Second victories earned Montenegro, Hungary and Italy quarter-final places in the elite level of the Men’s U18 European Water Polo Championships being staged in Oradea, Romania. Spain bounced back from their shoot-out loss to Croatia to blow away the Serbs in the fourth period. Group C and D action saw real thrillers, including Malta’s stunning shoot-out win over Germany on a day when only teams wearing dark caps won matches in Oradea.

Group A&B: Fourth period thrashings secure big wins

The Montenegrin boys are on fire. After taking down Serbia on the opening day, they came up with another commanding performance to beat their other arch-rival, Croatia. Perhaps, the Croats would have needed a bit more recovery time after their intense battle with the Spanish, with a penalty shoot-out at the end, which finished around 22.00 – and they were in the pool today at 13.30.

Even if it’s U18, the fight is already on – Montenegro’s Relja Vukanic marks Croatia’s Duje Sinovcic, Credit: EA/Aniko Kovacs

Montenegro jumped to a 1-3 lead early on, but Len Dujmic equalised with two great action goals in 49 seconds, and the Croats killed a man-down in between. Still, Montenegro led after the opening period as the remaining 10 seconds were enough for Andrija Roganovic to fire one in for 4-3. The Croats struggled to penetrate their rivals’ defence, they could score just 1:12 before the middle break, by then Montenegro had gone 3-6 up with a couple of extra-player goals.

Strahinja Gojkovic’s sharp finish in a 6 on 5 kicked off the third to reset the three-goal gap, which went up to four as the Croats missed their next man-up while Luka Todorovic buried another one for 8-4, only two and a half monutes into this quarter. An emergency time-out from head coach Hrvoje Koljanin didn’t help much, though Petar Kulas could pull one back with 2:27 to go, they missed two more 6 on 5s before the last interval.

And the Croatian offence didn’t start clicking in the fourth, while Todorovic netted one from action which appeared to demoralise the other side. With only 3:25 remaining, Nikola Petrovic hit a great one from the centre for 5-10 and the Montenegrins kept that difference till the end to secure their spot in the quarter-finals.

In the next match, also in Group B, Spain took a 0-2 lead in 64 seconds, only to see the Serbs respond with three connecting goals, while Javier Sancher-Toril missed a penalty in the middle of the opening quarter. The Spanish missed two more 6 on 5s but the coming break offered them two minutes to calm down and they equalised right away in the second as Mark Comabella converted a 6 on 5.

Spanish goalie Aran Pina came up big in the following minutes as he stopped not one but two penalties in a row and that rocked the Serbs, who then not only missed their following 6 on 5, but failed to react to a counter from which Comabella put Spain ahead once more. However, Luka Urosevic pulled off a brilliant shot from the centre to get his team back on board and that was successful as they even retook the lead, thanks to Milan Zelic’s fine shot in a 6 on 5, 33 seconds from time.

It was Spain’s turn to reply with a double which they did early in the third and even though the Serbs could level it up, Tiago Carrio hit a nice one from action and Mauro-Andres Millan also buried a penalty for 6-8, while the Serbs hit the post from two promising opportunities.

Spanish counters demolished the Serbs in the fourth, Credit: EA/Aniko Kovacs

The fourth brought a quick exchange of goals, then, at 7-9, the Serbs missed a crucial man-up and Sanchez-Toril scored from the ensuing counter to make it 7-10, instead of 8-9. Thirty seconds later another counter ended up in a goal which practically floored the Serbs. The third in 62 seconds triggered an emergency time-out, but it took another 28 seconds to see a fourth Spanish counter – in 91 seconds they knocked out their rivals. All in all, a 9-2 rush in the second half clearly showed who was the better side.

In Group A, the Netherlands put up a good fight once more, this time against Italy. The Dutch turned onto the fourth period from an even more promising position as they trailed 8-9 – on the opening day they had been down by three against the Hungarians at that time -, thanks to their relentless efforts to keep up with the Italian favourites. They came back from 3-5 to level it up by half-time, while their rivals missed three man-ups before the middle break.

Teun Blankhorst even took the lead for the Oranje right away in the third, but Antonio Chianese, a great prodigy from Italy’s European champion U16 squad, converted two extras in 36 seconds and the Italians doubled their lead twice, before Fabio Jukic’s last-gasp hit set the 8-9 result at the end of the third.

Diego Teresa’s truly sensational centre action kicked off the fourth and that was a huge boost for his side which hit another gear and hitting three more in 77 seconds practically put the game to bed. There was no way back for the Dutch at 8-13, though they reached almost the same result as against Hungary (11-16 – after 11-15), it was telling how Italy crashed their defence in the final eight minutes by scoring seven goals.

The Netherlands were close for three periods but Italy prevailed at the end. Credit: EA/Aniko Kovacs

The last match of the day provided everything water polo fans love – much to the joy of the spectators who turned out in high numbers. Fans from the local Hungarian minority were in shock, though, as the Greeks took a 3-0 lead before Csanad Bella put his side onto the scoreboard after six minutes. That triggered a flood of goals in the remaining two, still, the Greeks led 5-3 after the first period.

