WP World League, Day 1: Miraculous comeback for Montenegro, they meet Italy, Spain faces Greece in the semis
Greece was the first team to join Spain in the semi-finals in the men’s World League European qualifiers and soon came Montenegro after a breath-taking comeback against Croatia – they saved the game to a shootout 7.4sec before the end and then won by penalties. Their reward is a semi-final against the world champions as the Italians managed to beat the host Hungarians in an enormous battle, thanks to a brilliant last period where they netted 5 goals, after scoring only four in the first three.
FINA action returned to the pool after a painfully long 303-days wait – but finally it was aquatics at its best again. Indeed it restarted where it had been halted: in the men’s World League quarters though the current tournament reflects to the challenges the world has had to face ever since last March.
Originally, these would have been quarter-finals played in four locations but only Serbia and Spain could face each other off – and Spain achieved a stunning win in Serbia. The others had to wait until now to come together to one venue, in Debrecen, and play in a bubble-tournament, in front of empty stands and amid strict sanitary measures. Still, all players and coaches were full with praises that at last national teams could restart their activities after the clubs could play throughout Europe.
It was labelled as a friendly match but the players did some serious job – Photo: Istvan Derencsenyi
The opening day kicked off with an entertaining game – it lacked the usual tension since Serbia and Spain met for only a kind of test as their quarter-final from 2020 was not annulled. However, they offered some outstanding water polo as they finished 8-8 in regular time (a traditional draw – they achieved that in their 2018 Euro final and their 2020 Euro quarter-final) and they added a thrilling 11-round penalty shootout where Spain ‘reinforced’ its 2020 victory.
The first ‘real’ clash was much less balanced than the opening exhibition match as Greece was way too dominant in every aspect of the game against France. The Greeks didn’t let the French to the game: after gaining a solid 3-7 lead by halftime they won the second part 0-6 and breathed to the semis.
A traditional Greek 'Laocoon group format', this time in the pool – it was much more straight-forward on the whole...
The arch-rivals’ encounter offered real thrills in the next match as Croatia and Montenegro produced an amazing clash. The first half saw only 5 goals but the second brought 15. Croatia had some great spell and seemed to have it with little more than two minutes remaining as they led 8-10 but the Montenegrins managed to score two great action goals, the second came 7.4 seconds from time, so the penalties decided the outcome. The first eight attempts were all netted when came Montenegro’s reserve goalie Slaven Kandic – he faced that single shot of the match but managed to make a great save on Javier Garcia’s penalty and Drasko Brugljan kept his ice-cold mentality to seal the win for Montenegro.
Marko Bijac was tremendous in the Croatian goal – but he couldn't stop the Montenegrins' comeback
The last game featuring world champion Italy and European champion Hungary also offered everything water polo fans wished for. It was a huge battle from the beginning to the end – the first three periods were more of a chess game with only nine goals, then came a great start from the Italians who scored three goals from as many possessions and that set up a crazy final period. It saw eight goals, but the surge did the damage as the Hungarians could never really recover from the shock, they managed to cut the gap to a single goal three times but ran out of time at the end.
Men (defences) at work: the Italians did a great job in front of their goal
This means that in the semis Greece meets Spain, and Italy faces Montenegro to clinch one of the three qualifying spots for the Super Final.
Match reports
Quarters: 1-3, 2-4, 0-3, 0-2
Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Vyacheslav Byelyevtsov (UKR)
FRANCE
Clement DUBOIS, Hugo FONTANI (GK) – Rémi SAUDADIER 0 goal/3 shots, Romain Marion VERNOUX 0/2, David CAUMETTE 0/1, Nicolas MISSY 0/1, Thomas VERNOUX 1/2, Ugo CROUSILLAT 0/1, David BABIC 0/2, Mehdi MARZOUKI 1/3, Charles CANONNE 0/3, Pierre Frederic VANPEPERSTRAET 1/2, Alexandre CAMARASA 0/0.
Coach: Nenad VUKANIC
GREECE
Emmanouil ZERDEVAS, Konstantinos GALANIDIS – Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS 0/2, Dimitrios SKOUMPAKIS 0/1, Marios KAPOTSIS 0/1, Ioannis FOUNTOULIS 3/7, Alexandros PAPANASTASIOU 1/3, Georgios DERVISIS 0/2, Stylianos ARGYROPOYLOS 3/3, Konstantinos MOURIKIS 3/3, Cristodoulos KOLOMVOS 2/4, Konstantinos GKIOUVETSIS 0/2, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS 0/3.
