Water Polo: USA Men Trounced by Serbia and Montenegro at FINA World League

BUDAPEST, Hungary, June 30. TEAM USA was pummeled by Serbia and Montenegro, the newly crowned European Champions, 15-4 on day two of the FINA World League preliminary tournament in Budapest on Saturday, June 28th.

Aleksandar Sapic connected for a mind-blowing seven goals for Serbia and Montenegro, the league's best individual performance yet this season.

U.S. head coach Ratko Rudic didn't seem fettered by the result, insisting that his team will need to learn to fight through fatigue.

"We had a very difficult practice this morning," he said. "But we have to continue to train hard. We can't let up for this tournament as it is merely
preparation for our Olympic qualification goals."

Rudic didn't take anything away from the Serbia and Montenegro execution.

"We couldn't pass, we couldn't shoot, we couldn't defend," he said. "But we were playing one of the best teams in the world. They are very strong and very well conditioned."

Omar Amr, Jeff Powers, Ryan Bailey, and Jesse Smith accounted for the U.S. offensive output. Genai Kerr had seven saves in goal in the loss.

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