Overview

RUS and MNE are the best two teams here but RUS sits top and MNE 18th under the vagaries of the points system. EGY is ranked second with an 8-6 victory over 33rd CHN. CRO is in third following a 16-5 victory over ninth-ranked MLT. HUN makes the top three thanks to an 18-3 win over 34th MAS. BRA, NZL, ITA and champion ESP currently fill out the top eight.

First Round League Phase Match Reports

Match 37. KAZ 22 URU 5 (7-0, 3-4, 6-0, 6-1)

KAZ showed everyone what it is capable of with a brilliant start; then with a shocking second quarter and back to brilliance for the remainder of the match. Maxim Sassin scored three in the first quarter and Duman Sagyndyk two as KAZ rattled URU’s cage. URU scored four of the next five goals with Leon Varela scoring on action and extra. Sassin had the match at 10-4 by halftime and settled the ship. Assanali Amangeldinov scored on penalty and Sassin from the field as it ripped to 14-4. Amangeldinov. Sagyndyk twice and Sassin once pushed it out to 19-4. Amangeldinov scored twice more — on counter and penalty — as KAZ unloaded for 22-5.

Match Heroes
Sassin dropped six bombs out of eight attempts; Amangeldinov netted five and Sagyndyk three goals for KAZ. Varela scored twice for URU.

Stats Don’t Lie
In a low-fouling match, KAZ scored its only extra-man chance and kept URU to three from five; scored four from five on penalty; won the steals 15-3 and had a 62.9 shooting percentage to 35.7.  

Match 48. NZL 11 PER 8 (1-2, 0-2, 5-1, 5-3)

Image Source: Luca Mayall (NZL)/CroWP/Pavao Bobinac/World Aquatics

NZL struggled in the opening half, not befitting a team with two victories against a side with two big losses. Salvador Castillo scored first and missed a penalty shot en route to a 2-0 PER lead. The Kiwis bounced back through Jonah Teokotai after Olly Jones missed his penalty attempt. PER scored the only two goals of the second quarter as the Kiwis turned the ball over twice, missed two shots and had two shots blocked. Goals were traded midway through the third period before Luca Mayall hit form from centre forward at 2:42 and on counter at 1:03. Teokotai gained his second on counter and the match was squared at 5-5. Gianni Gola made it 6-5, six seconds from the final break. Luis Llanos scored at centre for PER and Kenrich Shek drilled a penalty shot for a Kiwi 7-6 score. Gola was again in the thick of it for 8-6 and Mayall went on counter for 9-6. PER missed three shots, gave up a penalty foul as did NZL, both being converted. Teokotai scored on counter for 11-7 at 1:32 and Castillo pulled one back at centre. A PER timeout yielded nothing and the South Americans are probably ruing the one that got away.

Image Source: Ariel Adriano (PUR) defended by Jonah Teokotai (NZL)/CroWP/Pavao Bobinac/World Aquatics

Match Heroes
Captain Mayall and Teokotai scored a hat-trick each for NZL and the goalkeepers combined for eight saves. Castillo was best for PER with three goals.

Stats Don’t Lie
NZL netted just one from five on extra and PER one from four. NZL converted two from three on penalty and PER one from two. The steals were equal at 10 and the shots favoured NZL 42.3 per cent to 34.8. NZL scored one goal on counter and PER three.

Match 38. GER 25 CZE 0 (7-0, 9-0, 6-0, 3-0)

GER earned its second win and CZE, fresh from an 8-6 win over ZIM, had no answers for the faster, stronger and quicker-finishing Europeans. The statistics say it all with GER gathering numbers all over the pool. Not scoring and only stopping two shots does not bode well.

Match Heroes
Nico Khokhobashvili scored five goals; Paul Hildebrandt four, captain Jonas Seidel and Georg Metzler three each as 10 players scored.

Stats Don’t Lie
GER earned five goals from six on extra and rejected all four CZE chances. GER converted four from five on penalty; won the steals 21-three and at 80 per cent was better than CZE’s 0 per cent on shooting. GER countered 12 times for 11 goals and four from the field on action. CZE took three shots on action and four on extra, also missing two outside shots.

Match 46. SGP 12 MEX 9 (5-3, 4-0, 1-5, 2-1)

Image Source: Jose Dominguez defends Russell Yuan (SGP)/CroWP/Pavao Bobinac/World Aquatics

SGP made it two wins and a shootout loss for the three days with MEX going down for the third time. Today’s effort was closer for MEX and, but for a poor second quarter, could have been better, considering what happened in the third period. Carlos Nunez and Russell Yuan traded the opening goals with Ryan Chua netting the next two for SGP. Nunez scored in a MEX double for 3-3. Yuan scored at centre in a SGP double for 5-3 at the first break. Yuan scored at centre; Chua on extra and penalty and Yuan on counter for 9-3 at the long break. SGP shot to 10-3 to start the third period before Jose Dominguez scored twice from two metres for 10-5. Gonzalo Rodriguez converted extra and counter in quick succession to have the match at 10-8, 14 seconds from the final break. SGP had stout defence and Chua scored on extra at 4:05. Nunez replied at centre at 2:57 for 11-9. MEX called a timeout but Nunez’s shot hit the wood. Chua scored on extra inside the final minute with Nunez turning the ball over twice in those dying seconds.