Coach: Theodoros VLACHOS
Shots/Goals:
FRA: 3/20 (15.0%) – GRE: 12/31 (38.7%)
Extramen:
FRA: 1 for 11 – GRE: 3 for 5
Penalties:
FRA: 1 for 1 – GRE: 2 for 2
Saves:
FRA: 9/21 (42.9%) – GRE: 8/11 (72.7%)
France booked it spot in the QF round by beating Russia and adding a historic victory over Hungary in the prelims (though the European champion side didn’t bring its best players for that match). However, eleven month after the big 15-10 win against the Magyars the French couldn’t come up the same convincing performance in the match with the Greeks. Their more experienced and skilled rivals needed only two quarters to build a solid 3-7 lead and that let them sail through the second half. The 6 on 5 conversion made the real difference at the beginning, by halftime Greece stood with 3 for 4 while the French buried 1 for 5 only.
The following minutes brought little change – indeed the French sank further as Greece added six more goals while their rivals went on missing more man-ups. They were 0 for 6 alone in this phase and since the action goals dried up too the French were shut out in the entire second half. This also praised the Greek defence which worked fabulously – the shots on target tells the story as it was 21-11 for the Greeks and their goalies also did a great job posting a 72.7% saving percentage.
Nenad Vukanic, coach, France:
“We expected a closer match but I have to congratulate to my colleague as Greece played very well, especially in defence. This game showed that we have to work very hard as we need to admit that we are not on the same level yet as our opponent. They have better quality and they are more experienced so we need more games like this to develop our players.”
Theodoros Vlachos, coach, Greece:
“I’m very satisfied with my players as they didn’t leave any momentum for France, they controlled the game from the beginning and kept up the fine rhythm till the end. After ten month it was a great premiere, every player wanted to show something and this helped the team to achieve this win. We did really well in defence – well, this is the way we like to play, to keep our rivals as low in scoring as possible. Though there are quarantine in Greece and everything is closed and we cannot play games, still, we practiced very hard for two months and the players really wanted to be part of a match which finally happened, and the match atmosphere helps a lot for our team and for everyone here.”
Konstantinos Mourikis, MVP of the game, Greece:
“I am very happy that we can play at last in the national team. It was a great game, I think our defence worked very well, we have two great goalkeepers, they got only three goals, that was fantastic. Maybe I had a good game as well but it’s the team’s effort which earned us this victory.”
Quarters: 1-2, 1-1, 3-4, 5-3, pen: 5-4
Referees: Aleksander Voevoedin (RUS), Frank Ohme (GER)
MONTENEGRO
Dejan LAZOVIC, Slaven KANDIC – Drasko BRGULJAN 3/3, Duro RADOVIC 2/7, Marko PETKOVIC 1/4, Vlado POPADIC 0/2, Miroslav PERKOVIC 0/1, Stefan VIDOVIC 1/1, Aleksa UKROPINA 2/5, Aleksandar IVOVIC 4/11, Vladan SPAIC 0/1, Dusan MATKOVIC 2/7, Dusan BANICEVIC 0/1.
Coach: Vladimir GOJKOVIC
CROATIA
Marko BIJAC, Toni POPADIC (not entered) – Marko MACAN,0/1 Loren FATOVIC 6/8, Niksa DOBUD 1/1, Maro JOKOVIC 2/6, Luka BUKIC 2/5, Rino BURIC 0/1, Andro BUSLJE 2/2, Lovre MILOS 0/0, Josip VRLIC 1/1, Hrvoje BENIC 0/4, Javier GARCIA 0/2.
Coach: Ivica TUCAK
Shots/Goals:
MNE: 15/43 (34.9%) – CRO: 14/31 (45.2%)
Extramen:
MNE: 3 for 10 – CRO: 3 for 9
Penalties (in game):
none
Saves:
MNE: 10/24 (41.7%)– CRO: 18/33 (54.5%)
The game was the usual grand battle, tough, physical, defensive – what else could this be when representatives of the same school faces off?... And it offered the usual twists and turns – even more than usual.
