Croatia steals Montenegro’s World Cup thunder

Quarterfinal Match Reports

Match 1, SPAIN 22 GERMANY 9 (4-2, 7-3, 4-2, 7-2)

Spain turned it on after a long break since January and gave Germany a look at what a top-tier nation looks like. The match was built on a strong opening quarter, settled into a power second quarter, controlled the third and broke away in the final eight minutes in a match of action goals dominating the scoring.

Denis Strelezkij opened the scoring off a long pass at centre forward for Germany and then needed Zoran Bozic to equalise with a six-metre-foul shot for 2-2 nearing the halfway mark of the period. Spanish captain Alberto Munarriz came good with a second goal, also from a six-metre shot, and Alejandro Bustos converted extra to give Spain a 4-2 quarter-time advantage. Sergi Cabanas scored from the top right and Alvaro Granados checked into the scoring for 8-3 off extra-man. Granados scored twice more and Bozic snared a third — his second on counter — before Munarriz punctuated the halftime score at 11-5.

Fran Valera, Munarriz, Granados and Cabanas elevated the score to 15-6 with Lennox Metten adding to Yannek Chiura’s earlier strike for 15-7 at the final break. Granados scored easily from the top left with identical shots to push the margin to 17-7. From there on in, Spain scored five more with Strelezkij adding a second and Mark Gansen converting extra for Germany at the 19-9 mark. Spanish goalkeeper Unai Aguirre denied Bozic a penalty goal in the last half-minute, gifting the match 22-9 to Spain.

Match Heroes
Granados finished with six goals, Munarriz with four and Cabanas with three as 10 players made the sheet. The goalkeepers amassed nine saves between them. For Germany, Bozic claimed three and Strelezkij two.

Turning Point
From 2-2, Spain took a two-goal lead at the break and was six ahead by halftime.

Stats Don’t Lie
Spain was masterly in extra-man attack with six from eight while stopping four of Germany’s six attempts. On penalties, Germany missed one of two. Spain stole the ball 10 times to fived and took 39 shots to 27.

Bottom Line
Spain has the credentials to make it to the final while Germany is back on the world stage once again.

Match 2, HUNGARY 21 NETHERLANDS 11 (6-4, 5-2, 6-2, 4-3)

Hungary launched into this match with a four-goal lead, which was needed as the Dutch played catch-up with three consecutive goals for 5-4 down and 6-4 at the first break. Those 10 goals were scored by 10 different players.

The Dutch charge was smothered by the Magyars, who advanced the score to 7-4, 10-5 and 11-6 by halftime. The 10^th goal came from the arm of Adam Nagy who scored the opener and thus became the first double scorer for Hungary. Mart van der Weijden was the first double scorer for the Dutch when he drilled from the top left for 7-5 two minutes into the second quarter. Lars ten Broek managed a second for 10-6 and left-hander Akos Nagy finished a counter-attack for his second at 11-6 just before the buzzer.

Hungary quickly had the score at 14-7 in the third with Vendel Vigvari scoring twice and brother Vince Vigvari one. Benjamin Hessels from the top and ten Broek on extra, brought the margin to within six but Vince Vigvari’s conversion from deep left off a long upfield pass gave Hungary a satisfying 17-8 margin at the final break. Captain Krisztian Manhercz, named player of the match, gained his third goal on counter at the top of the fourth. International newcomer Max van der Werve nailed a penalty goal for the Dutch and then on the next attack jumped on to a rebound to score his second for 19-11. Van der Weijden hit the right post with a penalty attempt and Akos Nagy buried a shot from the top right for 21-11 at 1:35 to close the scoring.

Match Heroes
Both teams used all their players to score goals. For Hungary, captain Manhercz, Adam Nagy, Vendel Vigvari and Akos Nagy scored three each. Kristof Csoma pulled in 11 saves in goal. For the Dutch, ten Broek nailed three goals while van der Weijden and van der Werve grabbed a pair each.

Turning Point
The 4-0 start, which was dragged back to 5-4 down, led to Hungary getting away by halftime at 11-6.

Stats Don’t Lie
Hungary was brilliant on extra, converting six from seven to Netherlands’ four from nine. Hungary scored both penalty attempts and stopped one of Netherlands’ two. Hungary topped the steals at 9-6 and shot 36 times to 31.

Bottom Line
Hungary is the classier team and proved that today while the Dutch are improving with every encounter and eager to get back into the top echelon.

Match 3, GREECE 20 JAPAN 10 (7-4, 3-3, 4-2, 6-1)

Greece managed to overcome the speed and agility of the Japanese, playing its own game and producing beautiful goals. It dominated in the centre-forward position and in most other aspects of the match.

The scores were level at 1-1 and 3-3 with Japan’s Taiyo Watanabe scoring consecutive goals with two counter-attack strikes. Captain Yusuke Inaba had his potential equalising shot saved on penalty, sending Greece out to 7-3. Konstantinos Kakaris, who scored the opening goal, made the 6-3 goal when he accepted the ball at centre, turned and lobbed over the advancing goalkeeper. Newcomer Evangelos Pouros finished off counter with a superb, heavily guarded shot. Inaba took the cross pass at centre to score eight seconds from the first break for 7-4 in arrears.

