Water Polo, prelims, Day 2 -Croatia wins a thriller against Montenegro

Mixed fortunes for Europe’s powerhouses: after their 13-13 draw on the opening day, Serbia and Hungary went on tying their respective matches, against Greece and Australia, both ending 9-9. Croatia won a thriller against Montenegro (8-7) with a last-grasp hit, while Spain and Italy both earned fine wins. Host Brazil tops the standings in Group A as they crashed Japan, something might not even the host team have expected at the start.

 Game 1, 9.00 – Group A: Serbia v Greece 9-9 (1-2, 0-2, 4-3, 4-2)

Referees: Mark Koganov (AZE), Joe Peila (USA)

SERBIA: Branislav Mitrovic, Dusan Mandic, Zivko Gocic 1, Sava Randelovic, Milos Cuk 1, Dusko Pijetlovic, Slobodan Nikic 1, Milan Aleksic 1, Nikola Jaksic 1, Filip Filipovic 2, Andrija Prlainovi 1c, Stefan Mitrovic 1, Gojko Pijetlovic (GK). Head coach: Dejan Savic

GREECE: Konstantinos Flegkas, Emmanouil Mylonakis, Konstantinos Genidounias 1, Ioannis Fountoulis 4, Kyriakos Pontikeas 1, Christos Afroudakis, Evangelos Delakas, Konstantinos Mourikis, Christodoulos Kolomvos 1, Alexandres Gounas, Angelos Vlachopoulos 2, Stefanos Galanopoulos (GK). Head coach: Theodoros Vlachos

Extramen:
Serbia: 4 for 12
Greece: 5 for 11

Penalties:
Serbia: none
Greece: 1 for 1

It was game 45 in Serbia’s unbeaten streak, lasting since the summer of 2014 at the major events (World and European Champs, World Leagues and World Cup) – however, we have to go back to 1999 to find a big tournament where Serbia could not win its first two matches. In fact, in Rio they only led for a short spell, 36 seconds against Greece, otherwise they chased their respective opponents, the Hungarians on the opening day and the Greeks this time. A bit unusual from the reigning world champion, however, this is the Olympics where everyone is ready to rock.

The Greek stunned them in the first half, and the Serbs lacked the necessary high level in concentration, committing a series of mistakes especially in attack. They were 1-5 down soon after the beginning of the third – scoring a single goal against any team for 18:11 minutes is not the way to win water polo matches. However, the Serbs have depth and quality in their team and bounced back by netting eight goals in remaining 13:49 minutes. Again, they overcame the four-goal deficit with some fine offensive combinations and tightened defending. Credits go to the Greeks as well as they were cool and collected throughout the match and didn’t start to panic when their rivals started to come back. Even after the Serbs took the lead with Slobodan Nikic’s wonderful goal from the centre (9-8 with 2:23 to go) they responded well and Ioannis Fountoulis put away a crucial 6 on 5 1:49 from time. The sides settled for a draw, it’s the second for the Serbs after they had a 13-13 tie with Hungary in the opening day and the Greeks could also be happy to earn a point against the No. 1 ranked team which they could barely achieve in the past.

Zivko Govic, captain, Serbia:

“Everyone thought that the Serbs would come here to the Olympics and crash everyone. No, this is not the case, the Games are different. Perhaps playing our first two matches early in the morning doesn’t fit us that well, we had two bad periods on both occasions and played much better in the second halves. All in all, we have two points from two matches, we have to go on.”

Theodoros Vlachos, head coach, Greece:

“We knew that at some stage the Serbians would start to make immense pressure to force us committing mistakes. But for most of the time my players withstood that pressure and this is something we can be really proud of. I think we played well, our game plan worked. To have a draw against a team like Serbia is always a great feat.”

 

Game 2, 10.20 – Group B: Italy v France 11-8 (4-3, 4-1, 1-2, 2-2)
Referees: Radoslaw Koryzna (POL), Sergey Naumov (RUS)

ITALY: Marco del Luongo, Francesco di Fulvio 1, Niccolo Gitto, Pietro Figlioli 2, Andrea Fondelli, Alessandro Velotto 1, Alessandro Nora, Valentino Gallo, Christian Presciutti 2, Michael Bodegas 1, Matteo Aicardi 4, Nicholas Presciutti, Stefano Tempesti (GK). Head coach: Alessandro Campagna

