The 6th day of the LEN Men’s European U17 Championship in Tbilisi was „warming up“ for the semifinal and the final day. The matches for the classification 9th-16th place were on today’s schedule. The medal contenders were preparing for the most important battles.
Croatia finished the Championships in the 9th place, as it beat host Georgia (11:6) today. The Netherlands defeated Malta 16:9 to clinch the 11th place. France edged out Turkey (7:6) in the match for the 13th, while Romania took the 15th place with a crushing victory over Slovakia 17:4.
Saturday, August 17th
Semifinals 1th-4th place
Spain – Hungary
Greece – Italy
Semifinals 5th-8th place
Russia – Montenegro
Serbia – Germany
2019 men’s European U17 Championships, Day 6
Classification 9th-10th
Croatia – Georgia 11:6 (0:2, 3:1, 4:1, 4:2)
Croatia:Maric 6, Pozaric 2, Cukrov 1, Stahor 1, Babic 1.
Georgia: Alavidze 3, Dadvani 2, Chikovani 1.
Georgia surprised Croatia, by a 2:0 lead in the first quarter. The Croats managed to regroup themselves during the first break and they took control in the second quarter. They equalized (2:2) in the 13th minute. Georgia earned a new lead (3:2) minute and a half later. Croatia, led by Iv Maric, responded with 4 consecutive goals to jump to a 6:3 lead and there was no way back for the home team.
Classification 11th-12th
Netherlands – Malta 16:9 (6:2, 3:3, 2:1, 5:3)
Netherlands: Ten Broek 3, Rempt 2, Sjardijn 2, Van der Weijden 2, Schowerwou 2, Wouters 2, Kastorp 1, Te Riele 1, Geurts 1.
Malta: Bonavia 4, Muscat 4, Farrugia 1.
The Netherlands controlled the match from the beginning. The Dutch had a 6:2 lead after the first period. In the middle of the second quarter, Malta reduced the gap to 2 (4:6), but the Dutch soon built a new 4-goal advantage (8:4). From that point on, only the margin of the Netherlands’ win was in question. The last goal in the match was scored by the Dutch’s goalkeeper Joris Guerts. He joined his teammates in attack and converted an extra player in the last second for the final score 16:9.
Classification 13th – 14th
Turkey-France 6:7 (3:2, 2:3, 0:1, 1:1)
Turkey:Kaner 2, Yutmaz 2, Temel 1, Aksoy 1.
Turkey:Kaner 2, Yutmaz 2, Temel 1, Aksoy 1.
France: Vernoux 5, Armingol 1, Vilcot Lambert 1.
Turkey had a 4:2 advantage in midway through the second quarter. Then, the French tightened their defense and produced a 5:1 rush, to gain a 7:5 lead early in the last period. Turkey netted a goal for 6:7 four minutes before the end. After that, France managed to keep a minimal lead until the end.
Classification 15th -16th
Slovakia – Romania 4:17 (1:5, 1:5, 0:3, 2:4)
Slovakia:Ravinger 2, Jakubis 1, Mihal 1.
Romania: Pirianu 4, Neamtu 4, Rath 2, Lutescu 2, Sachetti 2, Ghita 1, Gorea 1,Gheorghe 1.
Before today’s encounter Slovakia and Romania suffered 4 defeats each. The Romanians were more motivated to finish the competition with a win.
Final rankings
9 Croatia
10 Georgia
11 Netherlands
12 Malta
13 France
14 Turkey
15 Romania
16 Slovakia
