Day 7 Match Reports
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Game 49: PERU 8 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 13
Round 13-19 quarterfinal
Quarters: 1-3, 2-4, 2-3, 3-3
Referees: Anastasiya Skovpina (UZB), Keiichi Onkasa (JPN)
Extra Man: PER 3/10, TRI 2/7
Pens: Nil
Teams:
PERU: Luis Vidal, Nick Pizarro, Aldo Rodriguez, Rodrigo Recabarrew, Eduardo Grandes, Victor Giordano Castillo, Gerson Rolawdo (3), Piero Padno, Nicolas Rodruquez, Diego Villar (2), Agusto Otero, Sebastian Morales (3), Jesus Angulo. Head Coach: Jose Antonio Luque.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Sebastian Van Reeken, Christian Chee Foon (1), Daniel Tardieu (1), Johann Callender, Kieron Emmanuel (1), Russell Ferreira (4), Jonathan Gillette (4), Andrew Chin Lee, Shaquille Mitchell, Marc Stauble (1), Justin Bodden (1), Adrian Hinds. Head Coach: Adam Foly.
PER vs TRI - - credit: Anthony Pearse
Trinidad & Tobago secured its first victory of the championships with a well-deserved 13-8 victory over Peru in day-seven action. Russell Ferreira and Jonathan Gillette were the heroes for T & T as they netted eight goals between them to help set up a 17th v 18th play-off against South Africa on Saturday.
Trinidad & Tobago opened the scoring through Marc Stauble, before Gillette and Ferreira scored to make it 3-1 at the first break. It was a tight opening term with T & T able to expose the Peruvian defence on a more regular basis.
Ferreira extended his dominance in the second, scoring three of his team’s four goals to give the Caribbean nation a comfortable 7-3 lead at halftime. Peru found three goals through Sebastian Morales and Gerson Rolawdo, and the pair continued their team’s revival with another three in the third term.
Diego Villar then got in on the act, scoring two of his own to give Peru a sniff of victory, but resistance was short lived. Gillette slotted three in the second half to give Trinidad its first win at a water polo world championship. Gillette said it was exciting to win their first match and praised his team-mates for a fantastic effort.
"It feels really good to get our first win. We played very good as a team and it was good to have a healthy fan base. We made some mistakes but I'm very happy,” Gillette said. "I feel pretty good with how I played and I had every shot on target, but I couldn't have done it without my team."
Peru now finishes 19th, and after a week of valuable international experience, coach Jose Luque said his team will take many great lessons away from its visit to Australia.
"I have gained a lot of information from different nations around the world, so in the future we can have better results. “I have learned many pros and cons about coaching so in future we can work on that and be more successful. “In general, it has been a good championship and we have learned a lot so hopefully one day we can make it into the top 10.”
Game 50: EGYPT 10 COLOMBIA 6
Round 13-19 quarterfinal
Quarters: 3-1, 2-2, 3-1, 2-2
Referees: Adil Aimbetov (KAZ), Joao Cardenuto (BRA)
Extra Man: EGY 1/5, COL 0/2
Pens: EGY 1/1
Teams:
EGYPT: Mostafa Mohamed, Omar Atlia (1), Mohamed El Shishtawy, Moataz Ahmed, Amr Hassan, Mostafa Akl (2), Yehia Mohamed (2), Mahmoud Abdelgawed, Abdelrahman Abbas (2), Thakeb Mahmoud (2), Khaled Sobhi (1), Basel Abdellatif, Mohamed Mohamed. Head Coach: Mahmoud Eid.
COLOMBIA: Diego Mateus, Simon Suarez (1), Andres Rua (1), Joyman Camacho, Juan Pablo Padilla (1), Omar Correa, William Jaramillo (2), Bryan Avila, Steven Medina (1), Pablo Velasquez, Brian Gutierrez, Sebastian Vargas, Juan Rua. Head Coach: Bladimir Molina.
EGY vs COL - credit: Anthony Pearse
Egypt put in their best performance of the tournament to defeat Colombia 10-6 in their 13-16 semifinal classification match. With Mostafa Mohamed a rock in goals and some smothering defence that kept Colombia’s danger men in check for much of the game, the Egyptians deserved victory.
Egypt got off to a flying start, scoring goals to Thakeb Mahmoud and Omar Atlia inside three minutes. Simon Suarez gained one back for Colombia with a cracking outside shot before Yehia Mohamed notched the final goal of the term in extra-man attack for a 3-1 advantage to Egypt. Both teams scored two goals in the second period to take it to 5-3 at halftime and the game was still in the balance.
