Were The Croatian Cowboys Cheated Against Germany?
January 24, 2019
Co-written by Branko ‘KING BRONK’ Tomasović
The Croatian handball team held their heads up high after a controversial 22-21 loss to co-hosts Germany at the World Handball Championships this past Monday. A win or draw would have put the Croatian Cowboys in position to play in the semifinals, but Germany pulled away at the end to crush Croatia’s title hopes.
Croatia rebounded against reigning world champions France a day later, beating them 23-20 to book a spot in the 5th place game against Sweden on Saturday.
Now, I (Ante Kvartuc) will not claim to be a handball aficionado. I watch when Croatia plays in the Olympics, World’s and Euros; and that’s the extent of it. I know the basic rules of handball and know that Croatia is perennially a top-six team in the world.
However, after the Germany game this week, I got a lot of angry text messages saying that Croatia was once again robbed, alluding to the World Cup Final.
A text message conversation from our very own KING BRONK was the most memorable.
“Even in handball the fix is in. They hate seeing Croatia win.
How many times can you say you watched a big game that the zebras (referees) don’t hurt us when we lose?
Can you remember any game where a controversial call went our way?
The only one I could remember is the red card against Germany in 1998 that Platini openly said he fixed.”
The evidence is there. Was Croatia robbed?