Match reports:

For places 13th-16th

COLOMBIA 9 SOUTH AFRICA 11
Quarters: 2-2, 1-2, 3-4, 3-3

Teams:
COLOMBIA: SANDOVAL Daniel Ricardo, ALDANA Brayan Alejandro, PEREZ Juan Carlos, HINESTROZA Andres David, HERNANDEZ Juan Pablo 1, MONTOYA Steven, MONCADA William 2, AREVALO Santiago, ORTIZ Omar Andres, VERGARA Glicerio 1, GONIMA David 1, PEREZ Guillermo 1, TALASA Jayman 3.
SOUTH AFRICA: CONVERSANO Franco, OLVER Roarke, JAGGA Dayne 1, TRNINIC Dan 2, DU PLESSIS Paul, SCHOOLING Nicholas 2, HAYES Dylan, GREGORY Campbell 1, WRIGHT Cameron 2, MASON Dylan 1, BAKER Christopher 1, FRAMES Michael 1, MADI Lwazi.

Extramen:
COL: 2 for 7
RSA: 2 for 3

Penalties: none
Referees: Sadikov (UZB), Salnichenko (KAZ)

It was a great battle but South Africa needed a perfect 50 seconds to put the game on the right track towards the end of the third period. Until then it was anybody’s match, the South African took the lead in the first and kept it till the middle break. The Colombians opened the third with some great play, scoring three action goals they went ahead and held their 6-5 lead for a while... But in a span of 49 seconds the South Africans scored three action goals. A fine shot, two counter attacks – and it was 6-8, a virtual KO. The Colombians pulled one back deep into the fourth but their rivals decided the outcome through two converted 6 on 5s. Leading 7-10 3:19 to go it was over – the South Africans gained their first win, though the Latin Americans deserve all credit for their efforts.

SLOVAKIA 17 KAZAKHSTAN 6
Quarters: 1-2, 6-0, 4-2, 6-2

Teams:
SLOVAKIA: KOZMER Lukas, GASPARIK Patrik, HODAS Matej, KOSTELNIK Tomas 7, PLVAN Vladimir 2, BIBEN Martin, PAKSI Patrik 2, DEKANY Matej 1, ZAKAR Peter 1, BAUER Otto, BIELIK Tomas 2, BALAZ Samuel 2, HOFERICA Tomas.
KAZAKHSTAN: MAKHMETOV Madikhan, TSOY Stanislav, KOLIADENKO Anton 1, GODOVANYUK Alexandr 1, AUBAKIROV Miras, ZHARDAN Maxim 2, TURLYKHANOV Bolat, BERBELYUK Egor, ALTAYEV Altay, YERSAINOV Makhambet 2, SAFIULLIN Vadim, SHAMSHAT Iliyas, SHLEMOV Valeriy.

Extramen:
SVK: 3 for 11
KAZ: 2 for 12

Penalties
SVK: 0 for 1
KAZ: none

Referees: Nemeth (HUN), Dester (BRA)

It took a period for the Slovaks to bounce back from their painful loss to the USA but then they proved their class. In fact, their qualities would have deserved a later game – a chance in the QF qualifiers – but they couldn’t survive the toughest group of the championships. Trailing 1-2 after eight minutes, they regrouped themselves, found the right rhythm and pace, scored three action goals in 48 seconds and that was enough to turn the cards. By half-time they were 7-2 up and rolled on in the second half with Tomas Kostelnik leading the charge, who scored seven goals.

Qualification for quarter finals

CANADA 2 BRAZIL 5
Quarters: 1-1, 0-1, 1-1, 0-2

Teams:
CANADA: RADENOVIC Milan, BOSKOVIC Dusan, RADOJCIC Dusan, PELLANO Martin, GRAHAM Eric 1, DABIC Matija, TASCHEREAN Alec 1, LAPINS David, MITROVIC Nikola, PERRY Connor, THUMWOOD Devon, HENNING Oscar, SULLIVAN Daniel.
BRAZIL: MANFRINI Marcelo, JUNIOR Marcos, MARTINS Felipe, REAL Pedro 1, TAYER Pedro, GOMES Bernardo, BORGES Pedro, VASCONSCELOS Henrique, GOMES Guilherme, SALGADO Gabriel 1, GUIMARAES Gustavo 3, STELLET Pedro, CAMPOS Bernardo.

Extramen:
CAN: 1 for 12
BRA: 3 for 9

Penalties: none
Referees: Stankevich (USA), Zurek (SVK)

As the scoreline shows it was a nervous game with lots of missed, saved and blocked shots. The Canadians missed 11 of their 12 man-ups – a clear explanation why they netted only two goals in 32 minutes. The worst misses came in the most crucial moments when they had the chance to equalise after 1-2 or 2-3. Towards the end of the third, at 2-3, they missed two within a minute. With five minutes left the Brazilians also failed to convert a 6 on 5 but the Canadians couldn’t do it either from the following attack. And finally Gustavo Guimaraes ended the contest by scoring an action goal with 2:28 remaining and adding another one with 49 seconds to go, shortly after Canada missed their last man-up.


