Serbia edged USA 10-8 to win the battle vie for the first place in Group B, while Brazil nailed down China 15-13 thanks to superb shootout scores on Day 3 at the FINA Men's Water Polo World League Super Final here in Huizhou (CHN) on Thursday.
On Friday, Italy will play Brazil, Australia will face USA, Greece will meet China and Japan will go against Serbia.
Game 9: SERBIA 10 USA 8
Quarters: 4-2, 3-2, 2-2, 1-2,
Referees: Sergey Naumov(RUS), Daniel Flahive(AUS)
Extra Man: SRB 2/4, USA 2/14
Pens: 0
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic, Viktor Rasovic, Zivko Gocic (Captain, 1), Sava Randelovic, Gavril Subotic (1), Dusko Pijetlovic (1), Nemanja Ubovic, Starhinja Rasovic (2), Nikola Jaksic (1), Fillip Filipovic (2), Andrija Prlainovic (1), Stefan Mitrovic (1), Branislav Mitroic
Head Coach: Dejan Savic
USA: Merrill Moses, Thomas Dunstan (1), Nikola Vavic, Alex Obert (1), Alex Roelse, Luca Cupido (1), Josh Samuels, Tony Azevedo (Captain, 1), Alex Bowen (2), Ben Hallock (2), Jesse Smith, John Mann, McQuin Baron.
Head Coach: Dejan Udovicic
USA took a short lead when Alex Bowen shot first goal of the game after 27 seconds 1-0 and the American Captain Tony Azevedo opened the gate 2-1 with an Extra Man goal. Then the defending champion Serbia took the lead and never looked back though in the last quarter, Sava Randelovic and Nikola Jaksic were out of play for three exclusion fouls. USA fought from 8-4 at the beginning of the third quarter to 9-8 with 5 minutes left of the whole game. Filip Filipovic secured the victory for the defending champion Serbia with a high floating ball into the US gate at 1:58 before the end of the game.
Quotes:
Dejan Udovicic-USA: “In first half, we made some unexpected errors and gave the Serbia the lead. After then we tried hard to catch up with them, but it was too late.”
Tony Azevedo-USA Captain: “At the beginning, we started slow for sure. We had some opportunities but put them away. We gave up our defence and the counter-attacks were very bad. Until the end, we started to use our speed by playing better defence and that controlled the offence. We have many young players and this is the first Super Final and first Olympic Games. We are a young team but I think we can beat any team in the world, just like today. Facing Serbia, the best team of the world, we could win by just one or two shots. My father Richardo is the head coach of China's women water polo team. But we do not have time to meet this time. We will meet in Rio and hopefully both have medals.”
Game 10: GREECE 10 AUSTRALIA 5
Quarters: 1-1, 3-1, 2-2, 4-1
Referees: Francesc Buch (ESP), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
Extra Man: GRE 3/8, AUS 1/10
Pens: 0
GREECE: Konstantinos Flegkas, Dimitrios Tigkas, Georgios Dervisis, Konstantinos Genidounias (1), Ioannis Fountoulis (2), Kyriakos Pontikeas, Christos Afroudakis (Captain, 1), Evangelos Delakas, Konstantinos Mourikis (2), Christodoulos Kolomvos (1), Alexandros Gounas (1), Angelos Vlaschopoulos (2), Stefanos Galanopoulos,
Head Coach: Theodoros Vlachos
AUSTRALIA: Joel Dennerley, Richard Campbell (2), George Ford, John Cotterill (2), Nathan Power, Mitchell Emery, Aidan Roach (1), Aaron Younger, Joel Swift, Joe Kayes, Rhys Howden (Captain), Tyler Martin, James Stanton.
Head Coach: Elvis Fatovic
Greece and Australia started the game with hard defence and tied 1-1 in the first quarter. Then Greece blocked most of the scoring attempts from the Aussies and snatched 3 points out of 8 Extra Man fouls while Australia only had 1 Extra Man goal out of 10.
Quotes:
Theodoros Vlachos-GRE: “It was a very nice game. Australia team is very strong but we played better than them today, in the extra-man goals and defence. The secret of our victory was the counter attacks and hard defence. I was happy that we won one more game. We will try to win every game, every day and build up our confidence.”
