Greece-Spain spectacular for World Cup crown

MATCH REPORTS

CLASSIFICATION 1-4 SEMIFINALS

Match 7, HUNGARY 14 GREECE 18 (4-4, 4-3, 2-5, 4-6)

Greece makes its second World Cup final, after losing to United States of America in Athens back in 1997, so will be hoping for one step further and gain that elusive World Cup title. By winning today, it qualified for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July.

It was no easy task to beat Hungary as the match was tied nine times by 10-10 late in the third quarter. Greece shot to 3-2 up and Hungary replied for its 4-3 lead. Greece struck either side of the first break to regain the advantage. This it did until 7-6 before Hungary turned the tables to go into the second half at 8-7 up. By this stage, with 15 goals, there were 13 different scorers.

Stylianos Argyropoulos, the opening scorer, ripped in successive goals to start the second half with the first on counter and the second from the top on extra-man attack. Hungarian captain Krisztian Manhercz and Vendel Vigvari replied for 10-10. Then it was up to Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis on extra and Dimitrios Skoumpakis from eight metres to give Greece the first multiple lead of the encounter at 12-10. It became 13-10 at the top of the fourth quarter, thanks to Konstantinos Kakaris with a beauty from the left-post position after a long cross pass. Goals were traded before Argyropoulos converted two extra-man plays to push the margin to four. Manhercz showed true class with a swivelling goal from the bottom left but his stay in the pool was curtailed, when after Greece’s Dimitrios Nikolaidis’ centre-forward backhander made it 17-13, he allegedly said something to the referee and was red-carded. Goals were traded and Greece had the victory.

Match Heroes
Argyropoulos was on fire with five goals with Skoumpakis grabbing three for Greece. Captain Manhercz led the way for Hungary with four goals and Adam Nagy netted three.

Turning Point
The three Greek goals straddling the final break that shuffled off the ninth tied score and go 13-10 ahead

Stats Don’t Lie
Bothe teams were aggressive on extra-man attack with Greece nailing nine from 11 and Hungary six from 10. Both teams converted a penalty goal; Greece made four steals to three and shot 38 to 31.

Bottom Line
Greece made the difference on extra and confirmed its strength by being five up well into the final minute.

Match 8, SPAIN 19 CROATIA 14 (8-6, 6-3, 3-2, 2-3)

Defending champion Spain will be looking for a second World Cup crown after gold and five bronze medals at this level. By defeating Croatia, it has put itself in the highest possible position to strike at the heart of Greece on Sunday.

Spain was never headed, although Croatia levelled at one, three and four. However, Spain sent in three straight and the margin was three before Croatia trimmed it to two at the first break. This was cherished by the players as 14 goals had been scored. Alvaro Granados whipped in three for Spain and Mark Zuvela two for Croatia.

Spain jumped to 10-6 and 12-7 in the second quarter as star shooter Loren Fatovic was fouled out two and a half minutes into the period. His disappearance was a huge loss as he scored six goals on the first day. Granados scored twice more while captain Alberto Munarriz and Bernat Sanahuja lifted their tallies to three. Zuvela was also on three.

Come the final quarter, Spanish goalkeeper Unai Aguirre stared down Konstantin Kharkov at the penalty line, bashing the shot back to him and then cornering his snap second attempt. Andrija Basic scored twice with the second an almost athletic impossibility from the deep right, lying low to the left around his opponent and squeezing off a shot from centimetres off the water for 14-11. Another Granados pair and a Sanahuja shot from the top shunted the score to an insurmountable 17-11 heading into the final quarter.

Newcomer Maro Susic gained his second international goal and Zvonimir Butic also converted extra for 17-13. Munarriz blasted from seven metres and Basic converted a penalty after the coach successfully challenged for the penalty throw. Fran Valera fumbled the ball but still scored on an extra-man foul he had gained, to close the scoring at 19-14 in favour of Spain.

Match Heroes
Granados was his usual spectacular self with seven goals, followed by captain Munarriz and Sanahuja with four apiece. Only six scorers were needed for victory. Basic and Zuvela scored three apiece for Croatia.

Turning Point
From 10-7 to 14-9 in the second quarter after a breathtaking first period of 14 goals.

Stats Don’t Lie
Spain had the better of extra-man attack at seven from 10 while stopping seven of 15 Croatian chances. Spain scored one penalty goal and Croatia missed one of two. Croatia ruled the steals at 9-4 and shot 33 times to 30.

Bottom Line
The power of Granados defied Croatia and sent it to the third-place play-off. Spain has the power to overcome Greece in the final.