Match Heroes
Chua made six goals, following on from seven yesterday. Yuan netted four as SGP goalkeeper Lucas Lim stopped nine shots. Captain Nunez captured three MEX goals.

Stats Don’t Lie
SGP converted four from six on extra and MEX two from four. SGP missed one of the two penalty fouls awarded; won the steals 14-13 and the shots 57.1 per cent to 37.5. Both did well on counter with SGP succeeding with four and MEX with three.

Match 39. NED 5 ISR 4 (2-1, 2-0, 1-1, 0-2)

Image Source: Tieme Harding (NED)/CroWP/Pavao Bobinac/World Aquatics

NED came off a three-goal loss to Serbia and ISR fronted after beating UKR 11-10. The winner today was going to get a second win and it favoured the Dutch despite the Israelis winning the second half. Damian Doumenis started for the Dutch and Yoav Berger lobbed from the wide right for 1-1 at 4:29. It was not until the last 38 seconds that the Dutch took control on a counter drive down the left for Viktor Dragicevic to score for 2-1. Rink van der Weijden was elated with his score from the top right to start the second quarter. Doumenis scored from deep left for 4-1 at 3:09 as ISR was troubled on attack. Neither side could breach the defence of the other before halftime. Left-hander Berger broke the 13-minute ISR drought with a penalty score for 4-2 at 3:11 in the third period. With 12 seconds left on the clock, Maurits Korenstra latched on to a rebound near the left post to flick in for 5-2.

ISR took a timeout on extra at 3:45, set the wings deep, gained another extra and scored from the right post off a near pass with a textbook finish as the first evacuee was returning. Michael Ben Eliahou had the score at 5-3. ISR scored off the next attack on extra from Berger at the deep-right wing at 5-4. ISR gained an extra play and immediately through the ball out of the pool by mistake. The Dutch had the ball stolen; NED gained a turnover; ISR got the ball back inside the final minute. ISR hit the crossbar on a six-metre shot; NED had a shot saved from point blank and NED called a timeout with two seconds left on the clock as the ball was regained. NED controlled and had the win, slim as it was.

Match Heroes
Doumenis was the only double scorer for NED and goalkeeper Tibbe Bisselink, named player of the match, made seven saves, most early on. Berger was best for ISR with a hat-trick.

Stats Don’t Lie
NED scored two from eight on extra and ISR three from five. ISR scored the only penalty goal; the steals were equal at six and NED made 25 per cent on shots and ISR 20.

Match 49. USA 26 ZIM 1 (9-0, 8-0, 4-1, 5-0)

USA beat PER and GER and now has ZIM for its third continental scalp, starting with a huge score by the first break and never letting up throughout. For ZIM it was a hard slog and players were possibly looking forward to after the match. Ewan Burbidge scored on extra at 3:41 to bring up ZIM’s first and subsequently only goal at 3:41 in the third period for 19-1. USA swam away to 21-1 at the last break and onwards to the eventual conclusion of 26-1.

Match Heroes
Harry Siafaris, Aden Shin and Grayson Taylor  scored four each. The goalies combined for eight saves.

Stats Don’t Lie
USA went eight from 10 on extra and ZIM one from four. USA converted three from four on penalty, won the steals 10-three and the overall shooting 83.9 per cent to 5.6. ZIM had 18 shots in all.

Progress Percentage Points

RUS 97.8
EGY 91.6
CRO 90.2
HUN 90.2
BRA 89.3
NZL 85.6
ITA 82.9
ESP 82.5
MLT 81.6
USA 81.3
SRB 80.9
TUR 80.3
GER 79.6
AUS 77.8
ROU 77.1
SGP 75.8
NED 74.7
MNE 70.5
GRE 70.3
KAZ 70.1
GEO 69.6
POL 69.1
CAN 64.1
SLO 62.9
ISR 60.1
ZIM 57.5
RSA 56.5
UKR 54.8
PER 53.5
CZE 51.9
PUR 51.8
MEX 49.9
CHN 49.1
MAS 47.8
POR 43.5
URU 41.8

Day 4 Schedule

08:00: KAZ v TUR
08:35: PER v MAS
10:00: GER v MNE
10:05: CZE v POR
11.30: BRA v NZL
11:35: UKR v PUR
13:00: HUN v GRE
13:05: EGY v ZIM
14:30: ITA v CHN
14:35: RSA v MLT
16:00: AUS v USA
16:05: MEX v ROU
17:30: CAN v SRB
17:35: SLO v POL
19:00: NED v CRO
19:05: RUS v ISR
20:30: ESP v SGP
20:35: GEO v URU