Elvis Fatovic-AUS: “Our first quarter was really good, especially in the defence and extra man defence were excellent against the Greek team. But we struggled with our organization of extra man goals that we only scored one time which was not enough for the team. Tomorrow is another day we will try to play better.”
Game 11: BRAZIL 15 CHN 13
Quarters: 2-2, 2-2, 3-4, 4-3 Shootout 4-2
Referees: Tadao Tahara (JPN), Michail Kouretas(GRE)
Extra Man: BRA 5/13 CHN 4/16
Pens: BRA 1/1
BRAZIL: Slodoban Soro, Jonas Crivella, Guilherme Gomes, Ives Alonso (3), Paulo Salemi (2), Bernardo Gomes (1), Adrian Baches (3), Felipe Santos (Captain), Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco (2), Gustavo Guimaraes (3), Danilo Correa (1), Vinicius Antonelli
Head Coach: Ratko Rudic
CHINA: Liang Zhiwei, Xie Zekai, Li Yongxuan, Huang Weihong (2), Guo Junliang (1), Liang Zhongxing(Captain, 2), Chen Zhongxian (2), Lu Wenhui (1), Pan Ning (1), Chen Jinghao (2), Zhang Chufeng (2), Liang Nianxiang, Wu Honghui,
Head Coach: Chen Yaohua
Brazil won a breath-taking battle over China (15-13) thanks to superb shootout scores. The two teams changed the lead as a seesaw from the beginning of the game. China led 9-7, 10-8, 11-10 in the early fourth quarter and seemed to seal with the victory. However, Brazil kept shooting to tie 11-11 with 29 seconds left of the game. During the first shootout of the Super Final, the Brazilian goalie Slobodan Soro showed his experience and skills by blocking 3 of 5 shots from China and helped Brazil to place third in Group B with 1 win 2 losses. China was the fourth.
Quotes:
Ratko Rudic-BRA: “We played this game without two of our best players because they have special training since they arrived here later than the other players. We did not play our best. We had some mistakes in the defence and missed some good opportunities. When we were into the shootout, I was not nervous at all because we have a great goalie. I trust him and he did very well. Shootout is always at our advantage.”
Liang Zhongxing-CHN, Captain: “We had some errors in passing and defence since we are a young team and we lack experience. It was a good lesson for us to learn something from the shootout. We really hope to win a game at the Super Final.”
Game 12: JAPAN 10 ITALY 17
Quarters: 1-3, 4-6, 1-4, 4-4
Referees: Ivan Rakovic (SRB), Joe Peila (USA)
Extra Man: JPN 3/7, ITA 4/5
Pens: JPN 1/1, ITA 1/2
JAPAN: Katsuyuki Tanamura, Seiya Adachi (1), Atsushi Arai (1), Mitsuaki Shiga, Akira Yanase, Atsuto Iida, Yusuke Shimizu (1), Yuki Kadono (1), Koji Takei (4), Kenya Yasuda, Keigo Okawa (1), Shota Hazui (1), Tomoyoshi Fukushima.
Head Coach: Yoji Omoto
ITALY: Marco Del Lungo, Francesco Di Fulvio (1), Alessandro Velotoo (2), Peitro Figlioli (2), Andrea Foundelli (5), Michael Alexandrea Bodegas (1), Massimo Giacoppo (1), Alessandro Nora (1), Christian Presciutti (1), Stefano Luongo (2), Niccolo Figari (1), Nicholas Presciutti, Gariele Vassallo.
Head Coach: Alessandro Campagna
Italy dominated the game with a comfortable lead from 3-1, 9-5, 13-6 before winning the last quarter 17-10 while Japan showed unstable form by catching the shooting pace in the second and fourth quarters but slump in the first and third periods. Andrea Fondelli scored 5 goals for Italy.
Quotes:
Yoji Omoto-JPN: “Italy is a traditionally strong team. We lost the game, however we scored more goals than the previous two group matches. We had many shooting opportunities and tried to swim fast. We played better defence and improved every day. If we play games like what we did in the second and fourth quarter today, we could defeat strong team.”
Alessandro Campagna-ITA: “We were enjoying the game because we scored many goals. Japan played a good match with a lot of counter-attacks and a lot of fighting. I think it was a wonderful match. We won the game simply because we have more experience than Japan.”
