This competition sees a major shift in how tournaments are run with the World Aquatics Technical Water Polo Committee making sweeping changes to spice up the competition.

From now on, all Aqua matches will need a result, thus invoking the penalty shootout should a match finish in a tie in regular time. Points will be awarded 3-2-1 with shootout victories gaining two points and a shootout loss one point as per the old World League rules.

For this competition, teams have been drawn into two divisions. The top eight teams from the previous junior World Championships are in Groups A and B, while the remaining teams play in the Division II groups of C to F. This is aimed at engendering closer matches in the opening rounds, which previously generally produced blowouts. Lower teams still have the right to make the quarterfinals.

While the competition is slated as Under-20 to comply with other international sports and competitions, players who were born in 2003 are eligible, meaning 20-year-olds can participate. The tournament has always been junior men in this age group, except in 2009 when it trialled as 18 & Under.

 Match reports

Division 1

Group A

SPAIN 8 MONTENEGRO 10

Photos courtesy of Zsigmond Bathari/World Aquatics

Montenegro shot out of the box early and from there it was all catch-up for Spain. Spain scored late to trail 3-1 at the first break, narrowed to 3-2, went 4-2 down and levelled at four by halftime. A 3-1 period gave Montenegro the 7-5 advantage at the final break and 8-5 following a disallowed penalty goal by Spain for progressing beyond the line. This became 8-6 and 10-6 when Marko Mrsic converted his third from the penalty line. Two late strikes by Spain — from the top and on penalty — flattered a Spanish side that played skilfully, but could not break through.

A hurtful period for Spain straddled the final break as Montenegro sent in four unanswered goals.

Match Heroes
The goalkeepers played a huge role in the match with Montenegro’s Ilija Radovic snaring 10 shots and Spain’s Alejandro Alegre pulling in 11. Marc Valls top-scored for Spain with three and Montenegrin captain Mrsic also claimed three goals. Big Montenegrin centre forward Nedjo Bastrica was awarded best in pool, mainly for his superb backhand goal from a metre wide of the goal.

Turning Point
The 3-0 opening by Montenegro meant Spain always had to come from behind, only managing to level at four and five.

Stats Don’t Lie
Such was the evenness of the match that the statistics revealed little. Montenegro shot 31 to 26, converted two from six on extra-man attack compared to Spain’s one from three and missed one of two penalty attempts while Spain converted both its chances. The turnovers, steals and blocks were pretty even, as well.

Bottom Line
Montenegro finished better. Spain had the skills and speedy passing on extra-man attack, but lacked the ability to find the gaps consistently. This result puts Spain on the back foot so early in the competition.

ITALY 8 CROATIA 10

Croatia came home a 10-8 winner thanks to better penetration and nearly eight minutes straddling the halftime break in which it kept Italy to the one goal while scoring four of its own. This difference proved critical and even though Italy came back to 8-7 down, it could not leapfrog Croatia.

Croatia built the win on a remarkable 3-0 opening quarter. Italy responded with three straight to level the match early in the second quarter, drew level again at four and was 6-4 down at halftime. Croatia went to 8-5, Italy pulled two back and a last-gasp shot from Ivosa Burdjelez from deep right gave Croatia a two-goal advantage heading into the final quarter.

It became 10-7 on extra-man attack and Francesco Condemi hit the right upright on his penalty attempt that could have made a difference. Alessandro Balzarini converted extra for 10-8 and Agostino Somma scored at 1:02, only for VAR to over-turn the shot as being too late. Italy’s charge was over and Croatia had the victory.

Match Heroes
Croatian goalkeeper Mauro Cubranic made 12 saves and deservedly was named best in water. Roberto Spinelli dragged down 10 for Italy. Three Croatians scored twice — Mauro’s brother Niko Cubranic, Hrovje Zvono and Roberto Radic. Italy’s Balzarini and Luca Provenziani also scored twice.

Turning Point
The 4-1 Croatian charge in the middle stages of the match, moving from 4-4 to 8-5.

Stats Don’t Lie
Italy had more shots at 32-26, but suffered on extra-man attack, converting just four from 11 as Croatia made five from nine. Italy sent in one from two on penalty while Croatia gained no fouls. The telling point was Italy’s turnovers — 10 to four.

Bottom Line
Both are top-line teams and have scorers all over the pool with good goalkeepers. Croatia survived, but watch out for Italy as it will rebound.

Group B

GREECE 10 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 13

United States of America came from 3-2 down in the first quarter to win this exciting match. The second period was all USA, grabbing the 4-3 lead, allowing Greece to level at four and then sliced home four unanswered goals for 8-4. Two Nikolaos Gkillas goals — either side of halftime — narrowed the margin to two.

