Men's WPWL 2016: Australia bounce back, as USA march on at Intercontinental Tournament

Australia got off the mark at the FINA Water Polo World League Men's Intercontinental Tournament in Japan, when they pummelled Brazil 13-9 with a powerhouse performance on Wednesday.

USA maintained their perfect start as they edged out hosts Japan 17-14, while Kazakhstan gained their first win of the event with a 15-10 victory over China, at the 4,000-capacity Yokohama International Swimming Pool.

USA head the group standings, with two wins, Japan, Kazakhstan, Australia and Brazil have one win each, while China are still looking to get off the mark.

The group stage ends on Saturday. The 5th/6th and 3rd/4th place play-offs, and the final, are on Sunday. 

The six teams are vying four places at the Super Final of the FINA Men's Water Polo World League in Huizhou, China, from June 21-26

 

GAME 4: AUSTRALIA 13-9 BRAZIL

Quarters: 2-1, 4-1, 6-3, 1-4

Teams:

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

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

Australia took the spoils in the day's big match, which kicked-off Wednesday's action.

Brazil hit the post twice, and forced a good save out of goalie James Stanton early in the first quarter, but it was Australia who struck first, through Aidan Roach and Mitchell Emery, before Gustavo Guimaraes reduced the arrears.

Australia, however, looked determined to put behind them their first-day defeat to USA, and pulled away to lead 6-2 at half-time.

The revitalised Aussies, spearheaded by Emery's four strikes, pulled further clear in the third period before Brazil, last year's World League bronze-medal winners, gained some consolation with a 4-1 final-quarter win

“Generally, our ball in attack was much faster than yesterday and, because of that, we created more opportunities. Our approach was much better: our defence in the first three quarters was really good, and that was the key to today’s game,” said Australia coach Elvis Fatovic.

“Tomorrow, we play Japan who have a completely different style — no other team in the world plays how they play. If you are not patient against them they can do a lot of damage. They play some kind of pressing game, then they have an excellent counter-attack. If you have just one bad pass they will punish you. It’s a game where we will have to concentrate 100 percent.” 

Brazil coach Ratko Rudic had wanted his team to be better organised and stronger in defence after brushing aside Kazakhstan 19-7 on Tuesday.

But his wishes weren’t granted.

“We didn't concentrate, we were not focused today. They got a big lead and it was a very bad result. We made so many mistakes in defence, that is the thing that worries me the most, and we didn’t have enough activity in attack. Maybe the team today showed how not to play,” said Rudic.

He added Thursday’s match with China was a good opportunity for Brazil to get back to basics.

 

GAME 5: CHINA 10-15 KAZAKHSTAN

Quarters: 5-5, 1-4, 2-3, 2-3 

Teams:

CHINA: Guozheng Wu, Chenghao Chu (1), Beiyi Wang, Yingyi Gao, Zhongxian Chen (2), Zekai Xie (1), Wenhui Lu (3), Yimin Chen (3), Gelin Zhu, Yu Liu, Zhenrui Lei, Wei Tang, Linfeng Li. Head Coach: Lingyun Mao

KAZAKHSTAN: Madikhan Makhmetov, Yevgeniy Medvedev (1), Maxim Zhardan (2), Roman Pilipenko (2), Miras Aubakirov, Alexey Shmider (3), Murat Shakenov, Yulian Verdesh (1), Rustan Ukumanov (4), Mikhail Ruday, Ravil Manafov (1), Altay Altayev (1), Valeriy Shlemov. Head Coach: Nemanja Knezevic

 

Kazakhstan bounced back from their opening-day defeat by Brazil to net their first win, beating China 15-10.

Fighting back to draw the first quarter 5-5, Kazakhstan won each subsequent period to steadily draw clear.

The Kazakhstan coach, Nemanja Knezevic, had been confident of victory against a very young Chinese team, and his confidence was well founded as Rustam Ukumanov took the scoring honours with four goals.

However, Knezevic remains concerned about one aspect of Kazakhstan’s game in particular. 

“I’m very happy with the win, but we made a lot mistakes in defence. That’s normal for a young team, but we want to correct these mistakes to progress to the next level. There was a lot of pressure on my team to beat China — it was very important to beat our big rival,” he said.

“Tomorrow we play USA, but for us that’s really just preparation for the match against Japan on Friday.”

That showdown may well determine which of the two qualifies for the Super Final. 

China coach Lingyun Mao saw some improvement, after saying his players needed to be better organised following their 21-5 defeat by Japan, a performance he called “so-so”.

“In the first quarter today they did really well, but some of the players started to get nervous from the second quarter, and made more mistakes,” Mao said.

“To ease their nerves I used all my squad, but it didn’t work so well” 

China next face Brazil, on Thursday

“First, we will need to stop Brazil’s counter-attacks, and we need better co-operation and co-ordination between our players when we are defending,” Mao said.

 

GAME 6: USA 17-14 JAPAN

Quarters: 4-1, 5-5, 4-3, 4-5

Teams:

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

JAPAN: Katsuyuki Tanamura, Seiya Adachi (2), Atsushi Arai (1), Mitsuaki Shiga (2), Akira Yanase, Atsuto Iida (2), Yusuke Shimizu, Yuki Kadono, Koji Takei (5), Kenya Yasuda, Keigo Okawa (2), Shota Hazui, Tomoyoshi Fukushima. Head Coach: Yoji Moot

 

USA ended the second day as the only unbeaten team in the tournament, silencing a partisan home crowd with a hard-fought 17-14 victory in Wednesday’s closing match.

John Mann opened the scoring to silence fans who cheered every Japanese shot, and every fine save by goalie Katsuyuki Tanamura.

USA took the first quarter 4-1, a lead that would have been greater but for Tanamura, who thwarted the Americans time after time.

His shot-stopping, combined with successful super-fast counters, kept the spirited hosts in touch at the midway point, as they tied the second quarter 5-5.

Two goals early in the third quarter cut Japan’s deficit to just one goal, before the Americans finished strongly to end the period 13-9 ahead.

But Japan came storming back in the final quarter, trailing just 15-13 with more than 3 minutes left, and threatening to pull of a shock win, before Alex Obert fired in a long-range effort to earn some breathing space, just as USA’s 30-second possession limit was about to expire.

“Even though the field of play is shorter than usual, at 25m, we were able to counter-attack, but USA were stronger individuals and eventually they outplayed us,” said Japan coach Yoji Omoto. 

“We have a good feeling about the way we played, even though we lost. Against Australia tomorrow we will keep the same tactics. 

“We have to be more patient and more stubborn. In our style of defence, if we lose 17 goals, we won’t beat anybody. Nevertheless, against a strong USA team, and in a shorter field of play, the fact we managed to score 14 goals is a good sign.”

USA coach Dejan Udovicic bemoaned a lack of focus among his players after they took a 4-0 lead.

“Generally, after the first quarter, we played like the game was already over, and that it was just a practice match,” said Udovicic.

“I know we have a young team, and I won’t use that as an excuse, but this game and others like it can help us grow up faster. You can’t play a game against Japan if you’re not focused 100 percent, because their style of game is such that you need to concentrate all the time. Now I can stress these things to my players, and yell at them.”

He promised a tough Thursday for his squad, as he tries to get them in shape for the Olympic Games in August.

“Today we were in the gym for one-and-a-half hours, then practice, then the match. Tomorrow we’re going to practice, then later swim for one hour after the game against Kazakhstan. I know we’re going in the right direction. This is not our peak, our focus is Rio.”