The closeness of the score and the force of the teams made the game exciting for the 500 spectators on hand. The game was hard-fought by the home team Russia, who had a one-goal lead at half-time when the score rested at 7-6. Croatia had seemed to start slowly, and so the score remained in-check, but not for long. In the third quarter, Croatia picked up speed and showed increased strength and endurance. The Croatians proceeded to net six; twice as many as Russia could manage, and irreversibly altered the score in their favour.
In the final period Russia pocketed two more, but Croatia coasted home by scoring three deciding points. Thus, Croatia exited the pool satisfied with having won four out of four matches so far in this year’s World Trophy preliminary. Exceptional scorers in this match were Viktor Vishnyakov (3) of Russia and Igor Hini? (4) and Miho Boskovic (3) of Croatia.
Russia: Victor Ivanov, Pavel Katkov, Nikita Jankov, Alexei Rizov-Alen (2), Yury Zheltovskij, Dmitry Antipov (1), Lev Magomaev (1), Artem Odincov, Konstantin Stepanjuk (2), Viktor Vishnyakov (3), Sergey Lisunov (1), Alexey Agarkov (2), Semen Davitasvili. Head coach: V. Sobchenko.
Croatia: Damir Buric, Miho Boskovic (3), Niksa Dobud (2), Petar Muslim, Frano Karac, Srdan Antonijevic, Ivan Buljubasic, Sandro Sukno (2), Samir Barac (2), Igor Hinic (4), Paulo Obradovi? (2), Ivo Brzica.
Head coach. R. Rudic.
In the other Group 3 match of Round 4, Germany already lost 6-8 to Spain at Duisburg (GER) on March 31. The remaining games in the fourth round will take place on April 15: (ROU vs. ITA) in Oradea, and on April 29 (FRA vs. SRB) in Aix-en-Provence.
Preliminary play continues in Europe until mid-May. Four teams from Europe will advance to the Super Final, which will be held in Podgorica (MNE) from June 16-21. The host team of Montenegro automatically advances.