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 19 JAPAN 6
Quarters: 4-0, 5-2, 6-1, 4-3

Teams:
USA: BARON McQuin, FELLNER Patrick 3, ZWANEVELD Alec 2, FARMER Matthew 2, ABDULHAMID Adam, ROBERTS Ryder 3, McCLINTICK Danny, BONANNI Bret 6, BOWEN Alexander, RAMIREZ Chancellor 1, McCONNELL Nolan 1, KIMBELL Jackson 1, DANNER Garrett.
JAPAN: FUKUSHIMA Tomoyoshi, KONNO Yohei, ICHIKAWA Masahiro 2, FUKADA Shunsuke, TAKIGAWA Shunya, ISHITANI Toshiki, SAKAMOTO Kouki, SUGANE Daiki, ARAI Atsushi 3, OONO Yuto 1, SAKAUE Hiroyuki, MATSUSHITA Wataru, KAWAMURA Soushi.

Extramen:
USA: 6 for 7
JPN: 3 for 11

Penalties: none
Referees: Uz (TUR), Vasenin (RUS)

Japan missed a 6 on 5 at the beginning, then the US scored four goals in 2:40 minutes in the middle of the opening period and this determined the rest of the match. Among the juniors such scenario could make a team fly and the other break down. Just in that case. Japan, having held themselves pretty bravely against Croatia in their last game in the prelims, couldn’t recover from this shock while the US players’ confidence reached the skies. They rolled on in the second, rushed to a 9-0 lead and never looked  back.

RUSSIA 9 AUSTRALIA 10
Quarters: 2-2, 2-4, 3-2, 2-2

Teams:
RUSSIA: KORNEEV Kirill, SUCHKOV Ivan, KISELEV Konstantin, DYUBCHENKO Vitaly, KOVALENKO Valery, DEREVYANKIN Nikita, TIMAKOV Vladislav 1, NAGAEV Ivan 2, FEDOTOV Vasily, KOPTSEV Ivan, ZHITNIK Viacheslav 4, SHEPELEV Roman 2, MAKAS Artem.
AUSTRALIA: ADDLEY Gabriel, FORD George 1, PAVILLARD Luke, SKINNER Matthew, POWER Nathan 1, PERROTT Matthew 2, SINDONE Paul 2, TRABINGER Justin 2, MARSHALL Gordon 1, SINCLAIR Tyler 1, EGAN Daniel, EDWARDS Lachlan, COCOKIOS Sam.

Extramen:
RUS: 4 for 13
AUS: 5 for 12

Penalties: none
Referees: Buch (ESP), Garibaldi (ARG)

Russia’s men water polo went downhill after the 2004 Olympics but started to recover recently. Their juniors have been destined to reach something better – but losing this thriller they have to wait for the breakthrough. Still, one should hope this devastating loss will not slow down the Russian come-back.

They faced a red hot team, the Aussies enjoyed a fine day, they had answers for everything. Though Zhitnik levelled the score in the last second of the first period and opened the second one with an action goal, the Aussies replied from a centre-goal for 3-3. That was a crucial momentum: they went on scoring three straight goals for 3-6 while the Russians missed their shots (five in that period). However, they managed to find ground to bounce back, Zhitnik hit his third goal 22 seconds before the break.

And the Russians came close early in the third, but couldn't equalise. Ford netted a 6 on 5 for 5-7. Man-ups followed, one after the other, and despite the tension, the youngster put all away until the end of the third, so it started from 7-8.

But that was not the case in the fourth: almost five minutes went without finding the back of the net at both ends. In the meantime the Russians missed two extras, the Aussies one. With 3:23 remaining Zhitnik levelled the score with his 4th goal of the afternoon. Power replied from an extra, next came Nagaev for 9-9, with 2:14 on the clock. The Aussies lost the ball, Nagaev’s free throw was stopped by Addley but the same happened to Marshall. After Russia’s time-out Nagaev’s attempt was saved with 38 seconds to go. After the corner a counter foul was called against Derevyankin – 24 seconds left –, and a bit later he was excluded. The Aussies had 10 seconds to set-up their extra which they managed to do: Perrott’s shot just beat the buzzer and sent the Aussies to the quarters.

HUNGARY 26 UZBEKISTAN 4
Quarters: 5-1, 8-2, 7-1, 6-0

Teams:
HUNGARY: BENDES Viktor, TELEGDY Andras 2, JANSIK Szilard 3, BEDO Krisztian 3, BERTA Jozsef 2, SEDLMAYER Tamas 3, GYARFAS Tamas 3, CSAPO Miklos 2, LORINCZ Balint 2, SZABO Bendeguz, MANHERCZ Krisztian 4, NEMET Toni 2, GYORGY David.
UZBEKISTAN: KHABIBULLAEV Radion, RAZZAKOV Timur, QOSIMOV Miraziz 1, MASSEL Aleksandr 1, DONSKOV Vladimir, ZAITSEV Aleksey, RUSTAMOV Kirill 1, CHUMACHENKO Egor, SAVLIEV Abbas, SELIFONTOV Semvon, KURBANBAEV Amir, KRAHOTIN Maksim 1, MIRSAITOV Marlen.

Extramen:
HUN: 1 for 3
UZB: 1 for 11

Penalties:
HUN: none
UZB: 1 for 1

Referees: Willis (RSA), Cote (COL)

It was a scoring festival to the delight of the capacity crowd. The Uzbeks couldn’t cope with the hosts’ skills, speed and physical superiority. The Magyars scored whenever they wanted, while taking extra care on their rival’s top gun, Kirill Rustamov who couldn’t produce his fine shooting form under pressure, he was 1 for 11 this evening (the same as his team while in man-up). The Hungarians stopped at 26, as their head coach, the legendary Gyorgy Horkai (Olympic champion in 1976) said: "It was still better than having a plain practice session in a rest day. They all know, the big clash comes on Friday against Spain in the quarters."