The Egyptians extended their lead in the third quarter to 8-4 with Thakeb Mahmoud grabbing his second and Abdelrahman Abbas snaring a double. In goals, Mostafa Mohamed made some great saves for Egypt.
In the fourth quarter, that ended 2-2, Egypt was even able to defend an extra-man situation without a goalkeeper after Mostafa Mohamed had been excluded.
Despite the four-goal margin there wasn’t a lot of difference between the two teams – Egypt perhaps made better decisions and were more accurate as the shot clock wound down. They also kept, Juan Pablo Padilla, Colombia’s tournament leading scorer coming into the game, off the scoresheet until the last few minutes of the fourth term.
Mostafa Mohamed said his team had been focused on the game against Colombia for a few days. “It was a good game and we played with a lot of spirit,” he said.
“Colombia played with a lot of spirit too, they are a good team but that was our goal to win (against) Colombia and in the last match against Peru. “We played in the beginning not well but we gained motivation goal after goal.”
Egypt now goes to the 13th play-off match, while Colombia will play for 15th.
Goalkeeper Mostafa Mohamed (EGY) said his side was “ready for anyone” having played heavyweight teams USA and Hungary at the tournament.
Game 52: 11:40, KAZAKHSTAN 7 UZBEKISTAN 9
Round 13-19 quarterfinal
Quarters: 2-1, 5-3, 0-1, 0-4
Referees: Jose Cardenas (COL), Ahmad Farman (KUW)
Extra Man: KAZ 3/10, UZB 1/3
Pens: UZB 1/1
Teams:
KAZAKHSTAN: Dmitriy Kuprin, Stanislav Tsoy (2), Vadim Safiullin, Alexandr Godovanyuk (1), Altay Altaev, Rustem Garayev, Bolat Turlykhanov (1), Yegor Berbelyuk (2), Raul Mudrik, Yersainov Makhambet (1), Miras Aubakirov, Andrey Sukhoparov. Head Coach: Nemanja Knezevic.
UZBEKISTAN: Stanislav Pashkanov, Timur Razzakov, Miraziz Qosimov, Amir Kurbanbaev, Mirsodik Yodgorov, Aleksey Zaytsev, Kirill Rustamov (7), Egor Chumachenko (1), Abbas Sayliev, Semyon Selifontov (1), Artur Kim, Maksim Krakhotin, Radion Khabibullaev. Head Coach: Aleksandr Sokolov.
KAZ vs UZB - credit: Anthony Pearse
Uzbekistan scraped through its round 13-19 quarterfinal, defeating Kazakhstan 9-7 in a nail-biting match in day-seven action. The first term was tight and the tournament’s star goal scorer, Kirill Rustamov (UZB), netted the first as Uzbekistan looked to maintain control of the ball.
Kazakhstan worked its way into the quarter and goals to Bolat Turlykhanov and Yegor Berbelyuk (KAZ) put it a goal up heading into the second. In a match full of offensive fouls, it seemed by the end of the first half that Kazakhstan had all but won the match as it delivered the goods, continuing its assault on the Uzbeks.
Kazakhstan scored five in the second term with Uzbekistan only able to score three as Rustamov attempted to keep his team above water, scoring two more while Egor Chumachenko (UZB) netted a spectacular goal under pressure, with his head under water.
As tensions ran high between the rivals, both defensive sides turned up the intensity for the third term with only one goal scored by Rustamov — who was again the only player able to make anything happen with a lob over the head of the goalkeeper. Going into the final term, the scores stood at 7-5 to Kazakhstan, but a quick goal from Semyon Selifontov (UZB) gave Uzbekistan some hope.
It was Rustamov again who ensured the win for Uzbekistan as he continued his assault on the net, slotting three goals in the last four minutes of the game, increasing his overall goals tally for the competition to 35 goals. Uzbekistan now plays Egypt in a battle over 13th place while Kazakhstan will play Colombia to place 15th or 16th.
Game 53: 14:20, GREECE 8 SERBIA 9
Indoor Pool
Round 1-8 quarterfinal
Quarters: 2-2, 2-2, 2-2, 2-3
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Matan Schwarts (ISR)
Extra Man: GRE 3/14, 5/9
Pens: GRE 1/1
Teams:
GREECE: Nikitas Paraskevopoulos, Michail Kazazis, Spyridon Fotopoulos (1), Emmanouil Prekas, Chrysovalantis Chrysospathis (4), Konstantinos Gouvis (1), Georgios Dervisis (2), Evangelos Potamianos, Marios Chatzigoulas, Nikolaos Alvertis, Panteleimon Kalogerakos, Emmanouil Solanakis, Alexandros Koumis. Athanasios Kechagias.
