Greece, Hungary, USA, Netherlands seize quarterfinal berths

Match Reports

Group A

FRANCE 5 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 17

United States of America breezed into the quarterfinals en route to its defence of the title won at the previous four editions. France can live another day as it finished third in the group and will go to the crossovers with some chance of progressing to the top eight.

USA started strongly, as it usually does, going four up, letting one through and then finishing the period at 5-1 with Tara Prentice scoring the first two with some heavy muscle at centre forward. The second period was more sedate with Jordan Raney and Maddie Musselman off a cross pass to centre forward for 7-1, the only USA scorers. Aurelie Battu scored three minutes later for France and nearly four minutes of no goals featured until the halftime buzzer.

USA endured 10 minutes without a goal against Australia on Tuesday and did not wish to repeat that today, scoring four to none in the third period, Prentice gaining another from two minutes and Rachel Fattal claiming two. She converted a penalty foul and dragged back the ball into the net on extra-man attack for 11-2.

The final period opened up for France, scoring three times as USA sent in five. Camelia Bouloukbachi, who scored in the opening quarter, grabbed a second from centre forward for 14-4 and captain Louise Guillet delivered the last goal 1:10 from full time. Prentice sent in her fourth goal and USA’s last from her preferred position.

Match Heroes:
Prentice was the best in the field with four goals, three coming from centre forward muscling, while goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson played an entire match and stopped 15 shots, one of the best so far in Fukuoka. It was Bouloukbachi with her two goals who impressed for France.

Turning Point:
The 5-1 first quarter.

Stats Don’t Lie:
USA only needed 29 shots for its 16 goals while France took 35 for five conversions. On extra-man attack, USA scored six from 11 and only gave up two major fouls, one of which France converted. USA fired in two penalty shots.

Bottom Line:
USA, as the reigning champion, has the absolute right to take a day off in preparation for the next three matches, which will become a cauldron as there are several pretenders to the throne. France did some excellent plays at time and will learn from playing against the best.

What They Said:

BOULOUKBACHI Camelia  FRA  Two Goals
“We tried to put into practice what we learned in training, and to create the connections that we had in the games against Australia and China. Against the USA, we focused on our strengths without focusing on the strengths of our opponents.”

CHINA 7 AUSTRALIA 11

Australia cemented second place in the group behind the USA with a sturdy win that had the Aussie Sharks five ahead at one stage in the third period.

Like the match earlier, one team starts the scoring and the second teams takes over the match, controlling most aspects. China’s captain, Jing Zhang, started with a lob and then four unanswered goals gave the Aussie Stingers an excellent quarter-time lead.

China rebounded in the second quarter, winning it 3-2. Tilly Kearns scored her second goal for 5-1 early in the second period. Then China went 3-1 to narrow the margin to two at halftime — 6-4. Jing Zhang gained her second at 4:12 and there was no further scoring before halftime.

Alice Williams began a three-goal romp by the Stingers for 9-4. This was backed up by a penalty save by Gabriella Palm. Siya Yan drilled from the top on extra-man attack and the difference was four. It was the first Chinese goal in nine minutes.

The fourth quarter was just as tight with good scoring chances hard to come by, such was the stifling defence by both teams. In fact, it was not until 2:39 in the fourth that Yiwen Liu broke the drought from the top after more than nine minutes. Amy Ridge lobbed for Australia’s first goal in more than 10 minutes at 1:27 for an unassailable 10-7 advantage. China went to a timeout with 16 seconds left and Bronte Halligan stole the ball off the first player, swam the length on the pool toward the open goal as the goalkeeper went up on attack. She could have swum the ball into goal but needed to pick up and throw as it sailed into the goal as the final buzzer sounded, taking the margin out to four.

Match Heroes:
Probably the star of the performance was Chinese goalkeeper Jiaqi Zhang with 12 saves that prevented Australia’s total to skyrocket. Aussie Gabriella Palm dragged in eight shots. Five Aussies scored twice and China’s only double scorer was Lu on the comeback trail in the last three minutes.

