Team USA clinched its 13th FINA Water Polo World League crown on Sunday June 9 in Budapest, Hungary, defeating strong contender Italy. It was the fourth time these two teams have met in the gold medal match of the Super Final (previously in 2006, 2011, 2014).
The American powerhouse, also current Olympic and World title holder, narrowly beat Italy 10-9 for the gold medal with a tie in the first and the last quarters (2-2, 1-2, 4-2, 3-3).
Russia claimed the silver medal against the strong Dutch team 7 – 10 (2-3, 2-1, 2-4, 1-2), while the host nation secured the sixth position, losing to Australia 7-12 (3-2, 2-3, 0-3, 2-4).
With this win, Team USA is qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Final ranking of the 2019 women's WPWL
1. USA, 2. Italy, 3. Russia, 4. Netherlands, 5. Australia , 6. Hungary, 7. Canada, 8. China
Awards
Best Goalkeeper: Laura Aarts (NED)
Highest Scorer: Maud Megens (NED) & Rita Keszthelyi (HUN) 17 goals
Most Valuable Player: Maddie Musselman (USA)
You can read detailed game reports on FINA website.
As a reminder, last year's Super Final ranking was as follows:
1. USA, 2. Netherlands, 3. Russia, 4. Canada, 5. Spain, 6. China, 7. Australia, 8. Japan
The men will play their Super Final from June 18-23 in Belgrade, Serbia. The teams qualified are:
Group A: Hungary, Japan, Canada, Spain
Group B: Australia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Serbia