FRANCE: Remi Garsau, Remi Saudadier, Igor Kovacevic 2, Enzo Khasz, Romain Blary 2, Thibault Simon 2, Ugo Crousillat 1, Michal Izdinsky, Mehdi Marzouki, Mathieu Peisson, Petar Tomasevic 1, Alexandre Camarasa, Jonathan Moriame (GK). Head coach: Florian Bruzzo

Extramen
Italy: 2 for 10
France: 2 for 7

Penalties
Italy: none
France: 1 for 1

Matteo Aicardi was back, even if the Italian centre-forward reminded the fans on Leonardo di Caprio from the famous movie, The Man in the Iron Mask. After suffering a face injury right in the first minute of the tournament two days ago, Aicardi needed that mask but he was really fresh and played a pivotal role in Italy’s second win by netting four goals.
Though an awkward goal from Romain Blary – he took away the ball from the goalie, Stefano Tempesti and sent it to the empty cage – caused some early disturbance for the Italians, soon they managed to lift the level of their concentration and built a firm 2-3 goals lead. They could not extend the gap further but thanks to Aicardi’s spectacular goals their win was never in danger, even though the French fought quite bravely, deserving all respect.

Matteo Aicardi, player, Italy:

“The mask worked great today. I took a punch right square in the face against Spain, but it held up well and everything is OK. Success in this round is important for us. The preliminary round is tough and you only get one chance against each team. I'm very happy that we were able to beat both France and Spain so early on.”

Alessandro Campagna, head coach, Italy:

“Scoring during the six on five situations is always important, we know this and it's been that way since water polo was born. It's more important on the defensive side, though, because if you don't play good defence it means you give the opposition easy goals.”

 

Game 3, 11.20 – Group B: United States v Spain 9-10 (2-4, 3-1, 2-3, 2-2)

Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Peter Molnar (HUN)

USA: Meryll Moses, Thomas Dunstan, Benjamim Hallock, Alex Obert, Alex Roelse, Luca Cupido 1, Joshua Samuels, Tony Azevedo 1, Alex Bowen 3, Bret Bonanni 4, Jesse Smith, John Mann, McQuin Baron. Head coach: Dejan Udovicic
SPAIN: Dani Lopez, Alberto Munarriz 2, Marc Roca, Ricard Alarcon, Guillermo Molina 2, Marc Minguell, Balazs Sziranyi, Albert Espanol 2, Roger Tahull, Francisco Fernandez, Blai Mallarach 1, Gonzalo Echenique 3, Vicente Aguilar (GK). Head coach: Gabriel Hernandez

Extramen
USA: 3 for 12
Spain: 3 for 11

Penalties:
USA: none
Spain: 1 for 1

A brilliant game with a lot of twists and turns and finally it was Spain which survived this test – while the US hopes slimmed further on with the second defeat in their second match.
Though the Americans had a slightly better start, took a 2-1 lead but soon the Spaniards netted three straight goals, including two pin-point shots from their leftie, Gonzalo Echenique, so they were 2-4 up at half-time. However, the third period the US guys awakend, after 3-5 they scored twice in a span of 84 seconds, the last one came with 3 seconds from time before break, from Alexander Bowen in a man-up (5-5).

And the Americans marched on, hit back with a double after Guillermo Molina’s fine action goal, Bowen equalised, then, just 33 seconds later, Bret Bonanni put the US in the lead (7-6). Still, the Spaniards had the right answers, hit twice in the third and added two more in the fourth to go from 7-6 down to 7-10, with 4:11 remaining on the clock. The finish could have been less tense had the Spaniards not missed two extras after 8-10 but they did that and another goal from Bowen (his third in the game) set up an exciting last 59 seconds. An exclusion with 32 seconds to go diminished the US chances, though and they could not have a real chance to go for the equaliser at the very end.

Tony Azevedo, captain, USA:

“We have to win out now, that's it. We can't feel sorry for ourselves, we have to go and take control of our games immediately. We have to start playing as a team and not as individuals. If you look at today's game our problems were defence and mistakes, we gave up some stupid goals. We played worse this game than we did in the first and that is unacceptable.”
“This is the most equal playing field that we've had in a really long time. If you make two or three mistakes in a game you can't win. We made more mistakes than the other team today and you're not going to win that way.”

Gonzalo Echenique, player, Spain:

“We are very content with winning today. This was an important match and one that we had to win after losing our first match. We have to keep going down this path. We need to keep up the intensity and the force to keep winning these matches.”
“I just had a lot of success with my shots. I shot three times and scored three goals. Later on some of my shots didn't go in, and that's water polo. It is what it is.”

