Games 37, 10.00, 13th-19th place, Colombia - China 10:12

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

Referees: Ayman Haroun (Egypt) and Vladimir Golikov (Russia)

COLOMBIA: Huan Diego Hidalgo, Simon Buitrago 4, Huan Manuel Forunda 1, Hose Manuel Rueda, Santiago Cuervo 2, Luis Felipe Aranda, Sebastian Munoz 1, Santiago Orozco 1, Emanuel Hurtado, Andres Felipe Mora 1, Manuel Quintero.
Coach: Bladimir Molina
CHINA: Jun Jing Wang, Bei Yi Wang 6, Jun Tian Wang, Ying Yi Gao 1, Wei Tang 2, Yi Lu 3, Wen Jian Luo, Xing Meng He, Ding Song Shen, Bo Ren She, Chi Liao.
Coach: Ling Jun Mao

Extramen
Colombia: 1 for 5
China 0 for 2

Penalties:
Colombia: -
China: -

In the first game of the playoffs for 13th to 19th ranks, China reached the victory towards the end of the match against Colombia. During three periods it was a very equal match and both teams have taken the lead in turn. In the middle of the last period, the Chinese team scored three goals in a row, from min 28-31 of the game, jumping from a tie 9-9 to 12-9. It was enough for China to win.

Games 38, 11.20, 13th-19th place, Brazil - South Africa 15-12
Quarters: 4-4, 4-4, 4-1, 3-3

Referees: Damir Temyrkhanov (Kazakhstan) and Nicholas Hodgres (Australia)

BRAZIL: Joao Fernandez, Vinicius Henrique Pessin, Luis Ricardo Silva 2, Gabriel Poci 2, Fabricio Lacerda, Enrico de Munno 2, Rafael Real 6, Alexandre Kerkis, Marcos Paolo Pedroso 2, Mateus Stellet 1, Alexandre Mendes.
Coach: Angelo Koelho
SOUTH AFRICA: Keegan Clark, Michael Stewart 1, Tristan Fin, Caleb Simpson 6, Wanye Phillips, Sven Van Zyl 2, Keagan Aiken, Mathew Hamilton 1, Dylan Cronje 2, Sebastian Bidoli, Thomas, Eichner.
Coach: Andrew Stewart.

Extramen
Brasil: 3 for 10
South Africa: 5 for 7

Penalties:
Brasil: 2 for 2
South Africa: 2 for 2

After a good game against Montenegro the day before, the Brazilians showed one more time, in the match against South Africa, their capability. This was Brazil’s first victory since the beginning of the tournament in Podgorica.
However South Africa also played well. Team’s coach Andrew Stewart was even a little bit better in first half of the match. During the first two periods South Africa led, with two goals od advance (6-4, 7-5 and 8-6 for South Africa).
Then happened the decisive moments of the match: In the first 6min of the third period, the Brazilians scored four goals in a row (Rafael Real, Enrico De Munno, Gabriel Poci and Mateus Stellet) and the result changed from 8-8 to 12-8 for Brazil.
Again it was a very efficient day for Rafael Real, who scored six goals and now with 27 goals in four matches, Real is the second on the best scorers list.

Games 39, 12.40, 13th-19th place, Kazakhstan - New Zealand 10-8
Quarters: 1-1, 4-3, 2-2, 3-2

Referees: Andreas Hasper (Colombia) and Petar Abramovic (Montenegro)

KAZAKHSTAN: Vladislav Kolesnik, Stanislav Shvedov 4, Zhandos Akhamaev, Vitaliy Tarabanko 1, Vadim Kireev, Sergey Bogomolov 1, Klimentiy Zlobin, Olzhas Satpayev, Ruslan Akhmetov 4, Sultan Shonzhigitov, Paval Lipilin.
Coach: Dmitriy Khodzinskiy
NEW ZEALAND: Bae Fountain, Cayne Dew 1, Jake Morris, Justin Pickering, Troy Armstrong 1, Dominic Rankin-Chitar 2, Jake Blundell 1, Nick Stankovich 1, Nick Paterson 2, Ben Fleming, Christopher Downe.
Coach: Goran Sablic.

