Aicardi does the 6-6 with 2:41 to go, but is immediately followed by a goal of Milan Janovic. The Balkan team secured the 7-6 advantage until the last moments of the game, when Ivovic closes the score at 8-6 (four seconds to go).
This was the second win for Montenegro in this World League, after an easy victory against Romania (13-7). The team of Montenegro is automatically qualified for the Super Final, as it is the organising country – this competition will be held from June 16-21, 2009 in Podgorica. For Italy, this defeat comes after a comfortable triumph over Romania (10-2) in its first game.
The next matches of the third round of the preliminaries for the European teams will be held on March 10, 2009 with Greece receiving Serbia, Spain travelling to Croatia and Russia playing with Germany in Moscow.
Valentino Gallo (ITA)
Italy: Stefano Tempesti, Niccolo Figari, Alex Giorgetti (1), Federico Mistrangelo, Valentino Gallo (1), Maurizio Felugo (1), Andrea Mangiante, Valerio Rizzo, Michele La Penna, Matteo Aicardi (2), Luigi Di Costanzo, Goran Fiorentini (1), Pacide Saccoia
Montenegro: Zdravko Radic, Drasko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Nikola Vukcevic (1), Milan Janovic (1), Milan Ticic, Mladjan Janovic (1), Damjan Danilovic, Aleksandar Ivovic (3), Aleksandar Radovic (2), Vladimir Gojkovic, Predrag Jokic, Milos Scepanovic