The second quarter was even with Stylianos Argyropoulos scoring from centre forward and the penalty line while Kakaris nabbed his third with a delicious turn at centre for 10-7 at halftime. Inaba and Watanabe were again in the scoring. Efstathios Kalogeropoulos, named player of the match, lobbed from the left post to open the third period for his third goal. Watanabe gave hope to Japan off a cross pass for 11-8, but two Dimitrios Nikolaidis goals — the first from a close near pass on the right post and the second from a centre-forward backhand — lifted Greece to 13-8. Youngster Kai Inoue scored a delicate shot from deep right with his left hand and soon after his captain Inaba was fouled from the match. Kalogeropoulos converted extra for 14-9, just nine seconds from the final break.

Greece went on a scoring spree in the fourth period with two goals from another newcomer, Nikolaos Papanikolaou, for 19-9. Watanabe countered for his fifth goal and another new face, Nikolaos Giannatos scored from the deep right, two seconds from the final buzzer.

Match Heroes
Greece’s Argyropoulos and Kalogeropoulos were best for Greece with four goals each and the goalkeepers shared in 11 saves. Watanabe was on fire for Japan with five goals while captain Inaba was left in his wake with two.

Turning Point
A missed penalty attempt for a possible 4-4 gave Greece the impetus to shoot to 7-3, a difference it held at halftime. A five-goal Greek surge in the fourth proved too much for Japan.

Stats Don’t Lie
Greece converted four from five on extra and blocked four from five. Greece scored both penalty attempts and stopped Japan’s one shot. Surprisingly, Greece was on top in steals at 15-5 and the overall shooting favoured Greece 38-26.

Bottom Line
Greece managed to outplay Japan and defy the fast-swimming opponent. That steal count made a huge difference, as well.

Match 4, MONTENEGRO 11 CROATIA 12 (1-2, 5-2, 3-4, 2-4)

Montenegro was oh so close against traditional rival Croatia and head coach Dejan Savic will be ruing the poor guarding of mercurial Loren Fatovic who ripped his team apart in the final quarter.

Montenegro’s chances of making the medal round were snuffed out by Fatovic as he scored three goals in the final quarter, but more importantly, two inside the final 47 seconds, drilling the winner at three seconds left on the clock, completely deflating the Montenegrins.

Croatia had the quarter-time lead at 2-1 and went to 3-2 through Zvonimir Butic from the top right. New Montenegrin senior international Matija Sladovic (21) made his mark on the match, scoring off the left-post position for 3-2 behind. Team-mate Nikola Moskov scored the next two — on extra and from a six-metre-foul shot — to give Montenegro the 4-3 lead. Sladovic rifled one in from the top and Montenegro was two up. Goals were traded for 6-4 before the halftime break.

Marko Zuvela on penalty and Butic from the deep right drew the match level early in the third quarter. Montenegro called a timeout after the Butic goal and Duro Radovic sprung the trap from six metres. With Montenegrin goalkeeper Lazar Andric denying Konstantin Kharkov his second goal on penalty, Dusan Matkovic responded for a two-goal advantage, much to the delight of the packed house, headed by the prime minister. This is where Fatovic started to make his mark. He scored easily from the top left and then took a six-metre shot for 8-8 by 1:06. Matkovic replied from the top at 0:44 and Montenegro was again in the lead.

Left-handed Filip Gardasevic scored his second goal from the top to start the fourth quarter nearly three minutes in. Fatovic put away a penalty goal and Butic went on counter to level the match at 3:16. Croatia took a timeout and no goal transpired. At 1:51, Strahinja Gojkovic, son of former Montenegrin coach Vladimir Gojkovic, plundered a six-metre goal, raising the roof on the stadium. With just 47 seconds on the clock, Fatovic received a cross pass at the top and scored instantly for 11-11. Montenegro had a long shot saved and at the other end the ball found Fatovic who sucked a foul, sucked another and took the six-metre shot with a high lob, crossing the line with three seconds left to the utter bewilderment of the crowd. Savic called a timeout and the subsequent shot was saved, sending the Montenegrin crowd home in silence.

Match Heroes
Fatovic was the key to Croatia’s win, no doubt. His heroics in the final period lifted him to six goals with Butic scoring three. Matkovic led Montenegro’s charge with three and goalkeeper Andric snapped up 10 saves.

Turning Point
The last three seconds.

Stats Don’t Lie
Croatia won the match, but not on statistics alone. It failed to score any of its seven extra-man chances while allowing Montenegro to get three from six. Croatia made the most of two from three at the penalty line, shared the steals at seven and shot 38 times to 32.

Bottom Line
These two teams are always close but Croatia has the recent successes in the bag and that experience came through in the final quarter.

Day 2 Schedule

Classification 5-8 Semifinals
Match 05. 14:00, Netherlands v Japan
Match 06. 16:10, Germany v Montenegro

Classification 1-4 Semifinals
Match 07. 18:20, Hungary v Greece
Match 08. 20:30, Spain v Croatia