Provided by: European Aquatics
After a thrilling opening game in Dubrovnik (Croatia won on penalties), Croatia and Spain will meet again in the final in Zagreb. Hosts Croatia fended off a new challenge from a young Hungarian team, maintaining their home team’s winning streak and reaching the final for the sixth time in a row since 2014. Spain showed excellent defense against Italy, holding Italy to just one goal in the first three periods. The winner of Tuesday’s final will also receive a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Semi-finals: Spain vs. Italy 7-4, Hungary vs. Croatia 8-11
For 5th to 8th place: Serbia vs. Greece 10-12, Romania vs. Montenegro 11-18
Later in the day, in the semi-final, Croatia, backed by 2,000 enthusiastic fans, held off the young Hungarian’s heroics 8-11 and had the chance to win their third European title at home. I was forced to do so.
“The most important thing we talked about before this semi-final was that we need to be very patient throughout the match,” Croatian goalkeeper Marko Bijak said after the match.
“Hungary have played really well not only today but in this competition, but we knew that at some point in the game we would have a chance.
“Fortunately, it happened in the fourth period and we didn’t lose our heads even though the result was very close in the third quarter.
“Ultimately, I believe we deserved this victory.
“It was tough for me to prepare for this game because I hadn’t played against many of the young players, but I did really well with the help of my defenders.”
Early in the match, Croatia took the lead twice, but the Magyar men fought back again and again to catch up at 2-2.
In the second game, Croatia started to have the upper hand, their defense was solid and they got a man down for the third time in a row, while Jerko Marinic-Krajic scored a goal, and then Loren Fatovic added an action goal. It was 2-4 at halftime.
Adam Nagy quickly brought the Hungarians closer in the third game, and a five-minute battle ensued.
The Magyars decided to go for a double man down, but also failed at 6-5.
Both goalkeepers, Bijak and Viktor Gapias, made fine saves in this phase, but the Croat then forced a penalty, which Marinic-Kragic sent home.
This triggered a special event, a flood of goals, in contrast to previous events.
Nagy fired from the perimeter, the Croat earned another penalty, and Marinic-Krajic again made no mistake.
Vince Vigvari also broke the Croatian zone from the wing, but Lino Bulic’s center shot also went behind the goal line.
The frenzy ended with a man-up goal from Gergo Fekete. The Magyar scored one goal in 14 minutes, then three in 122 seconds.
A big block on double man down kept the game close at 6-7 by the final quarter.
Croatia started the fourth game with a good 6-5, with Luka Roncar finishing and Loren Fatovic’s 6-meter shot 55 seconds later giving Croatia a three-goal lead for the first time in the game.
Nagy hits his third from man-up to make it 7-9, and soon the Hungarians may mount another promising counter, but once again they lack the necessary precision and the ball reaches an unmarked player. There wasn’t.
Immediately the Croats were able to make a 3-2, with Zvonimir Butic effortlessly scoring the goal, making it 7-10 instead of 8-9 and effectively ending the match.
Josip Vulic’s stunning shot got the crowd excited, the fans roared with joy, and Vigvari’s goal didn’t spoil the party as Croatia advanced to the final.
This is something they often do when playing against European teams at home. They won gold medals in 2010 and 2022, and another win on Tuesday would secure them an Olympic berth.
Tuesday’s final against Spain will probably be the most challenging of the three.
“This time we had no problems attacking or defending,” Croatian assistant coach Jure Marella said after the game.
“We played consistently throughout the game and that was the reason for our win today.
“Hungary played at a great level with their young players. It was a great game for the crowd and I can only congratulate them.
“Spain in the final is a big challenge. They are a great team, one of the biggest teams at the moment, but we already beat them in Dubrovnik, so why shouldn’t we do the same here? I don’t know” in Zagreb. ”
In the opposite corner, Hungary’s Adam Nagy felt he knew the reason for his young team’s defeat.
“What we lacked today was definitely concentration,” he said after the game.
“Today was the day I felt like I wasn’t as focused as I used to be.
“We made a lot of mistakes defensively and offensively and had two one-on-ones and didn’t score either time, but those goals would have been a big boost.
“While the Croats were able to maintain their concentration, we sometimes rushed shots but could not get in their way.
“We knew we would be playing under a lot of pressure from the crowd and from the Croatian team. It’s a really good and experienced team, but still our concentration wasn’t as sharp as it should have been.”
Speaking after the semi-finals opened on Sunday, Spain’s victorious coach David Martin praised the performance of both teams’ players in their low-scoring but thrilling 7-4 victory over Italy in the semi-finals.
“I think it was a defensive masterclass today because it was difficult for both teams to score,” Martin said after his team advanced to the final.
“We only received four, but we only made seven, which was very good for Italy.
“Italy is always a very strong team and they always put on a show for the audience, so I’m very happy to have reached the final.
“In the beginning, I think our extra man was very good for us and they had a lot of problems with man down, but in the end it was the small details that decided the game and we were the better player in most ways. I think it was about today. ”
Spain got off to a good start, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to Felipe Perrone’s brilliant one-time shot from distance and Alberto Munarriz’s second try on a man-up.
