Thanks to Adrien´ s photos
*****
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 16) –
Serbia won the World League crown and the $100,000 cheque for the 7th time (twice triumphed as Serbia-Montenegro), and for the 5th time in seven years. The final against Hungary wasn’t as thrilling as used to be, still, the capacity crowd enjoyed it very much. The bronze medal went to Montenegro after they won with penalties against the US – it was Montenegro’s fourth shootout in six games.
Chelyabinsk, together with the Russian Water Polo Federation, was a worthy host of FINA’s premium water polo event which proved that the men’s field has become wider and more balanced than ever.
Match reports:
Game 21, 14.00, for places 7-8: JAPAN vs BRAZIL 9-4 Quarters: (4-1, 3-1, 1-0, 1-2)
Referees: Chen Zialang (CHN), Gyorgy Kun (HUN)
Extraman: JPN: 2/7. BRA: 0/5
Teams:
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki 1, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke, Kadono Yuki 1, Takei Koji 2, Yasuda Kenya 1, Okawa Keigo 2, Hazui Shota 2.
BRAZIL: Thye Bezerra – Bernando Gomes 1, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches 2, Felipe Silva, Bernardo Rocha 1, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra.
Japan started the World League Super Final with a
The Japanese didn’t let any doubt who would win this encounter, in four minutes they rushed to a 3-0 lead and managed to go with full gear until half-time. Their dominance was clearly visible on the scoreboard: they led 7-2.
Since this was the 6th game in six days for both sides it was not surprising that they ran out of fuel for the last two periods. The Japanese had no reason to rush after all, while Brazil couldn’t produce a similar comeback they had against China a day earlier in the third period as they missed two 6 on 5s after the mid-break. What’s more, Hazui Shota’s action goal widened the gap (8-2). In the last period Brazil had something to cheer about at last, they scored two goals but Japan had the last laugh as Keigo Okawa sent a great shot home for 9-4.
Though the game finished at around 3PM in the afternoon, Japan was represented at the victory ceremony in the evening: Koji Takei has become the Best Scorer of the tournament with 17 goals – today he added two to his tally, a great feat indeed.
FLASH QUOTES:
YOJI OMOTO – Head coach, JPN
“First of all we told the players to stay cool as the Brazilians are a bit rough, they are grabbing and holding all the time and we should not respond to their provocation. The second thing: keep on swimming as we are much better physically. And this is what the players did exactly. About the tournament I have to say, that we’ve never gone through this kind of experience, to play six matches in six days. But it was great to realise what we are able to do against the top teams and what are not. We could have finished a bit higher and play with our eternal rival China for the fifth place, but we lost to Russia a day earlier. Still, I’m satisfied with the result. Now we know our tasks, our players won’t grow 20 cm in two years so we have to work on other tools to get closer to the best ones.”
ADRIAN DELGADO BACHES – Player, BRA
“We arrived here not just after a long travel: we were also tired because of the finish of our national league. Most of us played eight games in five days before we left Brazil. So our level of play is definitely not the best, we tried to keep on with the others, we had a tough game against Russia, then Hungary, had good two quarters against China and also today. What we have to do in the future is practice, practice, practice, and learn patience above all.”
Game 22, 15.45, for places 5-6: RUSSIA vs CHINA 17-8 Quarters: (4-2, 4-1, 6-0, 3-5)
Referees: German Moller (ARG), Cory Williams (NZL)
Extraman: RUS: 7/9. CHN: 3/11
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev 1, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 3, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 2, Vladislav Timakov 3, Ivan Nagaev, Dmitry Kholod 3, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov 3, Evgeny Kostrov (GK).
CHINA: Wu Honghui – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 1, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning 2, Li Bin, Wang Yang 1, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang.
Russian head coach Alexander Karaboutov was so upset on Day 3 after their loss to China that he sent a message to the press: don’t wait for him, he is not available for comments… Though he is a tough man – he was the same as a player – and not the kind who smiles a lot (laughter? no…), today he was even cheerful upon talking to the local press. He could be: the Russian team showed the best performance of the week, they totally outplayed China, all part of their game worked. The hosts defended well but it was their attack which was overwhelming: they put away 7 extras on 9 occasions (a rarity in this sport), scored great goals from the distance and led a handful of fast counter attacks. China crashed in the third as Japan did a day before, the Russians produced the same scoreline for this eight minutes (6-0) and led 14-3. Just a reminder: three days ago China won 12-11… The final quarter saw a late surge from China, plus some tension in the pool with two red cards, but towards the end of the tournament the tiring players sometime lose control a bit easier. And nothing really serious happened, apart from Russia’s triumphant march ended at 17 goals, the second highest score in the tournament. China tops this list with the 18 goals netted against Brazil – however, their team looked a bit exhausted as if they put much if not all into the previous five games and didn’t have reserves left for this clash.
FLASH QUOTES:
ALEXANDER KARABOUTOV – Head coach, RUS
“For three periods we saw a performance the Russian team should always show, both in defence and in offence. The fourth period we took a bit of rest, but all in all I’m satisfied with the result.”
SERGEY LISUNOV – Player, RUS
“Generally, we can play better, even better than today. This game showed the real Russian team: compared to our previous game it wasn’t the Chinese whose level dropped, it was our team which played much better. We try to bring the level of play we reached on the last two days to Kazan, for the World
PAN NING – Player, CHN
“The Russian team is quite young, perhaps that made the difference between our games. That time they played bad, this time they played great. We loved this tournament, it was well organised – and perhaps now we will have some time to look around in the city.”
Game 23, 17.30, Bronze Medal Game: MONTENEGRO vs UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 10-10 (1-2, 3-3, 2-3, 4-2) – penalties: 3-1
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), Nikolaos Vasilieou (GRE)
Extraman: MNE: 4/6. USA: 4/11
Penalties: MNE: 1 for 1. USA: 1 for 1
Teams:
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan, 1 Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic 1, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic 3, Luka Sekulic 1, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 2, Filip Klikovac 1, Uros Cuckovic, Dejan Lazovic (GK).
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo, Matthew De Trane, Alexander Obert 1, Alexander Bowen 2, Shea Buckner 1, Timothy Hutten 1, Michael Rosenthal 3, John Mann 1, Greg Enloe 1.
The game produced the most thrilling last period of the tournament – and as bonus, another penalty shootout. Just as it happened in the other pairings where the sides met for the second time after the prelims, this was a totally different story, too. On Day 3 Montenegro taught a lesson for the young US team and soundly beat them 9-4, scoring five unanswered goals after 4-4.
Now the US team took the driving seat early and almost always were up by couple of goals. They led 5-3 in the second, Montenegro came back to 5-5 in the third but then came three consecutive US hits, two of them were action goals and at 5-8 the Montenegrin head coach, Ranko Perovic called for an emergency time-out. It had a positive effect, soon after they pulled one back, but in the following attack they missed an extra, so they still trailed 6-8 before the last period.
Those eight minutes brought sheer excitement, even the Russian spectators started to shout and scream as Montenegro levelled the score from two 6 on 5s. Michael Rosenthal managed to convert an extra for 8-9, but in 22 seconds Filip Klikovac replied (9-9). The US got another man-up but missed it after a time-out and Darko Brguljan took the lead for Montenegro for the first time in the match, it was a magnificent individual action with 27 seconds remaining on the clock. But it was not over. After some heated moments, the US earned a 6 on 5 with five seconds to go, it was enough for two passes, and Rosenthal’s ball just beat the goalie – sneaked in from Scepanovic’s hand – and the buzzer.
So Montenegro could prepare its fourth penalty shootout while the US team had two earlier. Montenegro stood 1-2 before this one, while the US won two out of two. However, it quickly turned out that substituting the goalie for the shootout would pay off for Montenegro again: when they did it last time they won against Russia. And Lazovic immediately stopped the first attempt, making the following US shooters so tense that two of them simply missed the target, so after the earlier shootouts which were all decided by one miss, now we had much more, in fact the US team could convert only one, and Drasko Brugljan’s shot ended the game and secured the bronze medal for Montenegro.
FLASH QUOTES:
RANKO PEROVIC – Head coach, MNE
“We were a bit tired as we lost plenty of energy yesterday (against Serbia in the semis). And periodically we played really bad. After 5-8 we started to play on the level we usually can. During the time-out I tried to wake my team up to start to play. It was our heart and our soul.”
DEJAN UDOVICIC – Head coach, USA
“We played with emotions, we lost the game because we couldn’t get the best out of the opportunity. Most of these players are kids, sometimes they are afraid of the situation that they can win another game. We had this situation not just today but earlier as well. To take control of the match after taking the lead and keep till the end. But this is normal. The penalties are like lottery, we won two, now lost one. The point is that we are getting better and better, game by game, you could see here and you will see in the future.”
UROS CUCKOVIC – Player, MNE
“It was a very tiring match both physically and mentally, and a very tiring tournament. But it was nice to play, a real enjoyment. We had a horrible start, then started to play after we were down by three goals. We came back, took the lead, I think the US team was lucky with their equaliser in the last second, but luck gave everything back in the penalties.”
SHEA BUCKNER – Player, USA
“I don’t think we lost the game necessarily in the shootout. That was the result, but the reason was our poor defence in the fourth quarter. This is a really young team, we are new together, we have to learn it out to finish games. We must continue to attack to win the game and not let the game to be given to us. This is a good experience before the FINA World Championships, just continue to grow as a young team. I think we are happy, we earned the chance to win a medal, and that’s we wanted. Hopefully, in the future we’ll be better prepared and be ready to go.”
Game 24, 19.15, Final: SERBIA vs HUNGARY 12-7 Quarters: (4-3, 3-1, 2-2, 3-1)
Referees: Joe Piela (USA), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
Extraman: SRB: 6/12 – double extra: 1 for 1. HUN: 4 for 9 – double extra: 1 for 1
Penalties: SRB: Nil. HUN: 1 for 1
Teams:
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 1, Vanja Udovicic 3, Milos Cuk, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic, Milan Aleksic, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 4, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 3, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras 2, Bence Batori, Marton Vamos, Norbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 2, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 1, Krisztian Bedo 1, Balazs Harai, Attila Decker (GK).
Dejan Savic’s coaching career got a flying start: within two weeks he collected two of the most prestigious trophies on offer in water polo, first the Champions League trophy with his club, Crvenza Zvezda Belgrade – and now the gold medal of the FINA Water Polo World League, a rather great feat from a newcomer coach.
The final in Chelyabinsk lacked the usual excitements we had experienced when the two current coaches had still been players. In fact, when Hungary and Serbia met for the last time in any of the big finals in 2007 (in the World League in Berlin), Dejan Savic and Tibor Benedek were in the pool and battled hard for the honours. Now they commanded their respective teams but it was Savic who probably had an easier task as he could direct a unit whose key-players are part of the big shows since years while Hungary had to start to rebuild its team after members of their golden generation all called it a day.
And it was visible right from the beginning that Serbia was the stronger side. They managed to set up more scoring opportunities, either because they were more creative and powerful in attack, either because their defence worked pretty effectively. Hungary managed to stay on equal team until 3-3, there they missed a man-up and they paid for it: the Serbs scored from the following attack and by half time they gained a 7-4 lead. Vanja Udovicic and Filip Filipovic sent one blast after the other, all of them were on target – Hungary opted to change its goalie as Viktor Nagy couldn’t make a single save in the first half. The substitute, Attila Decker started brilliantly, he made saves in three consecutive man-downs but his team mates weren’t sharp enough to capitalise on this. They could climb back to 7-5 and 8-6, but the last goal of the period went to Serbia whose players usually shot the ball in the 18th-20th second during their 6 on 5s (so in the very last seconds) as it happened this case when Filipovic scored his fourth goal of the evening for 9-6. The tiring Hungarians took some risks in the final period but their shots didn’t do much harm and the Serbs added three more later on.
After winning the World League title again they started to celebrate in the pool but didn’t throw the winning coach, Dejan Savic to the water – perhaps they’ve saved this ritual for a later date, early August, in Barcelona…
FLASH QUOTES:
DEJAN SAVIC – Head coach, SRB
“We deserved this win. This was out best game in this tournament, our attack was good, but our defence worked even better. Yes, I thought we could do something like this, though this level is still far away from the one I expect to reach later, at the FINA World Championships.”
TIBOR BENEDEK – Head coach, HUN
“No surprise. And when we lost Daniel Varga (through injury) our playing system collapsed almost entirely. We had players fouled out, and I couldn’t count on Daniel who can give some extra towards the end of any game by swimming off the centre-forwards and setting up counterattacks, so I lost my last weapon. However, I underline: this was not the reason for our loss, it was just a confirmation, that our small chances of a comeback dropped to zero. We got tired for this last day, Serbia is a stronger team as a unit on any given day, but today there was difference between the physical conditions as well. Also, Udovicic and Filipovic enjoyed outstanding shooting form – all these things were too much for my newly shaped young team to cope with.”
FILIP FILIPOVIC – Player, SRB
“Considering that we played without two of our best players, Prlainovic and Pijetlovic, we can be satisfied. We played well in defence, which is very important for us, realisation of man-ups were also great, and shooting from outside worked wonderfully. If we can continue this, we will be great in Barcelona (at the FINA World Championships). Together with the titles we recently won at club level, it’s a good proof that we are on the right track towards Rio 2016 which can be the peak of our careers.”
DENES VARGA – Player, HUN
“I am proud of my silver medal as it took five years to reach a final of a major tournament. And this feels great. We couldn’t match Serbia’s strengths in the final, they were superior. There were some moments when we might have levelled the score and that would have changed the
Final standings and prize money
1. Serbia ($100,000)
2. Hungary ($70,000)
3. Montenegro ($50,000)
4. United States ($35,000)
5. Russia ($30,000)
6. China ($25,000)
7. Japan ($20,000)
8. Brazil ($15,000)
Special Awards
Best scorer: Koji Takei (JPN), 17 goals
Best player: Vanja Udovicic (SRB)
Best goalkeeper: Milos Scepanovic (MNE)
*****
17/06/2013 - La Selección Nacional Serbia, rival de grupo de España, es la nueva campeona de la Liga Mundial. El conjunto de Dejan Savic se ha impuesto a Hungría en la final por 12—7, alzando su quinto título en el torneo como nación independiente (el séptimo si sumamos los dos títulos logrados junto a Montenegro). Montenegro capturó el bronce tras derrotar a Estados Unidos.
Serbia afianza su candidatura al oro en Barcelona con el triunfo en la Superfinal de la Liga Mundial, celebrada este fin de semana en Chelyabinsk, Rusia. El conjunto de Dejan Savic, rival de los nuestros en la fase regular del campeonato, llegó invicto a la final, donde también doblegó a Hungría por 12-7, liderado por Filip Filipovic, autor de cuatro goles. Este triunfo viene a reivindicar la excelente campaña del técnico balcánico, que ha alzado en el mismo mes la Champions Cup y la Liga Mundial FINA.
En la final de consolación, Montenegro batió a Estados Unidos en los penaltis (13-11) para colgarse el bronce. Completaron la clasificación China, que se hizo con la quinta plaza tras golear a China por 17-8, y Japón, séptimo tras derrotar a Brasil por 9-4.
Comunicación RFEN
*****
Serbia wins 2013 World League
© waterpolo2013.ru
Montenegro grabbed the Super Final bronze medal defeating USA in a penalty shootout after a wild finish of regulation in which both teams scored within the final thirty seconds. Montenegro got up 10-9l with twenty-seven seconds remaining in what appeared to be the game winner but USA managed to tie (again) as the game clock ran out to force a shootout. However Montenegro held on and penalty misses by Shea Buckner (blocked), Janson Wigo and Bret Bonanni had the Ranko Perovic coached side sealing a 13-11 victory to take the third place; their best performance after the 2010 edition silver medal falling to Serbia in that final.
Montenegro vs. USA (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
The final day of the World League Super Final in Chelyabinsk, Russia started with the battle for seventh place. Japan managed to finish the tournament on a positive note beating Brazil 9-4 to take the penultimate spot while Brazil finishes last. In a story of the tournament for Brazil the game was virtually lost in a first half in which Japan ran away to a 7-2 lead and even led 8-2 with eight minutes to go. Hosts Russia finished the tournament in fifth place holding off China 17-8 in a comfortable win in the day's second game. Again a big third quarter was the major difference after already leading 8-3 at half time. Six unanswered goals followed and the home fans had reason to cheer as Russia took the best spot after the semi-finalists to close out the tournament in comfortale fashion confirming the status of up-and-coming towards 2014 European championships qualification.
Japan vs. Brazil (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
Russia vs. China (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
Serbia vs. Hungary (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
Silver medalists Hungary (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia 12-11 (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Final standings:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 6 pts
2. Montenegro 3 - 5
3. USA 3 - 5
4. Japan 3 - 2
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. China 3 - 6
3. Russia 3 - 3
4. Brazil 3 - 0
Friday, June 14 - quarter-final round
14.00: USA (3A) vs. China (2B) 13-11 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-3; penalty shootout: 5-3) - 14
15.45: Hungary (1A) vs. Brazil (4B) 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1) - 15
17.30: Japan (4A) vs. Serbia (1B) 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5) - 16
19.15: Montenegro (2A) vs. Russia (3B) 12-11 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2; penalty shootout: 5-4) - 13
Saturday, June 15 semi-final round
14.00: China (L14) vs. Brazil (L15) 12-7 (3-0, 4-2, 2-3, 3-2) - 18
15.45: Russia (L13) vs. Japan (L16) 13-7 (4-3, 2-1, 6-0, 1-3) - 17
Semi-finals:
17.30: Montenegro (W13) vs. Serbia (W16) 6-8 (2-2, 2-2, 1-2, 1-2) - 19
19.15: USA (W14) vs. Hungary (W15) 6-8 (0-2, 2-2, 3-4, 1-0) - 20
Sunday, June 16 - ranking matches
7th-8th place
14.00: Japan (L17) vs. Brazil (L18) 9-4 (4-1, 3-1, 1-0, 1-2)
5th-6th place
15.45: Russia (W17) vs. China (W18) 17-8 (4-2, 4-1, 6-0, 3-5)
3rd-4th place
17.30: Montenegro (L19) vs. USA (L20) 13-11 (1-2, 3-3, 2-3, 4-2; penalty shootout: 3-1)
1st-2nd place
19.15: Serbia (W19) vs. Hungary (W20) 12-7 (4-3, 3-1, 2-2, 3-1)
N.B.: times mentioned are local time
*****
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 15) – Six years after they clashed in Berlin, Serbia and Hungary will face off again in the final of the FINA World League. Both sides won their respective semi finals 8-6, but in quite different ways. Serbia’s battle with Montenegro was open until the very last minute while Hungary’s strong opening against the US determined the rest of the match. In the “lower house” China was too strong for Brazil again and Russia overcame Japan thanks to an incredible 6-0 third period.
Game 17, 14.00, for places 5-8: China vs. Brazil 12-7 (3-0, 4-2, 2-3, 3-2)
Referees: Aleksandar Adzic (MNE), Joe Piela (USA)
FINA Delegate: Boukezouha Badreddine
Teams
CHINA: Wu Honghui – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 2, Jiang Bin 1, Guo Junliang, Pan Ning 2, Li Bin 1, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian 2, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang 1.
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha 1, Adrian Delgado Baches 1, Felipe Silva 2, Bernardo Rocha 1, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra 2.
Extraman
China: 5 for 7
Brazil: 3 for 12
Penalties:
China: 1 for 1
Brazil: nil
The sides met for the second time in Chelyabinsk and it turned out that the first game didn’t mirror the real strength of the teams. Then China routed the Brazilians (18-3) since the South Americans hit the bottom both physically and mentally on the second day after they arrived to Russia after an extremely long trip.
This time they showed their charisma, though the first half of this match was a bit reminiscent of the earlier nightmare. China rushed to a 5-0 lead, later was 7-1 up as the Brazilians struggled to find their rhythm but perhaps were a bit tired after their really tough and surprisingly even quarter final against Hungary. But in the third they managed to reach a much higher level both in front and in rear, scored three straight goals for 7-5 and even had an extra for getting closer. They missed and that cost them the chance to go for the equaliser: China netted two fine action goals towards the end of the quarter and that was the end of Brazil’s comeback (9-5).
FLASH QUOTES
Rick Azevedo – head coach, CHN
Those kind of games are the games teams don’t want to play. Because we know that obviously Brazil will come to play for pride after we beat them pretty good for the first time around. We wanted to make sure that we prepare ourselves correctly, and we respect the other players and play hard – and we did that. We jumped to a 7-1 lead after we wanted to slow down the game to make sure no one got hurt or got a red card as we got the FINA World Championships coming up. For a couple of times we lost our concentration, but besides it was OK, I’m satisfied with our performance as this is our preparation for the Worlds.”
Tan Fehui – player, CHN
“We played well in attack and in defence. Brazil also played a lot better than in our first match. We are happy we can play for the 5th place on Sunday.”
