World League 2014 (M) Europe prelims: Montenegro and Hungary remain unbeaten after round 4

The fourth preliminary round for Europe of the FINA Men's #waterpolo World League 2014 concluded yesterday with the leading teams of Montenegro, Serbia and Hungary looking strong to earn a berth for the men’s Super Final taking place this summer in Dubai http://ow.ly/txpmG

© Giorgio Perottino/Insidefoto

http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4350:pr-11-world-league-2014-m-europe-prelims-montenegro-and-hungary-remain-unbeaten-after-round-4&catid=395:2014&Itemid=246

FINA - Lausanne (SUI), February 12, 2014 – The fourth preliminary round for Europe of the FINA Men's Water Polo World League 2014 concluded on February 11 with the leading teams of Montenegro, Serbia and Hungary looking strong to earn a berth for the men’s Super Final taking place in Dubai (UAE) from June 16-21, 2014.

In Group A, Romania stunned visiting team Russia in Bucharest, winning in a gruelling 13-7. In Group B, reigning World champion Hungary walked away with a tight victory over Greece, 12-11, in Athens. In Group C, World silver medallist Montenegro triumphed over Slovakia in Novaky, scoring 8-5. Meanwhile in Torino, 2012 Olympic silver medallist Italy had an intense battle with the German squad, eventually prevailing by two goals in a decisive score of 12-10.

The fifth preliminary round is scheduled for March 11th. The games for the last round will be held on April 2nd and 15th, which will decide the three European qualifiers for the men’s Super Final.

The composition of the European Groups of the 2014 Men’s World League is as follows:

GROUP A – Romania, Russia, Serbia
GROUP B – Croatia, Greece, Hungary
GROUP C – Germany, Italy, Montenegro, Slovakia

Provisional rankings:

GROUP A: SRB, 6 pts (2 wins); RUS, 3 (1W, 2 losses); ROU, 3 (1W, 2L)
GROUP B: HUN, 8 pts (3W); GRE, 2 (1W, 2L); CRO, 2 (2L)
GROUP C: MNE 12 pts (4W), ITA, 9 (3W, 1L); GER, 3 (1W, 3L); SVK, 0 (4L)

Next round (March 11, 2014):

Group A:  ROU-SRB (Bucharest)
Group B: GRE-CRO (city tbc)
Group C: ITA-MNE (Bari) & SVK-GER (city tbc)

Marton Szivos wins it for Hungary

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Tuesday 11 February 2014, 18:54

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Tim Hartog

http://www.waterpoloworld.com/News/tabid/169/ArticleId/6331/news.aspx

© waterpolophoto.com

In an absolute thriller match on day 4 of the World League where both teams could have left the arena as winners visitors Hungary eventually managed to overcome hosts Greece thanks to a mesmerizing 4th goal by Marton Szivos! Greece came out very strong knowing this would be their last chance of keeping sight on a ticket to the World League Super Final in Dubai later this year. After Daniel Varga had opened the score for Hungary the hosts put up an impressive 4-goal streak. Hungary seemed overwhelmed by this first-period performance of their challengers and was looking for rhythm. Balazs Harai kept the damage somewhat within limits as he made it 4-2 ahead of the first break. Greece took the second sprint and continued their early form. With a shot over the head of Hungary goalie Viktor Nagy shooter Ioannis Fountoulis cashed in on man-up to make it 5-2 and restore the 3-goal advantage. Hungary then managed to finally break loose from the tight grip of their opponent. In a few minutes time the group leader managed to fight back into the game. Goals by Szivos, Denes Varga and another one from Szivos set the game levelled with half-time in sight. Slightly recovered from the sudden Hungarian uprising, Evangelos Delakas replied for Greece with a beautifully finished man-up play. It looked like Greece was going to take a lead into half time after all. The Varga brothers had other plans though. Denes freed himself from his marker with some very smart movement and Daniel picked out his younger brother with a pinpoint-pass. Denes did not fail and completed Hungary’s comeback with only seconds left on the clock. 

After half time the game developed in a nerve-wrecking display of high class water polo where both teams were getting the best out of each other. Denes Varga put his team in the lead but centre forward Christodoulos Kolomvos replied with the equalizer not long afterwards. Hungary then went one up again thanks to Balazs Harai who scored from up close but Angelos Vlachopoulos also countered to make it 8-8 again. With a déjà-vu moment from the first half the Hungarian offence outsmarted the Greek defence again. This time it was Szivos who had escaped his guard and put the ball in the back of the net. Both teams rolled up their sleeves with only the final period remaining and a minimal difference between the two. Straight from the sprint Greek captain Christos Afroudakis tied the score. Several misses on both ends kept the audience guessing on which way the wind would blow. With less than 5 minutes left to play, Hungary got a penalty and Denes Varga noted his 4th goal of the evening. The home crowd clearly disagreed with the call and increased their volume hoping to boost their team’s confidence. It was not without effect. Greece noted down a 2-goal streak and suddenly found themselves in the lead again as the final buzzer drew near.

