Water Polo Olympic quarterfinals: Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Italy advance

Photo Courtesy: Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

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By Dan D’Addona

The Croatia men’s water polo team took a huge step toward repeating as Olympic gold medalists on Tuesday.

The 2012 Olympic champions defeated host Brazil 10-6 in the quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and their former coach.

The Croatia defense shut down Brazil and goalie Marko Bijac stopped two penalty shots in the first half to stymie two huge chances from the host country. He finished with 15 saves to lead Croatia to the semifinals.

Brazil coach Ratko Rudic led Croatia to the gold medal in London in 2012, but couldn’t get his new team past his old team. It was still a positive tournament for the hosts, who were in the Olympics for the first time since 1984.

Croatia led 7-3 at halftime and cruised to the victory. Javier Gadea Garcia and Maro Jokovic each scored three goals to lead Croatia.

Bernardo Oneto Gomes had three goals for Brazil.

Croatia will face Montenegro in Thursday’s semifinals with a chance at returning to the gold medal match.

Montenegro held off Hungary 13-11 after outscoring its opponent 4-2 on penalty shots.

Hungary forced the penalty shots when captain Denes Varga scored on a long shot that banked off the goalpost.

Vjekoslav Paskovic scored in penalty shots to clinch the victory after two huge saves by goalie Milos Scepanovic. He had 13 saves in regulation.

Serbia defeated Spain 10-7 to advance to the semifinals. Thought to the be the favorite, Serbia had an early loss to Brazil and was on the brink of elimination before rallying for three consecutive victories to reach the semifinals.

Filip Filipovic and Stefan Mitrovic each scored twice for Serbia, which will face Italy in the other semifinal matchup on Thursday.

Spain tried to hang with Serbia early on, cutting the lead to 4-3 when Guillermo Molina Rios scored back-to-back goals in the second quarter. But Serbia scored the final three goals of the period with Milan Aleksic finding the back of the net with 12 seconds remaining in the half to give Serbia momentum that lasted the rest of the match.

Italy defeated Greece 9-5 to reach the semifinals with a fast start. The Italians went up two goals in the first four minutes of the game and never let Greece get any closer.

Pietro Figlioli scored three goals to lead Italy, which will face Serbia in the semifinals on Thursday in a rematch of the London semifinals in 2012. Matteo Aicardi added two goals and Stefano Tempesti made 12 saves.

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