Croatia, Japan, Montenegro, and the USA advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Junior Championships in Kuwait.
Today the crossover round was played, Croatia beat New Zealand 15:6, Team USA trashed Canada 12:6, while the other two games offered a lot of excitement.
Montenegro defeated Hungary 15:14. Japan upset Australia 11:10 with a last-gasp goal.
The matches for the classification 13th – 20th were also held today: China – Uzbekistan 18:10, South Africa – Brazil 7:6, Egypt – Iran 11:7, Russia – Kuwait 17:7.
Schedule for Wednesday, 18th December
Quarterfinals
Serbia – Montenegro
Spain – Croatia
Italy – Japan
Greece – USA
Classification 9th – 12th: New Zealand – Hungary, Australia – Canada
Classification 13th – 16th: China – Russia, South Africa – Egypt.
Classification 17th -20th: Brazil – Iran, Uzbekistan – Kuwait.
2019 World Men’s Junior Championships, Day 6
Crossover round
Japan – Australia 11:10 (3:1, 5:2, 2:3, 1:4)
Japan: Inaba 4, Suzuki 2, Miyazawa 1, Tsuta 1, Hizume 1, Maita 1, Watanabe 1.
Australia: Gillfeather 3, Ansteney 2, Negus 2, Oberman 1, Rector 1, Byrnes 1.
Without any doubt, the encounter between Australia and Japan has been the most thrilling match at the Championships in Kuwait so far.
Japan had a substantial 10:6 advantage before the last quarter, but Australia equalized just 2.3 seconds before the end. Still, Japanese best scorer Yusuke Inaba beat the buzzer and scored a winner in the last second.
The Japanese junior team proved in Kuwait that water polo has been developing in this country in the last few years. Japan suffered a narrow loss to Croatia yesterday, while they were the front-runners from the beginning of today’s clash with Australia. Japan scored the first three goals in the match, while it had an 8:3 lead at halftime. Australia started coming in the match during the fourth period. The “Aussies” trailed 6:10 before the final break and opened the fourth quarter with two goals in the first 90 seconds for 8:10. Australia narrowed the gap three minutes from the end (9:10). The “Aussies” finally leveled the score 2.3 seconds from time, when Negus netted for 10:10.
The Asians called a timeout and then all Japanese field players, except Inaba, went in front of Australia’s goal. Inaba took the ball at the center of the field, he fired the shot. The ball touched one Australian player, but found the back of the net and Japan celebrated the fantastic victory.
Croatia – New Zealand 15:6 (3:0, 3:1, 4:3, 5:2)
Croatia: Solje 3, Vrdoljak 2, Zuvela 2, Paparic 2, Penava 2, Krekovic 2, Biljaka 1, Bajic 1.
New Zealand: Paterson 3, Matthews 1, Schuler 1, Brown 1.
After a lot of ups and downs in the group stage, Croatia secured quarterfinals with a convincing win over New Zealand. The opening 5:0 rush put the Croats on the right track. Tomorrow, they will face a very hard task, against Spain in the quarterfinals.
Hungary – Montenegro 14:15 (2:3, 4:6, 3:3, 5:3)
Hungary: Fekete 4, Bobis 3, Baksa 2, Dala 2, Vigvari 1, Szeghalmi 1, Magyar 1.
Montenegro: Vuskovic 4, Cetkovic 3, Mijuskovic 3, Vucurovic 1, Radovic 1, Matkovic 1, Franeta 1, Perkovic 1.
The European derby in the quarterfinals belonged to the Montenegrins, after a hard-fought battle. Hungary, which has won 13 medals in the history of the World U20 Championships and was fourth in Belgrade 2017, will not battle for the medals this time.
Montenegro had a better start and led 3:2 after the first quarter. Hungary equalized early in the second period, but quickly after that, the Montenegrins built a 5:3 advantage, while they went 9:6 up by the middle break. Montenegro entered the last period leading 12:9. Hungary was cutting the deficit step-by-step during the fourth period and came very close (12:13) in the middle of the last quarter. Montenegro regained a three-goal lead (15:12) with 02:50 to go. But, the drama wasn’t over yet. The Hungarians converted two man-ups for 14:15, with 73 seconds remaining on the clock. But, they lost the ball in the last attack. After that Montenegro kept the ball and the victory to schedule a derby against Serbia in the quarterfinals.
Canada – USA 6:12 (1:4, 1:3, 2:1, 2:4)
Canada: Djerkovic 3, D’Souza 1, Gloade 1, Henning 1.
USA: Vavic 2, Gruwell 2, Zaan 2, Daube 2, Molthen 2, Woodhead 1 Ehrhardt 1,
The Americans dominated the first half which determined the rest of the match. Team USA took a 4:1 lead, Canada’s Djerkovic hit the back of the net in the second period for 2:4. But shortly after that, the Americans built a 6-goal lead and their win wasn’t in danger.
Classification 13th – 20th
China – Uzbekistan 18:10 (4:3, 5:0, 4:3, 5:4)
China: Wang 4, Zhu 3, Cheng 3, Gao 2, Lu 2, Shi 2, He 1, Liu 1.
Uzbekistan: Osipyan 3, Kutmonbekov 2, Khoshimov 2, Turgunov 2, Sobirjonov 1.
South Africa – Brazil 7:6 (2:1, 3:4, 1:1, 1:0)
South Africa: Beamish 2, Howard 1, Dowsett 1, Margro 1, Faber 1, Swanepoel 1.
Brazil: Vizacre 3, Santos 2, Chiappini 1.
Egypt – Iran 11:7 (2:2, 4:0, 2:4, 3:1)
Egypt: Saleh 3, Bassel 3, Elsapagh 2, Ziyad 2, Rezk 1.
Iran: Ghareh 2, Khosor 2, Jalilipour 1, Lalehsiahpirani 1, Barzegarisharifabad 1.
Russia – Kuwait 17:7 (5:4, 5:0, 4:3, 3:0)
Russia: Mikhailov 5, Serebrennikov 3, Mirziev 3,E. Vasilev 3 Makhiyanov 2, Nikolaev 1.
Kuwait: Ashakanani 3, Jasem 1, Alotaibi 1, Alwazan 1, Dashti 1.
