Trieste, Day 7: Hungary and Italy will play for the gold medal

In Day 7, the eight teams admitted to the Quarters Finals played for the placements in the final rankings. The games among the teams qualified for Rio saw the victories of Hungary over France and Italy over Spain. Tomorrow, the winners will play for the gold medal, the losers for the bronze medal.

The games among the losers of the quarter finals were won respectively by Netherlands over Germany and Canada over Romania. The winners will play for the 5th place, the losers for the 7th place, with the following schedule:

Finals - Sunday 10 April:
7th place / 11:00 L35-L36  Germany-Romania
5th place / 12:30 W35-W36  Netherlands-Canada
3rd place / 15:30 L37-L38  France-Spain
1st place / 17:00 W37-W38 Hungary-Italy.

Schedule and Results of Day 7/Saturday, 9th April - Semi Finals
35. 16:00 Germany-Netherlands 7-8
36. 17:30 Canada-Romania 14-7
37. 19:00 Hungary-France 15-9
38. 20:30 Spain-Italy 5-6

Game by Game

Game 35 – 16.00 Germany-Netherlands 7-8 (2-1, 3-0; 2-3, 0-2 )

Germany: 1. Roger Kong, 2. Erik Bukowski, 3. Christian Schlanstedt, 4. Julian Real © , 5. Tobias Preuss (1), 6.Maurice Jungling (2), 7. Heiko Nossek, 8. Paul Schuler (1), 9. Marko Stamm (2, 1P), 10. Mateo Cuk, 11. Marin Restovic (1), 12. Dennis Eidner, 13. Tim Hohne. Head Coach: Patrick Weissinger.

Netherlands: 1. Eelco Wagenaar, 2. Yoran Frauenfelder, 3. Jorn Winkelhorst (2), 4. Ruud Van der Horst, 5. Lucas Gielen, 6. Robin Lindhout (2), 7. Lars Cottemaker, 8. Lars Reuten (1), 9. Josep Van der Bersselaar, 10. Roeland Spijker © (1), 11. Jesse Koopman (2), 12. Thomas Lucas, 13. Ruben Hoepelman. Head Coach: Robin Van Galen.

Referees: Pascal Bouchez (FRA), Viktor Salnichenko (KAZ).
FINA Delegate: Khosrow Amini.

Notes –Both Germany and Netherlands lined up from the start their goalkeeper with number 13, respectively Hohne and Hoepelman. Hohne (G) saved one penalty from Reuten (N). Excluded with substitution Schlanstedt (G) in the 4th period. Extra man goals: Germany 1/2 + 1 penalty, Netherlands 3/5 + 1 penalty.

Netherlands beat Germany with a break of 5-0 in the last 10 minutes of the match. There were decisive the goals by Reuten, Koopman in extraman, Spijker and twice Lindhout, the last in power play. Until half time, the Dutch team appeared content with what they had already achieved in the previous day, at least considering their soft opposition to Germany, who had easily ruled the operations and was leading 5-1, a 4-goal advantage, after the first two periods.

It was not so. In the second half, the Dutch narrowed the gap and eventually, in the last quarter, they managed to tie at 7-7 on an action goal from Lindhout with 2:51 minutes to the end. Less than a minute later, at 1:55 to the final siren, they went into the lead and won the game with Lindhout’ second goal, this one on man up. Final score 7-8.

Heiko Nossek, Germany’s player: "It’s hard to accept this match after yesterday's loss; everything is done now and is hard to play the day after a big loss, it was clear from today’ slowness of the game. We aren't happy about this tournament because we wanted to go to the Olympic Games, we failed and we're very disappointed".

Robin Van Galen, Netherlands’ coach: "This was a match that nobody wanted to play. Yesterday we lost an important opportunity. If you are disappointed is impossible to play. It's a strange situation".

Game 36 – 17.30 Canada-Romania (5-3, 4-0; 2-1, 3-3)

Canada: 1. Dusan Aleksic, 2. Constantin Kudaba (1), 3. Oliver Vikalo (1), 4.Nicolas Constantin Bicari (4), 5. Justin Boyd (4), 6. Scott Robinson, 7. David Lapins, 8. Kevin Graham ©, 9. Dusan Radojcic (1), 10. John Conway (2), 11. Georgios Torakis (1), 12. Jared McElroy, 13. Robin Randall. Head Coach: Giuseppe Porzio.

Romania: 1. Dragos Stonescu, 2. Cosmin Radu ©, 3. Tiberiu Negrean (1), 4. Mihnea Gheorghe (3), 5. Nicolae Oanta, 6. Dan Andrei Busila, 7. Daniel Teohari, 8. Mihnea Chioveanu (1), 9. Dimitri Goanta, 10. Roland Szabo (1), 11. Alexandru Ghiban, 12. Alex Popoviciu (1), 13. Marius Tic. Head Coach: Dejan Stanojevic.

Referees: Vojin Putnikovic (SRB), Sergio Galindo (ESP).
FINA Delegate: Takeshi Inoue.

Notes – Both Germany and Netherlands lined up from the start their goalkeeper with number 13, respectively  Randall and Tic. Extra man goals: Canada 5/8, Romania 4/8.

Canada proved to be still tonic and focused while Romania showed the scars left by last night’s painful defeat against Italy. Eventually the North Americans won scoring the double of goals than the Romanians.

After 26 seconds from the start Canada scored the first goal with Kudaba who shoot from outside. Then the two number 4, Gheorghe for Romania and Bicari for Canada, scored a goal each. Bicari followed up with his second goal, less than half second later. Canada took firmly the lead at nearly half of the first period with Conway, 4-1. Gheorghe’ second goal, on man up, and Chioveanu narrowed the gap. At 6:30 Bicari’s hat trick sent Canada to the 2nd quarter with a 2-goal advantage, on 5-3.
Bicari was irresistible and a minute inside the 2nd quarter scored his 4th goal, followed up by goals from Conway and Boyd (2, the second on extra man).
9-3 the score at half time.