FINA June 23 report
Serbia edged USA 10-8 to win the battle vie for the first place in Group B, while Brazil nailed down China 15-13 thanks to superb shootout scores on Day 3 at the FINA Men's Water Polo World League Super Final here in Huizhou (CHN) on Thursday.
On Friday, Italy will play Brazil, Australia will face USA, Greece will meet China and Japan will go against Serbia.
Game 9: SERBIA 10 USA 8
Quarters: 4-2, 3-2, 2-2, 1-2,
Referees: Sergey Naumov(RUS), Daniel Flahive(AUS)
Extra Man: SRB 2/4, USA 2/14
Pens: 0
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic, Viktor Rasovic, Zivko Gocic (Captain, 1), Sava Randelovic, Gavril Subotic (1), Dusko Pijetlovic (1), Nemanja Ubovic, Starhinja Rasovic (2), Nikola Jaksic (1), Fillip Filipovic (2), Andrija Prlainovic (1), Stefan Mitrovic (1), Branislav Mitroic
Head Coach: Dejan Savic
USA: Merrill Moses, Thomas Dunstan (1), Nikola Vavic, Alex Obert (1), Alex Roelse, Luca Cupido (1), Josh Samuels, Tony Azevedo (Captain, 1), Alex Bowen (2), Ben Hallock (2), Jesse Smith, John Mann, McQuin Baron.
Head Coach: Dejan Udovicic
USA took a short lead when Alex Bowen shot first goal of the game after 27 seconds 1-0 and the American Captain Tony Azevedo opened the gate 2-1 with an Extra Man goal. Then the defending champion Serbia took the lead and never looked back though in the last quarter, Sava Randelovic and Nikola Jaksic were out of play for three exclusion fouls. USA fought from 8-4 at the beginning of the third quarter to 9-8 with 5 minutes left of the whole game. Filip Filipovic secured the victory for the defending champion Serbia with a high floating ball into the US gate at 1:58 before the end of the game.
Quotes:
Dejan Udovicic-USA: “In first half, we made some unexpected errors and gave the Serbia the lead. After then we tried hard to catch up with them, but it was too late.”
Tony Azevedo-USA Captain: “At the beginning, we started slow for sure. We had some opportunities but put them away. We gave up our defence and the counter-attacks were very bad. Until the end, we started to use our speed by playing better defence and that controlled the offence. We have many young players and this is the first Super Final and first Olympic Games. We are a young team but I think we can beat any team in the world, just like today. Facing Serbia, the best team of the world, we could win by just one or two shots. My father Richardo is the head coach of China's women water polo team. But we do not have time to meet this time. We will meet in Rio and hopefully both have medals.”
Game 10: GREECE 10 AUSTRALIA 5
Quarters: 1-1, 3-1, 2-2, 4-1
Referees: Francesc Buch (ESP), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
Extra Man: GRE 3/8, AUS 1/10
Pens: 0
GREECE: Konstantinos Flegkas, Dimitrios Tigkas, Georgios Dervisis, Konstantinos Genidounias (1), Ioannis Fountoulis (2), Kyriakos Pontikeas, Christos Afroudakis (Captain, 1), Evangelos Delakas, Konstantinos Mourikis (2), Christodoulos Kolomvos (1), Alexandros Gounas (1), Angelos Vlaschopoulos (2), Stefanos Galanopoulos,
Head Coach: Theodoros Vlachos
AUSTRALIA: Joel Dennerley, Richard Campbell (2), George Ford, John Cotterill (2), Nathan Power, Mitchell Emery, Aidan Roach (1), Aaron Younger, Joel Swift, Joe Kayes, Rhys Howden (Captain), Tyler Martin, James Stanton.
Head Coach: Elvis Fatovic
Greece and Australia started the game with hard defence and tied 1-1 in the first quarter. Then Greece blocked most of the scoring attempts from the Aussies and snatched 3 points out of 8 Extra Man fouls while Australia only had 1 Extra Man goal out of 10.
Quotes:
Theodoros Vlachos-GRE: “It was a very nice game. Australia team is very strong but we played better than them today, in the extra-man goals and defence. The secret of our victory was the counter attacks and hard defence. I was happy that we won one more game. We will try to win every game, every day and build up our confidence.”
