Familiar Countries Enter Quarters at European Water Polo Championships

5 FOUNTOULIS Ioannis (C) GRE GER - GRE Germany (white caps) vs. Greece (blue caps) Men Quarter Finals Qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships - Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Giorgio Scala.

The same eight made the quarters as in Belgrade 2016: today Hungary, Montenegro, Greece and Russia joined Serbia, Croatia, Spain and Italy, as expected. The Hungarians had to fight hard to oust the Netherlands, Greece and Montenegro offered convincing performances while beating Germany and Romania respectively, and Russia brought down the French.

Hungary overcame some difficulties before downing the Netherlands with an 8-minute rush in the middle two periods. With 5:54 to go in the second, the Dutch were 5-6 up as they scored some amazing and some lucky goals – then the Magyars showed something from their real skills at both ends of the pool and with 5:23 to go in the third they led 11-6. Their lefties, who had struggled in the prelims, Marton Vamos (4 goals) and Gergo Zalanki (3) led the charge and the 6-0 rolling did the damage to their rivals. The Dutch fought on, though, and after a scoreless period of 12:13 minutes could find the back of the net again, came back to three goals at 12-9, had two more man-ups in the last two minutes but missed both and had to bow to the favourite side. The next one is going to be another classic, a quarter-final showdown with Serbia.

Germany also had a flying start, scored from its first two possessions only to see the Greeks striking back firmly, with three goals in 96 seconds. Two more came still in the first period in 1:59 minutes but for the Germans it was an even bigger blow that they lost their key player, the team’s top scorer Julian Real with the third major leading to a penalty. Though Georgios Dervisis missed it but it didn’t matter that much in view of the second period which saw three Greek goals and none from the Germans. This 1-8 rush after 2-0 was enough to settle the match by halftime, the Greeks kept their rivals in safe distance and comfortably marched to the quarters where they’ll meet host Spain for a late night show in two days time.

Montenegro also did a clean job against Romania. They staged a strong start and even though the Romanians climbed back to 3-2 after 3-0, soon they were left behind. The World League winners netted five unanswered goals to lead 8-2 while did some tremendous defending and shut out their opponents for 9:09 minutes. That killed the excitements for the rest of the game and it ended in a 10-goal triumph for the Montenegrins who now face arch-rival Croatia.

Russia had a dream start netting three in 114 seconds which floored the French. They could never recover from this, while the Russians were recalling their heydays as they offered some sparkling display in offence. They led 8-2 by halftime and even though they didn’t push so hard in the following periods and the French showed some signs of life – scored four in the third – but couldn’t get inside three goals as the Russians always had the answers.

Thus an interesting scenario has been set up: in the upper half of the draw there are the three former Yugoslavian countries, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro plus the Hungarians, while in the lower half is the Mediterranean area with Italy, Spain and Greece, with Russia as a special guest.

In the games for the bottom places the favoured sides claimed easy wins, Georgia beat Turkey, while Slovakia pushed aside Malta.

European Championships, Day 9

Men’s quarter-finals

Hungary v Netherlands 12-9

Germany v Greece 5-13

Montenegro v Romania 15-5

France v Russia 9-12

For places 13-16th

Georgia v Turkey 15-10

Malta v Slovakia 6-12

Schedule for quarter-finals, 24 July (Revised)

17.00 Serbia v Hungary

18.30 Croatia v Montenegro

20.30 Italy v Russia

22.00 Spain v Greece

Fixtures, Day 10

Women’s quarter-finals

17.00 Greece v Russia

18.30 Italy v Hungary

20.30 Netherlands v Germany

22.00 France v Spain

For places 9-10th

15.00 Israel v Serbia

For places 11-12th

13.30 Croatia v Turkey

Follow all games live and look for the detailed stats and play-by-play descriptions on www.len.eu

Flash quotes, Day 9

Men, for places 13-16th – Georgia v Turkey 15-10

Revaz Chomakhidze, head coach, Georgia:

“I’m not satisfied with our performance today but it’s the victory that counts. The important thing is that we passed this stage and are expecting the next opponent.”

Damir Tsrepulja, player, Georgia:

“It was a very tough game, just as we expected it to be. The problem was that we thought the win was already in the bag which wasn’t. It never is. We allowed Turkey to score some easy goals. We had a very strong group, played difficult matches against Hungary, Italy, Germany, which killed our self-confidence and then affected our play. We lost to Germany, a game we expected and were preparing to win and that threw us off track. It’s good that we won now, ultimately it’s what counts the most. We now turn to match for the 13th place.”

Sinan Turunc, head coach, Turkey:

“After defeats with big goal difference in the previous matches, my players lost their confidence and somewhat our game. The beginning of the match was bad. Later on we started playing better but it was too late. Next is probably a match against Malta. It’s going to be tough but we’ll try to win.”

Berk Biyik. player, Turkey:

“It was a tough game. It’s nice to take part at the Europeans for the fourth time. We could have won today, it’s a pity we didn’t. We have to work hard and be stronger than we were today.”

