Match reports

Group A

SPAIN 10 ITALY 9

 Pictures courtesy of Iosif Vagnar/World Aquatics

These two teams practised together before the championships and Spain seems to have learnt more from the exercise. The match was even on seven occasions at one, two, three, four, five, seven and eight.

Spain came back to level the first quarter at 2-2 and nudged out to 5-4 at halftime and 7-6 at the final break. Italy levelled twice in the fourth for 8-8 with Ignacio Bargallo thundering in a six-metre, free-throw shot for 9-8 at 4:18. Both teams took a timeout with Spain’s reaping a reward through Robert Lopez on extra-man attack for a handy two-goal advantage.

It was  Francesco Condemi who converted extra at 1:05 for 10-9 — the last scoring of the match. Condemi finished with five goals and was embroiled in a minor controversy when his seemingly successful penalty attempt in the first quarter was disallowed. His penalty attempt early in the second quarter hit the right upright, but rebounded for him to score.

Match Heroes
Spain had two heroes, but none better than goalkeeper Xavier Teclas who rejected an amazing 16 shots to be best in water. Marc Valls twice scored consecutive goals for Spain — in the second and third period — two coming from penalty strikes. One of those fouls was gained by the ball touching the outgoing player. For Italy, it was Condemi in the thick of it.

Turning Point
Bargallo’s six-metre missile for 9-8 in the last quarter.

Stats Don’t Lie
Spain was parsimonious with its shooting, scoring at 50 per cent off just 20 shots while Italy sprayed the cage with 33 at a poorer 27 per cent. Spain converted three from 13 on extra-man attack and Italy three from 15. Spain converted both penalty attempts and Italy one from three.

Bottom Line
Spain has been thrown a lifeline in the cut-throat group, lying third after two days while Italy is wallowing in fourth.

MONTENEGRO 14 CROATIA 12 in penalty shootout (FT:9-9. Pens: 5-3)

This could be one of the greatest “get-out-of-jail” matches of the tournament. From five goals down, Montenegro, or more specifically, Marko Mrsic (pictured), clawed back to level in the final minute and then sent in a perfect five goals in the shootout to deny Croatia what could have been claimed to rightfully its match.

What drama! Montenegro held the early advantage at 2-1 before tying the first quarter 2-2. From one down, Croatia solidified its cause in the second quarter, charging to 6-2 at the long break thanks to a last-gasp goal to Vlaho Pavlic. Roberto Radic crushed Montenegro with the first of the third period and two Niko Cubranic goals had the margin at five — 9-4 — by 2:33 in the third. Montenegro was sitting pretty.

HOWEVER, Mrsic went on a scoring dance blasting in from the top on extra-man attack with two minutes spare until the final break. He sent in a slider to open the final quarter, scored on extra at 2:50, made it another top shot on extra at 1:32 and even though Croatia called a timeout, the Montenegrin defence held and Mrsic made sure of the 9-9 score on extra at 0:44. He had just scored five straight for a tally of six.

In the shootout, Montenegro and Mrsic started first with the Croatian reply blocked. The next seven shots found their mark and Montenegro had won an incredible victory over its Balkan neighbour.

Match Heroes
Mrsic. Mrsic. Mrsic. With seven goals and what proved to be six straight, lifting Montenegro from the mud, Mrsic had etched himself into World Aquatics folklore. He now has 10 goals from two matches. For Croatia, Radic, Viktor Toncinic and Cubranic all scored three.

Turning Point
The Mrsic magic of the final quarter. Such sublime play, but it could not have been achieved without the brilliant blocking and goalie saves at the other end that kept Croatia scoreless for more than 10 minutes.

Stats Don’t Lie
Montenegro shot 34 to 31 and won the extra-man plays six from nine to four from nine. There were no penalty shots in the regulation play with Montenegro coming good in the shootout.

Bottom Line
Montenegro had the grim determination. Has Croatia never heard the phrase “five is not enough”? Montenegro goes top of the group and Croatia maintains second place.