Gustavo Coutinho – player, BRA
We came from a very long trip and that affected our first two games. It was hard to play as the time difference is nine hours, it’s to get used to it, I had the first good sleep last night when I didn’t wake up at 4 in the morning. In the quarter finals, against Hungary, we were able to play with a lot a more focus, to think about defence, defence, defence so we had a good game. But that was also really tiring so today we lacked something in the first two periods, the necessary
Game 18, 15.45, for places 5-8: Russia vs. Japan 13-7 (4-3, 2-1, 6-0, 1-3)
Referees: Andre Dester (BRA), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
FINA Delegate: Alexandar Sostar
Teams
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev, Artem Odintsev, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Albert Zinnatulin 1, Artem Ashaev, Vladislav Timakov 2, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod, Roman Shepelev 2, Sergey Lisunov 4, Stepan Andryukov 1.
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki 1, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke 2, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 3, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo, Hazui Shota 1.
Extraman:
Russia: 3 for 8
Japan: 4 for 12
Penalties:
Russia: 1 for 1
Japan: 1 for 2
For two periods it went as normal: a goal here, a goal there, though the Russians had a better finish in both the first and second quarters. They scored for 4-3 with 6 seconds to go in the opening period and netted one for 6-4 in the second with 46 seconds remaining on the clock. The Japanese missed a man-up late in this period – but that didn’t look like as something unusual.
What happened in the third period was absolutely unusual from the Japanese team. It was a real blackout when everything went wrong all of a sudden. Russia scored three on their first three attacks, then the Japanese missed two extras, a penalty and later a one-on-one counter. Three more Russian goals came still in this period which saw the Asians totally losing their focus. Perhaps playing two really tough matches with the eventual finalists (Hungary, then Serbia) in the previous two days took that kind of toll. They could not stop the hosts rolling – perhaps a time-out would have helped but wasn’t called. The interval eased the suffering of the Japanese, they came back a bit fresher and saved some pride by winning the last quarter.
FLASH QUOTES
Yoji Omoto – head coach, JPN
“The players were too tired and for the third period they lost their concentration, mostly in defence, but almost everything went wrong. They didn’t have that experience before, to play five games in five days. Still, they could bring a fine level at the beginning, they kept scoring goals, they could swim back and forth, back and forth, but for the third period our level dropped. We have to learn how to handle this kind of tournaments. In the beginning we played much better than everybody expected but probably we lost too much energy in the first phase and the players got exhausted to the most important matches (in the knock-out phase). Now they have realised this and I hope this will push them to train much harder in the future.”
Sergey Lisunov – player, RUS
“Yesterday’s loss had an influence on our performance today: there were no more pressure, we could play with ease, without being too nervous. Japan started strongly but we could keep up with them and then we scored a series of goals in the third which made our job really easy. We are not satisfied, though, we had a target to reach the best four and we couldn’t achieve that. We have to improve a lot of things, mostly our defence. Ironically, yesterday it was much better than today.”
Game 19, 17:30, Semi Final 1: Montenegro vs. Serbia 6-8 (2-2, 2-2, 1-2, 1-2)
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), Cory Williams (NZL)
FINA Delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 1, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic 1, Dragan Draskovic, Luka Sekulic 1, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 1, Filip Klikovac 1, Uros Cuckovic.
SERBIA: Branislav Mitrovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 2, Vanja Udovicic 1, Milos Cuk 1, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 1, Milan Aleksic, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 1, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 1, Gojko Pijetlovic (GK).
Extraman:
Montenegro: 4 for 9
Serbia: 4 for 7
It was another good old-fashioned clash between the former allies (Serbians and Montenegrins competed under the same flag until 2006): a tough physical battle, extra-ordinary level of defending, looking for the centre-forward, heavy one-on-one marking, big shots, big goals, big saves, big blocks, big muscles… Though it was visible that neither sides were on the top of their games – both missed a couple of key players who had to take some rest after the long club season – still, it was a thrilling encounter which was decided in the very end.
As usual in water polo and more usual while they play against each other, converting the 6 on 5s was the primary tool for scoring. However, it was the action goals which finally separated the two giants. Quite surprisingly, the first period saw two goals apiece, all scored on equal strength. Great shots from the distance, a fine centre-goal from Slobodan Nikic – and they stood 2-2 after eight minutes.
The rest of the match brought the expected scenario: man-up here, man-up there, all goals but one were netter from 6 on 5s. That exceptional goal meant the turning point. Montenegro had a good chance to level the score at 4-5, but missed it and Vanja Udovicic scored a superb goal from the ensuing counter attack. It was a great goal from a classy player who struggled in most part of the match but when it was needed the most he showed what real greatness was about. This goal gave the Serbs a 6-4 lead and one might have felt that Montenegro could be unable to score two connecting goals today. They pulled one back in the third through Filip Klikovac, but the young leftie, Dusan Mandic scored for 7-5 in the middle of the fourth. A fine shot from Drasko Brguljan gave hope to Montenegro (7-6, with 3:11 to go) and they earned a 6 on 5 with 1:19 till the end but could not set up a real scoring chance after the time-out. That was the real end of the battle, though Zivko Gocic scored the 8th goal in the very last second. After skipping the 2012 edition Serbia can go for the title which they won in 2010 and in 2011.
FLASH QUOTES
Dejan Savic – head coach, SRB
“It was a tough game and we could see that our players were a bit tired. I think we played really well in defence. The most important moment was when Udovicic scored that action goal. I would say that decided the game. OK, Montenegro had chances to come back, but that goal made the difference as it came from a counter.”
Ranko Perovic – head coach, MNE
“We try to make some counter-attacks, our transition was good, but we lost with a small margin. I have to say that I’m a bit angry with the Russian referee I simply can’t understand most of his decisions. You know, this is the semi final, we should have better referees here, fitting to the standard of these games.”
Vanja Udovicic – player, SRB
“It’s difficult to tell which and whose goal was the most important if you are member of a collective. Today we played bad, we had a lot of ups and downs, but it’s normal at this stage when we are in this kind of condition. We were tired, we were slow, so I’m satisfied that we are playing the final. Two of our best player are not here, we have a young team, I can say, and it’s great that our young players have proved that we can count on them. But to win that game we must play at our normal level as if we had arrived yesterday, hadn’t played any game.”
Milos Scepanovic – goalie, MNE
“I think Serbia is the better team now with these players and I’m satisfied that we could play a good game. It was very tough, the two goal difference perhaps too big, one goal is real. We have six more players in Montenegro, so returning home we’re going to be complete and start the real preparations to play with a different team in Barcelona, at the World Championships.”
Game 20, 19.15, Semi Final 2: United States vs. Hungary 6-8 (0-2, 2-2, 3-4, 1-0)
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), German Moller (ARG)
FINA Delegate: Gianni Lonzi
Teams
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen 2, Shea Buckner 1, Timothy Hutten 1, Michael Rosenthal, John Mann.
HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Bence Batori, Marton Vamos 1, Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 1, Daniel Varga 1, Denes Varga 2, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai 1.
Extraman:
USA: 3 for 12
Hungary: 2 for 3
Penalties:
USA: nil
Hungary: 2 for 2
On the opening day the young US team battled and played fearlessly and beat the Hungarians in the penalty shootout. This time it was a different story: the Hungarians learnt a lot from that game, and also improved their play day by day. They managed to return to the old scheme which brought them to Chelyabinsk: their tight defence was the key of their success in the qualification (when they managed to push aside the Olympic silver-medallists Italians). After conceding 9 goals from the US and 10 from Montenegro on the first two days, they reduced this number to 5 against Japan and 4 against Brazil and held the US also on 5 until the last minute this time.
In fact, they started devastatingly: in one and a half periods they earned a 4-0 lead by scoring spectacular goals and killing three man-downs. The US team began their comeback campaign a bit late but by the middle of the third they got unexpectedly close at 5-4. However, the Hungarians lifted their game rapidly and rebuilt the three-goal cushion by burying two penalties and with arguably the goal of the day from Denes Varga whose 10m pinpoint shot flew like a rocket to the top right corner.
Being 8-5 up, the Hungarians found it better not to risk anything, their focus was on their defence and that worked as they denied two more US extras before Tim Hutten scored from the third one but that happened 40 seconds before the end. Hungary will return to the World League final on Sunday after six years. In 2007 they lost it – to Serbia. The last time they won dates back to 2004, when they also played with the Serbs (that time Serbia and Montenegro), as it was usual in those days.
FLASH QUOTES
Tibor Benedek – head coach, HUN
“I think we achieved what we promised our fans: to improve match by match. The team played with extreme discipline, even when we had a kind of feeling, that the gap between the two teams must not be too wide in order to have an exciting finish. We did our utmost in defence again, killing nine man-downs out of twelve shows some quality. Now up for Serbia: it was my wish to meet them here at any stage – to clash with them in the final is the best thing what can happen to my team in our learning process. Serbia is strong, stronger than any other sides today, so we are the challengers now, but at least we can test ourselves.”
Dejan Udovicic – head coach, USA
“The main or rather the only reason for losing this game was the poor conversion of our extramen. We couldn’t score in crucial moments. Since Hungary is a really good team they could capitalise on our misses and that was it.”
Norbert Madaras – player, HUN
“We played with self-confidence. For me not the win was the most important but the way we achieved it. The way we played – I liked it very much! Perhaps today’s performance wasn’t that spectacular for the fans, but when the match requires it, you have to play the entire 30 seconds, try to go for a corner, or feed the centre in the very last moment, you have to do everything with the utmost discipline – this is today’s water polo. And we are improving day by day.”
Collin Smith – player, USA
“We didn’t quite play the defence we played in the beginning. If we had accomplished that we would have had a better chance. Every game we are working to get better and working on simple tasks and making progress.”
Schedule for Sunday
14.00: Japan vs. Brazil – Game for places 7-8
15.45: Russia vs. China – Game for places 5-6
17.30: Montenegro vs. United States – Bronze Medal Game
19.15: Serbia vs. Hungary – Gold Medal Game
*****
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******
Super Final 2013 (Men): Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia and USA in the semis
*****
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 13) – Hungary and Serbia earned the respective top spots at the end of the preliminaries. After two days of extreme excitement, Group A ties became rather one-sided battles as both Montenegro and Hungary came up with their best and that was unmatchable for the young U.S. and Japanese teams this time. The game between Montenegro and USA brought an outstanding individual performance, an absolute rarity in today’s elite water polo: Montenegrin Darko Brguljan scored three amazing goals within a span of 80 seconds, at the most crucial stage of the game.
In Group B the other European giant, Serbia enjoyed another easy cruise, this time against Brazil. And finally the day offered at least one thrilling encounter, between Russia and China. And it was not just a thrilling clash but turned into a historical one as China managed to beat the Russians for the first time ever.
Match report:
Game 9, 14.00, Group B: SERBIA vs BRAZIL 16-7
Quarters: (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
Referees: Alexandar Adzic (MNE), Chen Zialang (CHN)
Extraman: SRB: 7/9. BRA: 2/9
Penalties: SRB: 2 for 2. BRA: Nil
Teams:
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 3, Vanja Udovicic 2, Milos Cuk 2, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 2, Milan Aleksic 1, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 3, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 2, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes 1, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha 1, Adrian Delgado Baches 1, Felipe Silva 1, Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra 2, Thye Bezerra (GK).
It was a rather good test opportunity for both teams: for Serbia to see some tactical moves and what the younger players are capable of; for Brazil to restore some pride after yesterday’s heavy defeat from China. The latter one seemed to be the tougher challenge as they Brazilians had to show something against the hot favourite of this tournament.
SRB vs BRA - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
DEJAN SAVIC – Head coach, SRB
“We expected to
MIRKO BLAZEVIC – Head coach, BRA
“Serbia is too strong for us, we didn’t even think of winning this game. Instead, I wanted to see a good of approach from the players, as we want to apply a new playing system in the games and they have to be disciplined to have this clicking. Today, at some stages, it was OK, but we are working for the long term.”
Game 10, 15.45, Group A: MONTENEGRO vs UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 9-4
Quarters:(2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
Referees: Gyorgy Kun (HUN), German Moller (ARG)
Extraman: MNE: 5/6. USA: 1/9
Teams:
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic 4, Luka Sekulic, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 4, Filip Klikovac, Uros Cuckovic.
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane, Alexander Obert 1, Alexander Bowen, Shea Buckner, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal, John Mann 2.
Members of the young US team gained some experience how it felt playing under heavy pressing. In fact, they couldn’t cope with it and remained scoreless for the last 13:41 minutes of the game, for almost the entire second half. Until the beginning of the third period they managed to keep up with the Montenegrins though the difference between the two sides was visible from the beginning. However, the Europeans were too nervous and missed a handful of great chances, sometimes it was embarrassing how badly they missed the
MNE vs USA - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
RANKO PEROVIC – Head coach, MNE
“Today the defence was the key of our success. We put it together and the result tells the story. It was a good performance from our side, the team moral is getting better and better.”
DARKO BRGULJAN – Player, MNE
“It was a great team effort, our defensive play worked on a really high level and that made our job easy. Well, the three goals in the third were important, but those were also the result of our fantastic teamwork, I gave only the finishing hand.”
Game 11, 17.30, Group A: JAPAN vs HUNGARY 5-11
Quarters: (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
Referees: Andre Dester (BRA), Nikolaos Vasilieou (GRE)
Extraman: JPN: 2/8. HUN: 2/5
Penalties: JPN: 1 for 1. HUN: 2 for 2
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki 2, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 1, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo 1, Hazui Shota 1.
HUNGARY: Attila Decker – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Bence Batori 2, Marton Vamos, Nortbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker 1, Marton Szivos 3, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 3, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai 1.
Though the first two days saw quite even matches in this group – three of them were decided by penalties, the fourth was one in the last minute –, the third was a day of making order. Just as Montenegro upended the U.S. team with a quite convincing performance, Hungary didn’t let Japan into the game for a single moment. The Hungarians learnt a lot from the first two days, they knew the best way to stop Japan is to force a battle where body fights with body. Since the difference in weight and height favoured the Hungarians heavily – not to talk about the skills –, the outcome was inevitable from the very beginning. Hungary rushed to a 3-0 lead in the first period: while they played a really tough pressing game in the back, their physics also dominated in attack. Most of their goals came after their huge centre-forward, Balazs Harai – holding a 30+ advantage over the defenders both in centimetres and in kilos – earned extras or penalties, or fed the other with fine passes.
JPN vs HUN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
TIBOR BENEDEK – Head coach, Hungary
“Though it was a ‘must-win’ game for us, but it was not easy. We saw their previous two matches and that helped a lot. And we needed that aid as Japan got into a different category, a higher one, you can no longer take a win against them for granted as it was the case a decade ago. We had to apply a different kind of game plan since they play a different style, not similar to any we’ve got used to in Europe. But our guys did their job, they played a strong pressure game in the back and set up the scoring chances mostly by feeding the centre-forwards who can built on their huge physical dominance over the Japanese defenders.”
YOJI OMOTO – Head coach, JPN
“The Hungarians played really tough in defence it was hard to move in attack. They knew what they should do, while we tried to find a way to go forward but you it’s really difficult to make a move again and again if you are stopped all the time. Still, it’s a great honour for us that the Hungarians visibly gave their maximum today as this shows that they respect us and we have a team which should be considered seriously by our opponents.”
MIKLOS GOR-NAGY –Player, HUN
“It was a great game, and credit to the Japanese, they usually make good choices, have the tools, they play exciting water polo, the only shortfall is their physics: these guys are mostly 160-170cm high which is a huge disadvantage in this sport. Still, there is no surprise that they played even games with Montenegro and the U.S. We learnt from those matches so we could beat them with a quite straightforward performance. The other reason for our win is that we are improving day by day, a rather bad news for Japan, since this was the third day of the tournament.”
Game 12, 19.15, Group B: China vs. Russia 12-11
Quarters: (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Referees: Joe Piela (USA), Cory Williams (NZL)
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu 3, Liang Zhongxing, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning 4, Li Bin, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang 2.
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev 1, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 4, Albert Zinnatulin 1, Artem Ashaev 1, Vladislav Timakov, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod 1, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov.
Extraman: CHN: 8/14. RUS: 4/9
Penalties: CHN: 1 for 1. RUS: 0 for 1.
After three one-sided battles a real thriller concluded the daily programme – and a historic win for China. After the women’s side beat Russia in the final of Super Final held in Beijing a week ago (thus clinching the nation’s very first international gold in water polo), this time the men’s team did a splendid job and they managed to overcome Russia, for the first time ever.
U.S. coach Rick Azevedo’s work starts to bring their fruits in China as his team fought quite bravely against the hosts, they managed to keep their nerves in the hottest moments in a match which provided a series of crucial points.
Russia had the better start, they led 3-1 after the first period and after China levelled the score for 3-3, they went ahead again (3-5). But the Chinese changed gears and in less than two minutes they turned the score and were 6-5 up by halftime.
The third quarter was a truly amazing part of the performance with full of twists and turns. Following the changes on the scoreboard tells the story: 6-6, 6-7, 7-7, 8-7, 8-8, 8-9, 9-9, 10-9. At 7-7 the Russians missed a penalty, a possible turning point, since the next goal went to China, so it was 8-7 instead of 7-8. Early in the fourth Pan Ning netted his fourth goal of the evening for 11-9, and afterwards the Russians tried to climb back in vain. In fact their defence seemed to be weak a bit, and they were too nervous to save the game into a shootout though they closed the gap to 12-11 with 3:50 remaining on the clock. But Ge Weiqing came up with a big save in Russia’s last 6 on 5, securing the win and the second place for China.
CHN vs RUS - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
RICK AZEVEDO – Head coach, CHN
“We knew coming here that Serbia was clearly better now than anybody else in the field, we thought we would be OK against Brazil and knew that this would be an important game against Russia. We know they play a tough physical game, they play hard, swim hard, but our swimming skills are as good or even better than anybody’s in the world. Then, we could play the physical game as well, as we showed today. So I’m happy with how the boys played today and I think they grew up for this challenge. We told the players that for the first two and three periods it was going to be a battle. It was great that our veterans could put the important balls away and at the end of the game they played great defence as this is the way to win games.”
GE WEIQING – Goalie, CHN
“I am really happy that my team won. Before, China was regarded as a low-ranked team, now I think we have a chance against almost every team. I think Russia also played well today, they were a bit unlucky, hitting the bar sometimes. But our team also played great and we are really happy to finish second in the group.”
DMITRY KHOLOD – Player, RUS
“We lost this game in the back. Our defence didn’t work well this time, and we have to double our efforts to correct the mistakes we made. We are in a good condition so I don’t think we’ll have any problems in the next days, we should be ready for the quarter finals and show that we can do better, much better.”
*****
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USA is this year's World League Super Final first semi-finalist. China caused the Americans quite some trouble but were edged in a penalty shootout 5-3 as head coach Dejan Udovicic and his squad recorded a 13-11 victory. USA looked on its way to the
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Serbia joines USA and Hungary in the Super Final semis after a clear 8-14 victory in the quarter-final on Friday. They will await the winner of the game between neighbours Montenegro and home side Russia in the semi-final. The undersized Japan team managed to keep pace with the Serbs in the opening term but fell behind after that. Serbia led 5-7 at half time and were not endangered in the second half as they went on to finish with a six-goal victory. The offensive performance of center Slobodan Nikic highlighted the win. Nikic was unstoppable scoring six goals for the 2011 World League winning side. Rising star Dusan Mandic added three.
Photo by waterpolo2013.ru
Montenegro goalkeeper Dejan Lazovic saved the fourth attempt by home side Russia's Andrjukov in the decisive penalty shootout to give the Montenegrins a hard-fought 12-11 win in the Super Final quarter-finals. Russia proved to be a revitalized up-and-coming squad that drove Montenegro to their maximum. The tournament hosts took a 1-3 and 2-4 lead in the first half before the 2012 Europeans runners-up graduatly came back as the match stayed close from that point on. Drasko Brguljan looked to score the winning goal (8-7) with over four minutes to play but Odincov responded for Russia so that a shootout, once again for Montenegro, would determine which side was to take the final semi-finals spot. In the series goalie Lazovic emerged as game winner saving Andrjukov's attempt while filling in for usual starter Milos Scepanovic who was benched by head coach Ranko Perovic. Montenegro will now face neighbours Serbia in a much anticipated semi-final battle on Saturday in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
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FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia 12-11 (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Final standings:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 6 pts
2. Montenegro 3 - 5
3. USA 3 - 5
4. Japan 3 - 2
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. China 3 - 6
3. Russia 3 - 3
4. Brazil 3 - 0
Friday, June 14 - quarter-final round
14.00: USA (3A) vs. China (2B) 13-11 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-3; penalty shootout: 5-3) - 14
15.45: Hungary (1A) vs. Brazil (4B) 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1) - 15
17.30: Japan (4A) vs. Serbia (1B) 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5) - 16
19.15: Montenegro (2A) vs. Russia (3B) 12-11 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2; penalty shootout: 5-4) - 13
*****
*****
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Serbia has clinched the overall
Montenegro meanwhile finished the group stage on a positive nota beating USA 9-4. Thanks to a 3-0 run, all three goals scored by Darko Brguljan, in the third quarter, the Montenegrins got up 7-4 after a 4-4 tie in the beginning of the third term. That seemed to have decided the game as the Americans were unable to score in the final period and two Dragan Draskovic goals created the final score. The situation in group B now is getting close. If Hungary
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Hungary lived up to the expectations in game 3 of the day holding off Japan 5-11 to clinch group A victory. The Magyars started off well rolling to a seemingly comfortable 1-5 lead before Japan graduatly came back. That run was stopped at 4-6 after which Hungary set things straight and walked away to the 5-11 final score. Denes Varga and Marton Szivos earned top scoring honors netting three each.
