France 9 – Greece 12
(1-3, 2-4, 3-2, 3-3)

This game, which took place in Marseille at the Club Cercle de Nageurs, marked the end of France’s unsuccessful campaign in this year’s World League. France registered its fourth loss last evening against Greece, out of four games played. The final score was 9-12. Nevertheless, it was a good match with about 700 spectators present.

Greece gained its advantage over France in the first half of the game, with goals coming from six different Greek players in the opening periods. France offered little in response. In the first quarter, for example, Michael Bodegas netted just one for a French side that was slow off the start. Meanwhile, the Greeks picked up speed, partly thanks to Konstantinos Mourikis (GRE), who generated in the first half two of the three goals he would score in the game.

The situation changed in the third period, when France resumed play with vigour and won the quarter 3-2. This was largely thanks to the excellent contribution of Frédéric Audon who scored all of France’s three points in the third, and then repeated his feat in the final period, in which the teams tied 3-3. Audon left the pool having scored six out of France’s nine points.

Team France’s turnaround in the second half made for a better water polo game, but it was not enough to earn a victory over Greece, and with this win Greece remains in second place in the rankings for Group 1 (Serbia, Greece, France) with six points. They will meet Serbia – the leader with nine points – on May 12 in Belgrade for the group’s final World League preliminary match. Greece must win this game in order to have a chance of advancing to the Super Final.

France: Remi Saudadier (1), Andras Aguilar, Arnaud Jablonsky, Frédéric Audon (6), Yann Vergeade (1), Ugo Crouscuar, Mehdi Marzouki, Yann Clay, Michael Bodegas (1), Bryce Boust, J. Paylide Favry, Alexandre Camarasa, Jonathan Morane.
Coach: Petar Kovacevic.
Greece: Kostas Flegkas, Andreas Mirales (1), G. Fountoulis, I. Fountoulis (1), Nikitas Kochilas (1), Elmisian Artin (1), Evaggelos Delakas (1), Konstantinos Mourikis (3), Dimitrios Miteloudis, A. E. Gounas (1), Manthos Voulgarakis (1), Panagiotis Papadogkonas (2), K. Galanidis
Coach: Anastasios Doumpas.

Romania 9 – Montenegro 11
(2-2, 1-3, 3-5, 3-2)

This match was hard-fought by the Romanians, who nevertheless could not overcome Montenegro and lost 9-11 at home in Oradea. The opening period ended with a 2-2 tie and so it appeared that Romania might pose a challenge to the thus far undefeated Montenegro team, which can now be confirmed as the winner of Group 2 (Montenegro, Italy, Romania) after winning three out of three. In the middle quarters however, Montenegro imposed itself and outscored Romania 1-3 and 3-5 respectively.

Janovic Mladjan (MNE) was a main contributor, scoring three goals during the second and third periods when his team was at its strongest. Meanwhile Andrei Busila did his best to ensure Romania never fell too far behind. He scored twice in the third period, setting the stage for a strong finish by the Romanians, who won the final quarter 3-2 (one of Romania’s final three points also came from Busila). Overall the game was a balanced match-up and a respectable final appearance by the Romanian team in this year’s World League. Montenegro will advance to the Super Final, which it will also host in Podgorica (MNE), but not before it meets Italy in the last Group 2 preliminary game on May 12 in Herceg Novi.

Romania: Mihai Dragusin, C. Radu (2), T. Negrean (1), George Tarnovetchi, Nicolae Diaconu, Andrei Busila (3), Dimitri Goanta, G.H. Dunica, Alexandru Matei, R. Georgescu (1), Alexandru Ghiban, Kalman Kadar (2), Dragos Stoenescu.
Montenegro: Zdravko Radic, Drasko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Paskovic (1), Nikola Vukcevic (2), Milan Ticic (1), Mladjan Janovic (3), Damjan Danilovic (1), Aleksandar Ivovic (2), Aleksandar Radovic (1), Milos Scepanovic, T. Filip, J. Predrag, B. Darko.

Germany 5 – Croatia 11
(1-2, 2-2, 2-5, 0-2)

This was a clear Croatian victory against a German team that simply lost its steam as the game progressed. The first half was fair enough, with scores of 1-2 and then a tie of 2-2 in the opening quarters, but for the rest of the game Germany couldn’t manage more than two goals while Croatia imposed seven. The game took place in Berlin.

Nevertheless, the points that Germany did acquire were the result of a team effort, as five different players are responsible for the team’s five accumulated goals. Leading the scoring for Croatia was Miho Boskovic with three points, while Petar Muslim, Frano Karac and Sandro Sukno each had doubles. Croatia, with five wins out of five games, can now be declared the winner of Group 3 and will advance to the Super Final. Germany will meet Russia for their final World League match on May 12 in Esslingen.

Germany: Tim-Ole Fischer, Roger Kong, Florian Naroska, Marko Savic, Marko Stamm, Marc Politze (1), Tobias Gietz (1), Moritz Oeler (1), Andreas Schlotterbeck, Paul Schüler (1), Erik Bukowski, Ingo Pickert (1), Soren Mackeben
Trainer: Hagen Stamm
Croatia: Damir Buric, Miho Boskovic (3), Petar Muslim (2), Frano Karac (2), Srdan Antonijevic, Ivan Buljubasic, Sandro Sukno (2), Samir Barac (1), Igor Hinic, Paulo Obradovic, Ivo Brzica, Josep Pavic, Andro Buslje (1).
Head coach : R. Rudic.

Four teams from Europe will advance to the Super Final, which will be held in Podgorica (MNE) from June 16-21. The host team of Montenegro automatically advances.