Turning Point:
From one down to four ahead by early in the second quarter.

Stats Don’t Lie:
Australia shot 34 to 23; converted three from eight on extra-man attack and defended seven from nine; scored two penalty goals to China’s one from two.

Bottom Line:
Australia now goes to the crossovers, taking on the third-placed team in  Group B while China has to await its fate.

What They Said

HALLIGAN Bronte  AUS  Two Goals

“We just wanted a good match after the loss to the USA and play a team game. China is really good. Basically, it was fun. You’ve got to have fun, as it’s enjoyable playing the game we love.”

PAVLIDIS Theocharis  CHN  Head Coach

“We made so many mistakes and we got scored off them every time. We don’t have many chances to win, but we tried until the end. It could have been a better result. It was the best game we have played so far. We will play better in coming games.”

Group B

ISRAEL 8 NETHERLANDS 24

Netherlands made sure of the group victory with a superb victory over Israel, utilising all the team and getting in vital competitive play ahead of a day off, going straight to the quarterfinals.

Netherlands used Kitty Joustra to full extent with four of the first five goals, cruising to a 7-1 quarter, expanding the margin to 13-2 at halftime and on to 18-4 at three-quarter time. The final quarter saw no let-up with the Dutch winning the period 6-4 with Israel staying until the final whistle.

It was an accomplished effort from a team looking to go right to the final.

Match Heroes:
Joustra was stunning at two meters, finishing with  six goals from 10 attempts and Simone van de Kraats was not far behind with four goals. On the other side of the equation, Hila Futorian scored three.

Turning Point:
The 6-0 start that had Israel on the back foot.

Stats Don’t Lie:
Netherlands shot 34 to 26; buried five from six on extra-man attack and defended one of two. The Dutch missed its one penalty chance.

Bottom Line:
Netherlands is one of the top four teams in the world and Israel is playing its first World Championships. Enough said.

CANADA 17 JAPAN 12

Canada did its research and scouted the Japanese team so there would be no mistakes. Japan has the ability to stun teams with its sheer speed and wickedly fast shooting. The Japanese don’t waste time thinking, they just shoot. However, tonight, Canada was ready.

Canada operated shock tactics, mainly in the form of centre-forward Elyse Lemay-Lavoie who rammed in the second, third and fourth Canadian goals, backhanding and lobbing from two metres. When Emma Wright sent in a shot from top right, it was 5-1 and Japan had no chance to show its loyal fans what it was capable of here at home. Yumi Arima and Fuka Nishiyama snapped in goals in consecutive attacks for 5-3. Japan was on track. Scratch that, Canada said, as Axelle Crevier and Kindred Paul made it 7-3, the first on a drive and the second a lob. Skipper Akari Inaba also lobbed. Lemay-Lavoie sent in her fourth from close in and Canada turned at 8-4.

Lemay-Lavoie scored her fifth to start the third period; Arima rattled in two more for a three-goal difference and Crevier and Eruna Ura exchanged goals for 10-7. Hayley McKelvey was too hot to handle at centre forward with two goals to go with her first effort at 1-0. The margin was now five. Goals were traded, so Canada went to the last period with a handsome five-goal margin.

Canada shifted the bar higher and to 17-9 with Crevier gathering two more, but Japan was enraged and crashed home three goals with Arima netting a fourth and making it 17-12. Canada called a timeout to stall Japan’s chances of amassing 50 goals, falling one short and being relegated to the bottom four without a point. Such a valiant effort.

Match Heroes:
Crevier, with her four goals and vibrant energy, won the trophy, but it was Lemay-Lavoie who sparked fear in the Japanese. Arima and Kawaguchi scored four each.

Turning Point:
Going 5-1 in the first quarter. That and taking the result beyond reach at the top of the fourth.

Stats Don’t Lie:
The statistics do not tell the story of this match as they were very even with Japan shooting 33 to 21 and converting three from three to Canada’s two from two. Both teams converted a penalty foul.