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FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia
*****
Super Final 2013 (Men): Serbia wins again, this time with ease
Gergely Csurka, FINA Press Commission Member
Serbia won the World League crown and the $100,000 cheque for the 7th time (twice triumphed as Serbia-Montenegro), and for the 5th time in seven years. The final against Hungary wasn’t as thrilling as used to be, still, the capacity crowd enjoyed it very much. The bronze medal went to Montenegro after they won with penalties against the US – it was Montenegro’s fourth shootout in six games.
Chelyabinsk, together with the Russian Water Polo Federation, was a worthy host of FINA’s premium water polo event which proved that the men’s field has become wider and more balanced than ever.
Match reports:
Game 21, 14.00, for places 7-8: JAPAN vs BRAZIL 9-4 Quarters: (4-1, 3-1, 1-0, 1-2)
Referees: Chen Zialang (CHN), Gyorgy Kun (HUN)
Extraman: JPN: 2/7. BRA: 0/5
Teams:
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki 1, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke, Kadono Yuki 1, Takei Koji 2, Yasuda Kenya 1, Okawa Keigo 2, Hazui Shota 2.
BRAZIL: Thye Bezerra – Bernando Gomes 1, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches 2, Felipe Silva, Bernardo Rocha 1, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra.
Japan started the World League Super Final with a
shocking
shootout
win
against Montenegro and was centimetres away from upsetting the United States… Perhaps if that ball bounces in from the bar at 12-12, one minute before the end the whole tournament differs for the Asians. Still, they deserve all
credit
to give tough tests even for the best sides, they kept themselves firm against the eventual finalists, Hungary and Serbia, and apart from the blackout in the third quarter they played a fine game with Russia. A win in the regular time was a kind of must for them after the heroic efforts seen in the previous five days, and they earned it on the last day against Brazil.The Japanese didn’t let any doubt who would win this encounter, in four minutes they rushed to a 3-0 lead and managed to go with full gear until half-time. Their dominance was clearly visible on the scoreboard: they led 7-2.
Since this was the 6th game in six days for both sides it was not surprising that they ran out of fuel for the last two periods. The Japanese had no reason to rush after all, while Brazil couldn’t produce a similar comeback they had against China a day earlier in the third period as they missed two 6 on 5s after the mid-break. What’s more, Hazui Shota’s action goal widened the gap (8-2). In the last period Brazil had something to cheer about at last, they scored two goals but Japan had the last laugh as Keigo Okawa sent a great shot home for 9-4.
Though the game finished at around 3PM in the afternoon, Japan was represented at the victory ceremony in the evening: Koji Takei has become the Best Scorer of the tournament with 17 goals – today he added two to his tally, a great feat indeed.
FLASH QUOTES:
YOJI OMOTO – Head coach, JPN
“First of all we told the players to stay cool as the Brazilians are a bit rough, they are grabbing and holding all the time and we should not respond to their provocation. The second thing: keep on swimming as we are much better physically. And this is what the players did exactly. About the tournament I have to say, that we’ve never gone through this kind of experience, to play six matches in six days. But it was great to realise what we are able to do against the top teams and what are not. We could have finished a bit higher and play with our eternal rival China for the fifth place, but we lost to Russia a day earlier. Still, I’m satisfied with the result. Now we know our tasks, our players won’t grow 20 cm in two years so we have to work on other tools to get closer to the best ones.”
ADRIAN DELGADO BACHES – Player, BRA
“We arrived here not just after a long travel: we were also tired because of the finish of our national league. Most of us played eight games in five days before we left Brazil. So our level of play is definitely not the best, we tried to keep on with the others, we had a tough game against Russia, then Hungary, had good two quarters against China and also today. What we have to do in the future is practice, practice, practice, and learn patience above all.”
Game 22, 15.45, for places 5-6: RUSSIA vs CHINA 17-8 Quarters: (4-2, 4-1, 6-0, 3-5)
Referees: German Moller (ARG), Cory Williams (NZL)
Extraman: RUS: 7/9. CHN: 3/11
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev 1, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 3, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 2, Vladislav Timakov 3, Ivan Nagaev, Dmitry Kholod 3, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov 3, Evgeny Kostrov (GK).
CHINA: Wu Honghui – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 1, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning 2, Li Bin, Wang Yang 1, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang.
Russian head coach Alexander Karaboutov was so upset on Day 3 after their loss to China that he sent a message to the press: don’t wait for him, he is not available for comments… Though he is a tough man – he was the same as a player – and not the kind who smiles a lot (laughter? no…), today he was even cheerful upon talking to the local press. He could be: the Russian team showed the best performance of the week, they totally outplayed China, all part of their game worked. The hosts defended well but it was their attack which was overwhelming: they put away 7 extras on 9 occasions (a rarity in this sport), scored great goals from the distance and led a handful of fast counter attacks. China crashed in the third as Japan did a day before, the Russians produced the same scoreline for this eight minutes (6-0) and led 14-3. Just a reminder: three days ago China won 12-11… The final quarter saw a late surge from China, plus some tension in the pool with two red cards, but towards the end of the tournament the tiring players sometime lose control a bit easier. And nothing really serious happened, apart from Russia’s triumphant march ended at 17 goals, the second highest score in the tournament. China tops this list with the 18 goals netted against Brazil – however, their team looked a bit exhausted as if they put much if not all into the previous five games and didn’t have reserves left for this clash.
FLASH QUOTES:
ALEXANDER KARABOUTOV – Head coach, RUS
“For three periods we saw a performance the Russian team should always show, both in defence and in offence. The fourth period we took a bit of rest, but all in all I’m satisfied with the result.”
SERGEY LISUNOV – Player, RUS
“Generally, we can play better, even better than today. This game showed the real Russian team: compared to our previous game it wasn’t the Chinese whose level dropped, it was our team which played much better. We try to bring the level of play we reached on the last two days to Kazan, for the World
University
Games: this tournament was a good preparation for that event.”PAN NING – Player, CHN
“The Russian team is quite young, perhaps that made the difference between our games. That time they played bad, this time they played great. We loved this tournament, it was well organised – and perhaps now we will have some time to look around in the city.”
Game 23, 17.30, Bronze Medal Game: MONTENEGRO vs UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 10-10 (1-2, 3-3, 2-3, 4-2) – penalties: 3-1
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), Nikolaos Vasilieou (GRE)
Extraman: MNE: 4/6. USA: 4/11
Penalties: MNE: 1 for 1. USA: 1 for 1
Teams:
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan, 1 Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic 1, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic 3, Luka Sekulic 1, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 2, Filip Klikovac 1, Uros Cuckovic, Dejan Lazovic (GK).
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo, Matthew De Trane, Alexander Obert 1, Alexander Bowen 2, Shea Buckner 1, Timothy Hutten 1, Michael Rosenthal 3, John Mann 1, Greg Enloe 1.
The game produced the most thrilling last period of the tournament – and as bonus, another penalty shootout. Just as it happened in the other pairings where the sides met for the second time after the prelims, this was a totally different story, too. On Day 3 Montenegro taught a lesson for the young US team and soundly beat them 9-4, scoring five unanswered goals after 4-4.
Now the US team took the driving seat early and almost always were up by couple of goals. They led 5-3 in the second, Montenegro came back to 5-5 in the third but then came three consecutive US hits, two of them were action goals and at 5-8 the Montenegrin head coach, Ranko Perovic called for an emergency time-out. It had a positive effect, soon after they pulled one back, but in the following attack they missed an extra, so they still trailed 6-8 before the last period.
Those eight minutes brought sheer excitement, even the Russian spectators started to shout and scream as Montenegro levelled the score from two 6 on 5s. Michael Rosenthal managed to convert an extra for 8-9, but in 22 seconds Filip Klikovac replied (9-9). The US got another man-up but missed it after a time-out and Darko Brguljan took the lead for Montenegro for the first time in the match, it was a magnificent individual action with 27 seconds remaining on the clock. But it was not over. After some heated moments, the US earned a 6 on 5 with five seconds to go, it was enough for two passes, and Rosenthal’s ball just beat the goalie – sneaked in from Scepanovic’s hand – and the buzzer.
So Montenegro could prepare its fourth penalty shootout while the US team had two earlier. Montenegro stood 1-2 before this one, while the US won two out of two. However, it quickly turned out that substituting the goalie for the shootout would pay off for Montenegro again: when they did it last time they won against Russia. And Lazovic immediately stopped the first attempt, making the following US shooters so tense that two of them simply missed the target, so after the earlier shootouts which were all decided by one miss, now we had much more, in fact the US team could convert only one, and Drasko Brugljan’s shot ended the game and secured the bronze medal for Montenegro.
FLASH QUOTES:
RANKO PEROVIC – Head coach, MNE
“We were a bit tired as we lost plenty of energy yesterday (against Serbia in the semis). And periodically we played really bad. After 5-8 we started to play on the level we usually can. During the time-out I tried to wake my team up to start to play. It was our heart and our soul.”
DEJAN UDOVICIC – Head coach, USA
“We played with emotions, we lost the game because we couldn’t get the best out of the opportunity. Most of these players are kids, sometimes they are afraid of the situation that they can win another game. We had this situation not just today but earlier as well. To take control of the match after taking the lead and keep till the end. But this is normal. The penalties are like lottery, we won two, now lost one. The point is that we are getting better and better, game by game, you could see here and you will see in the future.”
UROS CUCKOVIC – Player, MNE
“It was a very tiring match both physically and mentally, and a very tiring tournament. But it was nice to play, a real enjoyment. We had a horrible start, then started to play after we were down by three goals. We came back, took the lead, I think the US team was lucky with their equaliser in the last second, but luck gave everything back in the penalties.”
SHEA BUCKNER – Player, USA
“I don’t think we lost the game necessarily in the shootout. That was the result, but the reason was our poor defence in the fourth quarter. This is a really young team, we are new together, we have to learn it out to finish games. We must continue to attack to win the game and not let the game to be given to us. This is a good experience before the FINA World Championships, just continue to grow as a young team. I think we are happy, we earned the chance to win a medal, and that’s we wanted. Hopefully, in the future we’ll be better prepared and be ready to go.”
Game 24, 19.15, Final: SERBIA vs HUNGARY 12-7 Quarters: (4-3, 3-1, 2-2, 3-1)
Referees: Joe Piela (USA), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
Extraman: SRB: 6/12 – double extra: 1 for 1. HUN: 4 for 9 – double extra: 1 for 1
Penalties: SRB: Nil. HUN: 1 for 1
Teams:
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 1, Vanja Udovicic 3, Milos Cuk, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic, Milan Aleksic, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 4, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 3, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras 2, Bence Batori, Marton Vamos, Norbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 2, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 1, Krisztian Bedo 1, Balazs Harai, Attila Decker (GK).
Dejan Savic’s coaching career got a flying start: within two weeks he collected two of the most prestigious trophies on offer in water polo, first the Champions League trophy with his club, Crvenza Zvezda Belgrade – and now the gold medal of the FINA Water Polo World League, a rather great feat from a newcomer coach.
The final in Chelyabinsk lacked the usual excitements we had experienced when the two current coaches had still been players. In fact, when Hungary and Serbia met for the last time in any of the big finals in 2007 (in the World League in Berlin), Dejan Savic and Tibor Benedek were in the pool and battled hard for the honours. Now they commanded their respective teams but it was Savic who probably had an easier task as he could direct a unit whose key-players are part of the big shows since years while Hungary had to start to rebuild its team after members of their golden generation all called it a day.
And it was visible right from the beginning that Serbia was the stronger side. They managed to set up more scoring opportunities, either because they were more creative and powerful in attack, either because their defence worked pretty effectively. Hungary managed to stay on equal team until 3-3, there they missed a man-up and they paid for it: the Serbs scored from the following attack and by half time they gained a 7-4 lead. Vanja Udovicic and Filip Filipovic sent one blast after the other, all of them were on target – Hungary opted to change its goalie as Viktor Nagy couldn’t make a single save in the first half. The substitute, Attila Decker started brilliantly, he made saves in three consecutive man-downs but his team mates weren’t sharp enough to capitalise on this. They could climb back to 7-5 and 8-6, but the last goal of the period went to Serbia whose players usually shot the ball in the 18th-20th second during their 6 on 5s (so in the very last seconds) as it happened this case when Filipovic scored his fourth goal of the evening for 9-6. The tiring Hungarians took some risks in the final period but their shots didn’t do much harm and the Serbs added three more later on.
After winning the World League title again they started to celebrate in the pool but didn’t throw the winning coach, Dejan Savic to the water – perhaps they’ve saved this ritual for a later date, early August, in Barcelona…
FLASH QUOTES:
DEJAN SAVIC – Head coach, SRB
“We deserved this win. This was out best game in this tournament, our attack was good, but our defence worked even better. Yes, I thought we could do something like this, though this level is still far away from the one I expect to reach later, at the FINA World Championships.”
TIBOR BENEDEK – Head coach, HUN
“No surprise. And when we lost Daniel Varga (through injury) our playing system collapsed almost entirely. We had players fouled out, and I couldn’t count on Daniel who can give some extra towards the end of any game by swimming off the centre-forwards and setting up counterattacks, so I lost my last weapon. However, I underline: this was not the reason for our loss, it was just a confirmation, that our small chances of a comeback dropped to zero. We got tired for this last day, Serbia is a stronger team as a unit on any given day, but today there was difference between the physical conditions as well. Also, Udovicic and Filipovic enjoyed outstanding shooting form – all these things were too much for my newly shaped young team to cope with.”
FILIP FILIPOVIC – Player, SRB
“Considering that we played without two of our best players, Prlainovic and Pijetlovic, we can be satisfied. We played well in defence, which is very important for us, realisation of man-ups were also great, and shooting from outside worked wonderfully. If we can continue this, we will be great in Barcelona (at the FINA World Championships). Together with the titles we recently won at club level, it’s a good proof that we are on the right track towards Rio 2016 which can be the peak of our careers.”
DENES VARGA – Player, HUN
“I am proud of my silver medal as it took five years to reach a final of a major tournament. And this feels great. We couldn’t match Serbia’s strengths in the final, they were superior. There were some moments when we might have levelled the score and that would have changed the
psychology
of the match, but this didn’t happen. Now we have to admit that they were the better side and the task is given: let’s reach their level of play.”Final standings and prize money
1. Serbia ($100,000)
2. Hungary ($70,000)
3. Montenegro ($50,000)
4. United States ($35,000)
5. Russia ($30,000)
6. China ($25,000)
7. Japan ($20,000)
8. Brazil ($15,000)
Special Awards
Best scorer: Koji Takei (JPN), 17 goals
Best player: Vanja Udovicic (SRB)
Best goalkeeper: Milos Scepanovic (MNE)
*****
Serbia, campeona de la Liga Mundial ( RFEN )
17/06/2013 - La Selección Nacional Serbia, rival de grupo de España, es la nueva campeona de la Liga Mundial. El conjunto de Dejan Savic se ha impuesto a Hungría en la final por 12—7, alzando su quinto título en el torneo como nación independiente (el séptimo si sumamos los dos títulos logrados junto a Montenegro). Montenegro capturó el bronce tras derrotar a Estados Unidos.
Serbia afianza su candidatura al oro en Barcelona con el triunfo en la Superfinal de la Liga Mundial, celebrada este fin de semana en Chelyabinsk, Rusia. El conjunto de Dejan Savic, rival de los nuestros en la fase regular del campeonato, llegó invicto a la final, donde también doblegó a Hungría por 12-7, liderado por Filip Filipovic, autor de cuatro goles. Este triunfo viene a reivindicar la excelente campaña del técnico balcánico, que ha alzado en el mismo mes la Champions Cup y la Liga Mundial FINA.
En la final de consolación, Montenegro batió a Estados Unidos en los penaltis (13-11) para colgarse el bronce. Completaron la clasificación China, que se hizo con la quinta plaza tras golear a China por 17-8, y Japón, séptimo tras derrotar a Brasil por 9-4.
Comunicación RFEN
*****
Serbia wins 2013 World League
| Waterpoloworld | | | Sunday 16 June 2013, 11:20 | | | Tim Hartog |
© waterpolo2013.ru
Serbia has won the 2013 World League defeating Hungary 12-7 in an anticipated final on Sunday in Chelaybinsk, Russia. After a high scoring first period (4-3) the Serbs gradually walked away in the second (3-1) to take a 7-4 lead at half time. Hungary fought hart to come back but came only as close as a two-goal deficit in the third quarter (8-6) as Serbia stayed in control on their way to the gold medal. Lefthander Filip Filipovic finished the game as top scorer netting four goals, well assisted by Vanja Udovicic and Stefan Mitrovic who added three each. The
win
is Serbia's record seventh (Serbia & Montenegro, Serbia combined) and fifth as independent nation. Two-time winners Hungary had to settle for their team third silver medal, after having fallen to Serbia in the 2005 and 2007 final previously.
Montenegro grabbed the Super Final bronze medal defeating USA in a penalty shootout after a wild finish of regulation in which both teams scored within the final thirty seconds. Montenegro got up 10-9l with twenty-seven seconds remaining in what appeared to be the game winner but USA managed to tie (again) as the game clock ran out to force a shootout. However Montenegro held on and penalty misses by Shea Buckner (blocked), Janson Wigo and Bret Bonanni had the Ranko Perovic coached side sealing a 13-11 victory to take the third place; their best performance after the 2010 edition silver medal falling to Serbia in that final.
Montenegro vs. USA (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)The final day of the World League Super Final in Chelyabinsk, Russia started with the battle for seventh place. Japan managed to finish the tournament on a positive note beating Brazil 9-4 to take the penultimate spot while Brazil finishes last. In a story of the tournament for Brazil the game was virtually lost in a first half in which Japan ran away to a 7-2 lead and even led 8-2 with eight minutes to go. Hosts Russia finished the tournament in fifth place holding off China 17-8 in a comfortable win in the day's second game. Again a big third quarter was the major difference after already leading 8-3 at half time. Six unanswered goals followed and the home fans had reason to cheer as Russia took the best spot after the semi-finalists to close out the tournament in comfortale fashion confirming the status of up-and-coming towards 2014 European championships qualification.
Japan vs. Brazil (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
Russia vs. China (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)Serbia vs. Hungary (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)Silver medalists Hungary (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia 12-11 (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Final standings:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 6 pts
2. Montenegro 3 - 5
3. USA 3 - 5
4. Japan 3 - 2
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. China 3 - 6
3. Russia 3 - 3
4. Brazil 3 - 0
Friday, June 14 - quarter-final round
14.00: USA (3A) vs. China (2B) 13-11 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-3; penalty shootout: 5-3) - 14
15.45: Hungary (1A) vs. Brazil (4B) 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1) - 15
17.30: Japan (4A) vs. Serbia (1B) 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5) - 16
19.15: Montenegro (2A) vs. Russia (3B) 12-11 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2; penalty shootout: 5-4) - 13
Saturday, June 15 semi-final round
14.00: China (L14) vs. Brazil (L15) 12-7 (3-0, 4-2, 2-3, 3-2) - 18
15.45: Russia (L13) vs. Japan (L16) 13-7 (4-3, 2-1, 6-0, 1-3) - 17
Semi-finals:
17.30: Montenegro (W13) vs. Serbia (W16) 6-8 (2-2, 2-2, 1-2, 1-2) - 19
19.15: USA (W14) vs. Hungary (W15) 6-8 (0-2, 2-2, 3-4, 1-0) - 20
Sunday, June 16 - ranking matches
7th-8th place
14.00: Japan (L17) vs. Brazil (L18) 9-4 (4-1, 3-1, 1-0, 1-2)
5th-6th place
15.45: Russia (W17) vs. China (W18) 17-8 (4-2, 4-1, 6-0, 3-5)
3rd-4th place
17.30: Montenegro (L19) vs. USA (L20) 13-11 (1-2, 3-3, 2-3, 4-2; penalty shootout: 3-1)
1st-2nd place
19.15: Serbia (W19) vs. Hungary (W20) 12-7 (4-3, 3-1, 2-2, 3-1)
N.B.: times mentioned are local time
*****
Super Final 2013 (Men): Showdown again: Serbia vs. Hungary in the final
Gergely Csurka, FINA Press Commission Member
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 15) – Six years after they clashed in Berlin, Serbia and Hungary will face off again in the final of the FINA World League. Both sides won their respective semi finals 8-6, but in quite different ways. Serbia’s battle with Montenegro was open until the very last minute while Hungary’s strong opening against the US determined the rest of the match. In the “lower house” China was too strong for Brazil again and Russia overcame Japan thanks to an incredible 6-0 third period.
Game 17, 14.00, for places 5-8: China vs. Brazil 12-7 (3-0, 4-2, 2-3, 3-2)
Referees: Aleksandar Adzic (MNE), Joe Piela (USA)
FINA Delegate: Boukezouha Badreddine
Teams
CHINA: Wu Honghui – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 2, Jiang Bin 1, Guo Junliang, Pan Ning 2, Li Bin 1, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian 2, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang 1.