In the 3rd period, Canada scored twice, again with Boyd (3rd goal) and then Radojcic on extra man. In between there was a goal from Radu for Romania. 11-4 the score before the last fraction of the game.

The 4th was tied 3-3. Goals in this order: Torakis (C ), Popoviciu (R), McElroy (C), Gheorghe (R), Szabo (R ), Boyd (C ), fourth goal. Final score 14-7. Bicari and Boyd scored 4 goals each for Canada; Gheorghe 3 was Romania top scorer with 3 goals. Tomorrow Canada will play Netherlands for the 5th place.

Game 37 – 19.00 Hungary-France  15-9 (4-2, 4-4; 2-1, 5-2)

Hungary: 1. Viktor Nagy, 2.Gergo Zalanki, 3. Krisztian Manhercz (4, 1P), 4. Balasz Erdely, 5. Marton Vamos (3), 6. Norbert Hosnyanszky (2), 7. Adam Decker (1), 8. Marton Szivos, 9. Daniel Varga © (1), 10. Denes Varga (1), 11. Krisztian Bedo, 12. Balasz Harai (3), 13. David Bisztritsanyi. Head Coach: Tibor Benedek.

France: 1. Remi Garsau, 2. Remi Saudadier (1), 3. Igor Kovacevic (2), 4. Romain Blary (1), 5. Enzo Khasz, 6. Thibaut Simon (2), 7.Ugo Crousillat, 8. Michal Izdinsky (1), 9. Mehdi Marzouki, 10. Mathieu Peisson (2), 11. Petar Tomasevic, 12. Alexandre Camarasa ©, 13. Billy Noyon. Head Coach: Florian Bruzzo.
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROM), Dion Willis (RSA).  

FINA Delegate: Manuel Ibern.

Notes - For Hungary goalkeeper number 13, Bisztritsanyi, played from the start. Extra man goals: Hungary 4/7 + 1 penalty, France 2/9.

France honoured its role as one of revelations of this tournament. The French played convincingly, fought until the very end, and opposed the high ranked Hungary the best they could.

The split scores reflect exactly how the game developed. The Magyars opened the match with a break of 4-1 in the first 5 minutes. They won three periods quite comfortably but did not dominate. The 3rd period was tied on 4-4.

The match best scorers were Manhercsz with 4 goals, Vamos and Harai, 3 goals each for Hungary; Kovacevic , Simon and Peisson 2 goals each for France.

Peisson, France’s player: "This game was very difficult for us because Hungary is one of the strongest teams in the world. For five games we gave everything. And yesterday we celebrated our qualification to the Olympic Games. Physically and mentally we are very tired”.

Game 38 – 20.30 Spain-Italy 5-6 (1-0, 0-1; 2-1, 2-4)

Spain: 1. Inaki Aguilar, 2. Alberto Munarriz, 3. Alejandro Busto, 4. Ricard Alarcon (1), 5. Guillermo Molina, 6. Marc Minguell , 7.Balasz Sziranyi , 8. Albert Espanol (1), 9. Roger Tahull, 10. Francisco Fernandez , 11. Blai Mallarach (2), 12. Gonzalo Echenique (1), 13. Daniel Lopez. Head Coach: Gabriel Hernandez.

Italy: 1. Stefano Tempesti©, 2. Francesco Di Fulvio, 3. Niccolò Gitto, 4. Pietro Figlioli (1P), 5. Alex Giorgetti (1), 6. Michael Bodegas (1), 7. Alessandro Velotto, 8. Alessandro Nora (2), 9. Christian Presciutti, 10. Stefano Luongo (1), 11. Matteo Aicardi, 12. Fabio Baraldi, 13. Marco Del Lungo. Head Coach: Alessandro Campagna.

Referees: Joseph Peila (USA), Gernot Haentschel (GER).
FINA Delegate: Alan Alfanbayev.

Notes - Red card for Tahull (S) in the 3rd period. Excluded with substitution Alarcon (S) in the 4th period. Extra man goals: Spain 3/8, Italy 2/9 + 1 penalty. Attendance 1500.

The game developed slowly for the first two periods, characterised by the lowest split scores in this tournament. Just 2 goals were entered on the match report at half time, the first from Spain in the 1st quarter, with Espanol, the second from Italy in the 2nd quarter with Giorgetti on a fast counter attack: 1-1 at half time.

The game lighted up in the second half. In the 3rd quarter Spain scored twice, thanks to Alarcon and Echenique. Just one goal for Italy, with Nora. Italy’s left hander Nora swiftly scored his second goal just 26 seconds inside the last period, to tie 3-3. A minute and half later Figlioli converted a penalty sending Italy up one goal (3-4). At 4:23 inside the last period Luongo increased the advantage on extra man (3-5). Two goals from left hander Mallarach, the first on extra man, gave Spain a new tie, at 5-5, with just about a minute to go.

At 42 seconds to the end, Bodegas scored on extra man the winning goal for Italy: game over on the score of 6-5 for the home team.

Michael Bodegas, Italy’s player: "It was an important match for the Olympic Games draw; so we stayed focused until the end. We are satisfied because it was important to let see our value because we have already lost two matches against Spain. I think we didn't play very well but, we did a good team play. This win it's so important for us and for our supporters".

Gabriel Hernandez, coach of Spain: "It was a very difficult match today because yesterday we played hard and we didn't have our centre. Anyway, we got the Olympic pass and that is the most important thing".