Bottom Line:
Canada has the experience — and the history of a bronze medal here 22 years ago — to go the distance, while Japan, sadly, will play for the bottom-four places. There is still time for the team to entertain while focusing its attentions on September’s Asian Games where a qualification spot for Paris 2024 is available.

What They Said

CARROLL Floranne  CAN  Player

“It was fun in front of a home (Japanese) crowd. We stuck to our game plan and covered for each other. Playing Japan can be interest with them driving all over the place and very fast on counters. We were disciplined from the get-go and good to be playing a team, which was playing in front of a home crowd.”

OMOTO Yoji  JPN  Head Coach

“We tried to do the natural strategy over mine. The players were a little nervous today. They tried to avoid putting the ball into the centre forward. We also needed to be two points ahead to have a chance to finish second in the group. We tried hard to pass the ball to the centre forward, but it was a kind of mistake. Canada has a defensive system of always dropping back and our drivers tried to  shoot across goal and going outside the uprights.

“It was always Canada’s pace. In the second half, we could see some good points. The (17-16) loss to New Zealand (on day one) was painful. We also didn’t have the opportunity to play overseas teams in the last two years (because of Covid travel restrictions that closed Japan’s borders).”

Group C

GREECE 16 ITALY 12

Greece earned an extra day off with a quarterfinal berth, thanks to an impressive showing against traditional rival Italy, who now has to go the long way to the finals.

The victory was built on a 3-0 start that became a 6-4 quarter-time advantage. That superiority was turned into a 10-5 halftime lead and 13-7 at the final break.

The first quarter was all action — once Italy had awoken from the initial shock.  Italy responded thanks to two Roberta Bianconi goals and a third to Claudia Marletta. By the end of the period all three Plevritou sisters had scored with Eleftheria Plevritou netting the first two, captain Margarita Plevritou the third and Vasiliki Plevritou the sixth.

Vasiliki Plevritou opened the second quarter with Greece going to 9-4. Italian captain Valeria Palmieri broke the run and Eirini Ninou made it 10-5, on extra, by halftime.

Greece won the third 3-2 with Italy missing its second six on four attack.

Italy was not finished in the final quarter, matching Greece goal for goal, pulling to within four by 2:06 — not enough to bridge the gap. Italy went to a timeout at 0:36 in an attempt to narrow the four-goal margin, to no available. However, a 5-3 finish showed Italy’s tenacity under pressure.

The match was marred by several stoppages with the first at the end of the first period when VAR was needed to determine if a penalty foul was awarded inside time. The second time was late in the second quarter as the clock was not reset for a second major foul. Both times, players were left in the water for many minutes.

Match Heroes:
Nikoleta Eleftheriadou took out the top award as three others also scored three goals —Ninou, Eleftheria Plevritou and Vasiliki Plevritou. Four Italians scored twice.

Turning Point:
The 3-0 start that became a five-goal difference at halftime.

Stats Don’t Lie:
Greece suffered the wrath of the referees and although it converted five from six on extra-man attack, it had to defend an incredible nine from 15. It was 32-20 and both teams scored their one penalty chance.

Bottom Line:
Greece will enjoy the break in time for the quarterfinals and Italy will negotiate the second round if it wishes to progress further up the ladder.

What They Said

KAMMENOU Alexia  GRE  Head Coach

“We had a dream game on offence. The timing was there. We had good offences in the last seconds. All our players have the ability to score. However, we have to correct less players (situations) in coming days.”

PLEVRITOU Margarita  GRE  Captain

“We have been preparing for this game a lot. We know what to do. We have to do some things better next game. Both teams know each other really well. We did it in the water.”

ELLINIADI Eleni  GRE  Goal Scorer

“We played really good. We’re like one team incorporated, really good in the water and we fight for each other.”

SILIPO Carlo   ITA  Head Coach

“They played better than us. We didn’t play as well as we could have. We had a lot of fear. When we tried to shoot we did not prepare well and the Greeks were very fast (on defence). We did not get control of the match. We must focus for our next games.”

PALMIERI  Valeria  ITA  Captain

“I’m very upset. We prepared for this match for a long time. This match was a big match. We didn’t play as a team, but we are not thinking of our next match. We will play very hard.”