It took Italy six minutes to get on the scoreboard. Alessandro Verotto’s deflected ball from a man-up ended up in the back of the net (he had missed two beforehand), but otherwise the defense played well, stopping the majority of 14 shots.
Álvaro Granados took a powerful shot from the first man-up of the second game, sending the ball home to make it 3-1. After that, there was another long swim and a battle for positional play.
Both players missed man-ups, but shots from the perimeter were easily caught if they were on target.
Then another “pair” of man-ups was called, first Italy wasted without a shot, then Spain were called, and Blay Malak’s left-handed one-timer was the cleanest possible finish. .
Unai Aguirre made a great save in Spain’s goal, giving him a score of 9/10 at half-time, 90%.
Coach Aguirre said after the game, “Our defense was really solid. Great teamwork, good blocking, good positioning. When you defend like this, it’s easy to make saves.”
He helped Spain to a 4-1 lead and could have taken it longer, but Marco del Lungo made a big penalty stop 20 seconds before the middle break.
Italy’s shooting percentage still reminds us of the heavy defeat to Hungary in the group, from 1/16 by half-time (1 win, 3 losses) to 1/15 now. became.
Spain tried to finish two meters in the first two man up of the third set, but was unsuccessful.
In Italy’s first 6-on-5, Fondelli fired from the back and the ball again found its way into Aguirre’s hands, but more credit goes to the defender.
Dolce tried his luck again with an extra shot from the side, but Aguirre stopped it too.
Spain’s next 6-on-5 came after a timeout, but they couldn’t get it going, and Italy’s defense didn’t do well either.
Alejandro Bustos then scored from close range with his fourth shot of the period.
His first shot was blocked, but he was momentarily free, but a quick assist was enough to put Spain up 5-1.
Particularly as Italy missed consecutive man-ups in the final minutes of the quarter, it seemed decisive to break the deadlock after eight scoreless minutes.
At this stage they were 1-for-9 on 6-5, shooting 1-of-22, and I can hardly remember a game where they only scored one goal in the third period.
Marco del Lungo defended Italy’s chances, stopping a late man-up in the third and two more shots at Spain’s 6-on-5 early in the fourth.
Francesco Condemi then ended Settebello’s painfully long drought with 19 minutes and 12 seconds to play (Italy failed to score at all in the opening two periods), but Granados sank a penalty 47 seconds into the game.
Condemi scored another goal to make it 6-3 and then earned a penalty with good defense and great attack.
This was scored by Edoardo Di Somma, giving Italy three points within two minutes, and the match began to heat up.
An incredibly smart follow-up goal from Felipe Perrone reset the three-goal deficit, and Francesco Di Fulvio’s next shot from man-up was caught by Aguirre, as was Di Somma’s shot. Italy seemed to have an advantage, but that was it.
Italy’s top blaster Francesco Di Fulvio was 0/7, the other players were also far from their best, but the Spaniards put in a lot of effort to neutralize their attacking power.
After the match, Spanish national team captain Felipe Perrone expressed his joy, saying, “It was a team effort, but also Unai’s effort.The way he saved the ball was crazy.”
“I’m very happy with his performance. He’s a very water polo enthusiast and even though he’s only 20 years old, he sometimes looks like an experienced 40-year-old.
“Our defense was great and that gave us a lot of confidence.
“This applies not only to water polo, but also to all other sports in Spain. If we defend well, we can counter-attack and play our game.”
In contrast, Italy coach Alessandro Campagna was unable to fully explain his team’s attacking struggles.
“We didn’t make good choices in filming. I don’t know why, but I guess we were tired,” he said later.
“Defensively I thought we played well and conceded seven goals in the semi-final, but in attack we moved and made a lot of tries but couldn’t score from long range.”
Matches ranked 5th to 8th in class classificationth A better spell gave the Greeks a 10-12 victory over Serbia, where there wasn’t much danger left, apart from a play to restore pride.
The two clashed in the semifinals of the World Championship last July, with Greece having the upper hand.
This time the game was more even, 7-7 at halftime, but both teams were much less concentrated in the third period, allowing each team to add one point.
Greece then stepped up a gear a bit early, scoring four goals from as many possessions in the first four minutes, which was enough to secure the victory.
There was still a decision to be made in the other match between Montenegro and Romania, which will fill the group stage slots for the World Championship in Doha in February.
The winners would join teams Serbia, America and Japan, while the losers would go to Italy, Hungary and Kazakhstan.
Romania got off to a good start and took an early 3-0 lead, but the Montenegrins woke up in time and made four shots in the first period to make it 3-4.
Vlad Georgescu tied the score early in the second inning, but the favorites then added another point at 0-4, which determined the course of the rest of the game.
The Romanians were forced to chase, sometimes trailing by two points, but the Montenegrins always found a way to reset their goal lead to 3-4.
In the end, the difference was 7 points, and Montenegro won 11-18, creating a 5-point lead.th/6th Final match against Greece.