Romania grabs a point from Russia, Germany sinks deeper
Surprises didn’t stop coming in Rotterdam where Romania claimed a point against Russia in the opening match. France beat the Germans who once more had to stage a comeback, this time from four goals down, and indeed they even took the lead but were unable to keep it and a second loss might well could be the end of their Olympic dreams. After a bumpy start, Greece enjoyed an easy cruise against Brazil while Montenegro was the first team to pass the 20-goal barrier right upon its debut in this tournament while thrashing Canada. The Croats followed them soon as they netted a meet-high 25 against the Netherlands.
Despite a heavy defeat against Croatia on the opening day, Romania came back strong against Russia and the underdogs managed to claim a point at the end. It could have been an even bigger upset but with some luck the Russians could equalise 81 seconds from time (and then missed a man-up to win the game).
Romanian goalie Florian Tic gets mad at his defenders after they failed to clear the rebound after his save and the Russiand could equalise at the end - Photos: Marcel tel Bals
The clash of France and Germany couldn’t have been any more exciting – which was understandable as a second loss to either side would have meant pretty bad consequences. The Germans took a disastrous start against the Netherlands on Day 1 and despite a late surge after being 2-8 down, they could not save the game to at least a tie. It seemed they didn’t learn the lesson as they fell 0-3 behind and early in the third they were trailing 4-8. But they kept maintaining the good old German traditions and this time did that in a spectacular way as they staged a 5-0 rush to take the lead still inside the third period. However, they could not build on that momentum, not even on killing a 6 on 4 early in the fourth – the French managed to halt their scoreless phase after 8:23 minutes and after 9-9 it was a ‘one-ball’ game. And that one ball landed in the German net 54 seconds before the final whistle and again they failed to claim at least a point as they missed their last man-up. So the Germans suffered their second single-goal defeat while France responded to its 12-13 loss to Russia with a 13-12 win this afternoon.
The Germans tried hard but the French defence functioned just a little bit better...
After the nerve-wrecking moments of the first two matches Greece supplied some relaxing moments for water polo lovers as they beat Brazil with ease. Unlike on the opening day, when their defence lacked the usual tightness, this time they didn’t let their rivals enter the game and took some relaxing moments in the last period only – it didn’t matter as they already led 14-5 after three quarters.
The young Brazilians could not stop the Greeks in front - here is another goal in the making by Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis
Montenegro, one of the favourites of this tournament, blew away the Canadians in its first match (after they had a bye on the opening day). The two sides were not in the same weight category by all means - a 6-0 opening from the European powerhouse set the tone and they never looked back. In a game like this the goalkeeper(s) of the weaker side may come up with a performance which prevents the bigger beating but Canadian netminder Milan Radenovic was unable to help his team as he could have only a single save on 18 incoming shots and that partly explains how Montenegro's shooting percentage could reach 70.0%, a rarity even on their level.
There was no way to stop the Montenegrins...
The last match did not differ – Croatia downed the Netherlands with ease. The Dutch did a tremendous job one day earlier while beating the Germans but this time they faced an elite squad which outpowered them in every aspect of the game. The goalies were no help for the hosts either, could not handle the Croats' blasts so the favourites' shooting percentage reached 80% as they netted 25 in the evening.