SERBIA: Milan Vitorovic, Mateja Asanovic, Milos Maksimovic (2), Drasko Gogov, Nikola Radulovic, Stefan Ilic, Dusan Mandic (1), Marko Manojlovic, Dimitrije Obradovic, Dorde Tanaskovic (1), Ognjen Stojanovic (4), Nikola Jaksic (1), Lazar Dobozanov. Head Coach: Dejan Savic.
GRE vs SRB - credit: Anthony Pearse
Serbia has booked a semi-final berth against either Australia or Hungary after a thrilling 9-8 quarter-final victory over fellow Europeans Greece on Day 7. The Serbians came from a goal down with less than three minutes to go to firstly level at 8-8 before going ahead courtesy of thunderbolts from Dusan Mandic and Dorde Tanaskovic.
Star driver Ognjen Stojanovic was the hero for Serbia with four goals, while Chrys Chrysospathis led his team’s scoring also with four. The first three quarters were a mirror of each other with both teams bagging two goals each term.
Milos Maksimovic and Stojanovic opening the scoring for Serbia with two neat conversions, before Chrysospathis and Georgios Dervisis both scored in extra man to level the scores at two all at the first break.
Maksimovic then capitalized on an extra man opportunity early in the second to give Serbia the lead, only for Chrysospathis and Spyridon Fotopulos to equalize. Greece’s Nikitas Paraskevopoulos was superb in that time, deflecting anything that came his way.
The Greeks threatened to pull away in the third – twice going ahead by a single goal margin – but a third to Stojanovic and another to Nikola Jaksic kept the Greeks in check.
Chrysospathis added two more in the final term to once again put Greece ahead, but the reliable arm of Stojanovic to go with the wonder strikes from Mandic and Tanaskovic proved too powerful.
Stojanovic, who’s three of four goals came during extra-man, said the team knew Greece was a good outfit but did not expect such a strong challenge from them.
“The game was good, but very hard. We expected to win, but we thought it would be by a bigger margin,” Stojanovic said. “Greece is a very good team though, so I’m glad we won”.
Greece will now play the loser of Australia versus Hungary.
Game 54: 18:30, ITALY 6 ROMANIA 3
Indoor Pool
Round 1-8 quarterfinal
Quarters: 3-0, 0-2, 1-1, 2-0
Referees: Emanuel Taylan (TUR), Risto Damcevski (FYROM)
Extra Man: ITA 1/10, ROU 0/3
Pens: ITA 1/1
Teams:
ITALY: Leonardo Cavo, Umberto Espositio, Gianluigi Foglio (1), Federico Foti (1), Andrea Fondelli (4), Jacopo Alesiani, Vincenzo Dolce, Lorenzo Bruni, Allessandro Velotto (1), Tommaso Busilacchi, Luca Cupido, Nicola Cuccovillo, Fabio Viola. Head Coach: Amedeo Pomilio.
ROMANIA: Marius Tic, Mihnea Gheorghe, Andrei Prioteasa, Robert Gergelyfi, Catalin Alexa, Alexandru Sfarle, Vlad Dragomirescu, Cristian Calin (1), Bogdan Paleacu (1), Andrei Laza, Levente Vancsik, Tudor Neagu (1), David Sacui. Head Coach: Viorel Rus.
Italy is another step closer to a medal at the FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships but not after a 6-3 struggle against a stout Romania. Andrea Fondelli (ITA) put his team ahead after three minutes with a penalty blast into the top left corner of the goal. The Italians settled into the contest and with goals to Gianluigi Foglio (ITA), then Fondelli again, gave them breathing space at 3-0 to complete the first quarter.
Romania got the tonic they required through an early second-quarter goal to Bogdan Paleacu (ROU). The Romanians had the better of the term and made it count with a bullet from long range by Tudor Neagu (ROU) just before the half, closing the gap on the Italians to one.
The Italians’ drought in front of goal extended to the best part of two quarters as they squandered extra-man opportunities. However, Romania was having similar attacking issues and could not make any headway. Finally, Fondelli scored his third for Italy but Romania would not slink off, quickly answering with a score to Cristian Calin (ROU).
