{"id":315096,"date":"2018-06-20T13:10:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T20:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=315096"},"modified":"2018-06-20T13:14:35","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T20:14:35","slug":"mens-water-polo-beats-world-champion-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mens-water-polo-beats-world-champion-croatia\/","title":{"rendered":"Break Up the USA! Men’s Water Polo beats World Champion Croatia in FINA World League Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n

What a difference a year\u2014or a decade\u2014makes.<\/p>\n

When the U.S. Men\u2019s Senior National Team was last in Budapest for the 2017 FINA World Water Polo Championships, they were soundly<\/a> beaten by a Croatian squad that went on to claim the title of \u201cWorld Champions\u201d with a run to the FINA title, including a thrilling<\/a> 12-11 win over arch-rival Serbia and a convincing 8-6 finals victory over the host Hungarians.<\/p>\n

\"fina-logo\"<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and it was the Americans\u2014with essentially the same line-up that finished a program-worst 13th last year at FINA Worlds\u2014that broke out to a four-goal lead at the half and then hung on for an 11-10 win over the champs in 2018 FINA World League Super Final pool play.<\/p>\n

Team USA tagged the Croatians with a loss in major international competition for the first time since the 2008 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Leading the way, as he has in propelling the U.S. to a spotless (3-0) record in pool play, was Alex Bowen<\/strong>. Selected as \u201cMan of the Match,” Bowen tallied five goals, none so impressive as his natural hat trick to close out the third period, putting his team up 11-8.<\/p>\n

That the Yanks were able to hang on is a testament to a team defensive effort by Head Coach Dejan Udovicic\u2019s<\/strong> squad\u2014and the luxury of having McQuin Baron<\/strong> in net. Now in his fourth year as a member of the senior men\u2019s team, the 6-8 Baron was absolutely amazing in nets throughout the match. In fact, those were the exact words used by the announcer on FINA.TV\u2019s streaming service after an incredible head save early in the second period.<\/p>\n

\"United

McQuin Baron is dominant in goal for the U.S. Photo Courtesy: Julio Cortez<\/p><\/div>\n

Now free of his commitments to USC\u2014he graduated last month\u2014the top U.S. goalie was absolutely dominant in the first half, repeatedly frustrating the Croatians. He saved a 5M penalty shot by Ante Vukievic<\/strong> with seconds left in the first period, preserve a 2-1 lead fashioned on goals by Hannes Daube<\/strong> and Alex Roelse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The second period saw the American pile on Croatian netminder Marko Biljac<\/strong>, with Bowen, Johnny Hooper<\/strong>, Bowen again, and Luca Cupido<\/strong> scoring. The backbreaker was a goal with one second left, giving the U.S. a 7-3 advantage, when\u00a0Max Irving<\/strong> fought off an attacker and beat Biljac from in front of his cage.<\/p>\n

The final period saw Croatia score two goals to cut the U.S. advantage to one with four minutes to go. This is when the Americans\u2019 defensive prowess came to the forefront, as Baron and his teammates weathered two man-up situations in the last two minutes for the win.<\/p>\n

Roster changes for the Americans on this current visit to Budapest were minimal but significant. Jesse Smith<\/strong>, a four-time Olympian and the team’s captain, provides much-needed experience to a young squad seeking an identity. Daube, the youngest player on the squad, has already demonstrated just how valuable he is to Udovicic\u2019s attack, with a goal today and three yesterday, which earned the rising college freshman\u2014at Southern Cal in the fall\u2014Man of the Match honors.<\/p>\n

The Croatians, who suffered their second straight loss of the tournament, brought seven members of the squad that last July memorably ended Serbia’s lengthy reign as the world\u2019s best. A key absence for Head Coach\u00a0Ivica Tucak<\/strong> is captain Sandro Sukno<\/strong>. Arguably the world\u2019s best player, since last fall Sukno has been struggling with health issues that have curtailed his career.<\/p>\n

Healthy or not, Sukno’s presence could only have helped his countrymen on the power play. Croatia went an abysmal 2 of 14 with the man advantage. Team USA was a relatively efficient 2 of 7 in man-up situations.<\/p>\n

No matter who was in the pool for Croatia today, this band of young Americans was intent on proving that a long-term rebuilding effort by Udovicic and assistants Gavin Arroyo<\/strong> and Alex Rodriguez<\/strong> is starting to bear fruit.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow is another day; the U.S.\u2014which won the pool over Spain, Croatia and Kazakhstan\u2014 will take on an opponent to be determined\u00a0on Thursday<\/span>\u00a0in quarterfinal play currently scheduled for\u00a01:45 p.m. (EST) \/ <\/span>10:45 a.m. (PST) (subject to change).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor What a difference a year\u2014or a decade\u2014makes. When the U.S. Men\u2019s Senior National Team was last in Budapest for the 2017 FINA World Water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":315100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[68276,27250,2653,47736,68738,54133,27241,554,66899,62761,13165,62272,68739,62274,42639,60192,62799,3613],"class_list":["post-315096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-water-polo","tag-2018-fina-world-league-super-final","tag-alex-bowen","tag-alex-rodriguez","tag-alex-roelse","tag-ante-vukievic","tag-croatia-water-polo","tag-dejan-udovicic","tag-gavin-arroyo","tag-hannes-daube","tag-ivica-tucak","tag-jesse-smith","tag-johnny-hooper","tag-marko-biljac","tag-max-irving","tag-mcquin-baron","tag-michael-randazzo","tag-sandro-sukno","tag-usa-water-polo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nBreak Up the USA! 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