The sides needed three minutes to settle, then Aleksandar Ivovic opened the scoring but the Croats hit back with a double only to see the Montenegrins equalise to 2-2 early in the second. Here the result was frozen for a while, the defences took over and especially Marko Bijac was magnificent in the Croatian goal – in the first half he posted an amazing 85.7%, making 12 saves on 14 shots. Still, his mates could break the rival’s defence only 28 seconds before the break when Andro Buslje’s fine action goal gave back the lead for the Croats.
Montenegro had a great spell early in the third when they netted two in 91 seconds to go ahead once more at 3-4 but Croatia then needed less than a minute to regain the lead. Some key moments followed when Montenegro missed a man-up at 5-6 and Loren Fatovic netted the ensuing counter for 5-7 – his 4th in the game –, then the Croats had a 6 on 5 to go three goals up but Luka Bukic hit the bar. It wasn’t a problem this time, since Bijac posted his 16th (!) save in the last Montenegrin man-up of this period to keep the two-goal gap.
Bukic wasn’t lucky with the crossbar once more at the beginning of the fourth, and this time the Montengrins sent the ball home from the following man-up, by Drasko Brguljan, so instead of 5-8 it was 6-7. And soon it was even when Aleksandar Ivovic, collecting a rebound, cleverly set up Dusan Matkovic for a close-range shot in a dying man-up with 4:30 remaining. Loren Fatovic showed up as the saviour of the Croats once more (the 5th time) with a brilliant shot from 6m in the following possession and that, paired with Niksa Dobud’s sensational backhanded shot from the centre killed the Montenegrins’ momentum in a span of 53 seconds. Aleksa Ukropine brought some hope back but only for temporarily as Bukic could find the back of the net at last from a one-timer and the Croats led 8-10 with 2:36 remaining. The Croatian defence killed the next man-down but the opponent kept the ball and Aleksandar Ivovic netted one from 7m, a great shot, so it was still open at 9-10. The Croats scored from their previous three possessions but not from the fourth one, however, Ivovic had to shoot under pressure this time and it was an easy catch for Bijac. Croatia called a time-out 52 seconds from time but couldn’t create any danger, so Montenegro had 26secs to save the match to a shootout. And they just did that as leftie Ukropina managed to surprise Bijac with a great action shot with 7.4sec left on the clock for 10-10.
So it was shootout time once again – but at this occasion it was for real. Croatia was on the edge as Dejan Lazic managed to touch the ball on three attempts in the first four round but the shots still ended up in the net. In the wake of this it was amazing to see Vladimir Gojkovic sending in his second goalie for the fifth round but Slaven Kandic, despite sitting on the bench up until that moment, made a fantastic save on Javier Garcia’s shot. That set up Drasko Brguljan to finish off the shootout and he sent the ball home just like his mates to complete Montenegro’s unlikely comeback.
Sandro Sukno, assistant coach, Croatia
“Congratulations for Montenegro, they did a good job as they came back in the last minutes. We knew we should play against a great team, I think our defence did not work that well today but we played our last big game at the Europeans last January so we need some more time. Here of course we wanted to do better but the focus is on building and improving the team, so it’s more about practice. We wanted to have more shots, more counter-attacks as our goalkeeper made a lot of saves but we couldn’t create enough chances. Our top priority is the Olympic qualification so we have to do our best in Rotterdam.”
Vladimir Gojkovic, coach, Montenegro
“It was a great game against a great team, I am happy that we could beat such a world-class rival as Croatia. We were a bit lucky, we should admit, but our players didn’t stop believing and that gave us the opportunity to score two goals in the last two minutes. The penalty shootout is always about luck, we had some today so we can prepare now for the semi-finals. It’s important for our team as we wish to finish in the top three and qualify for the Super Final.”
Loren Fatovic, MVP of the game, Croatia
“I think our defence wasn’t that good, they scored two fast goals in the last two minutes so they could win the game. We could play together after a very long period so we need a bit more time to regain our composure.”
Quarters: 1-2, 2-1, 1-2, 5-3
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Sergey Naumov (RUS)
ITALY
Marco DEL LUNGO, Gianmarco NICOSIA (n. e.) – Francesco DI FULVIO 2/5, Stefano LUONGO 0/1, Andrea FONDELLI 0/1, Edoardo DI SOMMA 1/3, Jacopo ALESIANI 0/2, Nicholas PRESCIUTTI 0/4, Gonzalo ECHENIQUE 2/5, Niccolo FIGARI 2/2, Christian NAPOLITANO 1/3, Lorenzo BRUNI 0/0, Vincenzo DOLCE 1/2.