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha 1, Adrian Delgado Baches 1, Felipe Silva 2, Bernardo Rocha 1, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra 2.
Extraman
China: 5 for 7
Brazil: 3 for 12
Penalties:
China: 1 for 1
Brazil: nil
The sides met for the second time in Chelyabinsk and it turned out that the first game didn’t mirror the real strength of the teams. Then China routed the Brazilians (18-3) since the South Americans hit the bottom both physically and mentally on the second day after they arrived to Russia after an extremely long trip.
This time they showed their charisma, though the first half of this match was a bit reminiscent of the earlier nightmare. China rushed to a 5-0 lead, later was 7-1 up as the Brazilians struggled to find their rhythm but perhaps were a bit tired after their really tough and surprisingly even quarter final against Hungary. But in the third they managed to reach a much higher level both in front and in rear, scored three straight goals for 7-5 and even had an extra for getting closer. They missed and that cost them the chance to go for the equaliser: China netted two fine action goals towards the end of the quarter and that was the end of Brazil’s comeback (9-5).
Credit
to Brazil that they battled on and at least recorded a draw in the second half (5-5) after a rather bad opening two periods (2-7). On the other end the Chinese proved again that they represent a different class now and by playing for the 5-6th places on Sunday they will surely tie their highest rank (6th) ever in a big FINA competition or better it with a
win
.FLASH QUOTES
Rick Azevedo – head coach, CHN
Those kind of games are the games teams don’t want to play. Because we know that obviously Brazil will come to play for pride after we beat them pretty good for the first time around. We wanted to make sure that we prepare ourselves correctly, and we respect the other players and play hard – and we did that. We jumped to a 7-1 lead after we wanted to slow down the game to make sure no one got hurt or got a red card as we got the FINA World Championships coming up. For a couple of times we lost our concentration, but besides it was OK, I’m satisfied with our performance as this is our preparation for the Worlds.”
Tan Fehui – player, CHN
“We played well in attack and in defence. Brazil also played a lot better than in our first match. We are happy we can play for the 5th place on Sunday.”
Gustavo Coutinho – player, BRA
We came from a very long trip and that affected our first two games. It was hard to play as the time difference is nine hours, it’s to get used to it, I had the first good sleep last night when I didn’t wake up at 4 in the morning. In the quarter finals, against Hungary, we were able to play with a lot a more focus, to think about defence, defence, defence so we had a good game. But that was also really tiring so today we lacked something in the first two periods, the necessary
energy
to be a bit faster. The second half was much better. Our first game against China ended in a very odd score, but we learned from that game and we could play a much better defence, against Russia, Hungary and now, too. We are not a soccer team, we should consider that we have other targets, to be ready for the home Olympic Games (in Rio 2016). We have to make this sport grow bigger in Brazil, we have to set an example, we have to earn respect and we can do it only by showing that our team has discipline. That’s what Mirko (Blazevic - the head coach) is telling us, teaching us, that we must have discipline, defence, discipline, defence.”Game 18, 15.45, for places 5-8: Russia vs. Japan 13-7 (4-3, 2-1, 6-0, 1-3)
Referees: Andre Dester (BRA), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
FINA Delegate: Alexandar Sostar
Teams
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev, Artem Odintsev, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Albert Zinnatulin 1, Artem Ashaev, Vladislav Timakov 2, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod, Roman Shepelev 2, Sergey Lisunov 4, Stepan Andryukov 1.
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki 1, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke 2, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 3, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo, Hazui Shota 1.
Extraman:
Russia: 3 for 8
Japan: 4 for 12
Penalties:
Russia: 1 for 1
Japan: 1 for 2
For two periods it went as normal: a goal here, a goal there, though the Russians had a better finish in both the first and second quarters. They scored for 4-3 with 6 seconds to go in the opening period and netted one for 6-4 in the second with 46 seconds remaining on the clock. The Japanese missed a man-up late in this period – but that didn’t look like as something unusual.
What happened in the third period was absolutely unusual from the Japanese team. It was a real blackout when everything went wrong all of a sudden. Russia scored three on their first three attacks, then the Japanese missed two extras, a penalty and later a one-on-one counter. Three more Russian goals came still in this period which saw the Asians totally losing their focus. Perhaps playing two really tough matches with the eventual finalists (Hungary, then Serbia) in the previous two days took that kind of toll. They could not stop the hosts rolling – perhaps a time-out would have helped but wasn’t called. The interval eased the suffering of the Japanese, they came back a bit fresher and saved some pride by winning the last quarter.
FLASH QUOTES
Yoji Omoto – head coach, JPN
“The players were too tired and for the third period they lost their concentration, mostly in defence, but almost everything went wrong. They didn’t have that experience before, to play five games in five days. Still, they could bring a fine level at the beginning, they kept scoring goals, they could swim back and forth, back and forth, but for the third period our level dropped. We have to learn how to handle this kind of tournaments. In the beginning we played much better than everybody expected but probably we lost too much energy in the first phase and the players got exhausted to the most important matches (in the knock-out phase). Now they have realised this and I hope this will push them to train much harder in the future.”
Sergey Lisunov – player, RUS
“Yesterday’s loss had an influence on our performance today: there were no more pressure, we could play with ease, without being too nervous. Japan started strongly but we could keep up with them and then we scored a series of goals in the third which made our job really easy. We are not satisfied, though, we had a target to reach the best four and we couldn’t achieve that. We have to improve a lot of things, mostly our defence. Ironically, yesterday it was much better than today.”
Game 19, 17:30, Semi Final 1: Montenegro vs. Serbia 6-8 (2-2, 2-2, 1-2, 1-2)
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), Cory Williams (NZL)
FINA Delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 1, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic 1, Dragan Draskovic, Luka Sekulic 1, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 1, Filip Klikovac 1, Uros Cuckovic.
SERBIA: Branislav Mitrovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 2, Vanja Udovicic 1, Milos Cuk 1, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 1, Milan Aleksic, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 1, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 1, Gojko Pijetlovic (GK).
Extraman:
Montenegro: 4 for 9
Serbia: 4 for 7
It was another good old-fashioned clash between the former allies (Serbians and Montenegrins competed under the same flag until 2006): a tough physical battle, extra-ordinary level of defending, looking for the centre-forward, heavy one-on-one marking, big shots, big goals, big saves, big blocks, big muscles… Though it was visible that neither sides were on the top of their games – both missed a couple of key players who had to take some rest after the long club season – still, it was a thrilling encounter which was decided in the very end.
As usual in water polo and more usual while they play against each other, converting the 6 on 5s was the primary tool for scoring. However, it was the action goals which finally separated the two giants. Quite surprisingly, the first period saw two goals apiece, all scored on equal strength. Great shots from the distance, a fine centre-goal from Slobodan Nikic – and they stood 2-2 after eight minutes.
The rest of the match brought the expected scenario: man-up here, man-up there, all goals but one were netter from 6 on 5s. That exceptional goal meant the turning point. Montenegro had a good chance to level the score at 4-5, but missed it and Vanja Udovicic scored a superb goal from the ensuing counter attack. It was a great goal from a classy player who struggled in most part of the match but when it was needed the most he showed what real greatness was about. This goal gave the Serbs a 6-4 lead and one might have felt that Montenegro could be unable to score two connecting goals today. They pulled one back in the third through Filip Klikovac, but the young leftie, Dusan Mandic scored for 7-5 in the middle of the fourth. A fine shot from Drasko Brguljan gave hope to Montenegro (7-6, with 3:11 to go) and they earned a 6 on 5 with 1:19 till the end but could not set up a real scoring chance after the time-out. That was the real end of the battle, though Zivko Gocic scored the 8th goal in the very last second. After skipping the 2012 edition Serbia can go for the title which they won in 2010 and in 2011.
FLASH QUOTES
Dejan Savic – head coach, SRB
“It was a tough game and we could see that our players were a bit tired. I think we played really well in defence. The most important moment was when Udovicic scored that action goal. I would say that decided the game. OK, Montenegro had chances to come back, but that goal made the difference as it came from a counter.”
Ranko Perovic – head coach, MNE
“We try to make some counter-attacks, our transition was good, but we lost with a small margin. I have to say that I’m a bit angry with the Russian referee I simply can’t understand most of his decisions. You know, this is the semi final, we should have better referees here, fitting to the standard of these games.”
Vanja Udovicic – player, SRB
“It’s difficult to tell which and whose goal was the most important if you are member of a collective. Today we played bad, we had a lot of ups and downs, but it’s normal at this stage when we are in this kind of condition. We were tired, we were slow, so I’m satisfied that we are playing the final. Two of our best player are not here, we have a young team, I can say, and it’s great that our young players have proved that we can count on them. But to win that game we must play at our normal level as if we had arrived yesterday, hadn’t played any game.”
Milos Scepanovic – goalie, MNE
“I think Serbia is the better team now with these players and I’m satisfied that we could play a good game. It was very tough, the two goal difference perhaps too big, one goal is real. We have six more players in Montenegro, so returning home we’re going to be complete and start the real preparations to play with a different team in Barcelona, at the World Championships.”
Game 20, 19.15, Semi Final 2: United States vs. Hungary 6-8 (0-2, 2-2, 3-4, 1-0)
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), German Moller (ARG)
FINA Delegate: Gianni Lonzi
Teams
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen 2, Shea Buckner 1, Timothy Hutten 1, Michael Rosenthal, John Mann.
HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Bence Batori, Marton Vamos 1, Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 1, Daniel Varga 1, Denes Varga 2, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai 1.
Extraman:
USA: 3 for 12
Hungary: 2 for 3
Penalties:
USA: nil
Hungary: 2 for 2
On the opening day the young US team battled and played fearlessly and beat the Hungarians in the penalty shootout. This time it was a different story: the Hungarians learnt a lot from that game, and also improved their play day by day. They managed to return to the old scheme which brought them to Chelyabinsk: their tight defence was the key of their success in the qualification (when they managed to push aside the Olympic silver-medallists Italians). After conceding 9 goals from the US and 10 from Montenegro on the first two days, they reduced this number to 5 against Japan and 4 against Brazil and held the US also on 5 until the last minute this time.
In fact, they started devastatingly: in one and a half periods they earned a 4-0 lead by scoring spectacular goals and killing three man-downs. The US team began their comeback campaign a bit late but by the middle of the third they got unexpectedly close at 5-4. However, the Hungarians lifted their game rapidly and rebuilt the three-goal cushion by burying two penalties and with arguably the goal of the day from Denes Varga whose 10m pinpoint shot flew like a rocket to the top right corner.
Being 8-5 up, the Hungarians found it better not to risk anything, their focus was on their defence and that worked as they denied two more US extras before Tim Hutten scored from the third one but that happened 40 seconds before the end. Hungary will return to the World League final on Sunday after six years. In 2007 they lost it – to Serbia. The last time they won dates back to 2004, when they also played with the Serbs (that time Serbia and Montenegro), as it was usual in those days.
FLASH QUOTES
Tibor Benedek – head coach, HUN
“I think we achieved what we promised our fans: to improve match by match. The team played with extreme discipline, even when we had a kind of feeling, that the gap between the two teams must not be too wide in order to have an exciting finish. We did our utmost in defence again, killing nine man-downs out of twelve shows some quality. Now up for Serbia: it was my wish to meet them here at any stage – to clash with them in the final is the best thing what can happen to my team in our learning process. Serbia is strong, stronger than any other sides today, so we are the challengers now, but at least we can test ourselves.”
Dejan Udovicic – head coach, USA
“The main or rather the only reason for losing this game was the poor conversion of our extramen. We couldn’t score in crucial moments. Since Hungary is a really good team they could capitalise on our misses and that was it.”
Norbert Madaras – player, HUN
“We played with self-confidence. For me not the win was the most important but the way we achieved it. The way we played – I liked it very much! Perhaps today’s performance wasn’t that spectacular for the fans, but when the match requires it, you have to play the entire 30 seconds, try to go for a corner, or feed the centre in the very last moment, you have to do everything with the utmost discipline – this is today’s water polo. And we are improving day by day.”
Collin Smith – player, USA
“We didn’t quite play the defence we played in the beginning. If we had accomplished that we would have had a better chance. Every game we are working to get better and working on simple tasks and making progress.”
Schedule for Sunday
14.00: Japan vs. Brazil – Game for places 7-8
15.45: Russia vs. China – Game for places 5-6
17.30: Montenegro vs. United States – Bronze Medal Game
19.15: Serbia vs. Hungary – Gold Medal Game
*****
Serbia, Hungary to meet in World League final
| Waterpoloworld | | | Saturday 15 June 2013, 12:46 | | | Tim Hartog |
© waterpolo2013.ru
Serbia was the first side to reach the final beating neighbours Montenegro 6-8 in the semi-finals. A physical matchup saw most of the goals coming from man-up possessions. Serbia managed to rise the intensity on defense in the second half having Montenegro struggling to get a shot off after both teams were tied 4-4 at half time. From the second quarter on just two goals were not coming off possessions with a player advantage and one of them was coming from the hand of Vanja Udovicic on a counter attack to give Serbia an important 4-6 lead in the third period. Only Montenegro center Filip Klikovac brought his team back within one from the far post on man-up as the score was 5-6 going into the final quarter. Youngster Dusan Mandic gave Serbia a two-goal margin again striking from the right wing before veteran Drasko Brguljan kept hope alive for Montenegro netting one on man-up, one of the few chances the Montenegrins gained in the fourth quarter, as the game went into crunch time with a 6-7 score. And it got even better for Montenegro as they drew another exclusion with over a minute remaining but onfortunately could not convert. Both sides saw consecutive shots getting blocked or going wide before one final possession after a time out was left for the Ranko Perovic coached side to equalize. The play would set up shooter Darko Brguljan for a shot-off-free-throw attempt but when he decided to penetrate, the pass from Drasko Brguljan was intercepted and let to a counter by Serbia with the clock winding down. Zivko Gocic eventually was on the end of that counter and scored at the buzzer to create the 6-8 score as Serbia will play another World League final, after last year's absence. 2011, 2010, 2008 and 2007 (while finishing 3rd in 2009) saw the record winners claiming the gold medal. Sunday will now feature another chance on the top spot for Serbia.
Serbia willmeet Hungary in the final. The Hungarians held off USA 6-8 in a slow paced contest. Hungary had the better start quickly gaining 0-2 advantage and, seemingly in control, walked away to a 0-4 lead before USA managed to get on the scoreboard as Alex Bowen shot one home on a man-up. Youngster Jason Wigo doubled the score for the Americans surprising Hungarian goalie Viktor Nagy from long distance as the shot clock expired to have the game at 2-4 at half time. Hungary were the first to strike in the third quarter as center Balasz Harai finished off a nice center action by scoring to put the Magyars up ahead 3-5 and that seemed to be reason enough for Hungary to slow down the pace. And just that helped USA getting back in the game. Until that point the strong and active defense by the two-time World League winners had the Americans struggling to get a decent shot off but instead they managed to draw multiple exclusions and by shooting well on man-up managed to stay in the game. Fellow lefthander Matthew de Trane fired a nice shot home for distance followed by the second goal from Alex Bowen, again off a man-up possession to cut the deficit to just a single goal: 4-5. That was the wake up call for Hungary who struck back twice throught the Varga brothers as they restored the lead: 4-7. Daniel Varga converted on a penalty shot, drewn by Krisztian Bedö, followed by a long distance strike from Denes Varga. And just after Shea Buckner responed for Team USA scoring on another man-up, the other Hungarian center, Harai, again drew a penalty. This time Norbert Hosnyanszky was on the spot to convert and Hungary was back in control with five minutes to go: 5-8. New USA head coach Dejan Udovicic saw his young squad drawing enough exclusions but, in contrast to the rest of the second half, his team could not convert on two consecutive extra man attacks and therewith missed two nice chances of creating a close finish. The third one though, finished off by Timothy Hutten, came too late as the remaining thirty seconds ticked away with Hungary in possession and a 6-8 score in favour of the Magyards on the board. They will face Serbia, part of the side they defeated in the 2004 final when Serbia & Montenegro had to settle for the silver medal; followed by a final and same outcome in a memorable 2004 Olympics final in Athens, Greece. A little revenge for Vanja Udovicic, member of that squad, came in 2007 when Serbia finished in top in the World League final in Berlin, Germany. Both powerhouses will now meet again, at the start of a new Olympic cycle, with well changed rosters.
USA's Shea Buckner tries to shoot past Marton Vamos (5) and Marton Szivos (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
The men's national team of China are on their way to a nice finish at the World League Super Final in Chelyabinsk, Russia. On Saturday China defeated Brazil 12-7 in the crossover matches as they will now battle for fifth place on Sunday. The Chinese never trailed in the matchup with the 2016 Olympics hosts running out to a 3-0 lead after eight minutes while gaining a five-goal advantage at half time. Like previous matches Brazil managed to keep up pace in the second half but by then knew turning around the game's outcome would be very difficult. They will now play to avoid a final eighth place finish on Sunday facing Japan who were defeated 13-7 by home side Russia. The Russians closed out the chances of an equally nice finish for a Japan squad that have been performing nicely so far beating Montenegro in a shootout while falling to USA in another one in the prelims. But on Saturday hosts Russia were too much. Although a 6-4 score at half time left open plenty of opportunities they were quickly finished by a 6-0 run the home side came up with in the third period as they virtually decided the game already. Japan came back two goals in the fourth quarter but could not avoid a loss and will now face Brazil in the battle for a seventh place finish.
China vs. Brazil (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
Russia vs. Japan (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia 12-11 (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Final standings:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 6 pts
2. Montenegro 3 - 5
3. USA 3 - 5
4. Japan 3 - 2
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. China 3 - 6
3. Russia 3 - 3
4. Brazil 3 - 0
Friday, June 14 - quarter-final round
14.00: USA (3A) vs. China (2B) 13-11 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-3; penalty shootout: 5-3) - 14
15.45: Hungary (1A) vs. Brazil (4B) 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1) - 15
17.30: Japan (4A) vs. Serbia (1B) 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5) - 16
19.15: Montenegro (2A) vs. Russia (3B) 12-11 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2; penalty shootout: 5-4) - 13
Saturday, June 15 semi-final round
14.00: China (L14) vs. Brazil (L15) 12-7 (3-0, 4-2, 2-3, 3-2) - 18
15.45: Russia (L13) vs. Japan (L16) 13-7 (4-3, 2-1, 6-0, 1-3) - 17
Semi-finals:
17.30: Montenegro (W13) vs. Serbia (W16) 6-8 (2-2, 2-2, 1-2, 1-2) - 19
19.15: USA (W14) vs. Hungary (W15) 6-8 (0-2, 2-2, 3-4, 1-0) - 20
Serbia will
USA's Shea Buckner tries to shoot past Marton Vamos (5) and Marton Szivos (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
The men's national team of China are on their way to a nice finish at the World League Super Final in Chelyabinsk, Russia. On Saturday China defeated Brazil 12-7 in the crossover matches as they will now battle for fifth place on Sunday. The Chinese never trailed in the matchup with the 2016 Olympics hosts running out to a 3-0 lead after eight minutes while gaining a five-goal advantage at half time. Like previous matches Brazil managed to keep up pace in the second half but by then knew turning around the game's outcome would be very difficult. They will now play to avoid a final eighth place finish on Sunday facing Japan who were defeated 13-7 by home side Russia. The Russians closed out the chances of an equally nice finish for a Japan squad that have been performing nicely so far beating Montenegro in a shootout while falling to USA in another one in the prelims. But on Saturday hosts Russia were too much. Although a 6-4 score at half time left open plenty of opportunities they were quickly finished by a 6-0 run the home side came up with in the third period as they virtually decided the game already. Japan came back two goals in the fourth quarter but could not avoid a loss and will now face Brazil in the battle for a seventh place finish.
China vs. Brazil (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)
Russia vs. Japan (photo by waterpolo2013.ru)FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia 12-11 (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Final standings:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 6 pts
2. Montenegro 3 - 5
3. USA 3 - 5
4. Japan 3 - 2
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. China 3 - 6
3. Russia 3 - 3
4. Brazil 3 - 0
Friday, June 14 - quarter-final round
14.00: USA (3A) vs. China (2B) 13-11 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-3; penalty shootout: 5-3) - 14
15.45: Hungary (1A) vs. Brazil (4B) 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1) - 15
17.30: Japan (4A) vs. Serbia (1B) 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5) - 16
19.15: Montenegro (2A) vs. Russia (3B) 12-11 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2; penalty shootout: 5-4) - 13
Saturday, June 15 semi-final round
14.00: China (L14) vs. Brazil (L15) 12-7 (3-0, 4-2, 2-3, 3-2) - 18
15.45: Russia (L13) vs. Japan (L16) 13-7 (4-3, 2-1, 6-0, 1-3) - 17
Semi-finals:
17.30: Montenegro (W13) vs. Serbia (W16) 6-8 (2-2, 2-2, 1-2, 1-2) - 19
19.15: USA (W14) vs. Hungary (W15) 6-8 (0-2, 2-2, 3-4, 1-0) - 20
Super Final 2013 (Men): Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia and USA in the semis
Gergely Csurka, FINA Press Commission Member
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 14) – The thrilling penalty shootouts have become essential part of this World League Super Final: we’ve already have seen five, the last two now in the Quarter Finals. Both QF games featuring the second and third placed teams ended in a shootout with the United States and Montenegro prevailing. Though it’s worth mentioning that China was never so close to reach the semis and the host team Russia was also five metres from the door of the best four. In the other two games the respective group-winners – Serbia and Hungary – reached the semis easily, so Saturday will see a rematch of the prelims (USA vs. Hungary) and a clash of the former allies (Serbia vs. Montenegro).