The arm wrestle continued into the final quarter with Romania attempting to score first and get the match onto an even keel. Allessandro Velotto and Vincenzo Dolce (ITA) had other ideas though, working a one-two, allowing Velotto to slot home from range. Fondelli, the man who caused the Romanians the most headaches throughout, fittingly, scored his fourth to seal the game.
Fondelli, while happy to progress believes Italy has more work to do in extra-man situations, just converting once from 10 attempts.
“We didn’t play our best but know we are now in the top four teams. Our problem (tonight) was not using our extra-man chances. Tomorrow we need to focus and shoot properly,” Fondelli said.
Romania will play for positions between fifth and eighth and coach Viorel Rus is hopeful of gaining a high ranking from the tournament. “We played a good game. Tactically we had an advantage at times, even though Italy is one of the best teams at the tournament,” Rus said.
Game 55: 18:00, HUNGARY 14 AUSTRALIA 7
Indoor Pool
Round 1-8 quarterfinal
Quarters: 5-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-1
Referees: Alexey Krapivin (RUS), William MacKay (CAN)
Extra Man: HUN 5/12 AUS 4/13
Pens: HUN 1/1
Teams:
HUNGARY: Mihaly Peterfy, Daniel Santa, Szilard Jansik (1), Tamas Sedlmayer, Jozsef Berta (1), Krisztian Manhercz (2), Gergo Zalanki, Tamas Gyarfas (1), Balint Lorincz (5), Bendeguz Szabo (1), Andras Telegdy, Toni Nemet (3), David Gyorgy. Head Coach: Gyorgy Horkai.
AUSTRALIA: Anthony Hrysanthos, Blake Buckley (1), Davis Verboon, William Mackay, Luke Pavillard (3), Matthew Perrott (1), Matthew Skinner, Lachlan Edwards, Gordon Marshall, Justin Trabinger (1), Reed Cotterill, Ciaran Wolohan (1), Sam Cocokios. Head Coach: Chris Wybrow.
AUS vs HUN - credit: Anthony Pearse
Hungary has set up a tantalising semi-final showdown against Serbia after disposing of home town heroes Australia 14-7 in the final men’s quarterfinal on Day 7. The European heavyweights dominated from the opening whistle, employing a dynamic physical approach that crippled the fast flowing attack of the Australians.
It was a hectic early pace with both teams exchanging goals. Blake Buckley opened the scoring for Australia with a neat conversion from right hand catch, before Hungary equalised soon after through centre forward Toni Nemet.
The respective number ten’s – Justin Trabinger and Bendeguz Szabo – then traded goals to make it two apiece after four minutes, only for Hungary to go on a three goal run to stamp their authority. Luke Pavillard converted from extra-man in the dying minutes to make it 5-3 at the first break. Anthony Hrysanthos was resilient in the cage as he kept the Aussies in the game with a collection of fine saves in the first and second period.
The second term was a stalemate for the first four and a half minutes, until Nemet pocketed his third. Pavillard then struck back immediately to keep Australia in the contest. Hungary was able to apply great pressure to Australia’s defence and the burden eventually showed with Trabinger and Ciaran Wolohan both in early foul trouble.
This allowed Balint Lorincz to take advantage of the tiring Australians netting his third for the game to give Hungary an 8-4 lead at the main break. Australia mounted a mini fight back in the third with left-hander Pavillard – who continued to blossom as a lethal shooting option on the right – and Wolohan both converting difficult chances. However they were not able to maintain the pressure as Lorincz added a fourth to go with goals from Tamas Gyarfas and Krisztian Manhercz.
It was always going to be a difficult task for the Australians as they were up against a team who currently sits seventh in the 2012/13 Hungarian first division. Despite the imminent result, Australia continued to fight with Reed Cotterill drawing his third exclusion for the game and captain Matthew Perrot slotting home for his first.
Krisztian Manhercz and Jozsef Berta then added one each to go with Lorincz’s fifth to finish the game in style. Lorincz said the team was really happy to secure the victory and believed they now had the confidence to go on and win the gold.
“I’m happy with my performance today and the team. We came to play against the best teams so all of our hard work is paying off” Lorincz said. “I’m very confident for our next game. I think we are unstoppable. We came for the gold medal so that’s what we want.”
Pavillard, who again demonstrated what potential he harnesses, said it was disappointing to lose but indicated it was not all lost as the team would continue to develop.
“It’s always disappointing to lose. We trained so hard for this and we know we can beat them and as a team we really got ourselves ready for a big performance and unfortunately we just got beaten by a better team,” Pavillard said.