 

Game 4, 13.00 – Group A: Hungary v Australia 9-9 (4-3, 2-2, 1-3, 2-1)
Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Filippo Gomez (ITA)

HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy, Gergo Zalanki, Krisztian Manhercz 1, Balazs Erdelyi 1, Marton Vamos 2, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 1, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 2, Gabor Kis, Balazs Harai 2, Attila Decker (GK). Head coach: Tibor Benedek
AUSTRALIA: Joel Dennerley, Richie Campbell 4, George Ford 1, John Cotterill 1, Tyler Martin, Jarod Gilchrist, Aidan Roach 1, Aaron Younger, Joel Swift 1, Joe Kayes 1, Rhys Howden, Mitch Emery, James Stanton-French (GK). Head coach: Elvis Fatovic

Extramen
Hungary: 5 for 9
Australia: 6 for 10

Penalties
Hungary: 1 for 1
Australia: none

The session-ending contest was another proof how balanced the men’s tourney became for this edition: besides Italy’s 3-goal win, a tie, a single-goal win and another draw highlighted the daylight part of the second round. Just like the Serbs, the Hungarians also had to settle for one point as they could not overcome the Aussies.

After a brilliant demonstration of offensive play on the opening day against the world champs, this time the Magyars found it extremely difficult to set up scoring opportunities against their aggressive opponents whose defensive style did not meet their taste at all. It was more a fight than a great display of fine water polo, still, the excitements kept the fans on their feet for most of the time.

The Aussies took the lead twice in the first quarter but two fast goals in 21 seconds put the Hungarians ahead and they kept the lead through Balazs Harai’s brilliant back-handed shot from the centre 2 seconds from time (4-3). Deep into the second, the Magyars doubled the distance for the first time at 6-4 but George Ford’s pulled one back from a man-up goal 15 seconds before the middle break.

After a quick exchange of goals the Aussies caught a wave and with 2:44 to go Joe Kayes’s centre-goal put them ahead once more at 7-8 while the Hungarians struggled with their finishes. Their drought lasted for 7:39 minutes, when Denes Varga’s wrist-shot found the back of the net early in the fourth for 8-8 and soon the Magyar magician came up with an assist could hardly be copied by anyone and Balazs Erdelyi sent the ball to the cage with 1:51 remaining. However, the guys from Down Under battled on and they got their reward when John Cotterill’s shot slipped in under the goalie’s arms. 26 seconds left and the last two shots were stopped by James Stanton-French at the other end, meaning both sides remained winless. Though the Magyars have two points from two matches – and now toy with the memories from 2013 when they finished 9-9 with Australia in the prelims and later went on winning the world title.

Tibor Benedek, head coach, Hungary

“Today we are disappointed with the draw but we have to get it over with and continue our journey. We are not in trouble, the field has become so equal that the most important is to stay balanced till the end of the tournament. Our offense wasn’t too convincing, our opponent played a good pressing game, our transition was pretty slow so we had less time for our attacks.”

Elvis Fatovic, head coach, Australia

"It's not easy to come back and play like that after the first game, but the boys' response was amazing. Especially against one of the best teams in the world. We played well and although both teams could have won it I am happy with our performance."

"Our extra man play today was really good and we knew before that would be the key. Now we are looking forward to the game against Japan and we know they can be dangerous. The tournament so far has shown us that all the teams are capable of winning, so we must be ready and focused for them. A few of my players are exhausted but thank God we have two days to recover."

"This match became very physical but with the Hungarian team, the one thing we wanted to avoid was to rush with them because they are absolutely brilliant and can punish you in that situation.
We stopped their counter-attack, which is very strong, and our defence was much better today, especially in the second half. We only offered them a couple of shots from long distance and this is what we wanted."