Extramen
Kazakhstan: 3 for 11
New Zealand: 1 for 5

Penalties:
Kazakhstan: 2 for 2
Nev Zealand: -

In the finish of second period, team of Kazakhstan for the first time gained the two-goal advantage (5:3 by Ruslan Ahmetov, 0.18 minutes before the end of this quarter) and leadership in the game is no longer emitted.
Kazakhstans victory could have been more convincing, if they had better realisation of man-up situations. On the other hand, Kazakhstan played very well in defense and closed almost all approaches to theirs own goal. Also, both New Zealand hole man was well guarded by Kazakhs.

Games 40 17.00, play-off, 1/8 finals: Russia - USA 15-8
Quarters: 1-2, 5-3, 4-1, 5-2

Referees: Balazs Szekely (Hungary) and Andrej Laginja (Slovenia)

RUSSIA: Vladimir Andreev, Bogdan Melentev 6, Oleg Kucherenko, Emil Zinnurov 1, Kirill Semenov 1, Danill Pronin 2, Farkhad Salimov 1 , Konstantin Sheikin 1, Nikita Krug 3, Timur Shaikhutdinov, Dmitrii Trusov.
Coach: Alexander Eryshov
USA: Samuel Krutonog, Hannes Daube 1, Marko Vavic 3, Ashworth Molthen 2, Quinten Osborne 1, Jacob Cavano 1, Denis Blyashov, Felix Brozyna-Vilim, Jacob Ehrhardt, Dylan Woodhead, Samuel Murphy.
Coach: Alexander Rodriguez


RUSvsUSA

Extramen
Russia: 3 for 5
USA: 6 for 10

Penalties:
Russia: 1 for 1
USA: 1 for 1

During the whole first two periods, it was an equal battle in the water for a spot in the quarterfinal, but in the third and fourth periods it was very obvious that the overall better physical shape of the young Russians was an advantage. So, at the end, Russia beat Team USA easily and qualified to the quarterfinals. On Thursday, in the quarterfinal match, Russia will play home team Montenegro, winner of Group B in the preliminary phase.

Games 41 18.20, play-off, 1/8-finals, Hungary - Japan 15-11
Quarters: 3-4, 4-2, 4-2, 4-3

Referees: Joan Colominas (Spain) and John Waldow (New Zealand).

HUNGARY: Gabor Leposa, Larand Zernvary 1, Balazs Kosa 2, Viktor Vadovics 4, A'bel Lukacs, Peter Sugar 1, Gergo Fekete 2, Andras Teleki, Adam Nagy 3, Gergely Burian 2, Marc Banyai. Coach: Gyorgy Horkai
JAPAN: Towa Nishimura, Yuto Abo, Shimpel Omoto, Harukirario Koppu, Fuya Kawamoto 3, Yuki Takada, Kaname Tanaka 1, Toi Suzuki 4, Ikkei Nitta 1, Yusuke Inaba 2, Tobias Martenes.
Coach: Takahisa Minami


HUNvsJPN

Extramen
Hungary: 4 for 5
Japan: 3 for 6

Penalties:
Hungary: 2 for 2
Japan: -

This match saw the first real surprise in Podgorica. Favourites Hungarians beat Japan, but not so easily, as expected by many people in the pool.
By the middle of the third period, Team Japan was making Hungary struggle and they were positioning themselves as strong candidates for a spot in the quarterfinals. Like in a group phase in all theirs matches, Japans showed very fast swimming, great counter-attacks and very good tactics.
But, maybe that kind of game was also too much for Japan right now because in last period and half, the Japanese ran out of power. So after a 8-8 within 4min in the third period, Japan disappeared from the pool and the Hungarian players scored 7 goals in 8min! Only 3.16min before the end of a game, the result was 15-9 for Hungary, so they could play a much more relaxed game until the end.