The Magyars caught a wave in the second and staged a 1-5 rally to go 6-8 up, but two fine shots in back-to-back man-ups put the Greeks back on equal terms and with one more goals apiece in the last minute, it stood 9-9 at halftime.

Evangelos Lampatos’ nice finish from another 6 on 5 gave back the lead to Greece but it was temporary as the two of U18 world champions from 2024, Maxim Cseh and Mor Benedek quickly replied with fierce finishes in extras, in 37 seconds it swung back to the other side at 10-11. Csaba Jambor’s powerful centre-shot reset the two-goal lead for the Hungarians and even those Dimitrios Chatzis could pull one back twice with his pinpoint shots, the Hungarian goalie, Kristof Damosy managed to put a hand on the ball in the following man-downs, and a counter launched after his first save ended in a penalty. Benedek converted it for 14-12, so Hungary seemed to sit in the driving seat before the last quarter.

Wearing his late father Tibor Benedek’s No 8 cap, Mor Benedek led Hungary’s charge with six goals, Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics

Indeed, they never looked back as they blew away the Greeks in the fourth. They killed two more man-downs, between the two Benedek Rabb’s fierce bouncer expanded the gap to four for the first time. A quick finish brought Greece a bit closer but only for 45 seconds or so as Dejan Divjak put away a 2 on 1 for 13-16. The Greeks broke here, in the last four minutes they wasted three more 6 on 5s while the Hungarians added three more goals, including a sixth hit from Benedek, and that sealed their spot in the quarters, together with the Italians.

Group C&D: Thrillers in a row, Malta stun Germany in shoot-out marathon

Two thrillers filled the morning with sheer excitements. First, Malta came back from 8-4 down against Germans, then even managed to score the last two goals after falling behind once more at 11-9, to make it 11-11 and force a shootout. Which offered even more thrilling moments as it took 13 rounds to determine the winner. In the 12th round, the German goalie Eric Heinrich stopped Max Lanzon’s shot, but Tobias Scherrieble hit the post. Then Julian Chircop buried his penalty and Maltese netminder Zack Dzanovic delivered the game winning save.

Malta’s hero: Zack Dzanovic, in the middle, delivered the game-winning save in the shootout, Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics

The next match between France and Turkiye was heading to the same ending. Here the French controlled the match, built a three-goal lead at one stage and still held a 11-9 advantage with 3:07 from time. Alp Yildiz pulled one back and with 31 seconds to go, he stood at the five metre line with the ball – all he needed was to send it to the net but Camille Dervieux stopped the penalty shot and secure all three points to the French.

Only the opening match lacked the tensions as the Georgians did a clean job against Ukraine, with an 11-2 run in the middle two quarters sealing their first victory here.

In the evening match, hosts Romania had to dig deep to down Poland, the underdog team. The home players were tense and unable to fend off their rivals’ renewing surges. It was tied at halftime, 6-6, and even though two quick goals gave Romania a 6-8 lead, they couldn’t hold it long. At least, Cosmin Popa’s action goal gave them a slim advantage before the last period.

Poland were still coming, they equalised for 9-9 and did that twice more, to make it an open game at 11-11, with 1:08 to go. Still, the hosts had the last laugh as Cristian Rosan’s action shot made it all the way to the net 48 seconds from time to keep their hope on making the crossovers alive.

Division One, Rio Maior: Portugal come from behind to win by penalties

After the Monday power outage, hitting the entire region, the schedule had to be rearranged as the Swiss and the Danish had to come back first to play a game halted by the darkness. The Swiss did a clean job, though they couldn’t repeat that performance in the afternoon when Bulgaria beat them in Group B. The Swiss youngsters, who barely had to play matches on back-to-back days, now needed to hit the water twice on the same day – and were understandably worn out for the second half when they conceded seven goals apiece in both quarters.

There was something to cheer for, then came a loss – it was a special day for the Swiss team. Credit: European Aquatics

The Danes were luckier to face underdog Ireland and clinched their first win.

In Group A, Moldova secured their first place and the quarter-final spot by blasting the Czechs, while in Group C, Israel bettered the Brits to book their QF spot, while Belgium thrashed Austria.

Portugal graced the scene for the first time and the hosts managed to produce the most entertaining encounter of the day as they beat Lithuania in a shootout. Their rivals started dominating after staging a 3-0 run to make it 10-7 and led by two with 2:15 to go, but the Portuguese forced the match to a draw. The decision was left to the penalties where nerves took over, four of the eight attempts were missed, three by the Lithuanians, so the home side prevailed.

Results, Day 2

Elite Championship, Oradea

Group A

Netherlands v Italy 11-16, Greece v Hungary 13-19

Group B

Croatia v Montenegro 7-12, Serbia v Spain 7-13

Group C

Turkiye v France 10-11, Poland v Romania 11-12

Group D

Germany v Malta 11-11, pen: 9-10, Ukraine v Georgia 8-17

Division One, Rio Maior

Group A

Moldova v Czechia 20-9

Group B

Switzerland v Denmark 12-6, Denmark v Ireland 14-10, Bulgaria v Switerland 23-14

Group C

Austria v Belgium 9-26, Israel v Great Britain 15-8

Group D

Portugal v Lithuania 13-13, pen: 3-1

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics