo Crousillat.
The decision came in the dying seconds. Andrija Basic made it 9:8 with 14 seconds to go. However, the contest wasn’t over yet. A penalty shot was awarded to France with two seconds to go. Marko Bijac saved a shot from Crousilat, and Croatia earned the victory.
Tomorrow, Croatia will play against host Montenegro.
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