Croatia beats South Africa, avoids relegation
After a disappointing loss to Australia in the quarterfinals, Croatia needed a strong performance against South Africa to make sure they avoided relegation. Their performance was nothing short of dominating, and the 6-3 score makes the game seem closer than it actually was.
| Game no. 35 • bP5 • Fri 24/6/2011 • 15:00 • Schedule and results | ||
|---|---|---|
Croatia |
6:3 |  Rep. of South Africa |
| (3:1, 2:0, 0:0, 1:2) | ||
| Tomljenović - Jacmenjak, Kopjatić, Lovrencić, Smerdelj - Srketić, Mario Sertić, Piragić, Novak - Marko Sertić, M. Cunko, Grozaj, T. Cunko - Klobucar, Jakovac. | Berger (25. Bock) - Marais, Birrell, Asworth, Watson, Magmoed - Miller, Du Plessis, Valadas, Engelbrecht, Matthews, Jevons, Van Eeckhoven, Lyon, Jones. | |
| Goals and assists: 4. Jacmenjak (Lovrencić, Novak), 7. Smerdelj (M. Cunko), 12. Piragić (Novak), 18. Jacmenjak (Lovrencić), 21. Grozaj (Novak, M. Cunko), 48. T. Cunko (Grozaj) - 8. Birrell (TS), 40. Watson (Engelbrecht), 48. Mathews (Ashwort, Jevons) | ||
| Shots: 30:18
(11:4, 7:4, 8:4, 4:6).
Penalties: 3:2.
PP goals: 0:0.
SH goals: 0:0. Refferees: Reiter (GER), Jakubec (SVK). Audience: 35. |
||
 Live coverage on onlajny.cz | ||
Game report
After a disappointing loss to Australia in the quarterfinals, Croatia needed a strong performance against South Africa to make sure they avoided relegation. Their performance was nothing short of dominating, and the 6-3 score makes the game seem closer than it actually was.
The Croats came out storming all around the South African goal. By the seven-minute mark, they led 2-0 on goals by Igor Jacmenjnak and Miro Smerdelj, but they were unlucky not to be ahead by more. In a furious sequence in the fifth and sixth minutes, they had several glorious chances in which they hit the post twice and forced Ashley Bock to make some saves.
South Africa finally got a break when Cameron Birell was awarded a penalty shot at the 7:25 mark. He buried his chance to cut the lead in half. But if South Africa thought that this bit of fortune would turn the game in their favour, they were sadly mistaken.
By halftime, Team Croatia had increased its lead to 5-1, and firmly had the game in their control. Trpimir Piragic, Jakmenjac with his second, and Tomislav Grozaj did the damage.
In the second half, South Africa took to the floor with a new goaltender and, seemingly, a new attitude. An oversieged Bock was replaced by David Berger, but his workload in the second half was considerably less. In fact, Vanja Belic in the Croatian goal finally had some work to do in the third quarter, and made some fine saves. The Croats didn`t seem concerned, though. They knew they had the game in hand at this point, and were content to let the clock run down.
In the fourth quarter, the South Africans were finally able to break through again. In the 40th minute, David Watson made the score 5-2 and then, in the game`s final minute, Burton Matthews made it a two-goal game. Just 20 seconds later, and five seconds before the end, Tomislav Cunko scored Croatia`s sixth goal.
Author: Derek OBrien
Game reactions
Alan Franjković (Team Croatia coach):
Finally we played like in the beginning of the tournament and got our ease back. Of course, there were some mistakes, but we responded to that, so there was no major problem to win. We are now really looking forward to the other arena for a Czech Republic - Sweden game.
Gavin Smith (Team RSA coach):
We could hardly expect a good performance after the yesterday´s issue with referees. We are still angry, but we won´t file a complaint. We wanted to play at least for our fans, but it is a shame there was nothing at stake. We made a certain improvement during the tournament, but unfortunately we won´t be back until two years from now.
