Group D — Szeged

SERBIA 6 AUSTRALIA 5

It was an amazing and really close game between the two undefeated teams. It was all about outstanding defence and goalkeeping. The first three quarters were all drawn and scoring just 1-1, 2-2 and also 1-1. Everybody felt that there is no difference between the sides. Both teams gave everything to deny all the scoring opportunities and sometimes the woodwork came to the rescue to toss the ball to the better side of the goal. In the last quarter, Serbia took the lead, but Australia had the last chance and scored the equaliser, but the referees cancelled it, so now only one team remained invincible.

Match heroes
All the keepers were amazing — Nick Porter (AUS) stopped 10 from 16 shots and Serbians Branislav Mitrovic (5/8) and Lazar Dobozanov (6/8) were both more than 60 per cent.

Turning point
Australia was just centimetres away to equalise in the last minute of the match, but for its misfortune, a small fault was enough to cancel the goal for an amazing draw.

Stats don’t lie
Both teams were awful in attacking, scoring 11 goals from 59 opportunities. From that 11 goals, five came from extra-men situations. Three players from Australia were out of the match after too many personal fouls.

Bottom line
Serbia has two wins now and will play against the easiest opponent in the group in the last round and heading to Budapest, while Australia will play against one of the bigger rivals and a decider just before the crossover.

What they said  
Dejan Savic (SRB) — Head Coach
“It was a tough game, as we waited. The defence was really good, but the offence was awful. The guys said the ball was too hard, but this can’t be the reason in a professional level. We have two wins; that’s the most important (thing) and one more game and we can prepare for the next stage.”
Branislav Mitrovic (SRB) — Goalkeeper and Captain
“What we tried to do against the USA worked here against Australia. We had a little bit better defence than in the first game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t be on the same level in offence as two days before. The biggest problem was the mentality and concentration. You can’t afford that approach in a world championship even when you have this young team. We don’t want to underestimate anybody, but we are far better than this team, and we couldn’t show it; maybe a sport psychologist could help.”
Tim Hamill (AUS) — Head Coach
“First of all, I’m really proud about the team effort we played with, against probably the best team in the world and to come away with a one-point loss is really disappointing, but I couldn’t be more proud of my team. As a team, we are in our first stages of our development, laying our sand of how we want to play, the toughness and everything. I asked the referee about the last goal; we were sure that it was a clear goal, but he was under the impression that it was a push-off, but that’s water polo; we’ll get up there against the USA. They’re an excellent team; we are focusing on our recovery and looking forward to the game.”
Nick Porter (AUS) — Goalkeeper
“I thought our attack was actually working really well, but we missed a lot of shots. I couldn’t see the goal at the end from my view, but I think it was the right decision, we had our chances to put the game away. We should be very proud of ourselves. Those statistics are great, but I look at them in a different way as I want to help my team win. The USA is our rival; we’re really looking forward to playing against them.”

KAZAKHSTAN 4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 17

United States of America started the game perfectly, only missed one shot and let in one goal, but in every other aspect it was perfect. In the second and the third periods, Kazakhstan found the rhythm and kept USA really close, losing by one goal in each of those quarters, while scoring three. In the last quarter, USA found the way back to how it started the match and kept a clean sheet, scoring five and now can focus on chasing second place in the group.

Match heroes
Maxwell Irving scored four from five opportunities and brought home the MVP award. Captain Ben Hallock led by example in the centre position.

Turning points
Dejan Udovicic’s men outscored Kazakhstan in the first and last quarters by 12 goals and conceded just one in those 16 minutes.

Stats don’t lie
USA went more than 50 per cent in scoring with 17 from 30 attempts; converted seven from 12 in extra-man situations and 100 per cent from the 5m line.

Bottom line
That young Kazakhstan team is playing against really good and experienced teams in the group stage and can build on those opportunities and get better match by match. USA will face Australia in the last round in the group and should be prepared and focused after what the Aussie Sharks achieved against Serbia today.

What they said
Gavin Arroyo (USA) — Assistant Coach
“The rhythm of the game was changing if you have the first quarter like that, it's normal to get into the comfort zone and try to avoid that as much as possible, but sometimes human nature does take over a little bit. We tried to play a lot of one-on-one in defence to get ourselves the rhythm for the outcoming games, as well. Australia had a great game today against Serbia. They have great players in the team and we really need to be in shape after tomorrow.”
Maxwell Irving (USA) — Man of the Match  
“We did well, we were just focusing on ourselves, especially coming off the game with Serbia. It was a very tiring and emotional game for us. We were just looking at a group stage one step at the time, and today was an important step and we are looking forward to the last game against Australia. We came out with good energy. We just have to keep focus on defence and I think we will be definitely prepared for the game. It will have major applications for the crossover.”
Rustam Ukumanov (KAZ) — Head Coach
“That we didn’t score goals was terrible, but it's because the USA is a very good team. The next game is against Serbia and we’ll see how it goes for our group.” 
Alexey Shmider (KAZ) — Athlete
“As we can see, they can swim much better and they can use their conditions very well. We didn’t score our goals from extra men. We have to level up from game to game. I think the game against Serbia will be our biggest game.”

Group Progress Points: Serbia 4, USA 2, Australia 2, Kazakhstan 0.