Coach: Alessandro CAMPANGA
HUNGARY
Viktor NAGY, Soma VOGEL (n. e.) – Daniel ANGYAL 2/3, Krisztian MANHERCZ 3/4, Tamas SEDLMAYER 0/2, Adam NAGY 1/2, Norbert HOSNYANSZKY 1/2, Toni NEMET 0/0, Szilard JANSIK 1/3, Balazs ERDELYI 0/4, Gergo KOVACS 1/1, Tamas MEZEI 0/2, Vendel VIGVARI 0/1
Coach: Marcz TAMAS
Shots/Goals:
ITA: 9/28 (32.1%) – HUN: 8/24 (33.3%)
Extramen:
ITA: 3 for 12 – HUN: 4 for 12
Penalties:
ITA: 1 for 1 – HUN: none
Saves:
ITA: 9/17 (52.9%) – HUN: 8/17 (47.1%)
It was the usual patience game, more like chess – Italy has always been famous for tactical discipline while the Magyars should look for special solutions as they lacked their top three offensive players, magician Denes Varga and the two left-handed guns Gergo Zalanki and Marton Vamos.
The gunpowder was missing especially in their man-ups, they were unable to bury any in the first half (0/5), though with some fine distance shots they were in front for a while. Mostly because Italy’s offence also lacked its usual precision, they also missed their 6 on 5s in a row but at least made the last one late in the second and that levelled the score for 3-3 once more.
The first man-up goal from the hosts arrived early in the third, by Krisztian Manhercz, but even they killed another man-down, they could not create more danger to go up by two and Francesco di Fulvio’s 6m free throw sneaked in for 4-4. Hungary went 2 for 2, at least in this period, with a nicely played man-up, finished by Daniel Angyal for 4-5 – and since the players looked more and more exhausted (few goals mean a lot of swimming), the remaining of this period went down without any bigger thrills.
Di Fulvio kicked off the last period with a great bouncing shot from an extra, followed by Nicolo Figari’s fine action goal 38 seconds later and Italy was in the driving seat for the first time in the evening at 6-5. And they added another one from the third consecutive possession, Gonzalo Echenique let the ball fly from the distance. The 92-second surge stunned the Magyars, a 6 on 4 helped them to halt the bed spell and Szilard Jansik made good use of it for 7-6. Balazs Erdelyi had a clear chance from a man-up but hit the bar but Italy also missed their next extra. Hungary earned a 6 on 5, called for a time-out, at the other end Sandro Campagne received a red card – indeed the first came for the bench, but he could not avoid being sent out for his remark. His team did its job, though, killed the man-down and got a penalty from the ensuing counter and Figari buried it, seemed to be the decisive moment. Instead of 7-7 it was 8-6 with 2:45 remaining – but with a magnificent lob Krisztian Manhercz gave some hope for the Magyars from the next attack. The Italians made their man-up again, Christian Napolitano pushed the ball in from close-range, then Hungary had a man-up with the goalie Marco del Luongo excluded and Daniel Angyal netted with ease – but the remaining 45 seconds didn’t see any more shots, the defences cleaned up ‘the mess’ at both ends and that was more than enough for the Italians.
Alessandro Campagna, coach, Italy
“It was nice to see how we started the fourth period but in the previous three, especially in the first half, our shots and passes weren’t as sharp and precise as they should have been. But you cannot wonder that since we have many players for whom this match was only the sixth or seventh in the season. I kept telling them to focus on defence in this situation and that worked well, we kept our discipline and composure and this gave us this very valuable win.”
Tamas Marcz, coach, Hungary
“It’s always painful to see we conceding goals in a row from situations we managed to handle for three periods, than all of sudden we got three early in the fourth. Still, I’m satisfied what I saw from the team, even in this composition we put up a great game against the Italians and we were very much at the same level, though signs of fatigue from some players showed that mistakes should come inevitably. I was happy to see many things from what we had practiced – though our man-up did not work well, especially in the first half. There it was more about improvising than sticking to our game-plan and in the third it was visible that we managed to make order, however, we need to work on that as we cannot call time-outs 6-8 times in a game.”
