Croatia vs Palestine 8-1

by Damon Shaw from Tripoli

OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT

Croatia will be happy with the three points after beating Palestine 8-1 in the 23rd September Hall on Tuesday morning, but may not be 100% happy with the performance.

They went into the match as firm favourites, also one of the favourites for the tournament and they started off brightly. Within the first minute they had two shots just miss the right hand post and another hit straight at the keeper, it could have been three nil and the game out of sight after 60 seconds.

They almost did break the deadlock in the third minute after Hussein Albattrawi conceded an indirect freekick for holding the ball for four seconds. The resulting set play worked really well but it was deflected over with a superb block.

In the fourth minute, Croatia took the lead after an Albattrawi save fell to Dario Marinovic, who only had to finish from the edge of the area into a virtually open goal and Croatia were underway. Their superior possession resulted in Dario Marinovic turning provider as he passes beyond Albattrawi to give Dean Banic an easy finish from virtually on the goal line.

Croatia realised their superiority and started to up the pressure on Palestine who looked frail on the ball and lacked creativity and options to move up the court.
The ease at which Croatia moved the ball in their opponent’s half was characterised when Josip Suton found spce on the left and had a superb shot that hit the bar then the post before bouncing clear.

It wasn’t long before Croatia extended the lead. In the 9th minute an interception on half way from a mislaid pass led to a breakaway with two players against the goalkeeper. Another easy tap in this time for Bogdanovic made it 3-0.

Palestine weren’t the only ones lacklustre on the ball, though they were gifting Croatia with plenty of opportunities, but the game was sloppy from both sides. A more clinical team could have had this game wrapped up and maybe Croatia will be kicking themselves for not doing so.

Bogdanovic could have, and probably should have had a second at the end of the first half. Yet another misplaced pass led to Croatia counter attacking three on two, and the ball was played to the right when Bogdanovic cleared the crossbar from a few metres. Captain Matija Capar hit the post in the 18th minute from a long range effort, before each team exchanged goals in the last 20 seconds. Dario Marinovic scored after a lot of Croatian possession with a low left foot drive and then Mahmoud Alneirab scored Palestine’s only goal of the game just 11 seconds later.

Croatia were comfortable, but were less than convincing against a side bereft of ideas going forward and a severe lack of order in defence and Mato Stankovic will have had serious words at half time to improve Croatia’s game.
The performance did improve and Josip Suton seemed instrumental in calming down the Croatians and while still less than clinical in front of goal, the general play was better. Two minutes into the second period and Tihomir Novak found space on the left, drilled the ball across and Marinovic was there to deflect the ball in off his knee.

Eid Alikkawi almost gave Palestine a second but he did the hard work of rounding Zarko Luketin in goal – who replaced Jukic at half time – before sliding his shot wide from an acute angle.
Suton scored a deserved goal and did so individually as he shifted the ball from his feet to find space for a shot and the ‘keeper couldn’t react quick enough and get to it. He then turned provider for Jakov Grcic at the far post but he couldn’t adjust his body quite enough to divert the ball in. Croatia then hit the post twice in the space of a few seconds yet again failing to turn their dominance into a bigger margin.

Palestine’s captain, Hasan Huthut did fashion a chance for himself, dribbling down the left before shooting powerfully, but straight at the goalkeeper.

Josip Suton underlined his Futsal Planet MVP award with another superb solo effort as he dribbled through the defence of Palestine before poking in from just outside the area. The eighth and final goal after some more excellent passing, control and movement that ended with a simple finish at the far post. Dario Marinovic scoring his fourth, courtesy of Bogdanovic’s vision.
Croatia could have had double the amount of goals and will be disappointed that they failed to capitalise and really hammer home their intentions for the Mediterranean Futsal Cup, but in the end they got three points without really breaking a sweat.
Futsal Planet MVP said after the game about the team’s performance: “Maybe not 100 per cent [the performance of] my team. We scored a few goals then we didn’t play very good. I think we can go to the semi finals, anything more is very good. But I think semi final for Croatian team is ok, maybe in the quarter finals if we lose it won’t be too bad”

Croatia 8 Palestine 1

Goals
CRO: Marinovic (3, 19, 21, 34), Banic (4), Bogdanovic (9), Suton (25, 32)
PAL: Alneirab (20)
Yellow cards:
CRO: Capar
PAL: Huthut

Futsal Planet MVP: Josip Suton. Improved the team’s performance in the second half and scored two outstanding individual goals and could have had a hatrick but for the post and bar!


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com