Game 13, 14:00, Quarter Final 1: United States vs. China 8-8 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-2) – penalties: 5-3
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Keiichi Orikasa (JPN)
FINA Delegate: Alexandrar Sostar
Teams
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani 1, Collin Smith 1, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen, Shea Buckner 2, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal 2, John Mann.
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 2, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning, Li Bin 1, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 2, Liang Nianxiang.
Extraman:
USA: 1 for 9
China: 3 for 10
Penalties:
USA: 2 for 3
China: 3 for 3
We might risk saying: it was a crazy match with huge twists and turns. China was really close to upset the US team and reach the semi final of a big international men’s tournament for the first time. After the even first period the second brought the first series of extraordinary happenings. China had three man-ups, missed all and the US team scored immediately in the other end after each occasion, jumping to a 5-2 lead. Though China seemed to dig themselves to a really deep hole, the last 70 seconds brought them back to the match. A 8m blast from Tan Feihu found its way to the net, next came a penalty for 5-4 with 32 seconds to go, and China’s moral was further boosted when Ge Weiqing managed to save Shea Buckner’s penalty 22 seconds later. And they didn’t need too much time to equalise in the third (5-5). This didn’t harm the US guys: instead they answered immediately, Rosenthal netted a 6 on 5 for 6-5. The next couple of minutes brought a huge fight with a series of extras but both sides struggled to put away any of them. Then, just as the Chinese in the second quarter, the US players scored two in quick succession, they needed 38 seconds to build a massive three-goal lead before the final period (8-5). But the Chinese weren’t done, what’s more, they battled fearlessly and got their reward. Ge came up with some superb saves, he shut out the US players, while his team mates got closer and closer. At 6:26 Li Bin converted a penalty, at 3:03 Zhang Chufeng buried a 6 on 5 and a minute later Liang Zhongxing sent another penalty home – this was the story of a 3-0 last period.
Next came the penalties and the US won its second shootout in Chelyabinsk (on the opening day they beat the Hungarians), Andrew Stevens managed to stop one again, putting his team through to the semi finals.
FLASH QUOTES
Dejan Udovicic – head coach, USA
“It’s good to
Rick Azevedo – head coach, CHN
“The biggest difference was that we didn’t execute our 6 on 5s. We rushed it a little bit, but you know, this is the first time that these guys are in this kind of situation. I think our defence was fine, we played well, and they were more tired than we were that’s why we came back in the last quarter – a kind of our trademark. I’m satisfied with the result, not happy, but satisfied. Every game we grow a little bit better, play a bit better.”
Andrew Stevens – goalie, USA
“A win feels good, but at the end of the day, we’re working for the future, to get better for each day, so this is a good
Game 14, 15.45, Quarter Final 2: Hungary vs. Brazil 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1)
Referees: Alexandar Adzic (MNE), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
FINA Delegate: Boukezouha Badreddine
Teams
HUNGARY: Attila Decker – Miklos Gor-Nagy 2, Norbert Madaras 1, Bence Batori, Marton Vamos 1, Norbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos, Daniel Varga 1, Denes Varga 2, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai.
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera 1, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches 1, Felipe Silva, Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes 1, Antonio Neto Inserra 1.
Extraman:
Hungary: 4 for 9
Brazil: 2 for 6
It was clear for both sides well before the encounter that Hungary would win this game, in case – as one of their players put it – water still fills the pool at the start and they don’t have to play football instead. Brazil’s main
FLASH QUOTES
Tibor Benedek – head coach, HUN
“Brazil couldn’t do anything in attack, actually, their attack didn’t exist today – partly because we defended like hell. They just held the ball and shortly before the shotclock expired they threw it away, while the back players rushed back. So it was impossible to go for counterattacks, we had to look for positional plays. We earned exclusions in the centre, though we could have received more, but today this was case. We missed some extras in the first half, had we scored from them, the game would have been decided earlier. But for me the most important point is our defensive work: probably the best I’ve seen from my team since my appointment.”
Mirko Blazevic – head coach, BRA
“We knew how strong Hungary was, so we had only one thing in mind: to stay in the match for a longer period. We achieved that. Since I’ve taken over this team I tried to improve the discipline, and I think something came back today. We played really disciplined in defence, this was the key to hold a narrow gap until the end. Still, I know that Hungary will be much better, it’s not their top shape, they will reserve that for the FINA World Championships.”
Daniel Varga – player, HUN
“We did our job, though we have to improve in several fields. This was our fourth match in the Super Final and I can tell you that our play is not that spectacular – at least for those ones watching us from the stands – but I know that we are able to execute more and more elements better and better which we failed to make in the previous day. We are developing so no one should be disappointed that we beat Brazil by only four goals. There are a handful of good signs in our performance, now this is what really matters.”
Game 15, 17:30, Quarter Final 3: Japan vs. Serbia 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5)
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), German Moller (ARG)
FINA Delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro 1, Arai Atsushi 1, Shiga Mitsuaki 1, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 4, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo, Hazui Shota 1.
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 1, Vanja Udovicic 2, Milos Cuk 1, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 6, Milan Aleksic, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 1, Dusan Mandic 3, Stefan Mitrovic, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
Extraman
Japan: 2 for 9
Serbia: 2 for 6
Penalties:
Japan: 1 for 1
Serbia: 1 for 1
Though Japan was the surprise team of the preliminaries by beating Montenegro with penalties and almost upsetting the United States, finally they had to settle for the 4th place in their group which set up a clash with the mighty Serbians. That didn’t promise too many bright moments for the Japanese as more and more experts tend to say that today Serbia is the team to beat. While Japan improved significantly, answering this challenge (to beat Serbia) is still not their task.
However, the Serbs got a strong appetiser why Montenegro, USA and Hungary went through some really tough moments in the prelims while playing against Japan. Sometimes they didn’t believe their eyes as the Japanese kept scoring. Japan took the lead five times until the middle of the second period and it was the Serbs who had to chase them for a while. The first blow came after 5-5, when Slobodan Nikic gave Serbia the lead for the first time, then Japan missed a 6 on 5, and Dusan Mandic later doubled their lead (5-7). That was the turning point: the Japanese fought desperately but they seemed to get a bit tired after a series of hard, physical matches. In fact, facing Hungary and Serbia on consecutive days are far from a dream schedule for anyone in the water polo world. Thus the Serbs’ huge centre-forward, Nikic could easily capitalise on his physical superiority as he scored a tournament-high 6 goals in the game. After a 7-5 first half the favourites produced a 7-3 margin in the second, reaching the semis safely.
FLASH QUOTES
Dejan Savic – head coach, SRB
“Japan proved their quality, while we are at the very beginning of our preparation. This is why it was an equal game for the first two periods, the we raised our game and things got back to normal.”
Yoji Omoto – head coach, JPN
“Today Serbia, yesterday Hungary – I wouldn’t wonder if our players can’t get out of the bed next morning as they should be quite tired… Serbia is a great team, so it was really good that we could earn exclusions for the most part of the game – now we should work on our conversion as we missed too many. However, I am satisfied with the team’s performance. Some years ago our players wanted to pose with the Serbs for common photos and asked for autographs – it’s no longer the case as they are much closer to them in the pool and to the other big teams as well.”
Game 16, 19.15, Quarter Final 4: Montenegro vs. Russia 7-7 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2) – penalties: 5-4
Referees: Gyorgy Kun (HUN), Nikolaos Vasilieou (GRE)
FINA Delegate: Gianni Lonzi
Teams
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 4, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic 1, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic, Luka Sekulic, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 1, Filip Klikovac, Uros Cuckovic.
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 1, Vladislav Timakov 1, Ivan Nagaev 3, Dmitry Kholod 1, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov, Stepan Andryukov.
Extraman
Montenegro: 3 for 11
Russia: 2 for 10 – double extra: 0 for 1
After losing to China on the previous day, Russia faced a mountain to climb in the quarters. A really high mountain, as Montenegro is also regarded as favourites in the Super Final (don’t forget they ousted the Olympic champion Croatian team in the qualification). All said – but the hosts stunned the Montenegrins at the beginning, with some nice plays and two blasts from outside they built a 3-1 lead. Had they been less nervous they could have caused even more trouble but they missed four man-ups in the second, so instead of leading by two or three goals they were only 4-3 up at half-time after Drasko Brguljan scored with 0.01 remaining on the clock. The third brought the same pattern: really bad conversions – also true for the Montenegrins –, the Russians even missed a 6 on 4, so it was 5-5 before the final period. After another Russian miss Montenegro took the lead (6-5), but finally the hosts managed to bury an extra. Luck was not on their side when they gave away the ball seconds after they gained possession and from the ensuing man-up Drasko Brguljan scored his fourth goal for 7-6. However, luck returned when Artem Odintsov’s shot got a wicked deflection and flew to the net with 2:45 to go. That remaining time wasn’t enough to decide the outcome – so this was left to the penalties.
Montenegro lost two shootouts in the prelims, so their head coach, Ranko Perovic decided to send his reserve goalie to the big show and that was a winning thought: Dejan Lazovic stopped Stepan Andryukov’s shot in the fourth round and the Brguljan-cousins, Drasko and Darko finished the business by netting the remaining two shots.
Penalties:
Montenegro: 1 for 1
Russia: nil
FLASH QUOTES
Ranko Perovic – head coach, MNE
“We played bad in the first two periods. The second half was alright all in all, our defence was a bit better. Russia had some luck towards the end, especially with their equaliser. Since Scepanovic was part of two lost shootouts I thought I should give the chance to the other goalkeeper (Dejan Lazovic). It worked, though it’s all about luck.”
Vladimir Karaboutov – head coach, RUS
“We were close but we lacked what would be needed for winning such a game: concentrating for each of the four periods. Also, our players couldn’t remain cool enough. They wanted to score so badly that sometimes they pushed more than it was needed. Now we have to win the remaining two matches, to clinch the fifth place at home at least.”
Drasko Brguljan – player, MNE
“It was very hard match, it’s always difficult to play against the host team. We played with a lot of mistakes against a very good young Russian side. Five of our older players will join us later, we miss them now. Also, our play is a bit shaky as we have been together only for seven days and the team members came from all over Europe, I’m from Hungary, others from Serbia, other from home clubs, so it’s difficult to do everything right. It’s good that we won finally, as we came here to win a medal and we reserved the chance to achieve that.”
Schedule for Saturday
For places 5th-8th
14.00: China vs. Brazil
15.45: Japan vs. Russia
Semi Finals
17.30: Montenegro vs. Serbia
19.15: United States vs. Hungary
Game 13, 14:00, Quarter Final 1: United States vs. China 8-8 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-2) – penalties: 5-3
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Keiichi Orikasa (JPN)
FINA Delegate: Alexandrar Sostar
Teams
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani 1, Collin Smith 1, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen, Shea Buckner 2, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal 2, John Mann.
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 2, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning, Li Bin 1, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 2, Liang Nianxiang.
Extraman:
USA: 1 for 9
China: 3 for 10
Penalties:
USA: 2 for 3
China: 3 for 3
We might risk saying: it was a crazy match with huge twists and turns. China was really close to upset the US team and reach the semi final of a big international men’s tournament for the first time. After the even first period the second brought the first series of extraordinary happenings. China had three man-ups, missed all and the US team scored immediately in the other end after each occasion, jumping to a 5-2 lead. Though China seemed to dig themselves to a really deep hole, the last 70 seconds brought them back to the match. A 8m blast from Tan Feihu found its way to the net, next came a penalty for 5-4 with 32 seconds to go, and China’s moral was further boosted when Ge Weiqing managed to save Shea Buckner’s penalty 22 seconds later. And they didn’t need too much time to equalise in the third (5-5). This didn’t harm the US guys: instead they answered immediately, Rosenthal netted a 6 on 5 for 6-5. The next couple of minutes brought a huge fight with a series of extras but both sides struggled to put away any of them. Then, just as the Chinese in the second quarter, the US players scored two in quick succession, they needed 38 seconds to build a massive three-goal lead before the final period (8-5). But the Chinese weren’t done, what’s more, they battled fearlessly and got their reward. Ge came up with some superb saves, he shut out the US players, while his team mates got closer and closer. At 6:26 Li Bin converted a penalty, at 3:03 Zhang Chufeng buried a 6 on 5 and a minute later Liang Zhongxing sent another penalty home – this was the story of a 3-0 last period.
Next came the penalties and the US won its second shootout in Chelyabinsk (on the opening day they beat the Hungarians), Andrew Stevens managed to stop one again, putting his team through to the semi finals.
FLASH QUOTES
Dejan Udovicic – head coach, USA
“It’s good to
win
, but as I told you, we are on the road to Rio. And we’ll not even prepare for the World Championships as for obvious reasons we were the last ones to start working together. We are not in top shape, we just want to do our best, and I should be satisfied as for a handful of guys this tournament is the very first international experience at senior level. Ups and downs are usual for us, and this is going to happen in the near future, for one and a half year at least. We are at the beginning of a long process. We have to focus on building a good team on the long term and I’m sure we will have success.”Rick Azevedo – head coach, CHN
“The biggest difference was that we didn’t execute our 6 on 5s. We rushed it a little bit, but you know, this is the first time that these guys are in this kind of situation. I think our defence was fine, we played well, and they were more tired than we were that’s why we came back in the last quarter – a kind of our trademark. I’m satisfied with the result, not happy, but satisfied. Every game we grow a little bit better, play a bit better.”
Andrew Stevens – goalie, USA
“A win feels good, but at the end of the day, we’re working for the future, to get better for each day, so this is a good
training
for us. Before the competition we thought to do the best we could. Obviously, whenever you enter a tournament, you want to win, that’s sport, that’s the name of the game – to win. Now we are in the final four and see what happens. We get better every day.”Game 14, 15.45, Quarter Final 2: Hungary vs. Brazil 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1)
Referees: Alexandar Adzic (MNE), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
FINA Delegate: Boukezouha Badreddine
Teams
HUNGARY: Attila Decker – Miklos Gor-Nagy 2, Norbert Madaras 1, Bence Batori, Marton Vamos 1, Norbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos, Daniel Varga 1, Denes Varga 2, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai.
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera 1, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches 1, Felipe Silva, Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes 1, Antonio Neto Inserra 1.
Extraman:
Hungary: 4 for 9
Brazil: 2 for 6
It was clear for both sides well before the encounter that Hungary would win this game, in case – as one of their players put it – water still fills the pool at the start and they don’t have to play football instead. Brazil’s main
target
was to kill Hungary’s fast counter attacks, so they forced the Magyars to play six on six for almost all the time, by leading attacks with defensive thoughts in mind. The Hungarians also applied rock solid defending, switching hard pressure with composed zone defending, so four out of five Brazilian attacks ended either in a hopeless distance shot or they gave up the ball at the buzzer. Some might even feel that it was a computer-directed scenario as the same happened from time to time. Luckily, we saw humans in the water, after all, who could commit mistakes and can also provide unique moves. The Hungarians’ skills dominated in the second half, and they earned a well-deserved win but no one wondered that this match brought the lowest score of the tournament with only 12 goals.FLASH QUOTES
Tibor Benedek – head coach, HUN
“Brazil couldn’t do anything in attack, actually, their attack didn’t exist today – partly because we defended like hell. They just held the ball and shortly before the shotclock expired they threw it away, while the back players rushed back. So it was impossible to go for counterattacks, we had to look for positional plays. We earned exclusions in the centre, though we could have received more, but today this was case. We missed some extras in the first half, had we scored from them, the game would have been decided earlier. But for me the most important point is our defensive work: probably the best I’ve seen from my team since my appointment.”
Mirko Blazevic – head coach, BRA
“We knew how strong Hungary was, so we had only one thing in mind: to stay in the match for a longer period. We achieved that. Since I’ve taken over this team I tried to improve the discipline, and I think something came back today. We played really disciplined in defence, this was the key to hold a narrow gap until the end. Still, I know that Hungary will be much better, it’s not their top shape, they will reserve that for the FINA World Championships.”
Daniel Varga – player, HUN
“We did our job, though we have to improve in several fields. This was our fourth match in the Super Final and I can tell you that our play is not that spectacular – at least for those ones watching us from the stands – but I know that we are able to execute more and more elements better and better which we failed to make in the previous day. We are developing so no one should be disappointed that we beat Brazil by only four goals. There are a handful of good signs in our performance, now this is what really matters.”
Game 15, 17:30, Quarter Final 3: Japan vs. Serbia 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5)
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), German Moller (ARG)
FINA Delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro 1, Arai Atsushi 1, Shiga Mitsuaki 1, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 4, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo, Hazui Shota 1.
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 1, Vanja Udovicic 2, Milos Cuk 1, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 6, Milan Aleksic, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 1, Dusan Mandic 3, Stefan Mitrovic, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
Extraman
Japan: 2 for 9
Serbia: 2 for 6
Penalties:
Japan: 1 for 1
Serbia: 1 for 1
Though Japan was the surprise team of the preliminaries by beating Montenegro with penalties and almost upsetting the United States, finally they had to settle for the 4th place in their group which set up a clash with the mighty Serbians. That didn’t promise too many bright moments for the Japanese as more and more experts tend to say that today Serbia is the team to beat. While Japan improved significantly, answering this challenge (to beat Serbia) is still not their task.
However, the Serbs got a strong appetiser why Montenegro, USA and Hungary went through some really tough moments in the prelims while playing against Japan. Sometimes they didn’t believe their eyes as the Japanese kept scoring. Japan took the lead five times until the middle of the second period and it was the Serbs who had to chase them for a while. The first blow came after 5-5, when Slobodan Nikic gave Serbia the lead for the first time, then Japan missed a 6 on 5, and Dusan Mandic later doubled their lead (5-7). That was the turning point: the Japanese fought desperately but they seemed to get a bit tired after a series of hard, physical matches. In fact, facing Hungary and Serbia on consecutive days are far from a dream schedule for anyone in the water polo world. Thus the Serbs’ huge centre-forward, Nikic could easily capitalise on his physical superiority as he scored a tournament-high 6 goals in the game. After a 7-5 first half the favourites produced a 7-3 margin in the second, reaching the semis safely.
FLASH QUOTES
Dejan Savic – head coach, SRB
“Japan proved their quality, while we are at the very beginning of our preparation. This is why it was an equal game for the first two periods, the we raised our game and things got back to normal.”
Yoji Omoto – head coach, JPN
“Today Serbia, yesterday Hungary – I wouldn’t wonder if our players can’t get out of the bed next morning as they should be quite tired… Serbia is a great team, so it was really good that we could earn exclusions for the most part of the game – now we should work on our conversion as we missed too many. However, I am satisfied with the team’s performance. Some years ago our players wanted to pose with the Serbs for common photos and asked for autographs – it’s no longer the case as they are much closer to them in the pool and to the other big teams as well.”
Game 16, 19.15, Quarter Final 4: Montenegro vs. Russia 7-7 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2) – penalties: 5-4
Referees: Gyorgy Kun (HUN), Nikolaos Vasilieou (GRE)
FINA Delegate: Gianni Lonzi
Teams
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 4, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic 1, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic, Luka Sekulic, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 1, Filip Klikovac, Uros Cuckovic.
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 1, Vladislav Timakov 1, Ivan Nagaev 3, Dmitry Kholod 1, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov, Stepan Andryukov.
Extraman
Montenegro: 3 for 11
Russia: 2 for 10 – double extra: 0 for 1
After losing to China on the previous day, Russia faced a mountain to climb in the quarters. A really high mountain, as Montenegro is also regarded as favourites in the Super Final (don’t forget they ousted the Olympic champion Croatian team in the qualification). All said – but the hosts stunned the Montenegrins at the beginning, with some nice plays and two blasts from outside they built a 3-1 lead. Had they been less nervous they could have caused even more trouble but they missed four man-ups in the second, so instead of leading by two or three goals they were only 4-3 up at half-time after Drasko Brguljan scored with 0.01 remaining on the clock. The third brought the same pattern: really bad conversions – also true for the Montenegrins –, the Russians even missed a 6 on 4, so it was 5-5 before the final period. After another Russian miss Montenegro took the lead (6-5), but finally the hosts managed to bury an extra. Luck was not on their side when they gave away the ball seconds after they gained possession and from the ensuing man-up Drasko Brguljan scored his fourth goal for 7-6. However, luck returned when Artem Odintsov’s shot got a wicked deflection and flew to the net with 2:45 to go. That remaining time wasn’t enough to decide the outcome – so this was left to the penalties.
Montenegro lost two shootouts in the prelims, so their head coach, Ranko Perovic decided to send his reserve goalie to the big show and that was a winning thought: Dejan Lazovic stopped Stepan Andryukov’s shot in the fourth round and the Brguljan-cousins, Drasko and Darko finished the business by netting the remaining two shots.