ARGENTINA 9 SOUTH AFRICA 12

This was the battle for third place in the group and South Africa emerged the winner, coming from 3-2 down. South Africa now lifts into the top 12 in the world for the first time.

South Africa began the charge with two goals followed by two replies from Julieta Auliel four minutes apart. Argentina went to the lead on the first attack of the second quarter and then the Meghan Maartens factor kicked in for South Africa as she stopped consecutive penalty shots, the second gained off the rebound. Three minutes later, South Africa was 5-3 up with a goal on counter and the other two from the centre-forward position. Auliel chipped in with her third; Nicola MacLeod from deep right and Chloe Meecham with her second, from about 10 metres, gave South Africa a 7-4 advantage. Anahi Bacigalupo pulled one back with three seconds of the half remaining.

The margin was back to three early in the third period as veteran Kelsey White, a former captain, also scored from 10m. Cecelia Leonard made amends for her penalty miss with an excellent centre-forward backhand and Auliel nabbed her fourth to close the gap to one. Ruby Versfeld took it back to two with her second, the last of the period.

White pushed it out to three again to start the fourth with Argentinian captain Carla Comba on extra-man attack and Leonard with a penalty goal closing to 10-9. Tumi McDonell gained her second, however, South African head coach Nicola Barrett had called a timeout. Meecham converted anyway. The same scenario eventuated in the final minute with a player about to shoot on extra when the timeout call came. Captain Megan Sileno tipped in the ball off the right-post position to claim the historic 12-9 victory. Thirteenth was the best result before, so dreams of a higher placing will spur South Africa on here in Fukuoka.

Match Heroes:
Maartens for those magnificent saves and six saves in her half in the cage. It typified the resolve of the team. Meecham scored three as seven other team-mates made the sheet. For Argentina, Nahir Stegmeyer was magnificent in goal with 11 saves. Auliel’s four kept her team in the match.

Turning Point:
Turning from 3-2 down to 5-3 ahead in the second quarter.

Stats Don’t Lie:
South Africa scored three from five on extra-man attack and defended four from seven. It shot 29 to 25 and scored its one penalty shot to Argentina’s one from three.

Bottom Line:
South Africa can be proud of its success, rising to the top 12, after so many years of competing at this level as the sole representative of Africa. Argentina played well and can look forward to many contests to come. It now goes to the crossovers for classification 13-16.

What They Said

BARRETT Nicola  RSA Head Coach

On calling two timeouts when two certain goals were about to be shot:
“I wanted to use the time rather than score goals. We wanted to limit the amount of time Argentina had to score. We decided on the calls earlier and unfortunately one was scored (and disallowed) and the other was about to be scored.”

MAARTENS Meghan  RSA  Player Of The Match

“I definitely think we are all satisfied. Everyone in the team deserves this more than anything. We made history today by being the first South African team to win a group match and finish on top of another.”

AULIEL Julieta  ARG  Four Goals

“It was a very intense match. We were training to win this match. We couldn’t make it this time, but we did what we wanted. They were stronger today. We had a few good counter-attacks and missed a few shots, but we learned a lot.”

Group D

NEW ZEALAND 5 HUNGARY 23

Hungary warmed up for the quarterfinals with a statement to other teams that it be a huge force when it comes to dishing out medals. Hungary pressed and forced New Zealand into many mistakes, stealing at will, countering and being particularly deadly on the deep wings.

Hungary played at pace without letting up, responding to the Kiwis’ first goal with five of its own to five different players. Emmerson Houghton gained her second as New Zealand finished the scoring for 6-3 at the first break.  The second period was much tighter, won 3-0 by Hungary with two goals from Rebecca Parkes, who played her junior water polo in New Zealand before following former Kiwi women’s coach Attila Biro to Hungary some years ago.

Dorottya Szilagyi, who also spent time in New Zealand and then played her junior polo in Perth, Western Australia, fired in a hat-trick to lift Hungary to 12-3 early in the third period. Goals were traded and  Hungary went five straight with pairs to youngster Kata Hajdu and Greta Gurisatti. Bernadette Doyle scored her second, 10 seconds from the final break for 18-5 down.