Goals were traded and two late Greek goals, including a fourth to Gkillas, had the match on a knife’s edge at 10-9. A 3-1 final period gave the match to USA, including the last two strikes in the final two minutes. Greece had the energy and skills to win, but USA’s greater punch proved the difference.

Match Heroes
Brothers Chase and Ryder Dodd (below) scored three each for USA. Chase is a regular on the USA senior team while younger brother Ryder collected the player-of-the-match award. Nikolaos Gkillas was the top scorer with four goals for Greece. Nektarios Iliopolis made 11 saves in the Greek goal.

Turning Point
The four goals following a timeout in the second quarter, which sent USA from 4-4 to 8-4.

Stats Don’t Lie
USA forced Greece into 14 turnovers compared to nine; converted two penalty goals to one; and scored only one from seven on extra-man attack while Greece converted two from six.

Bottom Line
With the Chase brothers, USA has the team to travel well into the competition. Greece has players fresh from European club competitions and will need to step up if it wishes to progress to the quarterfinals.

SERBIA 15 HUNGARY 17 in penalty shootout (FT: 12-12. Pens: 5-3) 

What a cracker of a match to close the day’s play, also bringing with it the first penalty shootout on day one of this tournament’s history. Hungary had to come from 7-4 behind at halftime to go to the shootout after the match was tied at one, two, three, four, seven, eight, nine, 10 , 11 and finally 12.

It was the manner in which Hungary won as it played catch-up until four, watched as Serbia went three up and shut out Serbia in the third period to level at seven by the final break.

It got messy from there with Hungary three times taking the lead only for Serbia to level. Then Serbia went 11-10 ahead; Hungary equalised at 3:51; Serbia made it 12-11 by 2:18. Then the fun started.

Zsombor Ekler, who scored the opening three goals for Hungary, thought he had his fourth at 1:27, but the ball did not quite cross the line and VAR disallowed it. However, at 0:40, Hungary drew a penalty foul and Vince Vigvari, brother of national senior team member Vendel Vigvari, drilled the ball for 12-12.

Hungary went to a timeout at 0:08 and the shot afterwards hit the left upright, sending the match to the shootout.

Hungary won the toss, made sure of its five attempts and watched as Serbia’s Aleksandar Kovacevic — twice a scorer in the fourth period — sent his attempt high on the third rotation. Hungary had two points and Serbia one.

Match Heroes
Ekler scored four and his last was the winning goal for Hungary. Vigvari also scored four and was named player of the match. Akos Nagy scored twice in the fourth and one in the shootout. Serbia’s Nikola Kojic topped his team with three. The goalkeepers were busy with Viktor Gyapjas stopping 10 for Hungary and Radosav Virijevic blocking 11 for Serbia.

Turning Point
There were many. Serbia’s dominance of the 4-1 second quarter and Hungary’s 3-0 effort in the third. Vigvari on penalty for the 12-12 equaliser was heroic.

Stats Don’t Lie
Hungary shot 33 to 29, converted five from 13 on extra-man attack and defended seven of 12. It converted the only two penalties of regular time and was perfect in the shootout. Hungary, however, turned the ball over nine times to Serbia’s seven.

Bottom Line
This is the top tier and it was top-strata play. Either team could progress to the medal rounds on their displays today.

Division II

Group C

GERMANY 19 SOUTH AFRICA 4

Germany made a fine impression in the opening match of the tournament, closing the quarters at 6-1, 9-1, 18-2 and 19-4. Germany was superb around the South African goal, getting close and using a wide assortment of weapons from the one-metre cross passing to the outside rockets. South Africa was more hesitant, but should shape up better in forthcoming matches.

Match Heroes
Till Hoffman, player of the match, had three goals in the opening quarter and finished with five while fellow left-hander, Robin Rehm, blasted in three, as did Aleks Sekulic. Jordan Harrod scored twice in the second half for South Africa.

Turning Point
Germany shifting from 1-1 midway through the first quarter to 11-1 early in the third period.

Stats Don’t Lie
Germany took 36 shots to South Africa’s 20 — a huge difference. The extra-man plays showed excellent defence by both teams with Germany netting two from seven and South Africa one from seven. On penalties, Germany sent in two from three and Germany one from two.

Bottom Line
Germany was well rounded from defence to attack, especially with goalkeeper Max Spittank making eight saves. It augurs well for the remainder of the tournament.

Group D

NETHERLANDS 13 BRAZIL 6

Netherlands, just like the previous match where Germany had the better of South Africa, made sure that a South American team was not going to win on the first day. The Dutch played perfectly for the opening three quarters, leading 5-0 and 7-1 at the first two breaks before shifting to 12-2 at the final break. Then it was the turn of Brazil to hit its straps, containing the Dutch to one goal while it sent in four with the last three goals coming in less than two minutes near the end of the match. It showed what the team could do while it was more of a blemish on the Dutch effort. Six of the Dutch goals came from the top with precision shooting and three penalty goals as there were few extra-man chances on offer.

