Heroics are performed every day in water polo as athletes shape up to the best in the world for ultimate glory. Here are 10 men’s matches that captured the imagination in 2023 — just a small proportion of many matches that counted on the global stage.
1. March 11, World Cup Group Play, Zagreb, Croatia
HUNGARY 8 ITALY 9
It was the closest of ties and even the extra-man count was tempered by the strict defences of each team. The match was tied at one, and two by the first break, then at four by halftime after Hungary’s 4-2 lead was struck out by the in-form and man-of-the-match Lorenzo Bruni from the deep right with a pair before the buzzer. Bruni made it three in a row with a centre-forward backhand to go 5-4 ahead on the first attack of the third period. Goals were traded until 7-6 in Italy’s favour and then two Francesco Di Fulvio goals had Italy perched high at 9-6. Hungary had the better of the final quarter with Daniel Angyal and Gergely Burian converting extra-man plays by 3:06. With the match in the balance, both teams made steals and pressured shooters with Hungary not being able to shoot its last throw of the dice.
2. March 12, World Cup Group Play, Zagreb, Croatia
ITALY 14 CROATIA 13
To lead by five at the final break and to lose by one is heresy. European champion Croatia melted big time as World League champion Italy kept a level head and produced a procession of goals that had the capacity crowd silent by the end of the match. Croatia was the more-composed team early on and exploded out of the blocks with a 3-0 start and had the margin at 4-2 by the first break.
The second quarter was squared. Italy brought the match to 8-7 down at the top of the third, but Croatia made a match-winning charge with four straight goals.
Italians Francesco Condemi and Nicholas Presciutti started the charge in the fourth. Konstantin Kharkov replied on extra-man for 13-9 in Croatia’s favour. Luca Marziali scored his third goal from centre forward and the margin was slimmer. Vincenzo Dolce scored on extra at 4:24.
Two minutes later, Francesco Di Fulvio needed a VAR decision to see his six-metre shot included on the scoresheet. Then the unthinkable happened when Lorenzo Bruni kicked a loose ball from a rebound up to his hand and scored from dead in front for the equaliser at 1:20. Di Fulvio creased the ball off the left post from the top at 0:23 and Italy had the match. The final quarter was 7-1 in Italy’s favour. This match will never be forgotten and will go down in the annals of history as one of the finest comebacks.
3. July 3, World Cup, Bronze Medal, Los Angeles, USA
HUNGARY 13 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 14
USA took nearly four hours to collect its first bronze medal to go with the golds won in 1991 and 1997 and silvers from 1979 and 1985. The reason? USA protested a situation late in the fourth quarter that left the teams even when USA should have been one man up with seven seconds remaining.
Earlier, Hungary took out the match 18-16 in a penalty shootout after the score was tied at 13-all and celebrated long and hard. The USA spectators left dejected, but were recalled when the protest was mentioned. Officials reviewed the footage and saw that an ejected player — not the penalty fouler — returned to the pool too early after Johnny Hooper had his penalty attempt rejected.
Following the gold-medal match, the players retook the pool with USA to retake the penalty at the 4:24 mark with Hungary leading 13-12. Max Irving shot and scored the penalty goal to level at 13. At 1:11, USA called a timeout. On the second attempt to score, Ben Hallock converted from two metres at 0:40.
At 0:25, Szilard Jansik gained an exclusion and took a quick shot to score, but it was too quick for the referee and he called it back. The Hungarian timeout did not prove beneficial as the ball was blocked by the defender across the back line. A VAR decision was required to make sure the ball had not been tipped by the goalkeeper, but this was after USA swam away to victory. After many minutes of deliberation, USA was declared the winner.
4. July 21, World Championships, Group Decider, Fukuoka, Japan
SERBIA 17 MONTENEGRO 15 in penalty shootout (FT: 13-13. Pens: 4-2)
Montenegro controlled almost all of the match — 5-0 in the opening quarter — only to stumble at the final hurdle. From two ahead in the final quarter, Montenegro allowed Serbia to rattle in three goals, although it did take nearly five minutes.
Montenegro levelled with 19 seconds left and the match went to a shootout, the first such event at a World Championship in the group stage. Serbia won the shootout 4-2 for the victory.