Elvis Fatovic-AUS: “Our first quarter was really good, especially in the defence and extra man defence were excellent against the Greek team. But we struggled with our organization of extra man goals that we only scored one time which was not enough for the team. Tomorrow is another day we will try to play better.”
Game 11: BRAZIL 15 CHN 13
Quarters: 2-2, 2-2, 3-4, 4-3 Shootout 4-2
Referees: Tadao Tahara (JPN), Michail Kouretas(GRE)
Extra Man: BRA 5/13 CHN 4/16
Pens: BRA 1/1
BRAZIL: Slodoban Soro, Jonas Crivella, Guilherme Gomes, Ives Alonso (3), Paulo Salemi (2), Bernardo Gomes (1), Adrian Baches (3), Felipe Santos (Captain), Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco (2), Gustavo Guimaraes (3), Danilo Correa (1), Vinicius Antonelli
Head Coach: Ratko Rudic
CHINA: Liang Zhiwei, Xie Zekai, Li Yongxuan, Huang Weihong (2), Guo Junliang (1), Liang Zhongxing(Captain, 2), Chen Zhongxian (2), Lu Wenhui (1), Pan Ning (1), Chen Jinghao (2), Zhang Chufeng (2), Liang Nianxiang, Wu Honghui,
Head Coach: Chen Yaohua
Brazil won a breath-taking battle over China (15-13) thanks to superb shootout scores. The two teams changed the lead as a seesaw from the beginning of the game. China led 9-7, 10-8, 11-10 in the early fourth quarter and seemed to seal with the victory. However, Brazil kept shooting to tie 11-11 with 29 seconds left of the game. During the first shootout of the Super Final, the Brazilian goalie Slobodan Soro showed his experience and skills by blocking 3 of 5 shots from China and helped Brazil to place third in Group B with 1 win 2 losses. China was the fourth.
Quotes:
Ratko Rudic-BRA: “We played this game without two of our best players because they have special training since they arrived here later than the other players. We did not play our best. We had some mistakes in the defence and missed some good opportunities. When we were into the shootout, I was not nervous at all because we have a great goalie. I trust him and he did very well. Shootout is always at our advantage.”
Liang Zhongxing-CHN, Captain: “We had some errors in passing and defence since we are a young team and we lack experience. It was a good lesson for us to learn something from the shootout. We really hope to win a game at the Super Final.”
Game 12: JAPAN 10 ITALY 17
Quarters: 1-3, 4-6, 1-4, 4-4
Referees: Ivan Rakovic (SRB), Joe Peila (USA)
Extra Man: JPN 3/7, ITA 4/5
Pens: JPN 1/1, ITA 1/2
JAPAN: Katsuyuki Tanamura, Seiya Adachi (1), Atsushi Arai (1), Mitsuaki Shiga, Akira Yanase, Atsuto Iida, Yusuke Shimizu (1), Yuki Kadono (1), Koji Takei (4), Kenya Yasuda, Keigo Okawa (1), Shota Hazui (1), Tomoyoshi Fukushima.
Head Coach: Yoji Omoto
ITALY: Marco Del Lungo, Francesco Di Fulvio (1), Alessandro Velotoo (2), Peitro Figlioli (2), Andrea Foundelli (5), Michael Alexandrea Bodegas (1), Massimo Giacoppo (1), Alessandro Nora (1), Christian Presciutti (1), Stefano Luongo (2), Niccolo Figari (1), Nicholas Presciutti, Gariele Vassallo.
Head Coach: Alessandro Campagna
Italy dominated the game with a comfortable lead from 3-1, 9-5, 13-6 before winning the last quarter 17-10 while Japan showed unstable form by catching the shooting pace in the second and fourth quarters but slump in the first and third periods. Andrea Fondelli scored 5 goals for Italy.
Quotes:
Yoji Omoto-JPN: “Italy is a traditionally strong team. We lost the game, however we scored more goals than the previous two group matches. We had many shooting opportunities and tried to swim fast. We played better defence and improved every day. If we play games like what we did in the second and fourth quarter today, we could defeat strong team.”
Alessandro Campagna-ITA: “We were enjoying the game because we scored many goals. Japan played a good match with a lot of counter-attacks and a lot of fighting. I think it was a wonderful match. We won the game simply because we have more experience than Japan.”