Penalties:
Montenegro: 1 for 1
Russia: nil
FLASH QUOTES
Ranko Perovic – head coach, MNE
“We played bad in the first two periods. The second half was alright all in all, our defence was a bit better. Russia had some luck towards the end, especially with their equaliser. Since Scepanovic was part of two lost shootouts I thought I should give the chance to the other goalkeeper (Dejan Lazovic). It worked, though it’s all about luck.”
Vladimir Karaboutov – head coach, RUS
“We were close but we lacked what would be needed for winning such a game: concentrating for each of the four periods. Also, our players couldn’t remain cool enough. They wanted to score so badly that sometimes they pushed more than it was needed. Now we have to win the remaining two matches, to clinch the fifth place at home at least.”
Drasko Brguljan – player, MNE
“It was very hard match, it’s always difficult to play against the host team. We played with a lot of mistakes against a very good young Russian side. Five of our older players will join us later, we miss them now. Also, our play is a bit shaky as we have been together only for seven days and the team members came from all over Europe, I’m from Hungary, others from Serbia, other from home clubs, so it’s difficult to do everything right. It’s good that we won finally, as we came here to win a medal and we reserved the chance to achieve that.”
Schedule for Saturday
For places 5th-8th
14.00: China vs. Brazil
15.45: Japan vs. Russia
Semi Finals
17.30: Montenegro vs. Serbia
19.15: United States vs. Hungary
*****
Super Final 2013 (Men): Hungary and Serbia top respective groups
Gergely Csurka, FINA Press Commission Member
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 13) – Hungary and Serbia earned the respective top spots at the end of the preliminaries. After two days of extreme excitement, Group A ties became rather one-sided battles as both Montenegro and Hungary came up with their best and that was unmatchable for the young U.S. and Japanese teams this time. The game between Montenegro and USA brought an outstanding individual performance, an absolute rarity in today’s elite water polo: Montenegrin Darko Brguljan scored three amazing goals within a span of 80 seconds, at the most crucial stage of the game.
In Group B the other European giant, Serbia enjoyed another easy cruise, this time against Brazil. And finally the day offered at least one thrilling encounter, between Russia and China. And it was not just a thrilling clash but turned into a historical one as China managed to beat the Russians for the first time ever.
Match report:
Game 9, 14.00, Group B: SERBIA vs BRAZIL 16-7
Quarters: (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
Referees: Alexandar Adzic (MNE), Chen Zialang (CHN)
Extraman: SRB: 7/9. BRA: 2/9
Penalties: SRB: 2 for 2. BRA: Nil
Teams:
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic, Zivko Gocic 3, Vanja Udovicic 2, Milos Cuk 2, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 2, Milan Aleksic 1, Nikola Radjen, Filip Filipovic 3, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 2, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes 1, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha 1, Adrian Delgado Baches 1, Felipe Silva 1, Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra 2, Thye Bezerra (GK).
It was a rather good test opportunity for both teams: for Serbia to see some tactical moves and what the younger players are capable of; for Brazil to restore some pride after yesterday’s heavy defeat from China. The latter one seemed to be the tougher challenge as they Brazilians had to show something against the hot favourite of this tournament.
Credit
to the South Americans that they came up with a much better performance, perhaps they managed to recover from the symptoms of their exhausting travel to Russia. Serbia dominated the first half, though, they scored with ease and built a 9-2 lead by half-time. Brazil arrived at the game for the third and fourth periods, it was a much even encounter at this stage: they lost the second half 7-5, a kind of reward for their efforts. Meanwhile, the Serbians showed a fine teamwork, no one wanted to over-shine the others, none of their players finished this easy game with more than three goals.SRB vs BRA - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
DEJAN SAVIC – Head coach, SRB
“We expected to
win
this game and we did it in a professional way. Now we have a free afternoon, a good opportunity for recovery after the heavy trainings, so the guys can ready for the quarter final.”MIRKO BLAZEVIC – Head coach, BRA
“Serbia is too strong for us, we didn’t even think of winning this game. Instead, I wanted to see a good of approach from the players, as we want to apply a new playing system in the games and they have to be disciplined to have this clicking. Today, at some stages, it was OK, but we are working for the long term.”
Game 10, 15.45, Group A: MONTENEGRO vs UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 9-4
Quarters:(2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
Referees: Gyorgy Kun (HUN), German Moller (ARG)
Extraman: MNE: 5/6. USA: 1/9
Teams:
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic 4, Luka Sekulic, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 4, Filip Klikovac, Uros Cuckovic.
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane, Alexander Obert 1, Alexander Bowen, Shea Buckner, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal, John Mann 2.
Members of the young US team gained some experience how it felt playing under heavy pressing. In fact, they couldn’t cope with it and remained scoreless for the last 13:41 minutes of the game, for almost the entire second half. Until the beginning of the third period they managed to keep up with the Montenegrins though the difference between the two sides was visible from the beginning. However, the Europeans were too nervous and missed a handful of great chances, sometimes it was embarrassing how badly they missed the
target
. At this stage the U.S. boys could convert their best chances, one of their remaining Olympians, John Mann netted two fine goals, but finally the Montenegrins took control. Janson Wigo levelled the score in the third for 4-4, but that was the last time they could get the ball passed the goalkeeper. But that was only one half of their problems. At the other end Darko Brguljan was simply unstoppable. According to former tennis great Pete Sampras, sometimes a player gets “into the zone” which means he is capable of anything for a while. And Brguljan “was in the zone”, indeed: three superb shots, three fantastic goals in a span of 80 seconds! And that did the damage: team USA could not recover from being 7-4 down. Dragan Draskovic added two more goals in the fourth – he also finished with 4 goals as Brguljan –, sealing Montenegro’s first win in the tournament. MNE vs USA - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
RANKO PEROVIC – Head coach, MNE
“Today the defence was the key of our success. We put it together and the result tells the story. It was a good performance from our side, the team moral is getting better and better.”
DARKO BRGULJAN – Player, MNE
“It was a great team effort, our defensive play worked on a really high level and that made our job easy. Well, the three goals in the third were important, but those were also the result of our fantastic teamwork, I gave only the finishing hand.”
Game 11, 17.30, Group A: JAPAN vs HUNGARY 5-11
Quarters: (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
Referees: Andre Dester (BRA), Nikolaos Vasilieou (GRE)
Extraman: JPN: 2/8. HUN: 2/5
Penalties: JPN: 1 for 1. HUN: 2 for 2
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki 2, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 1, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo 1, Hazui Shota 1.
HUNGARY: Attila Decker – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Bence Batori 2, Marton Vamos, Nortbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker 1, Marton Szivos 3, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 3, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai 1.
Though the first two days saw quite even matches in this group – three of them were decided by penalties, the fourth was one in the last minute –, the third was a day of making order. Just as Montenegro upended the U.S. team with a quite convincing performance, Hungary didn’t let Japan into the game for a single moment. The Hungarians learnt a lot from the first two days, they knew the best way to stop Japan is to force a battle where body fights with body. Since the difference in weight and height favoured the Hungarians heavily – not to talk about the skills –, the outcome was inevitable from the very beginning. Hungary rushed to a 3-0 lead in the first period: while they played a really tough pressing game in the back, their physics also dominated in attack. Most of their goals came after their huge centre-forward, Balazs Harai – holding a 30+ advantage over the defenders both in centimetres and in kilos – earned extras or penalties, or fed the other with fine passes.
Credit
to Japan that they still had a great spell while coming back from 6-2 to 6-4 and had an extra in the third, but they were denied and Denes Varga’s brilliant solo action put Hungary back on the right track. Japan pulled one back at 7-5, but another action goal, this time from Bence Batori, killed their momentum. In the fourth the Hungarians offered an appetiser from their unique playing skills, their last two goals well could be included to the season’s best hits.JPN vs HUN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
TIBOR BENEDEK – Head coach, Hungary
“Though it was a ‘must-win’ game for us, but it was not easy. We saw their previous two matches and that helped a lot. And we needed that aid as Japan got into a different category, a higher one, you can no longer take a win against them for granted as it was the case a decade ago. We had to apply a different kind of game plan since they play a different style, not similar to any we’ve got used to in Europe. But our guys did their job, they played a strong pressure game in the back and set up the scoring chances mostly by feeding the centre-forwards who can built on their huge physical dominance over the Japanese defenders.”
YOJI OMOTO – Head coach, JPN
“The Hungarians played really tough in defence it was hard to move in attack. They knew what they should do, while we tried to find a way to go forward but you it’s really difficult to make a move again and again if you are stopped all the time. Still, it’s a great honour for us that the Hungarians visibly gave their maximum today as this shows that they respect us and we have a team which should be considered seriously by our opponents.”
MIKLOS GOR-NAGY –Player, HUN
“It was a great game, and credit to the Japanese, they usually make good choices, have the tools, they play exciting water polo, the only shortfall is their physics: these guys are mostly 160-170cm high which is a huge disadvantage in this sport. Still, there is no surprise that they played even games with Montenegro and the U.S. We learnt from those matches so we could beat them with a quite straightforward performance. The other reason for our win is that we are improving day by day, a rather bad news for Japan, since this was the third day of the tournament.”
Game 12, 19.15, Group B: China vs. Russia 12-11
Quarters: (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Referees: Joe Piela (USA), Cory Williams (NZL)
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu 3, Liang Zhongxing, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning 4, Li Bin, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang 2.
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev 1, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 4, Albert Zinnatulin 1, Artem Ashaev 1, Vladislav Timakov, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod 1, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov.
Extraman: CHN: 8/14. RUS: 4/9
Penalties: CHN: 1 for 1. RUS: 0 for 1.
After three one-sided battles a real thriller concluded the daily programme – and a historic win for China. After the women’s side beat Russia in the final of Super Final held in Beijing a week ago (thus clinching the nation’s very first international gold in water polo), this time the men’s team did a splendid job and they managed to overcome Russia, for the first time ever.
U.S. coach Rick Azevedo’s work starts to bring their fruits in China as his team fought quite bravely against the hosts, they managed to keep their nerves in the hottest moments in a match which provided a series of crucial points.
Russia had the better start, they led 3-1 after the first period and after China levelled the score for 3-3, they went ahead again (3-5). But the Chinese changed gears and in less than two minutes they turned the score and were 6-5 up by halftime.
The third quarter was a truly amazing part of the performance with full of twists and turns. Following the changes on the scoreboard tells the story: 6-6, 6-7, 7-7, 8-7, 8-8, 8-9, 9-9, 10-9. At 7-7 the Russians missed a penalty, a possible turning point, since the next goal went to China, so it was 8-7 instead of 7-8. Early in the fourth Pan Ning netted his fourth goal of the evening for 11-9, and afterwards the Russians tried to climb back in vain. In fact their defence seemed to be weak a bit, and they were too nervous to save the game into a shootout though they closed the gap to 12-11 with 3:50 remaining on the clock. But Ge Weiqing came up with a big save in Russia’s last 6 on 5, securing the win and the second place for China.
CHN vs RUS - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
RICK AZEVEDO – Head coach, CHN
“We knew coming here that Serbia was clearly better now than anybody else in the field, we thought we would be OK against Brazil and knew that this would be an important game against Russia. We know they play a tough physical game, they play hard, swim hard, but our swimming skills are as good or even better than anybody’s in the world. Then, we could play the physical game as well, as we showed today. So I’m happy with how the boys played today and I think they grew up for this challenge. We told the players that for the first two and three periods it was going to be a battle. It was great that our veterans could put the important balls away and at the end of the game they played great defence as this is the way to win games.”
GE WEIQING – Goalie, CHN
“I am really happy that my team won. Before, China was regarded as a low-ranked team, now I think we have a chance against almost every team. I think Russia also played well today, they were a bit unlucky, hitting the bar sometimes. But our team also played great and we are really happy to finish second in the group.”
DMITRY KHOLOD – Player, RUS
“We lost this game in the back. Our defence didn’t work well this time, and we have to double our efforts to correct the mistakes we made. We are in a good condition so I don’t think we’ll have any problems in the next days, we should be ready for the quarter finals and show that we can do better, much better.”
*****
USA, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro qualify for semis
| Waterpoloworld | | | Friday 14 June 2013, 10:06 | | | Tim Hartog |
© waterpolo2013.ru
win
in the third quarter going up by three goals 8-5 out of a previous 5-5 tied game. But China responded well and made a nice comeback in the fourth period netting three unaswered goals. Both sides had opportunities for the winning goal but could not convert as penalties were to determine a winner. USA goalie Andy Stevens saw two China attempts failing while Team USA stayed perfect from five meter and won the shootout 5-3. They now will face Hungary in the semi-finals. Brazil could not create an upset and lost 8-4 in a game in which they never led as Hungary walked away from a close game in the opening quarter to leading 5-3 at half time and virtually deciding the match after the main break leading 6-3 with eight minutes to go. Both Denes Varga and Miklos Gor-Nagy topped the scorers chart with two goals each.Photo by waterpolo2013.ruSerbia joines USA and Hungary in the Super Final semis after a clear 8-14 victory in the quarter-final on Friday. They will await the winner of the game between neighbours Montenegro and home side Russia in the semi-final. The undersized Japan team managed to keep pace with the Serbs in the opening term but fell behind after that. Serbia led 5-7 at half time and were not endangered in the second half as they went on to finish with a six-goal victory. The offensive performance of center Slobodan Nikic highlighted the win. Nikic was unstoppable scoring six goals for the 2011 World League winning side. Rising star Dusan Mandic added three.
Photo by waterpolo2013.ru
Montenegro goalkeeper Dejan Lazovic saved the fourth attempt by home side Russia's Andrjukov in the decisive penalty shootout to give the Montenegrins a hard-fought 12-11 win in the Super Final quarter-finals. Russia proved to be a revitalized up-and-coming squad that drove Montenegro to their maximum. The tournament hosts took a 1-3 and 2-4 lead in the first half before the 2012 Europeans runners-up graduatly came back as the match stayed close from that point on. Drasko Brguljan looked to score the winning goal (8-7) with over four minutes to play but Odincov responded for Russia so that a shootout, once again for Montenegro, would determine which side was to take the final semi-finals spot. In the series goalie Lazovic emerged as game winner saving Andrjukov's attempt while filling in for usual starter Milos Scepanovic who was benched by head coach Ranko Perovic. Montenegro will now face neighbours Serbia in a much anticipated semi-final battle on Saturday in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Photo by waterpolo2013.ru
FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia 12-11 (1-3, 5-2, 4-4, 2-2)
Final standings:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 6 pts
2. Montenegro 3 - 5
3. USA 3 - 5
4. Japan 3 - 2
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. China 3 - 6
3. Russia 3 - 3
4. Brazil 3 - 0
Friday, June 14 - quarter-final round
14.00: USA (3A) vs. China (2B) 13-11 (2-2, 3-2, 3-1, 0-3; penalty shootout: 5-3) - 14
15.45: Hungary (1A) vs. Brazil (4B) 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0, 2-1) - 15
17.30: Japan (4A) vs. Serbia (1B) 8-14 (3-3, 2-4, 1-2, 2-5) - 16
19.15: Montenegro (2A) vs. Russia (3B) 12-11 (1-3, 2-1, 2-1, 2-2; penalty shootout: 5-4) - 13
*****
Super Final 2013 (Men): Japan almost caught the US, second shootout loss for Montenegro
Gergely Csurka, FINA Press Commission Member
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 12) - Group A cannot provide one-sided battles! After Day One’s two great clashes – both ended in shootouts – we have two more thrillers in Chelyabinsk at the FINA Water Polo World League Super Final. The U.S. team scored the
The matches in Group B offered less excitement as China thrashed Brazil and Serbia upended Russia in a 25-goal encounter and already clinched the first place of the group.
Match reports:
Game 5, 14.00, Group A: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs JAPAN 13-12 Quarters: (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
Referees: Andre Dester (BRA), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
Extraman: USA: 6/11. CHN 3/8
Penalties: USA: 1 for 1. China: 1 for 1
Teams:
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan 1, Janson Wigo 3, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen 1, Shea Buckner 3, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal 3, John Mann 1.
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi 1, Shiga Mitsuaki 5, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke 1, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 3, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo 1, Hazui Shota 1.
It was a brilliant match of two teams playing with open minds, taking risks sometimes and not fearing what might come next. Though defence is usually the key in today’s water polo, but this clash saw the two sides going for the attacks above all and they scored great goals, most of them from action, offering a real entertainment.
Japan got the better start, they scored three straight goals after being 2-1 down for 4-2, but by the beginning of the second USA were on equal terms (4-4). Not for long: the next three were netted by the Japanese again, with 1:29 to go in the first half they rushed ahead (4-7). However, in 35 seconds Corcovan and Wigo both converted a 6 on 5 for 6-7. And again, the first attack of the following period put the sides level as Buckner scored an action goal for 7-7. Still, the roller-coaster didn’t stop here, the Japanese retook the lead twice, held a 10-8 advantage later, but the U.S. team kept coming back, what’s more they were in the lead two minutes into the fourth period (11-10). It was Japan’s turn, they equalised twice – Mitsuaki hit his fourth goal for 12-12 –, and with a minute to go they had a golden chance, earned a man-up in the back, got a clear chance from the counter, but the shot hit the bar and the re-counter saw Janson Wigo sending the ball home. It was a one ball game and this time it went to team USA, but it could have happened the other way round.
USA vs JPN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
DEJAN UDOVICIC – Head coach, USA
“I keep telling my players: we should catch the time. We are behind the others, we have a new team and I could work with them for only two weeks. It means we have to skip some phases, and have to work on several things simultaneously, so we will commit mistakes at this stage. But we are thinking on the long term. While I try to build a new team, we are about to launch a new system which will ensure that we can find quality players for the positions in the national team. Our
YOJI OMOTO – Head coach, JPN
“We gave all what we could offer, but the U.S. team was a little bit more prepared for us, they could learn our play from the yesterday game. We are here to play great games, we are not under pressure and probably that makes our matches enjoyable. Today we could have won, of course, and we could have set up our last extraman in a more conservative way but that wouldn’t be our game. Our player had the ball, he could go all the way, so he tried it. He missed, but we don’t mind that.”
JANSON WIGO – Player, USA
“We started to win this game and to play our game. It happened that I took the last shot, but all were a team effort. We are a new team, we have a new coach, we are together for the third week, we are not near our best level of play. But wins are wins, everyone played to give their best effort. This tournament is for building, as I said, it’s a new team, plenty of Olympians retired, a lot of guys had a fresh start, now everything is about learning.”
Game 6, 15.45, Group A: MONTENEGRO vs HUNGARY 17-18 after penaltiesQuarters: (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4) – penalties: 7-8
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Irfan Sadekov (RUS)
Extraman: MNE: 4/7 – double extra: 1 for 1. HUN: 3/11
Penalties: MNE: Nil. HUN: 2 for 2
Teams
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 4, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic 1, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic 1, Luka Sekulic 2, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 2, Filip Klikovac, Uros Cuckovic.
HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras 1, Bence Batori 1, Marton Vamos 1, Nortbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 1, Daniel Varga 2, Denes Varga 1, Krisztian Bedo 1, Balazs Harai 1, Attila Decker (GK).
Hungary well could be crowned the come-back kings after the first two days: they were 4-7 down in the third period against USA but earned a draw (though lost the shootout) – and now they trailed by four goals against Montenegro, but saved the game to another shootout, and this time they won.
Montenegro had a grand opening, hit three spectacular goals and later they went 5-1 and 6-2 up, and still held a 6-3 advantage at half-time. It was another team compared to the one we had seen a day before: they were on fire, they were aggressive, they were composed. However, the Hungarians didn’t give in and they started to climb back again. They were patient, changed their goalie, switched their defending system and tried to use the very best of their chances. First they came back to 7-6 and they didn’t break down though the Montenegrins went 9-6 up again, early in the fourth. A nice counter and Denes Varga’s fine action goal brought them close again. Drasko Brguljan converted a 6 on 4 for 10-8 – it was his fourth goal –, but a penalty halved Hungary’s deficit and with three minutes to go it was equal again: Marton Szivos’s blast from 10 metres (with 1 second remaining on the shotclock) found its way to the net for 10-10.
It turned into a 3-minute overtime-like period, but neither side managed to set up any serious chance, so both could prepare for another penalty shootout on the second consecutive day. And it was Montenegro who lost again: seven rounds gone without a miss, the 8th saw players No. 5 here and there, Marton Vamos scored, Miljan Popovic sent it wide and the Hungarians started to celebrate.
MNE vs HUN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
TIBOR BENEDEK – Head coach, HUN
“We can gain strength from this as we were able to come back again, just as yesterday, but we should take care, this is not the way we should play water polo. We have to be sharper from the beginning, though I know, we are at the very beginning of a long process. Today we’ve changed our defending tactics in order to have a chance at last, it was a bit risky, and I’m happy that it worked. Winning the shootout is a kind of reward for fighting so hard after being three-four goals down on two consecutive days.”
RANKO PEROVIC – Head coach, MNE
“I should be satisfied with today’s game though we could have got more out of this match. The players’ approach was visibly better, much better, than yesterday (against Japan). They played well in most of the game, but Hungary is a good and tough team, they had a small luck while scoring their last goal from the distance in the last second of their attack. But what was important for me is the approach of the team. And that was fine today, we can go on.”
