Brazil downed hosts Japan 16-10 at the FINA Water Polo World League Men's Intercontinental Tournament on Saturday, taking third spot in the group stage.

Australia beat Kazakhstan 11-4, while USA brushed aside China 19-2 to end the group stage with a perfect record.

USA finished top of the standings with five wins, followed by Australia on four, Brazil three, Japan two,and Kazakhstan one, while China lost all five matches.

Brazil will now join Australia, USA and Japan at the Super Final of the FINA Men's Water Polo World League in Huizhou, China, from June 21-26.

Sunday’s action at Yokohama International Swimming Pool sees China face Kazakhstan in the 5th/6th place play-off, while Japan get a quick chance of revenge against Brazilin the 3rd/4th place decider. In the final, Australia will be looking to overturn their 8-6 defeat by USA in the tournament’s opening match. 

GAME 13: KAZAKHSTAN 4-11 AUSTRALIA

Quarters: 0-1, 2-5, 2-4, 0-1

Teams:

KAZAKHSTAN: Madikhan Makhmetov, Yevgeniy Medvedev, Maxim Zhardan, Roman Pilipenko, Miras Aubakirov, Alexey Shmider, Murat Shakenov (1), Yulian Verdesh (1), Rustam Ukumanov (2), Mikhail Ruday, Ravil Manafov, Altay Altayev, Valeriy Shlemov. Head Coach: Nemanja Knezevic

AUSTRALIA: James Stanton, Richard Campbell, George Ford (3), John Cotterill (1), Nathan Power (1), Jarrod Gilchrist (3), Aidan Roach, Tyler Martin (1), Joel Swift, Mitchell Emery (2), Rhys Howden, Lachlan Edwards, Joel Dennerley. Head Coach: Elvis Fatovic

Australia warmed up for Sunday’s showdown against USA with a far from fluent victory against Kazakhstan.

George Ford and Jarrod Gilchrist netted hat-tricks against the Kazakhs, who next play China in the 5th/6th place play-off. 

Australia coach Elvis Fatovic was back poolside after serving a one-match ban against China on Friday, and wasn’t impressed by what he saw.

“I’m very disappointed in how we played because we didn’t play as we agreed and, the next time against USA, we’ll be punished for that,” said Fatovic.

“We had so many opportunities today but we didn't take our chances. We must be much more aggressive in our attacks.

“We will definitely try to do something different against USA to achieve a better result than in the first match against them.”

Kazakhstan coach Nemanja Knezevic was happier than after Friday’s 19-7 capitulation to Japan.

“Today, we did a good job in defence. Yesterday, we collapsed and conceded six or seven goals on the counter. After losing to Japan, this will have a good psychological impact on our young players,” said Knezevic.

“Tomorrow against China, we must focus on scoring 12 to 15 goals and conceding only seven or eight.”

Kazakhstan won the group match with China 15-10.


KAZ-AUS

 

GAME 14: USA 19-2 CHINA

Quarters: 5-0, 4-1, 4-0, 6-1

Teams:

USA: Merrill Moses, Jackson Kimbell, Nikola Vavic (2), Alex Obert (4), Alex Roelse (3), Luca Cupido (1), Josh Samuels (2), Tony Azevedo (1), Alex Bowen (1), Bret Bonanni (3), Jesse Smith, John Mann (2), McQuin Baron. Head Coach: Dejan Udovicic 

CHINA: Guozheng Wu, Chenghao Chu, Beiyi Wang, Yingyi Gao, Zhongxian Chen, Zekai Xie (1), Wenhui Lu, Yemen Chen, Gelin Zhu, Yu Liu, Zhenrui Lei (1), Wei Tang, Linfeng Li. Head Coach: Lingyun Mao

Two 100 percent records were maintained, as unbeaten USA cruised to an emphatic victory against winless China.

China carried little threat in attack, in spite of a low-intensity performance from the Americans, who, although having one eye on Sunday’s final with Australia, equalled the tournament’s biggest winning margin.

Alex Obert took the scoring honours with four goals, with Alex Roelse and Bret Bonanni bagging hat-tricks.

Looking ahead to the final against Australia, USA assistant coach Jack Kocur said: “We’re just going to focus on the things we need to work on, defensively and offensively. Yes, maybe we’ll do some of the same things as in the first match against them, but maybe we can change some things.

“We’ll look to be consistently pushing the tempo, not playing to their speed. Everything is about focus — focus on the ball, focus on spacing, and focus on body awareness, which is something we’ve been concentrating on the past few months.“

China coach Lingyun Mao took some positives from the defeat. 

“It was useful preparation for the Kazakhstan game. Our defence was better than yesterday, but the younger players in the squad are getting tired now — it’s been a long week,” said Mao. 

“They really tried to work hard here to prepare for tomorrow’s game — I hope to win that game. It’s important that our defence is strong and that we can take care of Kazakhstan’s counter-attacks.”

 


USA-CHN


GAME 15: BRAZIL 16-10 JAPAN

Quarters: 4-3, 5-3, 2-2, 5-2

Teams:

BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli, Jonas Crivella, Guilherme Gomes (2), Ives Alonso, Paulo Salemi, Bernardo Gomes (3), Adrian Baches, Felipe Silva (1), Bernardo Rocha, Felipe Perrone (1), Gustavo Guimaraes (3), Josip Vrlic (6), Bernardo Oliveira. Head Coach: Ratko Rudic

JAPAN: Katsuyuki Tanamura, Seiya Adachi (2), Atsushi Arai (4), Mitsuaki Shiga, Akira Yanase, Atsuto Iida, Yusuke Shimizu (1), Yuki Kadono, Koji Takei (2),  Kenya Yasuda (1), Keigo Okawa, Shota Hazui, Tomoyoshi Fukushima. Head Coach: Yoji Omoto

Josip Vrlic’s hat-trick — including two goals in the first 53 seconds — backed up by a Gustavo Guimaraes penalty and two fine saves by Vinicius Antonelli, gave Brazil a 4-3 first-quarter lead.

Brazil went 6-3 ahead before Atsushi Arai squared the match with a quickfire hat-trick, only to see Guimaraes, Felipe Perrone and Vrlic give the Brazilians, last year’s World League bronze medallists, a 9-6 interval lead. 

Goalies were to the fore in the third quarter, Antonelli making more fine saves, while Katsuyuki Tanamura blocked a penalty as the period ended 2-2.

Felipe Silva made it 12-8 early in the final period, and Vrlic took his tally to six, as Brazil comfortably saw out the match.

“We put in a good performance today, and were very disciplined for the most part. Our attack was very good, especially the co-operation between Vrlic and Perrone, but everyone’s level was good. Japan have made good  progress in the last year, so it was not so easy, but the players were very focused and concentrated well,” said Brazil coach Ratko Rudic.

His opposite number, Yoji Omoto, admitted Japan would have to do better in some aspects when the sides meet again tomorrow in the 3rd place play-off.

“Our usual tactics were not so successful against Brazil. The biggest reason that we were outplayed was the strong performance by their centre-forward, Vrlic. We need to defend better against him tomorrow. Perrone, their No.10, was also a key player, and linked up well,” said Omoto. 

“Our pressure on the ball in defence was not good enough, and Vrlic scored two early goals which had an impact on the game. Of course, we were prepared for Vrlic to score some goals, but it was a blow at that early stage.”

 


BRA-JPN