Russian Men Follow Their Women’s Lead; Advance to Quarterfinals With Greece, Italy and Australia

Russia's Danii Merkulov (#7) winding up for a shot against Spain's Roger Tahull.

Editorial Coverage provided by

If Hungary—finishing at the top of both its men’s and women’s groups—has been the most successful country thus far in 2017 FINA World Championships water polo play, Russia must be considered the most resilient. In back-to-back days, a Russian team has knocked out a favored squad to advance. On Sunday it was the Russian men who defeated Spain by 11-10—the same score that their women’s team won by against Holland the previous day—to punch their ticket to Tuesday’s men’s quarterfinal.

Head coach Serge Evstigneev’s team joined Australia, Greece and Italy as winners on the day, completing the slate of quarter-finalists. Montenegro, winner of Group A, Hungary, tops in Group B, Serbia, lead team in Group C, and Croatia, which won Group D, had all previously advanced.

Like their women’s team which beat a Dutch team that had been a medalist favorite, the Russian men took an early lead and simply never allowed their opponent to catch up. Trailing 7-4 at the half, a tally by Roger Tahull midway through the third quarter narrowed the Spaniards’ gap to a lone goal. In a situation eerily similar to Saturday’s women’s match against Holland, where a disputed possession led to an unsuccessful protest by the Dutch, Russia again called for time to regroup. Following the timeout, Danii Merkulov scored his third goal of the match to jump start a three-goal run by Russia that proved to be just enough to blunt a late Spanish comeback.

Sergey Lisunov also netted three scores for Russia while Spain’s Tahull led all scorers with four, including one with no time remaining. The Russians shot 50% (11 of 22) for the match while the Spanish launched more shots (30) with less success (10), checking in at 33%.

With the win, Russia draws hometown favorite Hungary in Tuesday’s featured match. It remains to be seen which squad—the wildly popular Hungarians, whose fans have consistently packed the stands of the Alfred Hajos Pool, or the Russians, on an impressive run of success—will advance to the semifinals.

Drawing the short straw for the quarterfinals was Australia, an 8-3 winner over Brazil. The Aussies will face defending champion Serbia on Tuesday, looking to improve on the last time these two teams met in a FINA World Championship. In 2015 Australia held a two-goal lead late in the third quarter before a four-goal outburst allowed the Serbians to claim a 10-9 decision in group play on their way to the title.

Montenegro and Greece—a 14-4 winner over Japan on Sunday—will face each other in the first quarterfinal match, with both teams being evenly matched. The winner will face the Serbia vs. Australia victor; the other semifinal will pit the the Russia vs. Hungary winner against whomever advances from Italy vs. Croatia—a situation that suits the Hungarian fans perfectly. Their dreams of a FINA World Championship final that includes their beloved Magyars would also be a tremendous boon for FINA. If this were to come to pass, there will be a substantial logistical challenge: where to put the thousands of fans who will flock to this match.

Before the Hungarians can become a team of destiny, they must first end the medal dreams of an upstart Russian squad; Tuesday’s match will therefore be must-see water polo.

US Tops South Africa; will play France for 13th Place on Tuesday

Behind three goals each by Alex Obert and Max Irving, the U.S. Men’s National Team won again at FINA Worlds, this time a 13-4 decision over winless South Africa. Team USA will have one final match at the tournament, a 13/14 placement game on Tuesday morning. Live streaming is expected to be offered via Olympic Channel at 4:50am/1:50am pt. and available by clicking here.

Due to a red card levied against U.S. head coach Dejan Udovicic at the conclusion of Friday’s 14-11 win over Russia, which eliminated his team from medal contention, the Americans were coached Sunday by Alex Rodriguez, assistant U.S. coach as well as head coach of both the Pomona-Pitzer men’s and women’s teams.

France advance to the placement match with a 10-6 win over Canada.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use