“It’s not a total loss we can look back at the mistakes we made. They are better than us for a reason so we can look over what they did and look at what we can improve on and hopefully that will help us going further in the tournament.”
Game 56: 13:00, CROATIA 17 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 7
Round 1-8 quarterfinal
Quarters: 4-0, 4-1, 3-2, 6-4
Referees: Michail Birakis (GRE), Gabor Vogel (HUN)
Extra Man: CRO 3/8, USA 4/13
Pens: CRO 1/1, USA 0/1
Teams:
CROATIA: Ivan Marcelic, Luka Bukic (3), Lovre Milos, Andro Gagulic (1), Slavko Calic (1), Marino Cagalj (1), Luka Lozina (1), Antonio Buha (1), Antun Goreta (4), Marino Divkovic (2), Andrija Basic (1), Ivan Zivkovic (1), Deni Saric (1). Head Coach: Hrvoje Hrestak.
USA: Garrett Danner, Adam Abdilhamid, Reid Chase (2), Matthew Farmer, Patrick (Jack) Fellner (1), Kent Inoue, Max Irving, Chandler Jarrels Stickney, Chancellor Ramirez (1), Ryder Roberts (2), Connor Stapleton, Alec Zwaneveld, Kevin Levine. Head Coach: Jason Lynch.
CRO vs USA - credit: Anthony Pearse
A fired up Croatia systematically crushed the United States 17-7 in the first men’s quarterfinal after jumping out to an unassailable 7-0 lead before halftime. The victory was Croatia’s fifth in succession at the tournament and on today’s display it will take a huge performance from someone to stop it winning the gold medal. It was impressive in all facets of play, particularly in extra-man attack where it rotated between a four-two and a three-three structure.
The Croatians jumped out of the blocks like men possessed and just after the first quarter had ticked past the halfway mark, led 4-0. Marino Cagalj scored the first from 7m, then Marino Divkovic and Ivan Zivkovic were next to score (both in extra man). Antun Goreta, who came into the game as Croatia’s leading scorer in these championships with 10, completed the rout for the quarter-time score.
It took a few minutes but Deni Saric had the scoring underway in the second period and it was 7-0 before hard-working USA centre forward Alec Zwaneveld earned an exclusion, allowing Chandler Jarrels-Stickney to score in extra man for his side’s first goal of the game. It had taken them just shy of 15 minutes. Croatia scored again to make it 8-1 at halftime and with its goalkeeper Ivan Marcelic the best player in the pool, the game looked well and truly over.
Chancellor Ramirez got the USA off to a better start with the first goal in the third quarter but Croatia’s next two goals were deflections off the hands of USA defenders and you had the feeling it just wasn’t the USA’s day. At the final break it was 11-3.
Croatia scored another six to the USA’s four in the last quarter, including an exciting hat-trick to Luka Bukic. Goreta ended the game with four to top the scoresheet. A chuffed Croatian coach Mate Zeljak was suitably impressed by his troops.
“We expected a little bit more from the USA but you can’t blame them because my boys play very well, were very motivated and I’m really proud of them,” Zeljak said. “We tried to play hard defence and patiently in attack and the boys played at a high level.”
Zeljak singled out his goalkeeper Marcelic for extra praise. “Our goalkeeper is a standout. He’s our captain and for years he’s making wonderful saves. He’s brilliant.”
Game 57: 18:30, BRAZIL 21 IRAN 14
Outdoor Pool
Round 9-12 semifinal
Quarters: 5-2, 5-5, 6-4, 5-3
Referees: Joseph Peila (USA), John Waldow (NZL)
Extra Man: BRA 2/5, IRI 5/7
Pens: BRA 1/1, IRI 3/3
Teams:
BRAZIL: Bernardo Campos, Pedro Stellet (7), Leon Psanquevich (1), Felipe Martins (1), Guilherme Campos (1), Pedro Real Vergara (3), Andrey Lopes, Henrique Vasconcelo (5), Guilherme Gomes (1), Gabriel Salgado (2), Caio Marques, Lucas Franca, Matheus Sorilha. Head Coach: Angelo Coelho.
IRAN: Mehran Seyed Bagheri, Masoud Ahmadi (1), Mahmoud Gholamnejad (4), Malek Khanbanan Hamed (4), Ali Mohammadi Gahroei, Ali Khaledi Tabar, Alireza Moghaddam, Nima Jamshidi Orak, Sheikhighalehsardi Reza (2), Nima Shahbazi , Heydari Mohammadmehdi, Ramtin Osati (3), Mohammad Salemi. Head Coach: Davood Rezasoltari.