NORBERT HOSNYANSZKY – Player, HUN
“We played a game similar to yesterday’s one. We started a bit sleepy but then started to climb back. And finally we had a draw again – as it would have been the preferred result here... Yesterday we lost in the shootout, today we won but that doesn’t matter. It’s gambling, nothing else, it’s not about who is a good player or a good goalie. It’s all about whether you guess the right direction or not. We should take one big positive thing out this game: we could come back from 1-5 and 2-6 against such a great team like Montenegro.”
Game 7, 17.30, Group B: BRAZIL vs CHINA 3-18 Quarters: (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
Referees: Alexandar Adzic (MNE), Gyorgy Kun (HUN)
Extraman: CHN: 5/8. BRA: 1/9
Penalties: CHN: 4 for 4. BRA: Nil.
Teams
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 3, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning 3, Li Bin 3, Wang Yang 3, Xie Junmin, Zhang Jian 3, Zhang Chufeng, Liang Nianxiang 1, Wu Honghui (GK).
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho 1, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches, Felipe Silva 1, Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra 1, Thye Bezerra (GK).
Brazil took the lead, but the happy moments were over pretty soon. In four minutes the Chinese scored four goals, and they demolished their rivals in the second: by half-time it was over, China led 9-2. They were too superior to the Brazilians, two or even three gears were the difference between the teams’ speed. The Chinese easily scored their goals, most of them from counter attacks, while the Brazilians couldn’t do anything to stop them.
BRA vs CHN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
RICK AZEVEDO – Head coach, China
“Yesterday, as I said, I was really disappointed with the way we started the game. We were down 8-1 and the rest of the game was 5-4. So today we started as we ended against Serbia, we played physical, we played with a lot of control on the ball, had a lot of counter-attacks, good five-men defence. That was the Chinese style that I like. We had counters, I feel we are one of the fastest teams in the world so we have to use that tool as much as we can.”
Game 8, 19.15, Group B: SERBIA vs RUSSIA 14-11 Quarters (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Referees: Keiichi Orikasa (JPN), Chen Zialang (CHN)
Extraman: SRB: 9/14. RUS: 7/15
Penalties: SRB: 1 for 1. RUS: Nil.
Teams:
SERBIA: Branislav Mitrovic – Aleksa Saponjic 1, Zivko Gocic, Vanja Udovicic 2, Milos Cuk 1, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 1, Milan Aleksic 3, Nikola Radjen 1, Filip Filipovic 2, Dusan Mandic 2, Stefan Mitrovic 1, Gojko Pijetlovic (GK).
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev 2, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 1, Vladislav Timakov 2, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov.
Serbia’s win was never in danger: they gave what was required to keep the Russians at bay for the entire match. It was clear which was the better side, the Serbs – though missing a couple of key-players from their line-up – played their usual tough and strict defensive game, and their great shooters converted most of the chances created. The gap was widened minute-by-minute, they led 3-1 after eight minutes, doubled that lead by the middle of the second (6-2) and maintained this four-goal difference till the end of the third period. Probably, the members of the young Russian team knew that it wasn’t possible to turn the cards (beating Serbia by four-five goals in the last period is equal to a mission impossible), but they did their utmost, fought, rushed and produced a thrilling last period which brought 11 goals (after the first three produced 14). It was like a not-charging-just-shooting approach from both sides, and most of the shots hit the target. Russia came back to 13-11 from 13-9, but that happened with 0:27 seconds before the end, and the Serbs even had the last laugh when Slobodan Nikic scored from an extra. The win means that Serbia has already clinched the top spot of the group.
SRB vs RUS - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
FLASH QUOTES:
DEJAN SAVIC – Head coach, SRB
“Most of the game went as we expected, our play was fine despite having a heavy
VLADIMIR KARABUTOV – Head coach, RUS
“Had we used our chances with a better percentage, it would have been a more even game. Serbia is a good team and they could capitalise on our mistakes, we had some in defence, we had some poor passes in front and each time they penalised us. Still, we had a handful of moments when I loved the way we played, especially in the last period. We should work to have more moments like these.”
FILIP FILIPOVIC – Player, SRB
“Honestly, I didn’t expect such a tough game since I think there is a big difference between the quality of the Russian and the Serbian teams. I think, the whole atmosphere was on Russia’s side... Though, I’m quite satisfied to win this game after a hard training session in the morning. We prepare for the FINA World Championships which is the most important event of the season for us.”
winner
in the last minute against Japan and later Hungary staged another comeback and beat Montenegro in a penalty shootout. The matches in Group B offered less excitement as China thrashed Brazil and Serbia upended Russia in a 25-goal encounter and already clinched the first place of the group.
Match reports:
Game 5, 14.00, Group A: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs JAPAN 13-12 Quarters: (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
Referees: Andre Dester (BRA), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
Extraman: USA: 6/11. CHN 3/8
Penalties: USA: 1 for 1. China: 1 for 1
Teams:
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani, Collin Smith, Thomas Corcovan 1, Janson Wigo 3, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen 1, Shea Buckner 3, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal 3, John Mann 1.
JAPAN: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro, Arai Atsushi 1, Shiga Mitsuaki 5, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuke 1, Kadovo Yuki, Takei Koji 3, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo 1, Hazui Shota 1.
It was a brilliant match of two teams playing with open minds, taking risks sometimes and not fearing what might come next. Though defence is usually the key in today’s water polo, but this clash saw the two sides going for the attacks above all and they scored great goals, most of them from action, offering a real entertainment.
Japan got the better start, they scored three straight goals after being 2-1 down for 4-2, but by the beginning of the second USA were on equal terms (4-4). Not for long: the next three were netted by the Japanese again, with 1:29 to go in the first half they rushed ahead (4-7). However, in 35 seconds Corcovan and Wigo both converted a 6 on 5 for 6-7. And again, the first attack of the following period put the sides level as Buckner scored an action goal for 7-7. Still, the roller-coaster didn’t stop here, the Japanese retook the lead twice, held a 10-8 advantage later, but the U.S. team kept coming back, what’s more they were in the lead two minutes into the fourth period (11-10). It was Japan’s turn, they equalised twice – Mitsuaki hit his fourth goal for 12-12 –, and with a minute to go they had a golden chance, earned a man-up in the back, got a clear chance from the counter, but the shot hit the bar and the re-counter saw Janson Wigo sending the ball home. It was a one ball game and this time it went to team USA, but it could have happened the other way round.
USA vs JPN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
DEJAN UDOVICIC – Head coach, USA
“I keep telling my players: we should catch the time. We are behind the others, we have a new team and I could work with them for only two weeks. It means we have to skip some phases, and have to work on several things simultaneously, so we will commit mistakes at this stage. But we are thinking on the long term. While I try to build a new team, we are about to launch a new system which will ensure that we can find quality players for the positions in the national team. Our
target
is the Olympics – though I can be happy what the team showed in the first two games.”YOJI OMOTO – Head coach, JPN
“We gave all what we could offer, but the U.S. team was a little bit more prepared for us, they could learn our play from the yesterday game. We are here to play great games, we are not under pressure and probably that makes our matches enjoyable. Today we could have won, of course, and we could have set up our last extraman in a more conservative way but that wouldn’t be our game. Our player had the ball, he could go all the way, so he tried it. He missed, but we don’t mind that.”
JANSON WIGO – Player, USA
“We started to win this game and to play our game. It happened that I took the last shot, but all were a team effort. We are a new team, we have a new coach, we are together for the third week, we are not near our best level of play. But wins are wins, everyone played to give their best effort. This tournament is for building, as I said, it’s a new team, plenty of Olympians retired, a lot of guys had a fresh start, now everything is about learning.”
Game 6, 15.45, Group A: MONTENEGRO vs HUNGARY 17-18 after penaltiesQuarters: (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4) – penalties: 7-8
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Irfan Sadekov (RUS)
Extraman: MNE: 4/7 – double extra: 1 for 1. HUN: 3/11
Penalties: MNE: Nil. HUN: 2 for 2
Teams
MONTENEGRO: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 4, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic 1, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic, Dragan Draskovic 1, Luka Sekulic 2, Radovan Latinovic, Darko Brguljan 2, Filip Klikovac, Uros Cuckovic.
HUNGARY: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras 1, Bence Batori 1, Marton Vamos 1, Nortbert Hosnyanszky 1, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 1, Daniel Varga 2, Denes Varga 1, Krisztian Bedo 1, Balazs Harai 1, Attila Decker (GK).
Hungary well could be crowned the come-back kings after the first two days: they were 4-7 down in the third period against USA but earned a draw (though lost the shootout) – and now they trailed by four goals against Montenegro, but saved the game to another shootout, and this time they won.
Montenegro had a grand opening, hit three spectacular goals and later they went 5-1 and 6-2 up, and still held a 6-3 advantage at half-time. It was another team compared to the one we had seen a day before: they were on fire, they were aggressive, they were composed. However, the Hungarians didn’t give in and they started to climb back again. They were patient, changed their goalie, switched their defending system and tried to use the very best of their chances. First they came back to 7-6 and they didn’t break down though the Montenegrins went 9-6 up again, early in the fourth. A nice counter and Denes Varga’s fine action goal brought them close again. Drasko Brguljan converted a 6 on 4 for 10-8 – it was his fourth goal –, but a penalty halved Hungary’s deficit and with three minutes to go it was equal again: Marton Szivos’s blast from 10 metres (with 1 second remaining on the shotclock) found its way to the net for 10-10.
It turned into a 3-minute overtime-like period, but neither side managed to set up any serious chance, so both could prepare for another penalty shootout on the second consecutive day. And it was Montenegro who lost again: seven rounds gone without a miss, the 8th saw players No. 5 here and there, Marton Vamos scored, Miljan Popovic sent it wide and the Hungarians started to celebrate.
MNE vs HUN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
TIBOR BENEDEK – Head coach, HUN
“We can gain strength from this as we were able to come back again, just as yesterday, but we should take care, this is not the way we should play water polo. We have to be sharper from the beginning, though I know, we are at the very beginning of a long process. Today we’ve changed our defending tactics in order to have a chance at last, it was a bit risky, and I’m happy that it worked. Winning the shootout is a kind of reward for fighting so hard after being three-four goals down on two consecutive days.”
RANKO PEROVIC – Head coach, MNE
“I should be satisfied with today’s game though we could have got more out of this match. The players’ approach was visibly better, much better, than yesterday (against Japan). They played well in most of the game, but Hungary is a good and tough team, they had a small luck while scoring their last goal from the distance in the last second of their attack. But what was important for me is the approach of the team. And that was fine today, we can go on.”
NORBERT HOSNYANSZKY – Player, HUN
“We played a game similar to yesterday’s one. We started a bit sleepy but then started to climb back. And finally we had a draw again – as it would have been the preferred result here... Yesterday we lost in the shootout, today we won but that doesn’t matter. It’s gambling, nothing else, it’s not about who is a good player or a good goalie. It’s all about whether you guess the right direction or not. We should take one big positive thing out this game: we could come back from 1-5 and 2-6 against such a great team like Montenegro.”
Game 7, 17.30, Group B: BRAZIL vs CHINA 3-18 Quarters: (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
Referees: Alexandar Adzic (MNE), Gyorgy Kun (HUN)
Extraman: CHN: 5/8. BRA: 1/9
Penalties: CHN: 4 for 4. BRA: Nil.
Teams
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu 1, Liang Zhongxing 3, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang 1, Pan Ning 3, Li Bin 3, Wang Yang 3, Xie Junmin, Zhang Jian 3, Zhang Chufeng, Liang Nianxiang 1, Wu Honghui (GK).
BRAZIL: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes, Henrique Miranda, Gustavo Coutinho 1, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches, Felipe Silva 1, Bernardo Rocha, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra 1, Thye Bezerra (GK).
Brazil took the lead, but the happy moments were over pretty soon. In four minutes the Chinese scored four goals, and they demolished their rivals in the second: by half-time it was over, China led 9-2. They were too superior to the Brazilians, two or even three gears were the difference between the teams’ speed. The Chinese easily scored their goals, most of them from counter attacks, while the Brazilians couldn’t do anything to stop them.
BRA vs CHN - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
RICK AZEVEDO – Head coach, China
“Yesterday, as I said, I was really disappointed with the way we started the game. We were down 8-1 and the rest of the game was 5-4. So today we started as we ended against Serbia, we played physical, we played with a lot of control on the ball, had a lot of counter-attacks, good five-men defence. That was the Chinese style that I like. We had counters, I feel we are one of the fastest teams in the world so we have to use that tool as much as we can.”
Game 8, 19.15, Group B: SERBIA vs RUSSIA 14-11 Quarters (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Referees: Keiichi Orikasa (JPN), Chen Zialang (CHN)
Extraman: SRB: 9/14. RUS: 7/15
Penalties: SRB: 1 for 1. RUS: Nil.
Teams:
SERBIA: Branislav Mitrovic – Aleksa Saponjic 1, Zivko Gocic, Vanja Udovicic 2, Milos Cuk 1, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic 1, Milan Aleksic 3, Nikola Radjen 1, Filip Filipovic 2, Dusan Mandic 2, Stefan Mitrovic 1, Gojko Pijetlovic (GK).
RUSSIA: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev 2, Artem Odintsev 1, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 1, Vladislav Timakov 2, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov.
Serbia’s win was never in danger: they gave what was required to keep the Russians at bay for the entire match. It was clear which was the better side, the Serbs – though missing a couple of key-players from their line-up – played their usual tough and strict defensive game, and their great shooters converted most of the chances created. The gap was widened minute-by-minute, they led 3-1 after eight minutes, doubled that lead by the middle of the second (6-2) and maintained this four-goal difference till the end of the third period. Probably, the members of the young Russian team knew that it wasn’t possible to turn the cards (beating Serbia by four-five goals in the last period is equal to a mission impossible), but they did their utmost, fought, rushed and produced a thrilling last period which brought 11 goals (after the first three produced 14). It was like a not-charging-just-shooting approach from both sides, and most of the shots hit the target. Russia came back to 13-11 from 13-9, but that happened with 0:27 seconds before the end, and the Serbs even had the last laugh when Slobodan Nikic scored from an extra. The win means that Serbia has already clinched the top spot of the group.
SRB vs RUS - credit: Anatoly Kolyushchenko/Vyacheslav Shishkozdov
DEJAN SAVIC – Head coach, SRB
“Most of the game went as we expected, our play was fine despite having a heavy
training
in the morning. At this stage it’s normal that our performance is a bit similar to a rollercoaster, we have ups, we have downs, but we have time to lift the level of our play.”VLADIMIR KARABUTOV – Head coach, RUS
“Had we used our chances with a better percentage, it would have been a more even game. Serbia is a good team and they could capitalise on our mistakes, we had some in defence, we had some poor passes in front and each time they penalised us. Still, we had a handful of moments when I loved the way we played, especially in the last period. We should work to have more moments like these.”
FILIP FILIPOVIC – Player, SRB
“Honestly, I didn’t expect such a tough game since I think there is a big difference between the quality of the Russian and the Serbian teams. I think, the whole atmosphere was on Russia’s side... Though, I’m quite satisfied to win this game after a hard training session in the morning. We prepare for the FINA World Championships which is the most important event of the season for us.”
*****
Serbia routs Brazil to close out group stage undefeated
| Waterpoloworld | | | Thursday 13 June 2013, 12:29 | | | Tim Hartog |
© waterpolo2013.ru
win
in group B of the FINA World League Super Final preliminary round. On Thursday head coach Dejan Savic saw his men beating Brazil 16-7 to stay undefeated in all three group stage matches. The title favorite Serbians did not let any room for doubts in the match right from the beginning jumping out to a 5-1 lead before closing out the half with a 9-2 score. Brazil stayed closer after the main break but knew the outcome of the game was already decided. Both Zivko Gocic and Filip Filipovic were the top shooters for Serbia scoring three each. 2016 Olympics hosts Brazil finished last in the group and will take on the winner in group A in the quarter-final round on Friday. Montenegro meanwhile finished the group stage on a positive nota beating USA 9-4. Thanks to a 3-0 run, all three goals scored by Darko Brguljan, in the third quarter, the Montenegrins got up 7-4 after a 4-4 tie in the beginning of the third term. That seemed to have decided the game as the Americans were unable to score in the final period and two Dragan Draskovic goals created the final score. The situation in group B now is getting close. If Hungary
beats
Japan in the third match on Thursday the Magyars will finish first in the group with six points but in case Japan sets up a surprise they even will pass Montenegro, both at five points, but still hold USA in front of them because of the narrow loss to the Americans on Wednesday.Photo by waterpolo2013.ru
Hungary lived up to the expectations in game 3 of the day holding off Japan 5-11 to clinch group A victory. The Magyars started off well rolling to a seemingly comfortable 1-5 lead before Japan graduatly came back. That run was stopped at 4-6 after which Hungary set things straight and walked away to the 5-11 final score. Denes Varga and Marton Szivos earned top scoring honors netting three each.
Photo by waterpolo2013.ru
FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
Thursday, June 13
14.00: Serbia vs. Brazil 16-7 (5-1, 4-1, 5-3, 2-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. USA 9-4 (2-2, 2-1, 3-1, 2-0)
17.30: Japan vs. Hungary 5-11 (0-3, 4-3, 1-2, 0-3)
19.15: China vs. Russia
*****
Super Final 2013 (Men): Japan makes history by upsetting Montenegro
Gergely Csurka, FINA Press Commission Member
CHELYABINSK, Russia (June 11) - What a day to start the World League Super Final in Chelyabinsk! Japan’s
Match 1, 14:00 hrs, Group B: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
Referees: Jon Piela (USA), German Moller (ARG)
FINA Delegate: Gianni Lonzi
Teams
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic 1, Zivko Gocic 2, Vanja Udovicic 1, Milos Cuk 2, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic, Milan Aleksic 1, Nikola Radjen 1, Filip Filipovic 2, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 2, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu, Liang Zhongxing 1, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang, Pan Ning, Li Bin 1, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang 1, Wu Honghui (GK).
Extraman:
Serbia: 3 for 6
China: 1 for 4 – double extras: 1 for 2
Serbia put the opening game on the right track immediately after the start. They scored three goals on their first three attacks – the opening goal of the Super Final went to Vanja Udovicic – and that was a rather strong message for the Chinese who seemed to be caught by this demonstration. By half time the Serbs were 9-2 up, they enjoyed the game but kept their discipline at both ends. It was a good team effort all in all, all but two field players netted one or two goals and their defence worked really well for most of the match, they denied a handful of extras, even a double man-down. In the final period the Serbs slowed down a bit while the Chinese fought bravely to restore some pride: probably the most beautiful goal of the afternoon was scored by Liang Nianxiang, it was a fine back-handed shot from the centre under heavy pressure. The Chinese managed to win the final period so we might say both teams were satisfied while leaving the pool.
Comments
Dejan Savic – head coach, Serbia
“We came here mainly for practice but if we have a chance to win we will take it, for sure. We didn’t know anything on China so it’s good to win an easy game like this. Tomorrow we’ll play with Russia but that will be tougher as we will have a strong
Rick Azevedo – head coach, China
“We started out very flat, very slow, but you know, we haven’t played a team of this caliber for a year. The last time we played hard was in the Super Final last year. In the first half our team was not clicking, but in the second we did a very good job, we were almost even, so it’s coming around and that’s good since our preparation is for the long term.”
Vanja Udovicic (SRB) – captain
“Hard to discuss a game like this. It was also hard to make a good start for this tournament, as many of our players took part in the Champions League Final Four tournament and this event is coming just two weeks after that one. It’s not easy to compose a team, to prepare a team and to be inside, to feel this tournament under such a short term. We opened this game very strongly, I think those first three attacks decided the outcome. The group is a bit easy so we have to be ready for the semi final and for the final. This game offered a good opportunity to practice some new schemes in attack and in defence to check how they work. So it’s great to earn an 8-goal win in this kind of match.”
Match 2, 15:45 – Group A: Montenegro vs. Japan 10-10 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3) – penalties: 5-6
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), Vasilieou Nikolaos (GRE)
Delegate: Boukezouha Badreddine
Teams
Montenegro: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 1, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic 1, Dragan Draskovic 1, Luka Sekulic, Radovan Latinovic 1, Darko Brguljan 2, Filip Klikovac 2, Uros Cuckovic 1.
Japan: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro 2, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuki1, Kanodo Yuki 1, Takei Koji 4, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo 2, Hazui Shota.
Extraman:
Montenegro: 4 for 7
Japan: 3 for 7
Penalties:
Montenegro: none
Japan: 2 for 3
It started similarly as the first game which saw Serbia scoring three fast goals. Three attacks – three goals and a 3-0 lead. Well, guess who had this advantage. No, not Montenegro – it was Japan. For the shock of many, mostly the Montenegrin players, the Asians netted three really brilliant goals. And the show went on in the first period, as the Japanese led 5-2. In the next two periods the Montenegrins seemed to make order. They tightened up their defence and started to finish their attacks with the usual way: huge blasts from extras and free-throws so in the middle of the third they led 8-5 (scored six unanswered goals, the Japanese missed a penalty in the meantime). But all of a sudden, the Japanese were back. Okawa and Takei scored in a span of 32 second for 8-7. It was a sign for the Montenegrins: it was not over at all. Though they seemed to take the job done after Paskovic scored for 10-8. Their level of play dropped significantly, the Japanese smelled blood, Ichikawa converted an extra, then with 1:51 to go Takei netted the equaliser (it was his 4th goal of the game). And the Japanese even had an extra in the last 17 seconds but missed it, so we saw the first penalty shootout of the tournament. And the justice of sport prevailed: after five penalties were converted at both ends, the second round brought a miss from Montenegro and the Japanese could celebrate what might be regarded the biggest win in their history.
