Croatia took down United States of America 14-11 in the fifth-sixth classification match at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre this morning. In the earlier match, Montenegro forced a penalty shootout, which it lost to Italy 18-17, in the seventh-place play-off. The match was tied at 14-14 and superstar Aleksandar Ivovic finished with six goals in the match and another in the shootout for 24 goals at Tokyo 2020, the highest in men’s competition.
We have to look back to Beijing 2008 to see Croatia in the play-off for fifth place. It was a loss to Spain then but today it was victory over United States of America 14-11.
Croatia was in the rarified air of two consecutive gold-medal finals, beating Italy at London 2012 and losing to Serbia at Rio 2016.
For USA, it was a better result than the 10th position in Rio and eighth in London and a far cry from silver in Beijing.
USA started strongly at 2-0, pleasing the head of the USA Delegation to the Olympics, its United Nations ambassador. The 3-2 margin at the first break was also pleasing.
Four straight Croatian goals dulled the USA senses and the 6-5 halftime margin showed that Croatia was on the march.
The third period lifted Croatia’s stocks even further, rising to 10-6 before USA pulled one back by the final break. Luka Bukic had three for Croatia and Luka Loncar two with the other goals spread around. Alex Bowen and Max Irving netted twice for USA.
Lovre Milos pushed the score to 11 on counter at the top of the fourth period, spurring USA into action. Ben Stevenson, from the penalty line, Johnny Hooper and Ben Hallock on extra dragged the match back to one. However, there the dream virtually died as Ante Vukesevic drove to goal, Maro Jokovic speared it in on penalty for 13-10 at 0:53. Croatia called a timeout when it regained possession at 0:14. The ball went right to Javier Garcia, who lobbed for 14-10 with nine seconds left. USA responded through Alex Obert for his second in the last second.
It was an exciting match with Croatia always looking at ease and making sure of taking home fifth place.
Match 40, 10:00, CROATIA 14 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 11
Classification 5-6
Quarters: 2-3, 4-2, 4-2, 4-4
Referees: Alessandro Severo (ITA), Gyorgy Kun (HUN).
Shots: CRO: 14/35. USA: 11/28.
Extra Man: CRO: 5/11. USA: 7/11.
Pens: CRO: 2/2.
FLASH QUOTES
Ivica Tucak (CR) — Head Coach
“It’s a very strong tournament. The result was not what we wanted but sport is like… You cannot read… Eight games, five victories, fifth place. We must go and form changes to the team. Some players will finish after here, especially Javier Garcia. He’s had an incredible career. We will see.”
Johnny Hooper (USA) — Two Goals
“There were lots of ups and downs. We wanted to be in the gold-medal match. We came out and competed. There’s lots of improvement to come. We can do it. We will be back to win the gold medal in Paris.”
CLASSIFICATION 7-8: MONTENEGRO 17 ITALY 18 in penalty shootout (FT: 14-14. Pens: 3-4)
In a replay of the Rio 2016 bronze-medal match, Italy came out on top again over Montenegro, needing a penalty shootout to win 18-17 after the match was tied at 14-14.
Italy was 14-12 ahead and Aleksandar Ivovic scored his sixth goal in a spectacular manner just eight seconds from full time to secure the shootout.
Italy had the better of the first quarter, leading 3-1 until Aleksa Ukropina shot, the ball bounced off the goalkeeper and then the ball rebounded off the back of the defender’s head into goal just three seconds from the buzzer. A little luck goes a long way.
After Alessandro Velotto had scored his third goal for 4-2, Montenegro fired in three straight with Ukropina netting his second. Italy took back the lead for 6-5 thanks to Francesco Di Fulvio’s second and Matteo Aicardi’s fantastic centre-forward strike. Drasko Brguljan with his second and Aleksandar Ivovic took Montenegro to the front 7-6 and Di Fulvio, with his third, levelled at 7-7 ahead of the halftime buzzer.
Ivovic scored the next two for his team, firstly to go ahead 8-7 and secondly to pull back to 10-9 down after Velotto scored his third and fourth and Di Fulvio his fourth. Ivovic scored his 20th of the tournament off a penalty and goals were traded until 12-11 in Italy’s favour ta the final break.
The “most unusual” happened at the start of the fourth quarter when Italian head coach Alessandro Campagna inadvertently leaned on the timeout button, meaning it was an illegal timeout call. The penalty for this is a penalty shot, which Ivovic slotted for 12-12. Italy scored twice more, making up for the coach’s error. Goalkeeper Gianmarco Nicosia gave up a penalty foul and Ivovic nailed his fourth penalty of the day and his eighth from the five-metre line in Tokyo for a grand tally of 22, easily the best. With victory a strong possibility, Montenegro took a timeout at 1:29 and the rebound shot by Miroslav Perkovic from point blank hit the left upright.
Italy wasted the time, Montenegro fired the ball to Ivovic, who shot from six metres and nearly secured the rebound. Campagna screamed for a timeout. Italy immediately lost the ball to Brguljan, who fired up to Ivovic, who scored his sixth with eight seconds remaining to force a shootout. Fantastic water polo! Ivovic by now has 23 goals in Tokyo and a career-high 62 goals from four Olympic Games.
In the shootout, Croatia shot first (Ivovic for 24) and third shooter Stefan Vidovic skyed the ball. Italy’s fourth shooter, Matteo Aicardi, had his attempt blocked and Perkovic, the next shooter, blasted it into the crossbar. Di Fulvio nailed Italy’s fourth and his team had won 18-17.
Italy finished fourth at the recent FINA World League Super Final in Georgia, losing 10-8 to Greece, a gold-medal finalist in Tokyo. At Rio 2016, Italy was the bronze medallist following London 2012 where it lost the final to Croatia. Italy’s three titles came in 1948, 1960 and 1992 when current national coach Campagna was playing. Italy’s Olympic tally is three gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Its worst performance in recent times was ninth at Beijing 2008.
Montenegro needed a 4-1 final quarter to beat Greece 10-9 in the final of the OGQT in Rotterdam. However, its 14-12 semifinal victory over Croatia was the result that earned the Tokyo ticket. Its Olympic best was fourth at Rio 2016, London 2012 and Beijing 2008. As the combined nation of Serbia & Montenegro, it claimed silver at Athens 2004.
Match 39, 08:30, MONTENEGRO 17 ITALY 18 in penalty shootout (FT: 14-14. Pens: 3-4)
Classification 7-8
Quarters: 2-3, 5-4, 4-5, 3-2. Pens: 3-4
Referees: Viktor Salnichenko (KAZ), Sebastien Dervieux (FRA).
Shots: MNE: 14/38. ITA: 11/25.
Extra Man: MNE:4/9. ITA: 3/6.
Pens: MNE: 4/4.
FLASH QUOTES
Alessandro Campagna (ITA) — Head Coach
“9:30 in the morning , playing for the final 7-8. Hard to ask for strong motivation. We made many mistakes, however, we finished with a win. We didn’t play top level and we’ll come back stronger next year.”
Vladimir Gojkovic (MNE) — Head Coach
“The players tried to play good for me. We came back a few times; we missed a lot, then the penalties. We need to analyse this tournament. They are young men, the first time at the Olympic Games. All have space to improve.”