Provided by: European Aquatics
Italy defeated Hungary in a thrilling and entertaining match to reach the semi-finals of the European Championship in Eindhoven. In addition to Italy, world champions and hosts Netherlands, title holders Spain and Greece also made it through the quarter-finals unscathed in the medal round, which featured the same final four teams as in Split. With their victory over France, Greece also secured a place at next month’s World Championships in Doha.
Quarterfinal results
Spain 17 – 6 Croatia
Netherlands 25 – 6 UK
Greece 15 – 7 France
Italy 12-11 Hungary
1cent-Fourth Semi-finals (Thursday, January 11th)
spain v greece
Netherlands v Italy
Fiveth-8th Classification semi-finals (Thursday, January 11th)
Croatia v France
UK v Hungary
Tuesday’s fourth quarter-final was the highlight of the fifth day of matches in Eindhoven, with Italy winning 12-11 in a fierce and captivating battle against Hungary.
The 2022 bronze medalists got off to a bright start, with Roberta Bianconi scoring a hat trick in the first eight minutes to put Italy in a 4-2 lead.
Hungary tied the score at the start of the second set with goals from Dora Leimeter and Vander Valli, but their defense wobbled again as Italy made a 3-0 rush to make it 7-4.
The game was rocky from end to end, and Cristina Garda cut the deficit to two points (7-5) just before the comeback.
Both teams continued to bat throughout the third period, with Hungary coming within one point twice, but they were unable to fully pull Italy through a frenetic and intense third period.
With the score now 11-9, Hungary began to give it their all against Italy in the final quarter, and soon Vályi made it 11-10.
Silvia Avegno’s penalty briefly eased Italy’s nerves to make it 12-10, but Hungary gained momentum when Rita Keszthely made it 12-11 with 1:50 left.
It was a blow for the Magyars, but the Italian defense stood firm and the game was decided in the final seconds when Dorottia Siraj missed a brilliant chance for extra time and fired straight into the Italian goal of a grateful Caterina Bancelli. .
After the final buzzer sounded, Hungary looked heartbroken, perhaps reflecting on the fact that this was the first time they had failed to finish in the top four in consecutive European Championships.
Title holders Spain advanced to the semi-finals with a comfortable 17-6 victory over Croatia in their opening quarter-final game.
As Miki Oka’s side relentlessly pursue their third straight European title, two key players, Ani Esper and Maika García Godoy, sat in the front row by the pool to cheer on their victorious team-mates. I even had the luxury of letting people rest.
Spain looked to relax a little after taking a 5-1 lead around the opening seven minutes, but then had some temporary problems, but Croatia were level at 4-4 until half-time. .
However, the lead was still only 4 points (9-5), and Croatia started to lose momentum from there, losing the third game 0-3 and the fourth game 5-1.
Spain mercifully clicked into gear, almost firmly closing the door on Croatia at the end.
Spain’s Paula Camus commented after the match: “We had to give our best, but we finally got the victory we wanted. I’m very excited to reach the semi-finals.”
“Our goal is to win the semifinals and then the final and win the gold medal.”
Spain had a particularly joyful 6-5, with Camus and Pirri Pena scoring four goals each, giving them 9-12.
Britain’s winning streak in this competition came to an abrupt end when they faced world champions Netherlands in the second quarter-final.
Buoyed once again by a huge and boisterous crowd inside the Pieter van den Hoogenband swimming stadium, the Netherlands were completely dominant and showed no mercy throughout the one-sided 25-6 match.
Due to the huge gap in money and resources compared to their opponents, England were unable to stop the relentless Dutch attack, with the hosts quickly building a 7-1 lead after the first match and trailing by 15 at the turnaround. The lead expanded to 3-3.
The Netherlands slowed down a bit in the third quarter, winning 3-1, but then finished with a strong 7-2 final quarter.
The Dutch attacker of choice was Lieke Rogge, who led the scoring with 5 goals and 5 shots, followed by Simone van de Klaats, Kitty-Lynn Jostra and Laura Moolhuizen with 4 each. They each took a shot.
