We are only one day away from the semi-final match between Croatia and Poland, which is on the hosts` path of winning their fifth medal in the past six years. There is not much time before the match, and they need to prepare themselves physically, mentally and tactically.

Croatian players did not have practice on Thursday morning, but they spent their time analysing the matches of the Polls.

- We are analysing the opponent and detecting the most powerful links. We are looking for our options in the attack. This is a respectable opponent – Lino Cervar pointed out.

“We have a better defence”

The match holds significance for both teams and it is normal that the players feel pressured, neither Poland nor we will be immune to this. The Polls will be playing the 6-0 defence, and it includes tall players who will have to be jumped over.

- We still have a better defence than they do. Perhaps we will be playing the 6-0 defence and they get hooked and start shooting fast. We will try to out-jump them and if we will have problems there, we will put up some ladders – Lino joked, when asked how Croatia was planning to break through the tall Polish defence.

The atmosphere in the squad is excellent, which was confirmed by Cowboys Duvnjak and Alilovic, who have key parts in the team.

- So far, our preparations were mostly mental, rather than physical. We all have a lot of self-confidence and are elevating ourselves more and more – Mirko Alilovic said, turning to Domagoj Duvnjak, who still has a black eye from the match against France.

- The atmosphere was excellent. If we want to win against Poland on Friday, we have to leave our heart on the court and this is the only way we will win – Duvnjak said.

Thanks to the audience

Seeing how the tickets for the match against Poland have long since been sold out, Croatia will surely get a full hall of support, just like during previous matches. The audience has always been the team`s eighth player, because it boosted the players` self-confidence with cheering.

- On behalf of all the players, I would like to thank the audience for the cheering. It is visible that there is synergy between the audience and the team. However, despite this, I expect an even more passionate audience tomorrow, which is our eighth player. We are stronger together – Cervar said.