Game preview Men’s Quarter-finals, 18.30 Croatia v Montenegro – In this game the reigning world champion Croatia clashes the freshly crowned World • League winner Montenegro. Though Montenegro entered the scene relatively late, in 2008, these two sides of the • former Yugoslavia already produced a series of epic matches at the major championships. At the Europeans their head-to-head is tied at 2-2: • 2008: 7-6, 7-9 (SF), 2010: 9-11, 2012: 10-8. At the Olympics, the Croats lead 2-1. • 2008: 6-7 (QF), 2012: 7-5 (SF), 2016, Rio: 8-7 At the Worlds, the Croats hold a 3-0 lead. • 2009: 11-5, 2011: 9-6 (QF), 2015: 10-4 (QF) After the first successes of the Montenegrins, wins in the semi-finals of the 2008 • Europeans and in the quarters of the 2008 Olympics, and the 2009 World League final (8-7), the Croats had a better spell: they won the next three knock-out matches: 2011 Worlds QF, 2012 Olympic SF, 2015 Worlds QF. Their last big match came in the LEN Europa Cup Super Final, in the group-stage • Croatia won 10-5 in Rijeka. Croatia fields 11 of the 13 players who won the world title last summer in Budapest. • One of the missing players is the final match’s MVP Sandro Sukno who has health issues and was sidelined for the whole season. Croatia enjoyed a great run in the prelims, beat the Netherlands 15-8, Turkey 23-2 • and Greece 11-7. Montenegro is still unbeaten, they edged out France 8-6, thrashed Malta 17-5, then • tied with Spain (7-7) which put them on the second place so they needed to play two days ago when they ousted Romania 15-5.
Game preview Men’s Quarter-finals, 18.30 – Croatia v Montenegro • In this game the reigning world champion Croatia clashes the freshly crowned World League winner Montenegro. • Though Montenegro entered the scene relatively late, in 2008, these two sides of the former Yugoslavia already produced a series of epic matches at the major championships. • At the Europeans their head-to-head is tied at 2-2: 2008: 7-6, 7-9 (SF), 2010: 9-11, 2012: 10-8. • At the Olympics, the Croats lead 2-1. 2008: 6-7 (QF), 2012: 7-5 (SF), 2016, Rio: 8-7 • At the Worlds, the Croats hold a 3-0 lead. 2009: 11-5, 2011: 9-6 (QF), 2015: 10-4 (QF) • After the first successes of the Montenegrins, wins in the semi-finals of the 2008 Europeans and in the quarters of the 2008 Olympics, and the 2009 World League final (8-7), the Croats had a better spell: they won the next three knock-out matches: 2011 Worlds QF, 2012 Olympic SF, 2015 Worlds QF. • Their last big match came in the LEN Europa Cup Super Final, in the group-stage Croatia won 10-5 in Rijeka. • Croatia fields 11 of the 13 players who won the world title last summer in Budapest. One of the missing players is the final match’s MVP Sandro Sukno who has health issues and was sidelined for the whole season. • Croatia enjoyed a great run in the prelims, beat the Netherlands 15-8, Turkey 23-2 and Greece 11-7. • Montenegro is still unbeaten, they edged out France 8-6, thrashed Malta 17-5, then tied with Spain (7-7) which put them on the second place so they needed to play two days ago when they ousted Romania 15-5.