Standings
Group A
1. Greece 4, 2. Montenegro 2 (1 match), 3. Canada 2, 4. Georgia 0 (1), 5. Brazil 0
Group B
1. Croatia 4, 2. Russia 3, 3. France 2, 4. Netherlands 2, 5. Romania 1, 6. Germany 0
Match reports
Quarters: 3-1, 1-2, 2-4, 3-2
Referees: Nikolaos Boudramis (GRE), Mikhail Dykman (CAN)
ROMANIA
TIC Marius-Florin 10/19, ABRUDAN Serban-Natanael (GK, n. e.) – RADU Cosmin-Alexandru 2/3, VATRAI Albert-Alexandru 1/1, FULEA Tudor-Andrei 2/6, ANTIPA Victor-Andrei 1/3, PRIOTEASA Andrei 0/2, DRAGOMIRESCU Vlad-Gabriel 1/1, REMES Bogdan 0/1, GERGELYFI Robert 0/0, GEORGESCU Vlad-Luca 2/3, GHIBAN Alexandru-Andrei 0/2, VANCSIK Levente 0/0
Coach: Anastasios Kechagias
RUSSIA
KOSTROV Evgeny 10/19, IVANOV Victor (GK, n. e.) – SUCHKOV Ivan 0/1, KISELEV Konstantin 0/1, DEREVIANKIN Nikita 2/2, ASHAEV Artem 0/0, KHARKOV Konstantin 1/4, MERKULOV Daniil 4/7, NAGAEV Ivan 0/2, PRONIN Daniil 0/1, KHOLOD Dmitrii 1/5, LISUNOV Sergey 1/3, SHEPELEV Roman 0/3
Coach: Sergey Evstigneev
Shots:
ROU: 9/23 (39.1%)
RUS: 9/31 (31.0%)
Extramen:
ROU: 5 for 8
RUS: 6 for 14
Penalties:
ROU: 1 for 1
RUS: 1 for 1
Saves:
ROU: 10/19 (52.6%)
RUS: 10/19 (52.6%)
Russia had little time to recover from the tough battle against France: in less than 16 hours after their remarkable win, they were back to face Romania which suffered the largest defeat against Croatia on the opening day. If anyone drew conclusions on Romania’s ability from that 6-16 beating was proved wrong as the underdog team almost made it.
A strong start set the tone of the match, the Romanians took a 3-1 lead and the Russians had to spend the following period and a bit more to catch them up. Once they took shots from the perimeter in 6 on 5 instead of trying to feed the ball to the 2m line, things started working to their favour. Daniil Merkulov was on fire, he netted 4 as the Russians took control and by netting three connecting goals they went 5-7 up with 1:03 remaining from the third. At that stage the Romanians looked a bit out of breath and ideas so everything pointed into one direction: another victory for the Russians. Perhaps they felt the same and a lapse in concentration in the dying seconds ended in a Romanian goal though Vlad Georgescu was in a seemingly hopeless situation while he took a shot from the outside.
That moment lighted up the Romanians who got back hope and after killing a man-down Victor Antipa sent the ball home from their 6 on 5 and even though Merkulov was on target once more, Cosmin Radu’s classical centre-goal put the sides on equal terms again at 8-8. What’s more, with 4:41 to go the Romanians were ahead once again with a great finish from Tudor Fulea in a man-up. The following minutes brought tremendous excitements: another goal would have secured Romania’s win but they failed to create real dangers while the Russians tried their luck with action shots instead of trying to earn exclusions from the centre as they had done before. Still, Goddess Fortuna held their hands: Marius Tic made three saves in the same possession but after his third stop the ball fell into the hands of Nikita Dereviankin in the centre who equalised from close range with 1:15 on the clock. What’s more, after a saved shot and a turnover foul, the Russians had a man-up to win the game with 15 seconds remaining but a great block saved that well-deserved point for the Romanians.
Anastasios Kechagias, coach, Romania:
“I think we did a good job and we can be satisfied with this result. Yes, we had the chance to win this game but sometimes minor things can affect the outcome, one favours you, the other doesn’t, but what matters is that we have to keep on working.”
Quarters: 1-4, 3-2, 5-2, 3-5
Referees: Boris Margheta (SLO), Michael Goldenberg (USA)
GERMANY
SCHENKEL Moritz 5/18, THOM Florian (GK, n. e.) – BOZIC Zoran 1/5, VAN DER BOSCH Timo 0/1, REAL Julian 0/0, SCHULZ Hannes 1/1, JUNGLING Maurice 1/3, STRELEZKIJ Denis 6/9, GIELEN Luuk 0/2, STAMM Marko 1/4, CUK Mateo 2/4, RESTOVIC Marin 0/0, SCHUETZE Fynn 0/3
Coach: Hagen Stamm
FRANCE
DUBOIS Clement 4/16, GARSAU Remi (GK, n. e.) – BOUET Alexandre 0/0, VERNOUX Romain 0/1, MISSY Nicolas 0/1, KHASZ Enzo 2/3, VERNOUX Thomas 2/4, CROUSILLAT Ugo 3/4, BABIC David 1/3, MARZOUKI Mehdi 3/7, CANONNE Charles 2/6, VANPEPERSTRAETE Pierre-Frederic 0/3, CAUMETTE David 0/1
Coach: Nenad Vukanic
Shots:
GER: 12/32 (37.5%)
FRA: 13/33 (39.4%)
Extramen:
GER: 5 for 14
FRA: 5 for 10
Penalties:
GER: 2 for 2
FRA: none
Saves:
GER: 5/18 (27.8%)
FRA: 4/16 (25.0%)
Both teams kicked off their respective campaigns with a loss – while France’s 12-13 defeat against Russia was in the cards, Germany’s downing by the Netherlands was a true upset and put them in a live-or-die situation right on Day 2.
