Sports
Greece, Serbia win thrillers at EA Men’s U18 Water Polo Championships as Montenegro, Italy cruise to the semis
Quarter-final day at the elite level of the EA Men’s U18 European Water Polo Championships in Oradea did not disappoint. While Montenegro thrashed France and Italy’s water polo masterclass kept Spain on six goals, the other two clashes were real thrillers. The Greeks’ and the Serbs’ more precise shot-making made the difference in the crucial moments, as they edged out Croatia and Hungary respectively in truly epic battles.
Emotions ran high after Serbia’s thrilling quarter-final win over Hungary in Oradea. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Quarter-finals
Montenegro v France 21-11
The French took the lead, but Montenegro responded with a 5-0 storm. The battle gained some extra heat in the second period as just two seconds after France pulled one back, they were awarded a penalty as one of the Montenegrin players entered late, after the refs had already given the sign for the restart. This was a special way to score two goals in two seconds for 5-3 – but even this extra support was short-lived. France held on till 7-5, then the Montenegrins hit four in a row and never looked back.
The Montenegrins were absolutely superior against France, Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
All in all, they netted eight in the second period and added seven more in the third – it was a true power demonstration as they went 18-6 up and there were still eight minutes to play. Their grip on the game was loosening a bit in the fourth, but Montenegro still won by ten to reach the semis.
Croatia v Greece 16-17
The opening period saw some hectic moments with finely played attacks mixed with turnovers and erroneous defending. Just when the Croats seemed to have settled and took a 4-2 lead, the Greeks came back to draw level in 52 seconds, so the first ended in 4-4.
Viktor Toncinic’s action goal kicked off the second, then Greece missed an extra, but Kosmas Patsinilakos equalised with a fine action hit. Greek goalie Dimitrios Berdes came up big as he stopped Maro Susic’s penalty and another after the corner, while still in man-down. Soon Georgios Tsanakakis netted a 6 on 5 which somewhat shifted the momentum as the Greeks could go ahead, still, they were unable to hold on for the lead as the Croats levelled it up three times till halftime. That also showed that the offences were ruling the game at this stage, scoring ten goals alone in this period, five apiece, to make it 9-9 at halftime.
Trends changed only slightly in the third, it was the Croats’ turn to take advantage, but the Greeks caught them up every time. It was another heated battle, filled with great action goals, fine finishes, lucky rebounds also a couple of fine saves in between, those were rarer, though, as this period also brought four goals apiece. The Croats missed a some promising 3 on 2 counters when they could have doubled their lead, while Greece’s giant centre-forward Ilian Angelopoulos hit the bar from an open chance in the last seconds, which kept the 13-all result before the final quarter.
A real team effort enabled the Greeks to oust the mighty Croats. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Toncinic’s luckily bouncing ball from the centre made it way to the net 16 seconds into the fourth, but just a small lapse in the defence’s attention was enough for Dimitrios Chatzis to his his fourth from the perimeter for 14-14. Leftie Anter Jerkovic was set to outshine him, though, as he netted a fine one from the wing right away and that was his sixth in the afternoon.
Both sides wasted good one-on-one opportunities with long assists, then just entering the last four minutes Angelopoulos fended off his defender to put the ball to the empty net after a great assist – and Greece were ahead for the first time in the second half. After two of the finest hands chose poor finishes, Susic, then Chatzis, it was Jerkovic’s turn to step up and he levelled it up from the perimeter for 16-16. Chatzis made a crucial steal in a man-down and Panagiotis Maragkoudakis’ pinpoint shot put the Greeks ahead with 1:29 from time and the Croats missed another 6 on 5. The Greeks took no risk, burnt their time. Croatia had 18 seconds to save the match to a shootout but their 7 on 6 didn’t work as Susic dropped the ball and Toncinic’s emergency shot was caught by the goalie, sending Greece to the semis at the end of this 33-goal epic.
Hungary v Serbia 13-14
Players didn’t hold back anything right from the beginning – after three minutes of battling, the Serbs drew first blood, but Hungary also buried their first man-up. Two outstanding blasts followed, by Petar Micanovic, then by Bence Fiedler for 2-2. A nice man-up play gave the lead for the Magyars for the first time, then Kristof Damosy stopped a penalty – but a fierce shot eight seconds from time by Milan Zelic brought the Serbs back to even.
Hungary took a flying start in the second – within 48 seconds they went 5-3 up. But the Serbs didn’t panic – their leftie Luka Vojinovic stunned Damosy with two fine shots from the perimeter for 5-5. Maxim Cseh also hit one from action, the both sides missed a man-up before the Serbs equalised once more, again from a 6 on 5. Mor Benedek stepped up with a nice finish from an extra, then the Magyars earned another exclusion, but this time Cseh hit the bar, and the remaining time was enough for the Serbs to force a man-up and find the perfect finish by Novak Lazic, just 1.9 before the buzzer, for 7-7.
The Serbian shots from the perimeter made the difference in their match against Hungary. Credit:Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Vojinovic netted his fourth right away after the restart, followed by four minutes of extreme battling with loads of swimming and less precise shotmaking, including one missed man-ups at both ends. Then came a Hungarian man-up, after a time-out, and that let enough time for both sides to refresh their minds and that triggered a series of goals in the last three minutes. The Serbs came out on top as they could score their usual dying-seconds goal from a man-up to lead 8-9.
And Luidi Canepa’s blast early in the fourth gave the Serbs a two-goal lead for the first time. This triggered a special duel – between the Serbs shooters and Mor Benedek. The Serbs found the holes on the Hungarian wall at crucial moments, just when Benedek managed to pull one back soon, and then when, after a nervous phase with a series of misses, he brought the Magyars back to even for 12-12. After Neskovic’s fine 6m shot, Lazic sent the ball home once more in 37 seconds to make it 12-14 with 1:12 to go (the Serbs netted four action goals from the perimeter in the last eight minutes).
Benedek hit his fourth in a row, seventh in total, just 10 second later, keeping his team in the match single-handedly (which, his legendary father Tibor did many times in his heyday). The Magyars had one last possession to force a shootout, but the Serb defence were on high alert and made the last and winning steal.
Cooking from the same recipe as their seniors at the Paris Olympics, they ousted a group-winner in the quarters, after three defeats in the group – and made the semis. We’ll see if they could go all the way too.
Italy v Spain 11-6
After two thrillers, in the session’s last match Italy made sure that the last minutes of this game would not provide the same excitements as the previous ones. They came up with a tactical masterpiece against Spain, played with discipline and precision to down their Mediterranean arch-rival. Limiting a Spanish team to six goals especially in this new water polo in the 25m pool requires special efforts and the Italian boys were up to the task.
They jumped to a 2-0 lead in two minutes, the Spaniards needed five minutes to get on the board, but once they pulled one back, they missed three 6 on 5s in a row, and the counter launched after the third one ended in a penalty, which Federico Trimarchi buried for a 3-1 lead.
Defences worked brilliantly for almost five minutes without letting any exclusions or goals. That took its toll as players got worn out too much in this phase to keep up the tightness in the back – so goals started coming again. Spain hit first, by Ricardo Sordo, from action, but the answer also arrived immediately when Giuseppe Alessandrini put away an extra. That was copied soon, Mauro-Andres Millan netted another one from action, and Alessandrini converted a 6 on 5 again for 5-3. Killing Spain’s last man-up secured that Italy kept its two-goal advantage by halftime.
Spain also missed a man-up early on and soon they paid a heavy price, as this time Alessio Olivi buried two extras in succession and Italy were already up by four. Soon Spain’s outlooks got even darker when they wasted another extra and Alessandrini swam away for a counter to make it 8-3.
A huge clash was more painful for the Spaniards at the end . Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
The emergency time-out from the Spanish bench halted the Italian rush, they killed the next two man-downs, Tiago Carrio netted a fine one from action in between, what’s more, Oriol Hurtado gave some hope for the Spaniards with a last-gasp goal.
And they managed to add a third one early in the fourth, for 8-6 and had two more possessions to cut the gap but turnover fouls ruined their attempts and Antonio Chianese’s goal after a nice steal looked very much like a decisive moment. Indeed, it was, the Spaniards were desperate, but they were unable to make good decisions, went on missing man-ups (including a 5 on 4) and never scored again (in the last 6:32 minutes). On contrary, the Italians added two more from the distance to celebrate their huge win and a well-deserved spot in the semi-finals.
Heartbroken Spanish players after their quarter-final defeat. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Classification matches
The Netherlands were unable to maintain the level they had shown at the group stage against their mighty rivals, Hungary, Italy and Greece. After bowing to France, they couldn’t match the speed of the Germans either. The first half was balanced but in the third Germany went ahead by three, and with a couple fast goals early in the fourth, the gap grew to four, at 6-10. The Dutch had a last surge to halve the distance in 34 seconds, but Tobias Scherrieble sent the ball home right away from the next 6 on 5 to make it 8-11 and that killed the rivals’ momentum. Indeed, the Netherlands couldn’t score in the last 5:35 minutes while the Germans added two more to play for the ninth place.
They will have a re-match with Malta, the surprise team here, who won an emotion-filled encounter over Poland. At one stage, tensions reached the boiling point not only in the pool – where three red cards highlighted the young warriors’ sometimes untamed dedication – but in the stands too, where security persons had to separate spectators who appeared ready to clash themselves as the game heated up in the pool.
Team Malta hit historic heights by advancing to the classification match for ninth place through a hard-earned win over Poland. Credit:Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
And the fight never ceased as it was a toe-to-toe battle. Both sides could have won it in regular time, Poland took the lead from time to time, but Malta always found the way to equalise. After 9-9, the Maltese had a man-up 45 seconds from time, missed it, but the Polish didn’t notice their team-mate standing unmarked in front of the goal. So the match came down to penalties. Adrian Pawlak was unlucky to hit the post twice in the shootout – the first came after a Maltese miss, the second cost the win as it came in the sudden death. The Maltese celebrations were very much similar when a team clinch the gold medal – understandably as Malta has never reached the heights of being able to play for the ninth place at a major age-group tournament.
Turkiye claimed the 13th position as they managed to beat host Romania once more, as on the opening day, and again by a single goal. The 15th went to Georgia who downed Ukraine in an action-packed, 31-goal game – Lukas Khurtsilava led the charge with 8 hits.
Division One, Rio Maior
Among the group-winners Bulgaria and Israel enjoyed easy wins in the quarter-finals as they both took a commanding 9-1 lead by halftime to thrash Lithuania and Slovakia respectively.
The quarter-final day also brought a couple of tough battles in the Division One tournament . Credit: Nikola Krstic/European Aquaics
Moldova fell to Belgium in a thrilling match where the lead was changing constantly. The Belgians had a slim 6-7 advantage before the last break, but Moldova worked hard and managed to shut out their rivals for five minutes while they could score twice to retake the lead for 8-7. The Belgians also kept their composure and Ilyas Viaene netted a man-up to make it even with 2:21 to go. Though they missed a golden opportunity soon, a 6 on 4, later Robin Sergeant put away a simple man-up which turned out to be the winning hit 62 seconds from time as the Moldavians were unable to respond.
Something similar happened in the match between Portugal and Switzerland which also offered a series of twists and turns. The hosts staged a 3-0 run after 1-2, but the Swiss hit back with a 0-4 run to lead 4-6 deep into the third. They still held on for 5-7 with Matteo Ribatti’s action goal in their first possession, but next came another whirlwind from the home side, three hits in a row again with a killed man-down en route. With 4:12 to go, they went 8-7 up and could have closed down the game but missed three 6 on 5s in succession. The Swiss hit back, Aron Horvath buried a man-up with 1:08 on the clock for 8-8 – but their joy was cut short as Rafael Monteiro’s 6m blast found the back of the net 46 seconds from time and the Swiss missed their last extra.
Results, Day 5
Elite Championships, Oradea
Quarter-finals
Montenegro v France 21-11
Croatia v Greece 16-17
Hungary v Serbia 13-14
Italy v Spain 11-6
Semi-finals
Montenegro v Italy
Greece v Serbia
For 9-12th places
Netherlands v Germany 8-13
Poland v Malta 9-9, pen: 5-6
For 13th place
Turkiye v Romania 9-8
For 15th place
Georgia v Ukraine 17-14
Division One, Rio Maior
Quarter-finals
Moldova v Belgium 8-9
Bulgaria v Lithuania 21-9
Israel v Slovakia 15-3
Portugal v Switzerland 9-8
For 9-12th places
Denmark v Austria 9-12
Czechia v Great Britain 9-12