 

Game 5, 19.30 – Group A: Japan v Brazil 8-16 (2-5, 1-3, 4-4, 1-4)

Referees: Xavi Buch (ESP), Nenad Peris (CRO)

JAPAN: Katsuyuki Tanamura, Seiya Adachi 1, Atsushi Arai 1, Mitsuaki Shiga 2, Akira Yanase, Atsuto Iida, Yusuke Shimizu, Yuki Kadono, Koji Takei 2, Kenya Yasuda, Keigo Okawa 2, Shota Hazui, Tomoyoshi Fukushima (GK). Head coach: Yoji Omoto
BRAZIL: Slobodan Soro, Jonas Crivella, Ruda Franco, Ives Alonso, Paulo Salemi 1, Bernando Gomes 2, Adrian Baches 2, Felipe da Costa 1, Bernardo Rocha, Felipe Perrone 4, Gustavo Guimaraes 1, Josip Vrlic 5, Vicinius Antonelli (GK). Head coach: Ratko Rudic

Extramen
Japan: 2 for 11
Brazil: 3 for 7

Penalties
Japan: 1 for 1
Brazil: 2 for 3

Japan got a flying start but soon they found themselves amid a rough landing: Brazil quickly recovered from 2-0 down and replied with 8 straight goals. Netted five already in the first period, including three hits from back-to-back attacks in 71 seconds for a 2-5 lead and three more came in the second within 1:58min. The first routing of the event was right on its way though the Japanese tried to stage a comeback scoring three connecting goals for 6-9 but this was the evening of series as the hosts responded with another 3-0 rush in 100 seconds (6-12). And the scoring festival went on, the third saw eight goals and the fourth brought five more as Brazil won the most one-sided contest of the tourney so far.

Ratko Rudic, head coach, Brazil

“It was a big result but it was not so easy as the score suggests. We prepared a special tactic for Japan. Every moment is dangerous if you lose the ball against Japan when they are defending as they are very strong on the counter attack. So we prepared the game to be more careful and in attack we had several strong players who could always score the goals.”

 

Game 6, 20.50 – Group B: Croatia v Montenegro 8-7 (2-2, 2-1, 1-2, 3-2)

Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Daniel Flahive (AUS)

CROATIA: Josip Pavic, Damir Buric 1, Antonio Petkovic, Luka Loncar 2, Maro Jokovic 1, Luka Bukic 2, Marko Macan, Andro Buslje, Sandro Sukno 2, Ivan Krapic, Andelo Setka, Javier Garcia, Marko Bijac. Head coach: Ivica Tucak
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic, Drasko Brguljan 1, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic 1, Darko Brguljan 2, Aleksandar Radovic, Mladan Janovic 2, Uros Cuckovic, Aleksandar Ivovic 1, Sasa Misic, Filip Klikovac, Predrag Jokic, Zdravko Radic (GK). Head coach: Vladimir Gojkovic

Extramen
Croatia: 1 for 7
Montenegro: 2 for 6

Penalties
none

The name Bukic sounds pretty well in the world of water polo: Perica Bukic was one of the best Croatian players in the 90s, and he was already an Olympic gold medallist in 1988. Now his son, Luka added some fine lines to the latest chapter of the family’s history book by netting a brilliant game winner against Montenegro, with 0:08sec from time in the top match of the group and perhaps of the day.

It was a fitting end to a thrilling contest, bringing everything what a match involving the title-holder and the 2013 world runner-up can offer. It was a tremendous fight, mostly under the Croatians’ controll, however, the Montenegrins always found the way to stay in the match.

After a balanced opening period Montenegro took the lead for the first – and as it turned out, for the last – time in the match at 2-3. The first psychological blow hit the Montenegrins shortly before the middle break when they conceded a goal with 0:39 to go, then another one with 0:05sec remaining on the clock, putting the Croats 4-3 ahead. But players on the other sides are also known for being as hard as the rocks, and despite all these blows and another Croatian goal for 5-3, they were strong enough to come back to 5-5 with a couple of spectacular action goals.
The last period started from even, opening room for high-running tensions. Yellow cards and missed opportunities showed that sometimes the nerves took over – then Maro Jokovic’s action goal broke the deadlock but Drasko Brguljan replied from a 6 on 5 almost immediately for 6-6. Luka Loncar netted an extra at the other end 42 seconds later, but after some saved and missed shots Mladan Janovic’s blast from long range hit the back of the net for 7-7, with 2:40 to go. It was 0:49 on the clock when the Montenegrins got a match ball, a man-up after a time-out but the Croatian defence moved pretty well, this time Janovic wasn’t on target under pressure and Bukic managed to put away the ball from the ensuing counter attack, earning a really important win for the title-holder.

Classification after Day 2

Group A
1. Brazil 4, 2. Greece 3, 3-4. Hungary and Serbia 2-2, 5. Australia 1, 6. Japan 0

Group B
1. Italy 4, 2. Croatia 4, 3. Montenegro 2, 4. Spain 2, 5. USA 0, 6. France 0