BRA vs IRI - credit: Anthony Pearse
Brazil beat Iran 21-14 in the men’s classification round 9-12 semifinal. Brazil controlled the game throughout the first with a 5-2 lead at quarter time. With Pedro Stellet and Henrique Vasconcelo both dominating in goals, Brazil was able to lead throughout the entire game. Keeping his team alive was Hamed Khanbanan (IRA) who scored five goals, holding Brazil to a three-goal margin for most of the game.
The second period saw two penalty goals allowing Iran to close the gap. But Brazil got the upper hand, scoring five goals, for a margin of 10-7 going into the second half.
Brazil was able to power away in the third, scoring five goals to Iran’s two. Iran’s Mahmoud Gholamnejad scored his third and fourth for the match for a margin of 15-9 going into the final term.
Vasconcelo scored his fourth and fifth of the match in the final quarter, and Stellet sealed the win with a whopping seven goals, for a 21-14 victory.
Brazilian star shooter Pedro Stellet said he was happy with his team’s attacking momentum, but not the defence. “I think our attack was good but Iran scored too many goals.”
On his team’s performance in Perth, he said: “It’s amazing to play the world championships, but we had a very tough group with Serbia and Italy. We came to play. Tomorrow we will go for ninth place.”
Iran’s Hamed Khanbanan played down his four-goal effort. “Other players helped me. I just go for goal. That is what I have been doing all week.”
On the match, he said: “It was a very strong game, but our players didn’t believe in themselves. We were confused a little and had a few problems, especially in the first and second quarters. After that they ran away with the game, which was very difficult.”
Game 58: 20:00, CANADA 14 NEW ZEALAND 11
Outdoor Pool
Quarters: (3 -3, 3-3, 5-1, 3-4)
Referees: Daniel Bartels (AUS), Ian Melliar (RSA)
Extra Man: CAN 5/8, NZL 4/9
Pens: CAN 1/1, NZL 1/1
Teams:
CANADA: Drake Greschner, Ethan Davis (1), Maxime Gallant, Martin Pelland, Harrison Watt (1), Oscar Henning (1), Elias Issa, David Lapins (2), Eric Graham (1), Connor Perry, Devon Thumwood (4), Nikola Curcija (1), Virgile Chabot. Head Coach: Robert Couillard.
NEW ZEALAND: Thomas Kingsmill, Matthew Lewis (2), Mathew Hansen, Daniel John Kayes (3), Cameron Hayes (1), Tyler Levi (2), Mitchell Goff (1), Braeden Drennan (2), Rory McJorrow, John (Jack) McGuiness, Owen Chambers, Anton Sunde (3), Sid Terence Dymond. Head Coach: Jonathon Ware.
CAN vs NZL - credit: Anthony Pearse
New Zealand split open Canada in the third quarter to progress to the classification for ninth, triumphing 14-11. Devon Thumwood (CAN) got off to the perfect start with a penalty and then an extra-man goal to jump out of the blocks. This stung New Zealand into action, Daniel Kayes (NZL) on target with a long skip shot from the left, the best of three straight goals.
Entertainment ensued in the second quarter as Thumwood and Kayes engaged in some one-upmanship matching each other’s spectacular efforts. The lead changed three times during the term before the match settled at equilibrium, 6-all in a first half that had it all.
The pivotal break came midway during the third quarter as New Zealand found more avenues to call. Braeden Drennan, Matthew Lewis and Mitchell Goff (NZL) added their names to the goal-scorers’ list in a decisive 5-1 quarter for the black caps. Canadian emotions spilled over when they lost assistant coach Sandra Lizé (CAN) to a red card with his team down by four goals at three-quarter time.
Canada showed some spark to threaten at times in the last quarter. Third goals of the night to Kayes and Sunde saw New Zealand snuff out the last of the resistance, taking the win 14-11.
The third quarter turned around what New Zealand coach Johnathon Ware described as their worst first half of the tournament to date.
“The boys sorted out their defence, they started playing in their systems as we wanted them to.”
Ware felt Brazil would test the New Zealanders in the play-off for nith place on Saturday.
“Our boys don’t tend to deal well with the quick, speedy type of players. We play a little more like the European style of play so it will be quite a difficult task,” Ware said.
Canadian Head coach Robert Couillard lamented his team’s sloppy work. “We are definitely disappointed with some basics like moving the ball, passing and one on one. We beat ourselves, not taking anything away from the New Zealanders,” Couillard said.