CLASSIFICATION 5-8 SEMIFINALS

Match 5, NETHERLANDS 20 JAPAN 15 (6-2, 3-5, 7-4, 4-4)

Netherlands overcame the fast-moving-and-passing Japanese, taking control of the match in the first quarter and defending stoutly for the rest. That opening quarter was where the match was won.

Japan went to a 2-1 advantage before Netherlands slotted five straight with Lars ten Broek leading the charge with the first pair and Kas te Riele claiming the 6-2 margin on counter for his second goal. Benjamin Hessels fired in a long-loping shot from just inside halfway when the Japanese goalkeeper was coming out to defend the hole position. Ten Broek’s pair consisted of a long shot on extra and a strike from the penalty line.

Japanese captain Yusuke Inaba, who scored his team’s first two goals, opened the second quarter on counter. Netherlands slotted the next two before Japan made a mini recovery with three unanswered goals. Goals were traded and the Dutch had the halftime lead at 9-7.

Tim de May scored his second to open the second half with Hessels going on counter for 11-7. Taiyo Watanabe responded and te Riele needed VAR to confirm his shot had crossed the line for 12-8. Watanabe, who scored five goals on Friday, went on three major fouls with three minutes left and the score progressed to 15-10 with Max van der Werve claiming a pair. At 15-11, Hessels gained a six-metre foul and wound up to score with a backhand, as the photo below attests. The score came on the buzzer, giving the Dutch a healthy 16-11 advantage.

Goals were traded in the fourth period until 18-13 and Japan challenged a non-penalty call and was successful, Inaba burying the shot for a small chance with less than three minutes remaining. The Dutch scored twice and only international newcomer Jun Lowrey could score for Japan inside the final minute for 20-15.

Match Heroes
Hessels and te Riele led the Dutch scoring with four and three respectively. Inaba was to the fore, as usual, for Japan, with five goals and goalkeeper Towa Nishimura made 10 saves.

Turning Point
Taking a 6-2 lead in the first quarter as the rest of the match was 14-13.

Stats Don’t Lie
Both teams were excellent on extra with the Dutch gaining five from seven and Japan seven from 10. Both teams slotted a penalty goal; Netherlands out-stole Japan 16-8 and Netherlands shot 36 times to 29.

Bottom Line
Netherlands is progressing at a great rate and slowly moving into the top tier after a long period in the wilderness. Teams are getting Japan’s measure and the steal count was for the second day, not favouring Japan.

Match 6, GERMANY 15 MONTENEGRO 19 (3-5, 4-8, 4-3, 4-3)

Montenegro came through as expected, although had to adjust after being 2-1 down. The home team had 10 scorers to Germany’s five, showing just how dangerous it was.

From that 2-1 down, Montenegro pleased the home crowd with 4-2 and 5-3 advantages by the first break. There were seven different scorers and the only upset in the period was a technical fault that delayed a Denis Strelezkij penalty shot at 3-4, for his second. Montenegro punched the margins to 7-3 at the start of the second quarter and 10-4 when left-hander Filip Gardasevic continued the run of goals from the top-right position. It was the eighth from around that position in 14 shots. Mark Gansen had an excellent second quarter with four goals, lifting his team with a pair for 11-7. However, Vladan Spaic scored twice either side of that pair with the first a snap swat at a low cross pass into centre forward and the second with a powerful backhand. Strahinja Gojkovic closed the half at 13-7 off an extra-man play.

Goals were traded in the third quarter to 16-11 with Zoran Bozic scoring twice for Germany. The final quarter was much the same with Germany keeping up with the Balkan team with Strelezkij nabbing another two and a second penalty goal while Gardasevic and Nikola Moskov added to their tallies inside the last two minutes.

Match Heroes
Moskov and Gardasevic both scored three goals for Montenegro as 10 players made the sheet. Strelezkij netted five goals for Germany, followed by Gansen with four and Yannek Chiru with three. Felix Benke pulled down 13 saves in goal.

Turning Point
Montenegro coming from 2-1 down to 7-3 ahead by early in the second quarter. It was then 12-12 until the final whistle.

Stats Don’t Lie
Montenegro had the better of the extra-man count at eight from 11 while restricting Germany to three from four. Montenegro scored both its penalty chances and Germany did the same with its four. Both teams stole eight balls while Montenegro peppered the goal 44 times to 34.

Bottom Line
Montenegro was playing to the home crowd after the disastrous last-gasp loss to Croatia the night before and made sure of victory over a gutsy German team.

Day 3 Schedule

Classification 7-8
Match 09. 14:00, Japan v Germany

Classification 5-6
Match 10. 16:10, Netherlands v Montenegro

Classification 3-4
Match 11. 18:20, Hungary v Croatia

Classification 1-2
Match 12. 20:30, Greece v Spain