Croatia claim 3rd place in Axios Euro Cup

Michael McCormick

The giants of Croatia completely overpowered a tired Italian outfit to take third place in the 2013 Axios Euro Cup.

The Croatians, who narrowly lost to eventual premiers, England in the semi-final, looked the superior side, with both size and fitness in their favour. The scoreboard reflected this early in the game as they stormed out to a three goal lead.

Italy didn’t have any answers for the dominant Croatians, only managing a couple of goals by half time. Their frustrations were evident in both their performance and behaviour on the field as tussles broke out at both ends.

The man mountain, Tomislav Cvetko, proved a handful, kicking several majors and involving himself in numerous others. The strong bodies and run of Zvonimir Murkovic and Josip Kravar also proved too much for the Italians as they desperately tried to claw the game back, but to no prevail.

Croatia took a commanding lead late in the match and a comeback was beyond Italy. The siren sounded and the Croatians had cemented third place with a thumping 77 – 34 victory.