Ranko Perovic, head coach of Montenegro
“We played really badly… Our concentration was on a really low level, perhaps my players thought that they had won the game before it started. This a big blow for us. I hope it also wakes us up.”
Omoto Yoji, head coach of Japan
“We didn’t think of beating Montenegro. It did not even appear in our dreams. But we asked one thing before the match: now, we are representing our country so we have to fight until the very last second. After being 8-5 down, we didn’t give it up. We saw that they got a bit tired during their comeback so we told the players, keep swimming, keep moving, do not stop. This brought the result. Well, the next two games against the USA and Hungary won’t easy, Montenegro perhaps could not analyse our play beforehand but the other two rivals could.”
Shiga Mitsuaki – Japan
“We thought if we could do everything what we had in our plans it can be a good game. And this is what happened. Even after they took the lead we saw that they are getting tired so we kept swimming all the time and this brought its result.”
Match 3, 17.15, Group A: United States vs. Hungary 9-9 (3-1, 1-2, 2-4, 3-2) – penalties: 6-5
Referees: Cory Williams (NZL), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
FINA Delegate: Alexandar Sostar
Teams
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani 1, Collin Smith 1, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen 2, Shea Buckner 1, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal 2, John Mann.
Hungary: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras 1, Bence Batori 1, Marton Vamos 1, Nortbert Hosnyanszky, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 2, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 3, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai 1, Attila Decker (GK)
Extraman:
USA: 6 for 12
Hungary: 2 for 8 – double extra: 0 for 1
The first half brought was all might have expected: a neck-by-neck fight of the two newly shaped teams – both led by new head coaches –, with the Hungarians being in front with a tiny margin. In fact, Hungary led 3-1 after eight minutes and they had an extra for a 5-2 lead in the second, but their 6 on 5 was a bit sluggish this afternoon, and also, Andrew Stevens did a great job in the US goal. By half time it stood 4-3, and something similar was in sight… Instead the US started to roll in the third. They scored four straight goals in three and a half minutes and had an extra for going 8-4 up. After conceding a couple of miserable goals, Viktor Nagy came up with a save and that was the sign for the Hungarians to stage a comeback. They geared up, pulled two back by the end of the third and levelled the score in the beginning of the fourth (7-7). A new match started with tremendous excitements. The US retook the lead twice but the Hungarians had the answers. In the dying minutes they even had a 6 on 4, but the US defence withstood the pressure. Both teams had one more attack to grab the win in the regular time, but the blocking hands saved the goals at both ends so another penalty shootout came.
Just as in the previous games, the first pair of five shooters didn’t make any mistake – interestingly, the Hungarians had their reserve goalie in front of the net during the shootout –, in the second round Buckner scored again, but the oldest member of the Hungarian team, Norbert Madaras missed his shot, it was denied by Stevens so the US sailed away with the win.
Dejan Udovicic – head coach of USA
“I think it was a good performance for us, since this is a young team, we have eight or nine young players who can first gain some international experience here. I can be satisfied with this start, though the most important thing is to catch the time. We have been together for two weeks and we need more trainings to be really competitive with the other teams. The players didn’t surprise me today, though. It is my job to convince them that they can be competitive with any other team in the world. This was a step, but there are a lot of tough periods are ahead of us.”
Tibor Benedek – head coach of Hungary
“We did not start the game in a good rhythm. We let them to slow down us a bit. In the third period our moves in defence were not as fast as expected and we found ourselves in a hole. However, it was really satisfying how we rebounded from this, without panicking. In that period we speeded up, we had counterattacks that brought us back. It’s not a big
Norbert Madaras – Hungary
“It’s good that we could recover in the third and in the fourth period after being three goals down and we could have even finished off the game in the regular time. Sadly, we couldn’t, but that is not the end of the world. We should have offered more, played much better than this. We’ve conceded four goals in less than four minutes – while you must not get so many goals in an entire period. We have a lot work to do, but we don’t have to make any fuss because of this loss, it happened in the first round of the prelims, that’s something we should worry about.
Match 4, 20.00, Group B: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Referees: Gyorgy Kun (HUN), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
FINA delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams
Brazil: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes 1, Henrique Miranda 1, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches 2, Felipe Silva, Bernardo Rocha 2, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra, Thye Bezerra (GK)
Russia: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev, Artem Odintsev, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 2, Vladislav Timakov 1, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod 2, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov 3.
Extraman
Brazil: 6 for 11
Russia: 4 for 9
Penalties
Brazil: none
Russia: 1 for 1
Brazil was the last team to arrive to Chelyabinsk and they travelled a lot – the long journey took the toll on the team. They managed to score for 1-1 in the early stages but after that they virtually disappeared from the pool. The young Russian team set up the chances easily and by producing a 6-0 rush they decided the game by half-time (2-7). They started to climb back and Adrian Baches Delgade netted one of his three goals for 4-8, but another whirlwind from Russia with three goals in the last two minutes of the third period killed Brazil’s momentum. Stepan Andryukov scored another one for 4-12, but after that the Russians’ concentration started to break down and the Brazilians made good use of it. They scored three consecutive goals for 7-12, however Russia had the last laugh, to the joy of the capacity crowd.
Mirko Blazevic, head coach of Brazil
“We travelled for almost two days and arrived late night – the tiredness could be easily seen in the first half. We started to do better in the second half – I hope we can improve further on.”
Vladimir Karabutov, head coach of Russia
“We recognised shortly after the start that we have an advantage physically and technically so our win would not be endangered. Still, we have to work harder in defence, conceding seven goals is was a bit much, but all in all I could be satisfied with our performance, especially in man-ups.”
win
over Montenegro is one of the biggest upsets ever in the history of the FINA World League Super Finals. It was a historic win for Japan – in the shootout –, the first great triumph in a big tournament against a top-ranked European team (Montenegro was 4th in London and came runner-up at the European Championships). And there was another penalty shootout which saw the USA beating Hungary, also a bit surprisingly. Group A had much calmer matches, Serbia easily overcame China while the host Russians made their fans happy by scoring an easy win against Brazil.Match 1, 14:00 hrs, Group B: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
Referees: Jon Piela (USA), German Moller (ARG)
FINA Delegate: Gianni Lonzi
Teams
SERBIA: Gojko Pijetlovic – Aleksa Saponjic 1, Zivko Gocic 2, Vanja Udovicic 1, Milos Cuk 2, Nemanja Ubovic, Slobodan Nikic, Milan Aleksic 1, Nikola Radjen 1, Filip Filipovic 2, Dusan Mandic 1, Stefan Mitrovic 2, Branislav Mitrovic (GK).
CHINA: Ge Weiqing – Tan Fehiu, Liang Zhongxing 1, Jiang Bin, Guo Junliang, Pan Ning, Li Bin 1, Wang Yang, Xie Junmin 1, Zhang Jian, Zhang Chufeng 1, Liang Nianxiang 1, Wu Honghui (GK).
Extraman:
Serbia: 3 for 6
China: 1 for 4 – double extras: 1 for 2
Serbia put the opening game on the right track immediately after the start. They scored three goals on their first three attacks – the opening goal of the Super Final went to Vanja Udovicic – and that was a rather strong message for the Chinese who seemed to be caught by this demonstration. By half time the Serbs were 9-2 up, they enjoyed the game but kept their discipline at both ends. It was a good team effort all in all, all but two field players netted one or two goals and their defence worked really well for most of the match, they denied a handful of extras, even a double man-down. In the final period the Serbs slowed down a bit while the Chinese fought bravely to restore some pride: probably the most beautiful goal of the afternoon was scored by Liang Nianxiang, it was a fine back-handed shot from the centre under heavy pressure. The Chinese managed to win the final period so we might say both teams were satisfied while leaving the pool.
Comments
Dejan Savic – head coach, Serbia
“We came here mainly for practice but if we have a chance to win we will take it, for sure. We didn’t know anything on China so it’s good to win an easy game like this. Tomorrow we’ll play with Russia but that will be tougher as we will have a strong
training
in the morning.”Rick Azevedo – head coach, China
“We started out very flat, very slow, but you know, we haven’t played a team of this caliber for a year. The last time we played hard was in the Super Final last year. In the first half our team was not clicking, but in the second we did a very good job, we were almost even, so it’s coming around and that’s good since our preparation is for the long term.”
Vanja Udovicic (SRB) – captain
“Hard to discuss a game like this. It was also hard to make a good start for this tournament, as many of our players took part in the Champions League Final Four tournament and this event is coming just two weeks after that one. It’s not easy to compose a team, to prepare a team and to be inside, to feel this tournament under such a short term. We opened this game very strongly, I think those first three attacks decided the outcome. The group is a bit easy so we have to be ready for the semi final and for the final. This game offered a good opportunity to practice some new schemes in attack and in defence to check how they work. So it’s great to earn an 8-goal win in this kind of match.”
Match 2, 15:45 – Group A: Montenegro vs. Japan 10-10 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3) – penalties: 5-6
Referees: Irfan Sadekov (RUS), Vasilieou Nikolaos (GRE)
Delegate: Boukezouha Badreddine
Teams
Montenegro: Milos Scepanovic – Drasko Brguljan 1, Vjekoslav Paskovic 1, Antonio Petrovic, Miljan Popovic, Nikola Markovic 1, Dragan Draskovic 1, Luka Sekulic, Radovan Latinovic 1, Darko Brguljan 2, Filip Klikovac 2, Uros Cuckovic 1.
Japan: Tanamura Katsusuyuki – Ichikawa Masahiro 2, Arai Atsushi, Shiga Mitsuaki, Ezaki Daichi, Hemmi Yuta, Shimizu Yusuki1, Kanodo Yuki 1, Takei Koji 4, Yasuda Kenya, Okawa Keigo 2, Hazui Shota.
Extraman:
Montenegro: 4 for 7
Japan: 3 for 7
Penalties:
Montenegro: none
Japan: 2 for 3
It started similarly as the first game which saw Serbia scoring three fast goals. Three attacks – three goals and a 3-0 lead. Well, guess who had this advantage. No, not Montenegro – it was Japan. For the shock of many, mostly the Montenegrin players, the Asians netted three really brilliant goals. And the show went on in the first period, as the Japanese led 5-2. In the next two periods the Montenegrins seemed to make order. They tightened up their defence and started to finish their attacks with the usual way: huge blasts from extras and free-throws so in the middle of the third they led 8-5 (scored six unanswered goals, the Japanese missed a penalty in the meantime). But all of a sudden, the Japanese were back. Okawa and Takei scored in a span of 32 second for 8-7. It was a sign for the Montenegrins: it was not over at all. Though they seemed to take the job done after Paskovic scored for 10-8. Their level of play dropped significantly, the Japanese smelled blood, Ichikawa converted an extra, then with 1:51 to go Takei netted the equaliser (it was his 4th goal of the game). And the Japanese even had an extra in the last 17 seconds but missed it, so we saw the first penalty shootout of the tournament. And the justice of sport prevailed: after five penalties were converted at both ends, the second round brought a miss from Montenegro and the Japanese could celebrate what might be regarded the biggest win in their history.
Ranko Perovic, head coach of Montenegro
“We played really badly… Our concentration was on a really low level, perhaps my players thought that they had won the game before it started. This a big blow for us. I hope it also wakes us up.”
Omoto Yoji, head coach of Japan
“We didn’t think of beating Montenegro. It did not even appear in our dreams. But we asked one thing before the match: now, we are representing our country so we have to fight until the very last second. After being 8-5 down, we didn’t give it up. We saw that they got a bit tired during their comeback so we told the players, keep swimming, keep moving, do not stop. This brought the result. Well, the next two games against the USA and Hungary won’t easy, Montenegro perhaps could not analyse our play beforehand but the other two rivals could.”
Shiga Mitsuaki – Japan
“We thought if we could do everything what we had in our plans it can be a good game. And this is what happened. Even after they took the lead we saw that they are getting tired so we kept swimming all the time and this brought its result.”
Match 3, 17.15, Group A: United States vs. Hungary 9-9 (3-1, 1-2, 2-4, 3-2) – penalties: 6-5
Referees: Cory Williams (NZL), Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU)
FINA Delegate: Alexandar Sostar
Teams
USA: Andrew Stevens – Bret Bonnani 1, Collin Smith 1, Thomas Corcovan, Janson Wigo 1, Matthew De Trane 1, Alexander Obert, Alexander Bowen 2, Shea Buckner 1, Timothy Hutten, Michael Rosenthal 2, John Mann.
Hungary: Viktor Nagy – Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras 1, Bence Batori 1, Marton Vamos 1, Nortbert Hosnyanszky, Adam Decker, Marton Szivos 2, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga 3, Krisztian Bedo, Balazs Harai 1, Attila Decker (GK)
Extraman:
USA: 6 for 12
Hungary: 2 for 8 – double extra: 0 for 1
The first half brought was all might have expected: a neck-by-neck fight of the two newly shaped teams – both led by new head coaches –, with the Hungarians being in front with a tiny margin. In fact, Hungary led 3-1 after eight minutes and they had an extra for a 5-2 lead in the second, but their 6 on 5 was a bit sluggish this afternoon, and also, Andrew Stevens did a great job in the US goal. By half time it stood 4-3, and something similar was in sight… Instead the US started to roll in the third. They scored four straight goals in three and a half minutes and had an extra for going 8-4 up. After conceding a couple of miserable goals, Viktor Nagy came up with a save and that was the sign for the Hungarians to stage a comeback. They geared up, pulled two back by the end of the third and levelled the score in the beginning of the fourth (7-7). A new match started with tremendous excitements. The US retook the lead twice but the Hungarians had the answers. In the dying minutes they even had a 6 on 4, but the US defence withstood the pressure. Both teams had one more attack to grab the win in the regular time, but the blocking hands saved the goals at both ends so another penalty shootout came.
Just as in the previous games, the first pair of five shooters didn’t make any mistake – interestingly, the Hungarians had their reserve goalie in front of the net during the shootout –, in the second round Buckner scored again, but the oldest member of the Hungarian team, Norbert Madaras missed his shot, it was denied by Stevens so the US sailed away with the win.
Dejan Udovicic – head coach of USA
“I think it was a good performance for us, since this is a young team, we have eight or nine young players who can first gain some international experience here. I can be satisfied with this start, though the most important thing is to catch the time. We have been together for two weeks and we need more trainings to be really competitive with the other teams. The players didn’t surprise me today, though. It is my job to convince them that they can be competitive with any other team in the world. This was a step, but there are a lot of tough periods are ahead of us.”
Tibor Benedek – head coach of Hungary
“We did not start the game in a good rhythm. We let them to slow down us a bit. In the third period our moves in defence were not as fast as expected and we found ourselves in a hole. However, it was really satisfying how we rebounded from this, without panicking. In that period we speeded up, we had counterattacks that brought us back. It’s not a big
deal
that we lost the shootout. The basic point is that this new team needs these kinds of games, these kinds of experiences to be ready for the really big challenges of the future.”Norbert Madaras – Hungary
“It’s good that we could recover in the third and in the fourth period after being three goals down and we could have even finished off the game in the regular time. Sadly, we couldn’t, but that is not the end of the world. We should have offered more, played much better than this. We’ve conceded four goals in less than four minutes – while you must not get so many goals in an entire period. We have a lot work to do, but we don’t have to make any fuss because of this loss, it happened in the first round of the prelims, that’s something we should worry about.
Match 4, 20.00, Group B: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Referees: Gyorgy Kun (HUN), Mihajlo Ciric (SRB)
FINA delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams
Brazil: Vinicius Antonelli – Bernando Gomes 1, Henrique Miranda 1, Gustavo Coutinho, Emilio Viera, Gabriel Rocha, Adrian Delgado Baches 2, Felipe Silva, Bernardo Rocha 2, Ruda Franco, Gustavo Guimaraes, Antonio Neto Inserra, Thye Bezerra (GK)
Russia: Viktor Ivanov – Nikolay Lazarev, Artem Odintsev, Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Albert Zinnatulin, Artem Ashaev 2, Vladislav Timakov 1, Ivan Nagaev 1, Dmitry Kholod 2, Roman Shepelev, Sergey Lisunov 1, Stepan Andryukov 3.
Extraman
Brazil: 6 for 11
Russia: 4 for 9
Penalties
Brazil: none
Russia: 1 for 1
Brazil was the last team to arrive to Chelyabinsk and they travelled a lot – the long journey took the toll on the team. They managed to score for 1-1 in the early stages but after that they virtually disappeared from the pool. The young Russian team set up the chances easily and by producing a 6-0 rush they decided the game by half-time (2-7). They started to climb back and Adrian Baches Delgade netted one of his three goals for 4-8, but another whirlwind from Russia with three goals in the last two minutes of the third period killed Brazil’s momentum. Stepan Andryukov scored another one for 4-12, but after that the Russians’ concentration started to break down and the Brazilians made good use of it. They scored three consecutive goals for 7-12, however Russia had the last laugh, to the joy of the capacity crowd.
Mirko Blazevic, head coach of Brazil
“We travelled for almost two days and arrived late night – the tiredness could be easily seen in the first half. We started to do better in the second half – I hope we can improve further on.”
Vladimir Karabutov, head coach of Russia
“We recognised shortly after the start that we have an advantage physically and technically so our win would not be endangered. Still, we have to work harder in defence, conceding seven goals is was a bit much, but all in all I could be satisfied with our performance, especially in man-ups.”
*****
USA edges Japan, Hungary wins in shootout
| Waterpoloworld | | | Wednesday 12 June 2013, 11:37 | | | Tim Hartog |
© waterpolo2013.ru
After the shootout victory over Hungary on day 1 of the World League Super Final USA and new head coach Dejan Udovicic secured their second
win
in the opening game Wednesday recording a tough 13-12 victory over Japan. Thanks to a better fourth quarter and winning goal scored with just 46 seconds remaining Team USA edged a tired looking Japan squad to now lead group A with five points. Fellow group contenders Hungary and Montenegro, both surpising losers of day 1, were in action in the second game of the day and went down to a penalty shootout once again. Montenegro was in the lead for most of the match but a nice second half comeback by the Magyars ultimately led to a 10-10 tied score after Norbert Hosnyanszky (penalty) and Marton Szivos scored two consecutive goals for Hungary. Both sides could not force a winner in the remainder of regular time so the water polo fans at the Stroitel pool in Chelyabinsk witnessed another shootout. This one took even longer than the previous two on Tuesday until Montenegro's Miljan Popović missed in what by that point had turned into a sudden-death series so that Hungary instantly got the victory 17-18.
Next up were Brazil and China, both after losses on Tuesday, in the second day's third encounter which ended with a striking result. China bounced back from a 13-5 defeat by Serbia to rout Brazil on their way to a 3-18 blowout victory. Right from the beginning the Chinese team ran away and Brazil was never able to turn things around. The half time score was 2-9 and China was not done. A 1-6 scoreline in the third term helped head coach Ricardo Azevedo and his team to a big win over the 2016 Olympics hosts.
Serbia, in the final game of the day, did what was expected and beat Russia 14-11. The hosts showed resillience and came relatively close (12-9, 13-11) in the fourth quarter. However 2011 World League winners Serbia always seemed in control and thanks to three goals by top scorer Milan Aleksic secured the three-goal win; their second in two games as Serbia now leads group B.
FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
Wednesday, June 12
14.00: USA vs. Japan 13-12 (3-4, 3-3, 3-3, 4-2)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Hungary 17-18 (3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-4; penalty shootout: 7-8)
17.30: Brazil vs. China 3-18 (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 0-3)
19.15: Serbia vs. Russia 14-11 (3-1, 3-2, 3-2, 5-6)
*****
Japan and USA win in shootouts - Super Final day 1 results
| Waterpoloworld | | | Tuesday 11 June 2013, 11:51 | | | Tim Hartog |
© waterpolo2013.ru
win
for the Asian side.The next match went down to a shootout as well. Hungary took the lead 2-4 in the first half but USA responded well going up ahead 7-4 in the third quarter. However the remainder of the game remained close and a 9-9 score at the end of the fourth quarter forced a second straight shootout of the day. All players converted their respective penalty shots but at the start of the second serie Norbert Madaras' second attempt was saved by USA goalie Andy Stevens and got USA the 15-14 victory.
Hosts Russia started off well in front of their home crowd gaining three points in a clear 7-13 win over Brazil. Most of the damage was done in the first half in which the Russians walked away to a 2-7 lead before even extending that margin in the third session by two goals. Brazil hung on in the final term but knew the game's outcome was already decided.
FINA World League 2012-2013
Super Final
June 11-16, 2013
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tuesday, June 11
14.00: Serbia vs. China 13-5 (5-1, 4-1, 3-0, 1-3)
15.45: Montenegro vs. Japan 15-16 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 1-3; penalty shootout: 5-6)
17.15: USA vs. Hungary 15-14 (1-3, 2-1, 4-2, 2-3; penalty shootout: 6-5)
19.45: Brazil vs. Russia 7-13 (1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-2)
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