Croatia – Montenegro
Croatia started out very strong showing the quality of a team that is set to compete – later this year – in the final round of the European Championship and their supremacy was even more evident in the second set (25-7). The hosts went up 16:10 in set 3 but after the second technical time-out the Croats fired back to level the score at 18. Still the home favorites played with great motivation and could prolong the match to a fourth set (25-23) where Croatia got back full control of the operations and cruised to a well-deserved 3:1 win. The hosts did not look too disappointed in the end as by making it to the second round of the FIVB World Championship they had already written a piece of history for their country.
In the other match of the day Bosnia and Herzegovina edged the F.Y.R. of Macedonia 3:2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-7, 20-25, and 15-8) to claim their first victory in the tournament and settle for third place. Both teams were already out of contention for a spot in the next round of the competition.
To read more news from this competition click on World Championship – European Qualification W.