In fact, the Germans seemed to have chosen to test themselves to see how deep they could sink before trying to surface again to grasp some air. And for the second time they failed to stay above the water at the end of the game.
It was a ‘usual’ start from the Germans’ point, they quickly went 0-3 down and France even had a man-up for 0-4 but missed that though early in the second they had the four-goal gap at 1-5. Germany had a slightly better spell to halve the distance till halftime (4-6) but however promising this phase looked like, two great action goals from the French in a span of 38 seconds at the beginning in the third reset the difference at 4-8. But again, the Germans didn’t let it go – they never ever had – and this time they produced a brilliant effort, a 5-0 rush in this third period. Their extraman play began to click – netted three in a row –, and while the French hit the post from a finely set 6 on 5 (it could have been 6-9), they kept rolling and by adding two great action goals lately, within 45 seconds, they was leading for the very first time here in Rotterdam.
France then missed a 6 on 4 in the opening possession in the fourth which should have further boosted the Germans’ confidence – but soon Mehdi Marzouki’s broke their momentum: the shot came from 9m, a goal any coach hates to see but it happened and from 9-9 a new game started.
It was a real showdown with tremendous excitements. Mateo Cuk netted a great action goal after a killed man-down for 10-9 but Enzo Khasz netted a 6m shot, Mirko Stamm hit the post at the other end and Marzouki sent the ball home from an extra to give the lead back to the French for 10-11. Denis Strelezkij buried a penalty, then Charles Cannone’s cannon did the harm in another extra for 11-12. Fynn Schuetze missed a crucial 6 on 5 next but Strelezkij could score from the following one for 12-12 with 1:21 remaining (it was his 6th hit in the afternoon). The French kept their nerves and veteran leftie Ugo Crousillat netted an action goal 54 seconds to go. Germany earned a last chance with 31 seconds on the clock, called a time-out but their man-up play didn’t work properly and Schuetze’s shot was blocked in the very last second of the possession – just like the Germans’ road to Tokyo seemed to be blocked right after two rounds.
Nenad Vukanic, coach, France
“We are doing our job on a day by day basis. We needed this win and this now can give us a little bit more confidence, it can make us believe that it is possible to qualify. We played well for most the of the game, in the crucial part when we wasted our four-goal lead we were trying to give some field for the older players in order to ensure that everybody takes its chance to add something to the team’s efforts. In that phase we lost our rhythm somewhat but we managed to recover from that.”
Hagen Stamm, coach, Germany
“The tournament is over almost before it has already started. After these two losses it’s very difficult to see how we could advance from the group. During the start of the games we always fell behind and if you have to come back from 3-4 goals down or 6 goals as we had to yesterday, your chances are definitely weaker to win the game. In fact we should have won both matches here and we had some possibilities but we could not get any points. We have the reasons, we had no international training partners, our players not play games at all in the league and this is very far from ideal conditions. Now it’s a question of honour and a question of pride to play our next three games.”
Denis Strelezkij, MVP of the game, Germany:
“It’s not over but it’s going to be difficult now. We should try everything we could, we have to fight against Russia, Croatia and Romania. The problem is that we haven’t played any games in our clubs, we didn’t have enough practice that’s why we were sleeping in the first two periods both today and yesterday.”