Dutch coach Evangelos Doudesis has rotated his team with a firm eye on future challenges, and the same goes for England’s Nick Buller, who will once again defy expectations and aim to break into the top five after falling out of the top eight. right.th-8th classification game.
Greece defeated France 15-7 in the third quarter-final, but the game didn’t get off to an easy start as the scoreline suggested.
Greece’s three-goal rush in the opening four minutes seemed to have decided the game, but the 2024 Olympic host nation responded with a three-goal rush of their own, showing their potential.
Camille Radosavljevic scored the first goal, and Audrey Dore’s brace tied the score at 3-3 early in the second.
If that didn’t shake Greece up, Louise Guillet’s 3-4 goal certainly did.
Eirini Ninou quickly brought the score back to even 4-4, but then Brookbach rallied the French bench in overtime to make it 4-5 with 1:52 left in the first half.
It’s only now that the 2022 runners-up are starting to show what they’re capable of, scoring six unanswered goals in a 10-5 win and going 9-2 in the second half to ensure there was no upset. Guaranteed.
The victory means Greece will compete for medals in Thursday’s semi-finals and also book a ticket to next month’s World Championships in Doha.
Only 2 tickets left out of 5th-8th In the classification semi-finals, France will be one of the favorites to win in Doha, along with Greece, Italy, Hungary, Spain and the Netherlands.
Early on Tuesday at 9 o’clockth-12th In the semifinals, Serbia defeated Germany 12-11, and Israel defeated the Czech Republic 18-5.
After a disappointing 11-8 loss to neighboring Croatia in Monday’s crossover, Serbia fought back with a narrow one-goal victory over Germany to reach nine wins on Thursday.th/Tenth Last.
Just like against Croatia, Serbia once again dominated from the start, this time building a huge 5-1 lead after the first period.
However, things didn’t go as planned in the next two periods as Germany took control, winning the second quarter 2-4 and the third quarter 3-5, evening the score at 10-10.
Nada Mandic scored twice from 2 meters to restore Serbia’s lead early in the fourth, but Germany’s Greta Tadaj closed the gap late and nerves held in the final 55 seconds. .
Germany took a timeout before the final attack, but Serbia emerged victorious.
Meanwhile, Israel appeared to have taken all the frustration out of yesterday’s surprise loss to the Czech Republic in nine games.th-12th semifinal.
The Czech Republic took a 0-2 lead in the early stages, so it took a while for the game to get going, but Israel quickly took control and tied the score at 3-3 just before the end of the first game. I caught up.
The floodgates then opened somewhat and Israel began to gain the upper hand, with eight unanswered goals making the score 11-3 in the third, by which time the Czech resistance was over.
Israel added seven more points in the final eight minutes to cruise to an 18-5 victory, but the scars of Monday’s dramatic penalty shootout loss to Great Britain left them as the only team in Division One to miss out on a place in the quarter-finals. It will still remain.
Slovakia had 15 wins in Tuesday’s opening game.th They won 18-10 against Bulgaria and moved up in the standings.
Karin Kukkova and Monika Sedlakova each scored four goals for Slovkia, who handed Bulgaria their fifth straight defeat in Eindhoven.
Bulgaria once again struggled defensively, conceding nine goals in each half, but although captain Tsvetelina Vidzeva showed joy with a hat trick, it was not enough to affect the result. Ta.
Turkiye, on the other hand, produced an impressive defensive performance against Romania, ending the season with a 7-3 win and 13th place.th place.
The match began after four days of competition between the top two scorers of the tournament, Turkiye’s Kubla Cus who scored 17 goals, and Romania’s Arena-Ioana Orteanu who scored 19 goals.
Orteanu may have been prolific in the past, but Turkiye goalkeeper Elif Dilara Aydinlik was in top form today, blocking 12 of 15 shots for an outstanding save percentage of 80%. Recorded.
In fact, Aydinlik may have been dreaming of his first clean sheet of the tournament, as it took a long 25 minutes and 47 seconds for Romania to finally get on the scoresheet.
Orteanu had two hits in the fourth inning, but in the end, the one who was happiest was Turkiye captain Kusu, who finished the tournament on a high note with a hat trick.