Group B

GREECE 12 SERBIA 14

This was the clash of champions with Serbia the reigning champ and Greece twice champion in the two editions before that. Pride was on the line, especially as both teams lost on day one. Trying to make top two in the Division I groups is no mean feat.

The match was tied nine times with Serbia coming back twice early on and Greece seven, meaning Greece was heavy into catch-up water polo. The quarter scores favoured Greece 5-3 then Serbia 4-1, Greece 5-4 and finally Serbia 3-1.

Nikolaos Gkillas was keeping Greece afloat, bringing up his sixth goal at 9-9 midway through the third period. With 11-11 at the final break, it was still anyone’s match, However, Serbia scored on extra with a lovely centre-forward turn in mid-air by Bogdan Brescanski, who was later denied a similar goal by the goalkeeper’s head.

Nikolaos Kastrinakis replied at 3:28 deep left on extra-man attack. Serbia went to a timeout and the resulting effort earned the 13-12 goal. Greece called a timeout and the passing went awry with the ball going over the back line on an errant pass. At 0:33, Marko Dimitrijevic netted his second, on extra, for the impassable 14-12 score. The ball came from the right and he climbed high, juggled the ball and squeezed it in off the left post.

Match Heroes
Gkillas with his six goals, including three from the penalty line, giving him 10 for the tournament. Goalkeeper Nektarios Iliopoulos made an excellent 12 saves for Greece. Vasilije Martinovic and Nikola Kojic scored three apiece for Serbia.

Turning Point
Bogdan Gavrilovic’s 13-12 goal that gave a chink of light for Serbia with two minutes remaining.

Stats Don’t Lie
Serbia shot 35 times to 26 and converted six from 14 on extra-man attack compared to Greece’s four from 14. In turnovers, Serbia forced seven to Greece’s three. Greece also had the benefit of those three penalty goals.

Bottom Line
Serbia bolstered its chances by rising to second in the group with Greece languishing in fourth. Serbia made a statement that it won’t give up its title willingly.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 6 HUNGARY 12

Despite a dream start by the USA, Hungary came through and obliterated the two-goal deficit to rush to 9-2. It was almost a one-sided match with Hungary leading 3-2 at the break with two David Tatrai goals, had the game almost locked away for 6-2 thanks to two left-handed Akos Nagy goals and then stretched the margin to 10-3 after three periods.

USA scored at 9-3 for its first goal in nearly 18 minutes. Then Zsombor Vismeg, who made his senior debut at this year’s World Aquatics World Cup qualifiers, scored either side of the break to have Hungary at 11-3. When Hungary scored its last goal through Marcell Szecsi on extra-man attack, it took the foot off the accelerator and let slip in three USA goals in 100 seconds for 12-6.

Match Heroes
Matyas Meszaros topped the scoring with three goals and took player-of-the-match kudos while Gray Carson was the only double scorer for USA. Benedek Danka made 10 saves in the Hungarian goal.

Turning Point
The three consecutive goals by Hungary that set the train rolling later in the first quarter.

Stats Don’t Lie
Hungary converted five from 10 on extra-man attack and USA two from 10. USA had one extra shot at 29-28 and Hungary nailed the only penalty of the match.

Bottom Line
All Hungary’s players compete in the top tier of Hungarian senior water polo and all finished in the top eight this season. This experience showed against the North Americans, who now slip to third while Hungary has top ranking after two days.

Group C

JAPAN 26 SOUTH AFRICA 12

Japan swam rampant and South Africa bit back at every opportunity in this engrossing scoring bonanza. Both teams were willing and the goals kept cascading in with Japan’s Daichi Ogihara netting an amazing, tournament-high nine goals.

Japan led 3-0 and modestly had the 4-1 quarter-time advantage, stretched that to 13-3 by halftime and 19-7 by the final break, closing the final quarter at 7-5. South Africa was always there, but was too loose on occasions and allowed Ogihara, in particular, to sit up at five-seven metres to score. Amazingly there was just three counter-attack goals for Japan to one.