Quarters: 5-1, 5-2, 4-2, 1-3
Referees: Dion Willis (RSA), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
GREECE
ZERDEVAS Emmanouil 9/17, GALANIDIS Konstantinos (GK, n. e.) – GENIDOUNIAS Konstantinos 3/4, SKOUMPAKIS Dimitrios 0/1, KAPOTSIS Marios 2/2, FOUNTOULIS Ioannis 2/7, PAPANASTASIOU Alexandros 0/1, DERVISIS Georgios 1/1, ARGYROPOULOS Stylianos 0/1, MOURIKIS Konstantinos 2/3, KOLOMVOS Christodoulos 1/2, GKIOUVETSIS Konstantinos 1/2, VLACHOPOULOS Angelos 3/4
Coach: Theodoros Vlachos
BRAZIL
FERNANDES Joao Pedro 9/24, SORO Slobodan (GK, n. e.) – PEDROSO Marcos Paulo 0/0, DA SILVA Gabriel, 0/0 COUTINHO Gustavo 1/2, FREITAS Roberto 0/1, GOMES Bernardo 2/5, REAL Rafael 2/5, GOMES Guilherme 3/4, ROCHA Bernardo 0/0, FRANCO Ruda 0/2, GUIMARAES Gustavo 0/6, GUIMARAES Ricardo 0/0
Coach: Andre Avallone
Shots:
GRE: 15/28 (53.6%)
BRA: 8/25 (32.0%)
Extramen:
GRE: 7 for 17
BRA: 4 for 12
Penalties:
GRE: 1 for 1
BRA: none
Saves:
GRE: 9/17 (52.9%)
BRA: 9/24 (37.5%)
The Greek players learnt a lesson on the opening day and didn’t let themselves have another dogfight after their unexpectedly tight contest with Georgia. Instead, they set the tone by storming to a 5-1 lead in the first period including a three-goal surge in 93 seconds. They didn’t slow down in the second either so at halftime they already settled the bill by building a massive 10-3 lead. Four more followed in the third before they switched back to basic gear for the last period, when they netted only one goal and conceded three, as there is still a long way to go here.
Theodoros Vlachos, coach, Greece
“Yesterday it wasn’t the real Greek team, now we had a much better rhythm, our finishes were better, we played with more passion and more aggression. Also, we cared much more of defending at least for three periods – this is something I want to see from my players. I believe in my team, we have our target, we are waiting for our next really tough game against Montenegro – we don’t want to think of the end of the tournament yet, only focus on our next match.”
Konstantinos Mourikis, MVP of the game, Greece:
“At last we played a good game in defence so we could score many goals in front. Now we have one day rest then we have a very difficult clash against Montenegro. I believe in my team that we will go to Tokyo – we just have to win our next match on each coming day.”
Andre Avallone, coach, Brazil:
“Greece is one of the best teams in the world so it’s not surprising that we had some problems do defend against counterattacks. I think my team played well, we have many young players, our average age is 24 years, and we have a lot to learn and improve. Anyway, I’m happy what I saw today, I won’t tell it was a bad game. Of course, we want to grab one of the qualifying positions but we have to keep our feet on the ground. We can dream but we need to think on the long term. We had a lot of problems before coming here so I think we rather have to be ready for 2024.”
Quarters: 7-1, 6-3, 4-1, 4-2
Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Arkadiy Voevoedin (RUS)
MONTENEGRO
LAZOVIC Dejan 7/11, KANDIC Slaven 5/8 – BRGULJAN Drasko 2/3, PERKOVIC Miroslav 1/3, PETKOVIC Marko 2/2, CUCKOVIC Uros 0/0, POPADIC Vlado 0/0, VIDOVIC Stefan 2/3, UKROPINA Aleksa 1/2, IVOVIC Aleksandar 5/7, SPAIC Vladan 3/3, MATKOVIC Dusan 5/7, RADOVIC Vasilije 0/0
Coach: Vladimir Gojkovic
CANADA
RADENOVIC Milan 1/18, REIHER Sam 3/7 – PATTERSON Gaelan Geddes 0/1, DJERKOVIC Bogdan 0/2, CONSTANTIN-BICARI Nicolas 2/6, SPOONER Mark 1/1, TORAKIS George 0/3, COTE Jeremie 2/3, SPOONER Sean 2/3, GARDIJAN Aleksa 0/1, SOLEIMANIPAK Aria 0/3, SCHAPOWAL Max 0/0, D’SOUZA Reuel Mark 0/0
Coach: Pino Porzio
Shots:
MNE: 21/30 (70.0%)
CAN: 7/23 (30.4%)
Extramen:
MNE: 6 for 10
CAN: 3 for 7
Penalties:
MNE: 3 for 3
CAN: none
Saves:
MNE: 12/19 (63.1%)
CAN: 4/25 (16.0%)
It was an uneven contest right from the beginning. Montenegro came to the pool hungry – due to Turkey’s DSQ they had a bye on Day 1 – and they quickly turned the game into a feast of a merciless predator. They opened the match with a 6-0 rush and kept on pushing for more so by halftime they netted 13 already. They slowed down a bit in the second half when they scored only 8 but still passed the 20-goal barrier and set a scoring record for this tournament with ease. While being hot favourites here, one thing they might be sure of: only harder games are to come in the following days.