Francesco di Fulvio, MVP of the game, Italy
“It’s always a great derby with the Hungarians and I’m really happy that we could win it. We fought for four periods, I think we were a bit faster and more precise and that was decisive.”
Quarter-final 3 was played as scheduled on 10 March 2020, Spain won 13-11 in Serbia. Details of the test match played here in Debrecen:
Quarters: 1-1, 4-3, 2-3, 1-1 – pen: 9-10
Referees: Ruby Garcia (SUI), Ferenc Horvath (SVK)
SERBIA
Branislav MITROVIC, Gojko PJETLOVIC – Dusan MANDIC 2/2, Nikola DEDOVIC 2/3, Sava RANDJELOVIC 3/3, Drasko GOGOV 3/5, Dusko PJETLOVIC 0/1, Nemanja VICO 0/0, Radomir DRASOVIC 0/2, Nikola JAKSIC 2/2, Filip FILIPOVIC 3/7, Andrija PRLAINOVIC 2/7, Viktor RASOVIC 0/1.
Coach: Dejan SAVIC
SPAIN
Daniel LOPEZ, Unai AGUIRRE – Alberto MUNARRIZ 5/6, Alvaro GRANADOS 3/9, Martin FAMERA 1/1, Bernat SANAHUJA 4/5, Marc LARUMBE 2/3, Alberto BARROSO 1/7, Francisco FERNANDEZ 0/0, Sergi CABANAS 0/2, Felipe PERRONE 1/3, Blai MALLARACH 1/3, Alejandro BUSTOS (did not enter)
Coach: David MARTIN
Shots/goals
SRB: 17/33 (51.5%) – ESP: 18/39 (46.2%)
Extramen:
SRB: 3 for 12 – ESP: 6 for 14
Penalties:
SRB: 1 for 1 – ESP: 0 for 1
Saves:
SRB: 7/25 (28.0%) – ESP: 13/30 (43.3%)
The two teams agreed to play a match here despite their encounter was the only one in the quarter-final round which had been played according to schedule in last March when Spain upended the title-holder Serbians in their home.
It served both sides’ interests to test themselves in match conditions after such a long break – and it promised a fine battle since these two staged a couple of fierce clashes recently: contested the European final in 2018 (Serbia won in penalties), faced off in the quarters at the 2019 World Championships (Spain won 12-9), then again at the Europeans last January (Spain won the shootout).
The teams met with the expectations as the game was pretty balanced and entertaining. The Serbs had the better start and led 4-2 and 5-3 late in the second period but Spain came back to take lead for the first time at 5-6 with a brilliant lob from Alberto Munarriz. The Serbs didn’t let it go though and held on for 8-8. With 1:05 to go Spain got a golden chance but the Serbian defence killed their 6 on 4 so the game ended in a tie – and even though the match was not official, it was finished with a penalty shootout as the rules require in normal circumstances – and as their game ends usually in big tournaments...
Spain beat the Serbs by penalties in Budapest at the 2020 Europeans but lost both the 2018 and 2020 Euro final in shootout in Barcelona (v Serbia) and in Budapest (v Hungary).
Well, it became a hell of a practice as it took 11 rounds to decide the outcome. Spain seemed to have it after Unai Aguirre saved Andrija Prlainovic’s shot in the second round but Branislav Mitrovic made a catch on Alberto Barroso’s shot in the fifth so six more rounds came before Dani Lopez, re-entering for this 11th attempt, made a big two-handed save on Filip Filipovic’s shot and then Alberto Munarriz sealed Spain’s win.
Dejan Savic, coach, Serbia:
“It’s a tradition that our match against Spain ends up in penalties... Though the result was secondary, both teams had motivation as we are all playing to win any match we are involved. I think this was a good restart after ten month, it was a good game, we tried out some new things in defence. It’s very hard for all teams here to find their real game but this tournament is an excellent opportunity for everyone. We are waiting for our next rival and will see what we can offer in the tougher matches.”
David Martin, coach, Spain:
“It’s an honour for our team to play with Serbia and to be on the same level with them. I’m proud of my players, they did well again in this game. We need to adjust our game since we came here without our first-pick centre-forwards and that required a different approach but it worked really well.”
Sava Randjelovic, MVP of the game, Serbia:
“We lost ten month ago so this was only a test game but it was great to play again for Serbia after such a long wait. We are here to practice and to put our game together.”
Gallery