Match Heroes
Ogihara by far. He had three in the first quarter, snapped in consecutive goals in the second — both from the top — a pair in the third — including one from nine metres — and another couple in the fourth. Kai Inoue was the next best with four goals as every other field player made the sheet. Jordan Harrod scored three for South Africa as six of his team-mates also put their names in lights.

Turning Point
After a relatively sluggish start, the second quarter burst open and Japan settled into its speedy, no questions-asked style.

Stats Don’t Lie
Extra-man goals did not come easily with Japan garnering six from 14 and South Africa five from 14. Japan converted its one penalty chance and South Africa two. It was the turnovers earned that helped Japan along the way with 14 to six.

Bottom Line
Japan is speedy, has the firepower and will need all those skills in the matches to come. South Africa can be proud of its 12 goals against such a determined opponent.

Group E

PERU 5 ROMANIA 32

Peru made history by playing at this level for the first time. It was a torrid debut with host Romania running roughshod over the South Americans. It took nearly eight minutes for Diego Contreras to become his nation’s first scorer, but by then Romania was already 8-0 ahead.

Romania piled in another eight in the second quarter to keep up a goal for every minute while Peru scored on a cross drive and on extra-man attack. The third period was 9-0 to Romania and when the scoreline hit 30-3, Peru traded goals with Contreras scoring his second and third goals in the last two minutes.

There was some relief for Romania when Andrei Armean scored off a short drive to the left-post position with four seconds left in the match to become the 11th Romanian field player to make the scoring sheet. His previous chance — a penalty attempt at 3:50 — was stopped by the Peruvian keeper — one of the few highlights for the South Americans.

Match Heroes
Andrei Neamtu headed the Romanian scorers with six goals while six others netted four each. It was Contreras who stood tall for Peru in such an historic match.

Turning Point
The opening whistle.

Stats Don’t Lie
Romania shot twice as many times as Peru — 44 to 22. It converted two from five on extra and Peru one from five. Romania made one from two on penalty. But the major statistic was the 21 turnovers forced on Peru by the powerful Romanians.

Bottom Line
Romania made it two from two and has won the group while Peru will get another chance, against New Zealand, on Monday in the battle for second spot.

Group F

AUSTRALIA 16 ARGENTINA 4

Australia opened its campaign with a solid 12-goal margin over Argentina who promised so much against Iran on day one. It was not as easy as it looked for the Aussies as they held a 2-1 margin at quarter time and 5-2 at halftime. A 6-2 third period led to a decisive 5-0 final quarter as Argentina was left wondering what could have been.

Australia became stronger as the match went on and it settled into a rhythm, especially on extra-man attack. On day one, Mateo Giri (pictured above) hammered in seven goals for Argentina against Iran, but today he was dwarfed by the Aussie defence and managed just one from 12 attempts.

It was Andrei Grgurevic who starred for Australia with six goals, including two from the penalty line. His contribution was aided with pinpoint passing to him on at least three occasions. Argentina was not without sting, twice coming close to gaining a penalty foul with piercing drives.

Match Heroes
Grgurevic (pictured) was the standout and Marcus Berehulak dropped in with four goals as seven Aussies scored goals. Ignacio Lucero scored two Argentinian goals in the second half.

Turning Point
Australia lifting from 5-2 late in the second quarter to 11-3 late in the third. Australia had hit overdrive.

Stats Don’t Lie
Australia did what it had to do in all phases, taking 30 shots to 25; converting five from 11 on extra while defending an impressive 12 from 13. It twice scored penalty goals and pressure Argentina into 13 turnovers while dropping six itself, mainly in the first stages.

Bottom Line
Australia did well for a first showing while Argentina was far from the team of day one. Australia now needs to beat Iran on Monday for the group victory.

Progress Points

Group A: Montenegro 5, Croatia 4, Spain 3, Italy 0.

Group B: Hungary 5, Serbia 4, United States of America 3, Greece 0.

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

Group D: Netherlands 3, Brazil 0.

Group E: Romania 6, New Zealand 0, Peru 0.

Group F: Australia 3,  Iran 3, Argentina 0.