Men, for places 13-16th – Malta v Slovakia 6-11

Karl Izzo, head coach, Malta:

“I’m disappointed with the result. We missed a lot of scoring opportunities, didn’t play well. They had their No. 5 (Lukas Durik) who was causing a lot of problems to our defence, a real ‘dangerman’. All in all I’m really disappointed.”

Karol Baco, assistant coach, Slovakia:

“We knew going into the match that we must win this game. We didn’t play very well. It was important for us to win and gain self-confidence for the following match against Georgia which will be very difficult. We have a young team, for these players it means a lot to win and feel good.”

Men, Eight-finals – Hungary v Netherlands 12-9

Tamas Marcz, head coach, Hungary:

“It was a fine win and I was happy to see good reactions from my players after the slightly disappointing preliminaries. I think they calmed down a bit once the first couple of goals arrived and even if we conceded a series of unlucky goals at the beginning, they kept on fighting and did what needed to build the necessary margin. In fact, how they game went on, we should have extended our lead to 7-8 goals and win with a bigger margin. But this comes with experience, this is a young team, went through some ups and downs here so I won’t criticise my players for not turning it a bigger win. It was a win in the eight-finals and we had to appreciate it. Next is Serbia, a team full of Olympic and world champions but perhaps playing a bit more straight-forward game than Italy which might suit us a bit better. And we know them well as 80 percent of the team are playing in Hungary… No doubt, they are the outstanding favourites against our young side, we respect their fantastic players so we’ll go to this game with nothing to lose, and without any fears.”

Gergo Zalanki, player, Hungary:

“We did some good job in attack, regained some confidence after the games against Italy and Germany. Still, conceded a couple of unlucky goals and committed some unnecessary mistakes in defence. This latter part needs to be cut back for sure as the Netherlands punished some of them but for sure the Serbs will hit back even more severely if we repeat them in two days time.”

Robin van Galen, head coach, Netherlands:

“We are disappointed. We started off well, had a good fighting spirit. Unfortunately, we lost control of the game in the third quarter. They showed why they are still among the top teams in water polo. We had a few chances but our man-up was bad. In order to win you have to have the man-up efficiency at 50-60%. In the end they deserved to win and we have to reset our goals.”

Jesse Koopman, player, Netherlands:

“We started well, really were in the game but the then lost the control of the game in the second quarter. They then used this to keep the difference and successfully close the game. To win we needed to be at our best. Today it just wasn’t so.”

Men, Eight-finals – Germany v Greece 5-13

Hagen Stamm, head coach, Germany:

“Our most important player Julian Real was out of the game early on and that was the key. We led 2-0 then received some stupid goals. At that point the referee decided the game should be over. Unfortunately, we had to leave a lot of injured players at home. In order to win a game like this we need to be complete and at our best.”

Marko Stamm, captain, Germany:

“It was a tough defeat against a strong and big team like Greece. We tried our best during the game in order to stop our opponent, however, they were better than us and deserved to win. I think our overall performance has improved from our first game to this current one. Plus, we are a young team, still in the learning process to become stronger and we need to gain more experience. So in general, I’m happy with our performance in this tournament.”

Theodoros Vlachos, head coach, Greece:

“We wanted to win today and qualify for the quarter-finals and we did it. It was easier then we have expected. Our next match will be very difficult. We have to play really good in order to win. With Spain playing on home ground it will be more than just a game.”

Stylianos Argyropoulos, player, Greece:

“I think we didn’t start well. Soon we regrouped ourselves, we were concentrated, played better and stronger. Once we had a big goal difference we used the remaining time to try some things for future games.”

Men, Eight-finals – Montenegro v Romania 15-5

Vladimir Gojkovic, head coach, Montenegro:

“It was good, I’m satisfied. We had the right approach. There was no loosening up at all. We only missed some shots at the beginning, this seems to be chasing us from the start of the Europeans.”

Aleksandar Radovic, player, Montenegro:

“We took this game very seriously as it was the first qualifying match of the tournament. We had to be careful and not to underestimate them from the beginning to the end of the match. The defence was our main focus. Croatia? We know each other way too well. It turned out that way that we have to meet so early into the tournament but you have to win against the best if you want to go all the way.”

Dejan Stanojevic, head coach, Romania:

“Firstly, I would like to congratulate Montenegro. Unfortunately, this was expected. They took control of the game from the very start, we just couldn’t fight back realistically. Generally, we can keep up with this kind of teams for the first 15-20 min. Today was the same. We have to work on that. We fought but we weren’t smart and disciplined enough to be on equal terms with them.”

Cosmin Radu, player, Romania:

“Well, they simply have more quality and power. We are a young team. We tried but this is the difference at the moment. I mean we wanted to win but this is all we can and have right now.”

Men, Eight-finals – France v Russia 9-12

Nenad Vukanic, head coach, France:

“The better team won. We gave what we had, though we could have played better, smarter… But as far as the desire, determination and energy is concerned I know my players gave their best.”

Sergey Evstigneev, head coach, Russia:

“We started well, built a great advantage. Then in the third quarter we started ‘wasting’ the balls. It might have been due to the excitement over the imminent victory. Italy is next. They are a very strong team but we’ll put up a fight. We have a chance.”

The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with LEN European Aquatics. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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