CROATIA OVERCOME SWEDEN AND AZERBAIJAN FOR ONE HUNDRED PERCENT EFFECT

CROATIA – AZERBAIJAN 9:2
Croatia: Piplica, Čekol, Jelovčić, Postružin, Primić, Kustura, Moravac, Vukmir, Jurlina, Gudasić, Mataja, Kuraja, Sekulić. Coach: Marinko Mavrović.
Azerbaijan: Kurdov, Aghalizada, U. Aliyev, Mikayilov, Mehdizade, Huseynli, Ismayilov, Manafov, Atakishiyev, Rustamli, Amirov, Hasanzade, I. Aliyev, Abbasov.

The Croatian futsal national team opened the qualification cycle for the 2026 European Championship with a convincing Pula victory over Azerbaijan (9:2).

Playful Croatia authoritatively dominated the floor of the Pula Sports Center “Mate Parlov” from the very beginning and, like the once famous Pula boxer, knocked out a subordinate opponent before the break.

Luka Perić was in a good mood at the match’s opening. They first opened the Azerbaijani net with a fantastic volley. They then perfectly played past Kristian Čekol, who punished the (too) bold approach of the opposing team, which played with the goalkeeper from the beginning. Kuraj ended the striking edition of Mavrović’s team in the first half with a powerful shot.

In the sequel, the Croatian national team’s rhapsody continued. They continued to shake the opponent’s net, first captain Franco Jelovčić after Perić’s assist, then Marko Kuraja after Sekulić’s play, before their compatriots Dean Moravac, David Mataja and Niko Vukmir brought the Pula crowd to their feet. They crowned the great game of the whole team with goals.

Previously, Kristijan Postružin also entered the list of scorers. The Azerbaijanis’ goals could not spoil the tremendous general impression. Croatia opened a new qualification cycle and took the first step towards the Euro.

After a great victory against Azerbaijan in Pula, Croatia played in Sweden, coached by Matija Đulvat.

SWEDEN-CROATIA 2:3
Sweden: Säaf, Söderqvist, Zhubi, Azizi, Furublad, Herlin, Fazlija, Mossberg, Smajlovic, Kadivar, Johansson, Rydberg, Gashi, Bejan. Coach: Matija Đulvat.
Croatia: Piplica, Čekol, Jelovcic, Postružin, Primić, Kustura, Moravac, Vukmir, Jurlina, Gudasić, Mataja, Kuraja, Sekulić. Coach: Marinko Mavrović.

The Croatian futsal team defeated Sweden in Alingsås (3:2) and maintained a 100% performance at the opening of the qualification cycle for the 2026 European Championship in Lithuania and Latvia.

Marinko Mavrović’s team won primarily thanks to the inspiration of the cheerful player of the match, double scorer and assistant Luka Perić, who scored the decisive goal in the 37th minute.

Croatia broke the home team’s resistance at the end of the first half on the wings of Perić, who, in the 18th minute, after a pass by Nike Vukmir, turned his keeper and placed the ball past the goalkeeper Sääf with his left, and then at the beginning of the last minute he lucidly played Kristian Čekol, who bypassed the home goalkeeper in a confrontation and scored – 2:0! Croatia could have had a more significant advantage at the break, but Perić hit the crossbar instead of the net after an effective bravura and lob.

Croatia had a bad start to the continuation of the match and allowed the Swedes to “come back”. First, in the first minute, Zhubi was forgotten as he ran in front of Piplica and hit a small net to reduce the lead, and then Azizi took the ball from Kuraja in a doubtful situation and, just like Zhubi, checked the Croatian goalkeeper from almost the same spot for – 2:2. The game was tied until the end, which Luka Perić broke in terms of results.

It wasn’t easy, Sweden turned out to be a real opponent, but we also put a lot of effort into it. We entered the match nervously, the extremely slow surface didn’t suit us either, although that shouldn’t be an alibi. We had a lot of unforced errors, wrong passes, our attacks lasted too short. The Swedes were breaking up our game with the goalkeeper-player, but towards the end of the half we got up and took a 2:0 lead. It must not happen to us that we get nervous when we have a sensible lead and we receive two goals from our possession and create problems for ourselves and get into additional nervousness. Serious teams against this kind of opponent have to take care of business at 2:0. Kudos to the boys for their commitment, if it will mean something, it’s better that we won narrowly to come down to earth because without work there is nothing. The continuation of the qualification will follow very soon, our desire is to win all six games – Marinko Mavrović, Croatia head coach

I congratulate my teammates on a top game, we showed character when it was difficult. We fought until the last minute and it rewarded us in the end. The Swedes surprised us a bit, but in the end we pulled our heads together and managed to win three important points. Even when it wasn’t good, we managed to overcome it and pull out a victory. We expect to continue winning in the continuation of the qualification, win six points in the next two games and finish first in the group. We have to continue to train well and in that case we have nothing to fear – Luka Perić, croatian player

SOURCE: Croatian Football Federation