Hungary was not done yet though. At the next Greek exclusion Harai pulled both teams level and with under a minute left to play it looked like we were heading for a draw. Tibor Benedek called his team together for a final time-out and pep-talk. Norbert Hosnyanszky received the ball to resume the play and immediately found Szivos, who did not hesitate. The ball took a strange swing and flew in the far top corner to make it 11-12. It turned out to be the deciding goal as Greece failed to connect on their final possession and Hungary ran out the last seconds of the game celebrating their hard-fought victory. Leading the group with 8 points out of 3 games, Super Finals qualification is very close for Benedek and his team. Greece can start making other plans for the 3rd week of June as they now trail the Hungarians by 6 points with only one game left to play.

“The start was not good but we had a very strong finish. I am always saying it is the best feeling to win a tight game with only one goal. In the important matches the team has succeeded at this. There were moments in the game were I would have signed for a draw, but in the end we managed to pull off the win. Although we did make a lot of mistakes we kept fighting until the end. We needed some time to increase the pace but when we did the offensive movement got better and we kept it tight at the back. We will not have any games in the next two months, so it was very important to finish this series with a positive result.” – Tibor Benedek (source – vlv.hu)

Text: Kevin Vernooij.

Montenegro struggled but restored order in the final period to edge Slovakia 5-8 and extend their unbeaten run to four games in the World League preliminary phase. The game was tied 4-4 at half time after the home side had taken the lead on three occasions in the first half. The 2013 worlds runners-up, who had topped Slovakia 13-11 on day 1, scored the only goal of the third period and decided the encounter in the final term thanks to a 1-3 run despite shooting just two-for-eight on man-up in total. Vjekoslav Paskovic was the only player on the victorious side to score two goals. In Bucharest the team of Romania responded to their 15-5 loss against Russia on opening day by beating the Erkin Shagaev coached side 13-7 on Tuesday at home. The game was locked at 2-2 and 4-4 at half time before the Romanians took the lead and eventually walked awayt in the fourth period. The six-goal victory however cannot erase their 10-goal loss in Russia so the Romanians remain in third place in group A. Italy closed out day 4 by beating the ever-tough Germans 12-10 in front of a capacity crowd in Turin. A lob shot by Paul Schueler opened up the scoring with the side being closed in the first half although Italy regained a single-goal advantage before half time: 4-3. That lead, despite being slim, was held throughout the third term before the Italians secured the win in the final eight minutes. Alex Giorgetti led the way for the 2011 world champs scoring four goals.


FINA men's World League 2013-2014
Europe Preliminary Round

Matchday 4 fixtures and results

11 February, 2014

Slovakia vs. Montenegro (played in Novaky) 5-8 (2-2, 2-2, 0-1, 1-3) 
Slovakia scorers: Tomas Bielik 2, Juraj Zatovic, Tomas Bruder, Martin Famera.

Montenegro scorers: Vjekoslav Pasković 2, Uroš Čučković, Darko Brguljan, Draško Brguljan (pictured), Antonio Petrović, Filip Klikovac, Saša Mišić.

Romania vs. Russia (played in Bucharest) 13-7 (2-2, 2-2, 3-1, 6-2)
Romania scorers: Tiberiu Negrean 3, Nicolae Diaconu 3, Cosmin Radu 2, Ramiro Georgescu 2, Daniel Teohari, Andrei Busila, Mihnea Chioveanu.

Russia scorers: Vladislav Timakov 2, Ivan Nagaev, Artem Odintsov, Alexey Rizhov-Alenichev, Konstantin Stepanyuk, Roman Shepelev.

Greece vs. Hungary (played in Patras) 11-12 (4-2, 2-4, 2-3, 3-3)
Greece scorers: Ioannis Fountoulis 5, Christodoulos Kolomvos 2, Angelos Vlachopoulos 2, Evangelos Delakas, Christos Afroudakis.

Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 4, Marton Szivos (pictured) 4, Balazs Harai 3, Daniel Varga.

Italy vs. Germany (played in Turin) 12-10 (2-2, 2-1, 3-3, 5-4)
Italy scorers: Alex Giorgetti 4, Pietro Figlioli 3, Matteo Aicardi 2, Andrea Fondelli, Alessandro Nora, Fabio Baraldi.

Germany scorers: Heiko Nossek 4, Julian Real 2, Erik Bukowski, Hannes Glaser, Tobias Preuss, Moritz Oeler.

The standings are now as follows:

Group A

1. Serbia 2 - 6 pts
2. Russia 3 - 3
3. Romania 3 - 3

Group B

1. Hungary 3 - 8 pts
2. Greece 3 - 2
3. Croatia 2 - 2

Group C

1. Montenegro 4 - 12 pts
2. Italy 4 - 9
3. Germany 4 - 3
4. Slovakia 4 - 0

FINA World League Super Final 16-21 June, 2014 in Dubai (UAE).