Italy goes on the rampage, leaving Slovakia scoreless for much of the match

ITALY SLOVAKIA, Group C

TRIESTE (Italy) — World champion Italy proved too strong for Slovakia, enhancing a 7-3 early second-quarter advantage into a 22-3 victory.

All 11 Italian field players scored as the 13-3 halftime score blew out to 17-3 by the final break and the Settebello surged home with a flourish. It was the first win for Italy after losing 12-9 to the reigning Olympic champion Serbia last month. For Slovakia, it was a good opening period and try as it might, could not breach the stout Italian defence in the search for more goals.

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Scala, Deep Blue Media

Match heroes 

Filippo Ferrero (pictured) was named Player of the Match, scoring twice off counter-attacks — the first coming from a steal on defence and then a charge up the field to baulk the goalkeeper to score — and the other from the top.  Francesco Condemi scored his three from the deep-right-hand-catch position and Eduardo Di Somma also netted three — two from the same position as Condemi. Adam Furman, Robert Kaid and Andrej Kovacic scored for Slovakia — the first two on the extra-man attack.

Turning point

With the match at 7-3, it looked enticing, however, Italy decided to shut up the shop and go on the attack, constantly thwarting Slovakia with brilliant defence and then having the firepower to put away the goals. It was a sad last 22 minutes for Slovakia, frequently having the ball stolen or blocked for no reward.

Stats don’t lie

Italy scored five from eight on extra-man attack compared to Slovakia’s two from six. Italy also blasted in two penalty goals.

Bottom line

It was a day out for Italy and a chance to gain a win and give valuable pool time to the raft of newcomers. It also blew away the previous loss to Serbia and sets the team up for the challenges ahead, which include a possible Super Final, FINA World Championships and the European Championships.

 

Croatia pulls a rabbit out of the hat to fend off Russia

CROATIA v RUSSIA, Group B

ZAGREB (Croatia) — Croatia had to come from four down in the opening quarter to beat Russia 11-9 in front of a cheering home crowd.

The match was not made easy for Croatia, trailing 4-1 at the quarter, 8-5 at halftime and 9-7 at the final break. Croatia shut the door on Russia in the final eight minutes, gaining the equaliser through Luka Bukic with a low action goal at 2:51; took the lead for the first time at 1:56 through Rino Buric from the deep left and then gave Loren Fatovic the last say with his third penalty strike at 1:17.

Croatia did the same in its opening match last month, coming from two behind to better Greece 12-11.

Match heroes

Loren Fatovic (CRO) succeeded where team-mates Luka Bukic and Ante Vukicevic could not and that was converting from the penalty line. After the two failed attempts, Fatovic was called upon and delivered three times in the second half, converting one penalty foul he earned himself on the counter-attack. Newcomer Adel Latypov was the only double scorer for Russia, both from the top on the extra-man attack.

Turning point

Russia gave up three penalty goals in the third period with two converted, narrowing the margin to two. It seemed to knock the stuffing out of Russia and a scoreless final quarter, while Croatia netted four times, proved fatal.

Stats don’t lie

Croatia struggled on the extra-man conversion rate with just three from 11 while Russia slammed in three in the first quarter in its six conversions from a similar number of attempts. However, Croatia’s 50 percent conversion of shots proved critical as Russia hit just 39 percent. Crucially, Russia turned the ball over seven times to Croatia’s two.

Bottom line

Under new coach Andrey Belofastov, who was the assistant in previous years, Russia looked the goods and played smooth water polo, carefully selecting options and dominating for three-quarters of the match. Croatia, on the other hand, never looked flustered, even when four down. Head coach Ivica Tucak called a first-quarter timeout and secured the resulting goal to arrest the slide. Superior defence in the final quarter proved the difference between the teams.

 

France upsets Spain in what will be seen as excellent evolution towards Paris 2024

FRANCE SPAIN, Group B

Reims (France) — In the boilover of the year, France toppled Spain 14-11 with an 8-6 halftime advantage. Spain led 4-3 at the quarter break, but losing the second by three goals proved critical. An even third period gave some hope to the Spaniards before France nailed the last quarter 4-3 for what will be hailed as a fantastic victory with Paris 2024 looming.