It was all Hungary in the final spell as it had flattened the Kiwi morale. The only bright spot for New Zealand was Rita Keszthelyi failing to convert her penalty attempt while Szilagyi and Parkes added to their tallies.

Match Heroes:
Szilagyi finished with five goals and the top award with Parkes scoring four.

Turning Point:
Going 5-1 after the Kiwis’ opening goal.

Stats Don’t Lie:
Hungary went 37-28 on shooting; converted six from nine on extra-man attack and defended an amazing 10 from 12. It scored two from three at the penalty line to the Kiwis’ one from one.

Bottom Line:
Hungary is the rightful group winner and will enjoy the rest ahead of the finals. New Zealand has one win and looking forward to seeing what the next week holds.

What They Said:

BIRO Attila HUN  Head Coach

“We’ve put special emphasis on our defence as it crashed against Japan. It worked, but I wouldn’t draw any conclusion from this game, nor from our previous one. What I’m really awaiting is our next practice matches against the Netherlands and the USA in the coming days – on those occasions I’ll see where we stand before our big game against Spain in the quarters. Today you could see that the style of the New Zealand team is much closer to the European one (compared to Japan), and that’s mirrored by the result.”

PARKES Rebecca  HUN  Five Goals

“This was weird, to enhance my killer instinct against New Zealand where I had been born. I could do, though, as I’m much more Hungarian now. I think we were all good in this game, but still need to improve for our next match against Spain.” 

SPAIN 24 KAZAKHSTAN 5

World League champion Spain primed up for the next stage of competition, gaining a second win and finishing second in the group behind Netherlands. Spain has the team to steer through the second round and the team showed its wares tonight with a thorough display of power, speed and shooting prowess. It was more about total knowledge — knowledge that it would win easily.

The first four goals set the tone, although Kazakhstan scored the next three — including consecutive goals to Anastassiya Tsoy — leaving Anni Espar to give Spain the 5-3, first-break lead. Four more came Spain’s way before Anna Novikova muscled one in from centre forward for 9-4. Thirteen more goals would go the way of Spain before Novikova gained her second  at 23-5.  The halftime mark was 13-4 and it was 18-4 at the final break.

It was a total team effort as nine players scored with captain Pili Pena setting the pace with four goals, all from the right side of the pool.

Match Heroes:
Pena, 37 this year, proved that you are not too old to play this sport at the highest level. She leads the team now and led the team to its world crown in Barcelona in 2013.  

Turning Point:
The 4-0 start, let along the 17 minutes it kept Kazakhstan scoreless from the second to the fourth periods.

Stats Don’t Lie:
Spain shot 26 to 22; scored four from six on extra-man attack and defended three of five. It converted all three penalty chances.

Bottom Line:
Spain will enjoy playing the second round and onwards to the quarterfinals, make no bones about that. Kazakhstan will play the classification 13-16 rounds.

What They Said

RUIZ Elena  ESP  Athlete

“We’re thinking of the next game, how to be clear for the next round and the quarterfinals. We have been preparing for what we have to do in every game and how to win. It’s our adventure. I see this game as similar to Israel. It was a good game, clear in defence and attack.”

Final Points

Group A: USA 9, Australia 6, France 3, China 0.
Group B: Netherlands 9, Spain 6, Israel 3, Kazakhstan 0.
Group C: Greece 9, Italy 6, South Africa 3, Argentina 0.
Group D: Hungary 9, Canada 6, New Zealand 3, Japan 0.

Saturday Schedule

Classification 13-16 Semifinals
Match 25, 09:00, 4A  China v 4B Kazakhstan
Match 26, 09:30, 4C Argentina v 4D Japan

Classification 1-12 Crossovers
Match 27, 14:00, 2A Australia v 3B Israel
Match 28, 15:30, 3A France v 2B Spain
Match 29, 17:00, 2C Italy v 3D New Zealand
Match 30, 18:30, 3C South Africa v 2D Canada