Classification 13-16 Semifinals — Szeged

COLOMBIA 11 SOUTH AFRICA 14 

New day, new town and new stage for both teams. We reached the classification for the bottom teams. In the first quarter, South Africa took the lead and finished one goal in front of Colombia. In the second, Delaine Mentoor’s women outscored their opponent by two goals and it was enough for the win, as the last two quarters ended with a draw. Bladimir Lopez was a little bit disappointed and still waiting for the first win in the world championship.

Match heroes
Sara Vanegas was the most accurate, scoring three from five attempts. South Africa’s Hanna Muller was selected as player of the match for her magnificent efforts.

Turning point
South Africa took an early lead and built on that in the first half and kept the three-goal difference until the end.

Stats don’t lie
Colombia was the better in extra-man situations, scoring five from seven opportunities, while South Africa capitalised in both of the penalty shots. Daniela Passon and Meghan Maartens saved almost every second shot in the game.

Bottom line
South Africa left the pool with big smiles and a happy mentality and the Colombian women were disappointed after the loss, hoping for a better result after tomorrow.

What they said
Delaine Mentoor (RSA) — Head Coach
“I’m proud of the girls; it’s a really good feeling to win the game. Now the girls showed that they can play really good water polo. We had really good flow, the only problem was our lack of experience and decision making. All I want from the girls is to play good water polo, play hard and learn from this game. We need to study this game, because we can learn a lot from it.”
Hanna Muller (RSA) — Player of the Match
“I’m so happy for how the girls did; it’s just so exciting playing water polo and looking forward to it. We lost against Argentina by one goal, so we really wanted to win and do everything as a team. The atmosphere is awesome; it’s really good to see supporters all the way from South Africa.”
Blodimir Lopez (COL) — Head Coach
“We prepared for this game by playing our last, as a final. We were chasing our first win for a long time; It hurts to lose, but at least we had a smaller gap in the final score. Now we are looking forward to the next game and going up in the classification.”
Sara Vanegas (COL) —  Athlete
“I could score the most goals in my team, and it means so much to me. I’m just focusing game by game. I don’t compare teams, so I try to give everything during the matches.”

BRAZIL 12 THAILAND 9 

Thailand came very close to winning its first match, but the lack of spirit or missing the winning mentality in the first two quarters decided its fate. At least it won the last quarter. On the other side, Brazil started the match really well, scoring 4-1 in both quarters, but something changed in the second half and tied the third 3-3 and lost the control in the last.

Match heroes
Samantha Ferreira was amazing today, scoring six from nine shots and on the other side, Yanisa Turon was the best with four goals from seven opportunities.

Turning point
As was mentioned before, Thailand started edgily in the first half, which was enough for Brazil to build its momentum and outscore Thailand by six goals, and it was enough until the end.

Stats don’t lie
Both teams were ineffective from the extra situations, only scoring four from 14. Thatiana Pregolini (BRA) was 67 per cent between the posts.

Bottom line
Brazil needs to stay focused in the second half, also, or next time its won't be lucky to win the match. Thailand can build on its last quarter and maybe start with a winning mentality next time.

What they said 
Frank Diaz (BRA) — Head Coach
“Today was different, we won, it was good. It was the lack of stretch at the end of the game, but we can learn from our mistakes. We are here to bring the best out of ourselves.”
Samantha Ferreira (BRA) — Player of the Match
“We played very well, at the end we picked up the pace more. We were lost a little bit at the end, but the outcome came out great. We love this new pool and the people here are great.”
Natalya Rustamova (THA) — Head Coach
“In the first quarter we didn’t believe that we could win; maybe it was my mistake to change that mentality. In the second half, we started to press and improve, but we didn’t have enough time. Maybe if we hadeight8 quarters we could have won.”
Yanisa Turon (THA) — Athlete
“I’m really happy with my performance and the goals I scored. We were a little bit closer to winning. We tried to do our best, but it wasn’t enough for today. I hope we can win the last game.”