Match Heroes
Lars ten Broek was player of the match with four goals from five attempts with Mart van der Weijden also netting four, but from six chances. Brazilian captain Frederico Carsalade scored the first three goals for his team, one on extra, the second from the top and the third with a lob.

Turning Point
The 7-0 start that always had the South Americans on the back foot.

Stats Don’t Lie
Netherlands’ point of difference was scoring at nearly 50 per cent while having the same number of shots as Brazil at 26. It converted two from three on extra-man attack and shut down Brazil eight times in 10 attempts. Three penalty goals to nil, also helped toward the victory.

Bottom Line
The Dutch came into the tournament with the withdrawal of China initially, so victory on the opening day and a group where Kazakhstan was a late withdrawal, means it will clash with Brazil again and almost assured of group victory and a huge chance in the eighth-finals to see who will progress to the quarterfinals with opposition coming from the all-powerful Division I nations.

Group E

NEW ZEALAND 6 ROMANIA 15

Romania came up trumps for the home crowd in its first match, winning with ease, thanks to a 10-2 second half. It was tight with New Zealand drawing level at one and three as Romania won the first period 2-1 and drew the second 3-3 for a 5-4 halftime advantage.

New Zealand was then kept scoreless for the next 10 minutes as Romania waltzed to a 13-4 margin with six minutes remaining. Kelly Mcdowell scored twice on extra-man attack before Romania wrapped up the match with two of its own, on extra and an outside bullet after a Kiwi fumbled ball one second from time.

New Zealand scored with a second left in the second quarter also, when a Lochie Frazer shot from eight metres deflected into goal.

Match Heroes
David Belenyesi scored three of the first four goals for Romania and added the ninth goal to his tally of four. Andrei Neamtu collected the man-of-the-match award with his three goals, including two spectacular counter-attack finishes. Mcdowell was New Zealand’s best with three goals.

Turning Point
Shutting the Kiwis out for 10 minutes to rise from 5-4 to 13-4.

Stats Don’t Lie
Romania took 31 shots to 24; converted a fine five from 11 on extra-man attack compared to three from 10 and buried both penalty shots. Although Romania gave up more turnovers, New Zealand’s indecision in front of goal caused headaches for the coaching team.

Bottom Line
Romania has a balanced team and should do well in coming matches while New Zealand needs to have more confidence when selecting shots.

Group F

IRAN 15 ARGENTINA 13 

Iran came from 3-2 down in the first period to snatch a 4-3 lead at the first break, improve to 6-3 and 7-5 before turning at 7-6. Goals were traded and Argentina’s mercurial Mateo Giri (above) scored three goals to level at nine, but even he could not thwart Iran from going into the final period 12-9 up.

This became 13-9 thanks to Arman Shams with his fifth. Argentina had a chance to pull one back on penalty, only for Ignacio Lucero to miss the referee’s whistle. He made amends with a brilliant steal from the goalkeeper and wide shot for 13-11. Iran pushed the margin to 15-11 with Giri and Lucero both scoring on counter in the dying minute for a consolation two-goal loss.

Match Heroes
Iranian goalkeeper Amirata Khazaei was best in pool with a magnificent 16 saves, five more than Argentina’s Matias Ballardini. On the goal-scoring side, Argentina’s Giri was everywhere with seven goals, showing his incredible skills, whether on counter or at the top on attack.

Iran used six scorers to five and the best was Shams who, like Giri, loved counter, scoring twice from this and three on extra. He was backed up by team-mate Alireza Mehrikoshneshahri with four goals — three from the penalty line.

Turning Point
From 3-2 down inside the last three minutes of the first period, Iran pounced to 6-3 several minutes into the second for what was a winning position.

Stats Don’t Lie
In a high-shooting match, Argentina took 37 shots to 36, but lost the extra-man battle, scoring four from eight to Iran’s superior five from nine. Iran nailed all four penalty attempts to Argentina’s two from four. Turnovers and blocks were fairly even.

Bottom Line
Both teams have credentials good enough to progress to the quarterfinals if they can withstand the punishing programme. It will be excellent to watch Giri, in particular, as the days go by.

Progress Points

Group A: Croatia 3, Montenegro 3, Italy 0, Spain 0.

Group B: United States of America 3, Hungary 2, Serbia 1, Greece 0.

Group C: Germany 3, South Africa 0, Japan.

Group D: Netherlands 3, Brazil 0.

Group E: Romania 3, New Zealand 0, Peru.

Group F: Iran 3, Argentina 0, Australia.