Games 42 19.40, play-off, 1/8-finals, Canada - Croatia 13:23
Quarters: 4-5, 4-4, 2-7, 3-7

Referees: Alberto Rovida (Italy) and Ivan Rakovic (Serbia)

CANADA: Aleksa Stanic, Gareth Jones1, Alexis Reiher 2, Robert-Martyn Fraser 1, Benjamin Lemay –Lavoie, Mark Spooner, Reuel D'Souza 5, Blake Carnevale 3, Jake Morris, Bogdan Đerković 1, Brody McKnight.
Coach: Andrew Muir
CROATIA: Luka Podrug, Branimir Herceg 3, Karlo Krekovic 1, Marko Valecic 1, Zvonimir Butic 3, Jacob Mercep 4, Duje Pejkovic 5, Franko Lazic, Lovro Paparic 3, Matias Biljaka 3, Petar Bratim.
Coach: Josko Krekovic


CANvsCRO

Extramen
Canada: 1 for 8
Croatia: 8 for 12

Penalties:
Canada: 1 for 1
Croatia: -

During the first two periods Canada and Croatia played an equal and exciting water polo game. Then the Croatian squad turned on the gear and in resulted in an additional 10 goals for the European team.
Croatia struggled a bit against Canada in the first part of the game, but in the next 16min, the Croats scored 14 goals in the Canadian net. They then earned a spot in the quarterfinals.

"We were tightened at the beginning, in the first two periods and the result of that was only 9-8 for us" said Croatian coach Josko Krekovic after the match.

"When we played more relaxed everything was in place. Now in the quarterfinal against Australia, I still expect victory of course and a place in the semi-finals, although I am aware that now we will have a real serious rival."

Canadian Blake Carnevale briefly commented after the match:

"We couldn't follow the rhythm imposed by the Croatian players. That's it!"

Games 43 21.00, play-off, 1/8-finals, Italy - Spain 13:12
Quarters: 3-4, 4-2, 3-3, 3:3

Referees: George Polychronopoulos (Greece) and Haldun Toygarli (Turkey)

ITALY: Gianmaco Nicosia, Gaetano Baviera 1, Filippo Gavazzi 1, Alessio Navarra, Mario Guidi 1, Antonio Maccioni 1, Federico Piombo, Eddardo Manzi 6, Ettore Novara 2, Massimo Di Martire 1, Francesco De Michelis.
Coach: Cosimino Di Cecca.
SPAIN: Javier Benavides, Alvaro Garcia 2, Pablo Gomez 1, Josep Puig 2, Josu Fernandez, Jordi Chico, Marc Salvador, Alvaro Granados 6, Oriol Rodriguez, Bernat Sanahuja 1, Oriol Albacete.
Coach: Mario Garcia


ITAvsESP

Extramen
Italy: 4 for 13
Spain: 4 for 10

Penalties:
Italy:
Spain: 2 for 2

Italy defeated Spain in the last game of the day.

"It was a difficult and tough match until the very end. We used the recklessness of the Spanish defence in the last minute and reached a well-deserved victory" said best Italian scorer (with 6 goals) Eddardo Manzi.

The match between Italy and Spain was also a duel between two extraordinary young scorers, Manzi for Italy and Alvaro Granados for Spain who also scored 6 goals. Granados, with a total of 34 goals, is now the best scorer of the World Championships, but after Wednesday’s match, Eddardo Manzi was a lot more satisfied than Granados because Italy is in the quarterfinals.

"I'm sorry that we failed to realise the last attack, we played it hastily and missed the chance to equalise" said two-goal scorer Josep Puig from Spain.

Quarter finals (September, 1.): Greece - Hungary (17.00 CET), Australia - Croatia (18.20 CET), Serbia - Italy (19.40 CET) and Montenegro - Russia (21.00 CET).