Serbia will play Spain for the gold medal at the FINA World Championships men’s water polo competition on Saturday night.

Serbia ended the reign of Croatia in a spectacular game of tough, rugged and skilled water polo in front of a large crowd at the Foro Italico.

Spain upset world No 2 United States of America 7-6 after trailing for much of the first half.

Croatia looked the team to beat and started with the first two goals but Serbia took 4-3, 7-6 and 10-9 leads at the break and kept clear until the end of the game.
Croatia had the final chance to level but the shot speared across the crossbar and Serbia, the bronze medallist from the Beijing Olympic Games, guaranteed a better finish than fourth at Melbourne two years ago.

Serbian head coach Dejan UDOVICIC said: “Both teams played a great game. We had a few problems in the first quarter but then we started playing the way we anted to. We were good in defence and the guys strictly followed what I wanted them to d0. We have almost reached the top of the mountain and on Saturday we will know who will be the world champion.

“We showed our power, even though we had some players out of the pool. It’s exciting to win in these conditions,” he said.

But Croatian head coach Ratko RUDIC said his team was “too nervous and played hastily”.

“We had to chase them for the whole match and when we drew we were incapable of taking advantage of the situation.”

“I’m not used to it. We played a wonderful match, although there were many fouls (32).”

The USA could not advance the game plan past a two-goal margin in the first quarter and allowed Spain to return and eventually lead there times in the second half. The third lead proved an unassailable mountain and Spain will now shoot for a third title to go with those won in Perth in 1998 and Fukuoka in 2001.

Sitting in the stands was former Spanish coach Juan JANE who took Spain to those glory days, including the Olympic title in Atlanta in 1996.

The Spanish duo of Guillermo MOLINA (three goals) and Xavier Garcia (two) prove a thorn that the USA could not pluck from under its skin.

The USA won silver in Beijing but now must be content with a bronze-medal shot at Croatia.

Hungary sauntered into the play-off for fifth with a 13-8 victory over Romania but only led by two goals at halftime.

Germany will face Hungary for fifth after turning a 5-1 lead into a 9-5 difference against Canada.

Australia blew a three-goal advantage in the final quarter to give FINA World League and European champion Montenegro ninth place with an 8-7 victory. The calm Montenegrins did what was needed, keeping the Aussie Sharks scoreless for six minutes.

In the play-off for 11th and 12th, Italy won 14-7 a far cry from victory here in 1994.

It is gold-medal day in women’s water polo on Friday with a North American final between Canada and the United States of America at 21:00.

The bronze medal will be battled out at 16:00 between Russia and Greece.

Olympic champion Netherlands and World Cup champion Australia will play for fifth at 10:40 and Russia and Spain will face off for seventh at 09:00.