Vladimir Gojkovic, coach, Montenegro
It was much easier than we expected as Canada had a good game against Brazil. Our players did a good job, it was a good game to start a tournament with. We had good preparations in the past one month and a half so we are ready but it won’t be easy to play seven matches in seven days.”
Vladan Spaic, MVP of the game, Montenegro:
“Yesterday we had one more day to rest – today we were aggressive and very fresh. From the start we played very well in defence and scored a few easy goals. We are in a good condition and we are all ready to achieve the biggest things here.”
Pino Porzio, coach, Canada
“Montenegro is stronger than us and today we didn’t play a good water polo. I think we were a bit afraid, we got six-seven goals in a row and that had its effect on us. Our big game is tomorrow against Georgia and I’m sure that it’s going to be very much different. Our teams are different, we have many young players, they have many experienced ones, still, I’m sure that game won’t be the same what you saw today.”
Quarters: 7-1, 7-4, 5-1, 6-2
Referees: Xavi Buch (ESP), Irakli Sanadze (GEO)
CROATIA
BIJAC Marko 9/15, POPADIC Toni 0/2 – MACAN Marko 0/0, FATOVIC Loren 3/3, LONCAR Luka 1/1, JOKOVIC Maro 4/7, BUKIC Luka 6/7, VUKICEVIC Ante 2/3, BUSLJE Andro 1/1, MILOS Lovre 3/4, VRLIC Josip 2/2, BURIC Rino 2/2, GARCIA Javier 1/1
Coach: Ivica Tucak
NETHERLANDS
WAGENAAR Eelco 4/18, DE KOFF Milan 0/11 – VEENHUIS Kjeld 0/1, WINKELHORST Jorn 0/1, WOLSWINKEL Guus 0/1, VAN IJPEREN Guus 2/5, LINDHOUT Robin 1/5, GBADAMASSI Bilal 1/3, NISPELING Jesse 0/1, MULLER Jorn 0/2, JANSSEN Pascal 1/3, KOOPMAN Jesse 1/6, LUCAS Thomas 2/2
Coach: Harry van der Meer
Shots:
CRO: 25/31 (80.6%)
NED: 8/30 (26.7%)
Extramen:
CRO: 6 for 10
NED: 6 for 18
Penalties:
CRO: 2 for 2
NED: 0 for 1
Saves:
CRO: 9/17 (52.9%)
NED: 4/29 (13.8%)
Sometimes stats tell more than anything. Close to the last minutes of the third period both teams had 23 shots on goal – but the score stood at 18-5 for the Croats. They were much better in all aspects of the game but that was not surprising: their classy players are better in every field, in power, in muscle-mass, in shooting skills, in swimming speed and in tactical preparedness. There was no way for the host side to counter-balance that gap and it became visible on the scoreboard soon after the first whistle. After eight minutes the 2017 world champs were 7-1 up and added seven more in the second period as well. It was clear before the last period that the Croats would beat the Montenegrins’ scoring record of 21 goals, set in the previous match, as they stood with 19 after three periods. They stopped at 25 and led the group with two big wins.
Luka Bukic, MVP of the game, Croatia:
“We really started the tournament well. We expect a tough match on each day and today was no difference. They started the game very aggressively so it wasn’t easy to play but we could still score some goals and after that it was much easier for us. Now we are up to our next match against France, we hope we could achieve another win and at the end we could go to Tokyo.”
Mile Smodlaka, assistant coach, Croatia:
“We played well so far, especially today. We expect to do what we have to do here. Such a big win was a bit surprising today but we played well in defence, our man-down was excellent and when a team defends like this it’s much easier to play well in attack.”
Harry van der Meer, coach, Netherlands:
“We missed some chances in the first period and after that we got scared in front of their goal, we didn’t look at the goal even in man-ups and you cannot play without confidence against a team like Croatia as they start shooting from everywhere and you get a result like this at the end. As for the difference between the performances yesterday and today, I think it’s a bit unconscious that the focus is not really on a team like this, which is strong, which was world champion some years ago. We have to forget today’s game and be ready for Romania and have our focus on that match. We had 18 man-ups today which quite good against Croatia though we could not use that to our advantage. We have to change some minor things for tomorrow.”
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