Dorde Vukcinic was the undoubted star with his six goals and captain Nikola Jaksic had four in the bag. Montenegro’s hero was goalkeeper Petar Tesanovic with an incredible 15 saves.
Serbian coach Uros Stevanovic downplayed the comeback, saying: “It was a problem, but not a problem to come back. We have done this many times before.”
5. July 21, World Championships, Group Decider, Fukuoka, Japan
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 14 GREECE 15
Greece was on the back foot as World Cup bronze medallist United States of America made all the play, especially with livewire Max Irving scoring every time he touched the ball, it seemed.
USA played catch-up to Greece in the opening quarter for 3-3. In the second, USA went 5-3, ceded one goal and then smashed home four more with Irving bringing his total to four by 7-4. Ben Hallock backhanded at centre forward for a healthy 9-4 lead.
USA was still ahead at 11-8 by the third-quarter buzzer. Greece led the scoring of traded goals until 13-11 at 3:44 in the last. Then came the last three minutes and at 2:48, it was Alexandros Papanastasiou who stepped up and drilled in a shot from deep right. Less than a minute later he repeated the shot for 13-13. Just as we were thinking of a shootout, Irving came good with his sixth goal at 1:25. At 1:01, Efstahios Kalogeropoulos fired in the equaliser off the right-post position on extra-man attack. On the final attack of the match the ball was flipped to Papanastasiou, who drove and shot cross cage with the winner, with one second on the clock. It was enough to win the group and earn a day off.
Papanastasiou said after the match: “The last attack, I knew it was the last two seconds and I had to shoot and I took the best shot I could.”
6. July 23, World Championships, Second Round, Fukuoka, Japan
CROATIA 12 MONTENEGRO 13
European champion Croatia fell at the first major hurdle in Fukuoka and failed to make the quarterfinals, bowing instead to Montenegro in the second round. It was tied at every number to 12 except for four and five. Montenegro held it together even when Croatia matched its four-goal surge in the second quarter by doing the same in the third. Montenegro had the 9-8 lead heading into the fourth period. Ante Vukicevic and Luka Bukic turned the match in Croatia’s favour while Vladan Spaic and Duro Radovic did the same with Montenegro now 11-10 up. Jerko Marinic Kragic scored from the top on extra-man and Radovic replied.
Konstantin Kharkov nailed his third for 12-12 at 2:00 with the match looking like a shootout contender. Then Pavo Markovic stepped up to the plate. Croatia hit the goalkeeper and the left wood on the rebound and Petar Tesanovic was caught stranded and had the ball stolen from him and apparently scored. However, in the euphoria and the din, the Montenegrin assistant coach had pressed the timeout button (confirmed by VAR). Montenegro kept the ball for the last two seconds and victory was assured.
7. July 25, World Championships, Quarterfinal, Fukuoka, Japan
ITALY 14 SERBIA 15 in penalty shootout (FT: 11-11. Pens: 3-4)
Serbia needed a penalty shootout to advance to the semifinals after the match was tied at 11-11, winning the five-shot rotation 4-3. Serbia shot to the lead with two goals, albeit taking nearly five minutes. Italy responded with three goals, including two from Giacomo Canella. Radomir Drasovic equalised at 0:35. Eduardo Di Somma sent the ball over the goalkeeper’s head and soon after Italy repelled Serbia on double extra. Strahinja Rasovic scored twice to take the lead. Di Somma levelled at five.
Nicholas Presciutti and Nikola Jaksic traded goals; Alessandro Velotto and Vasilije Martinovic swapped and then Lorenzo Bruni for his second and Rasovic had the match at 8-8. Francesco di Fulvio was too quick on extra-man for a sixth Italian lead. Serbia went to a timeout and subsequently, Dorde Vucinic scored at 0:10 for 9-9.
Di Fulvio sent Italy ahead on extra-man and after a timeout, Rasovic gained his fourth goal and 20th for the tournament at 5:18 for 10-10. Di Fulvio claimed another on extra-man at 3:06 with Nemanja Ubovic steering in a piercingly angled pass for 11-11 at 0:48. Come the shootout, Italy started and the second shooter from each team — Di Somma and Marko Radulovic — missed. The next four went in and Luca Damonte failed to convert, leaving Rasovic to score and win the quarterfinal for Serbia.
8. July 25, World Championships, Quarterfinal, Fukuoka, Japan
HUNGARY 13 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 12
The rematch of the World Cup bronze-medal match was marred by the violence foul called on USA captain Ben Hallock, allegedly striking Hungary’s Marton Vamos. That moment came at 2:56 in the second quarter, gifting Hungary a penalty and four minutes with a man-up. It came after the first quarter was tied at four and the penalty awarded was converted and two subsequent extra-man goals gave Hungary a 7-4 advantage. Chase Dodd and Alex Bowen replied for USA over the halftime break and soon after Hallock’s replacement took the water. Dylan Woodhead fired in a rocket for 7-7, meaning that the exclusion period really did not benefit Hungary all that much. However, Gergo Zalanki had two goals in the first quarter and another in the second before firing in consecutive goals in the third for his fifth. His next came just over half a minute later.
Daube missed the third USA penalty shot and Adam Nagy took the Hungarian lead to four. Max Irving pulled one back. Toni Nemet blasted in from centre forward to take it out to 12-8. Bowen knew what was at stake and fired in consecutive goals for 12-10. The euphoria subsided when Denes Varga scored his first goal of the match at 3:54. Adrian Weinberg made a stupendous steal off the counter-attacking Hungarian and Hooper scored at the other end for 13-11. Hooper gained another on extra for 13-12. Hungary gained an extra-man play and took a timeout at 0:36. The shot went high and USA charged upfield, but did not get a shot away and Hungary was through to the semifinals.
9. July 27, World Championships, Semifinal, Fukuoka, Japan
HUNGARY 12 SPAIN 11
Krisztian Manhercz turned an exciting evening into a frenzy of delight for Hungary as he sent his nation to the final in exceptional circumstances. Hungary took a timeout with 16 seconds left in the encounter and the ball moved around, finally arriving at Manhercz in the wilderness of the left deep wing. With the seconds ticking to the last, he shot low into the waist of Spanish goalkeeper Unai Aguirre and just when it seemed Spain was through to the final, the ball popped off his right hip and spun back into goal.
This was magical and quite a feat as Spain took the lead several minutes before halftime and stayed in front for a huge 16 minutes. Two quick Hungarian goals made all the difference. Firstly, captain Szilard Jansik, backhanded on the angle into goal. Then secondly, Marton Vamos took the foul outside six metres and played the free throw directly into goal for 11-11 at 1:55.
Spain went on attack in the final minute and gained two shots on attack with the second looking like the winner, except it was blocked and Hungarian head coach Zsolt Varga lunged for the timeout buzzer. There were 16 seconds and he engineered just how to cause the downfall of Spain.
Spanish head coach David Martin said: “I cannot believe we lost this game. I thought we would arrive at the penalty stage, but it is really unbelievable.”
10. July 29, World Championships, Gold-Medal Final, Fukuoka, Japan
GREECE 13 HUNGARY 14 in sudden-death penalty shootout (FT: 10-10. Pens: 3-4)
Greece opened the scoring and two Gergo Zalanki goals and one from Marton Vamos gave Hungary the early advantage. Goals were traded before the quarter break. The second period was quieter in the scoring department with Greece grabbing two to Hungary’s one from Krisztian Manhercz.
Konstantinos Genidounias opened the second half with two goals to go with the one that opened the second quarter, putting Greece in front 6-5. Vamos levelled on extra-man and goals were traded leaving the match undecided at seven by the final break.
Hungarian captain Szilard Jansik opened the fourth and Greek captain Ioannis Fountoulis traded goals. Then Manhercz scored the goal of the final, unravelling himself from his defender at deep left to squirt the ball past Greek goalkeeper Emmanouil Zerdevis, who was named the tournament’s best. Goals were traded again with tournament most valuable player Zalanki sending in a swift shot on extra and Genidounias firing a missile from nine metres at 2:56 for the equaliser. Both teams took a timeout with plenty of shots bouncing off wood, but no winner.
In the shootout, Hungary went first and Denes Varga then Fountoulis had their shots rejected. Papanastasiou and Zalanki converted. Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis and Jansik failed to score. Stylianos Argyropoulos and Gergo Fekete missed. Genidounias converted to close the initial rotation at 12-12. Varga, Fountoulis and Vamos scored, leaving Papanastasiou to have his shot rejected by the player of the match, Soma Vogel.