Serbia and Hungary dominate in semis and play for gold in Otopeni

Serbia and Hungary will play in the gold medal match at the 2023 World U20 Championships in Otopeni.

Serbia, the reigning champion, beat Greece convincingly – 14:8 in the first semifinal.

Hungary didn’t have an easy task in the game against Team USA but recorded a 13:9 victory thanks to a great start and finish.

Exclusions for brutality fouls affected the courses of both semifinals. Greece played with a man-fewer for four minutes. Serbia, which dictated the pace from the start, made a big difference in that interval. A four-minute exclusion of a Hungarian player helped Team USA come back and level the score. However, Hungary’s quality came to the fore at the right time.

I Serbia and Hungary played in the final of the World U18 Championships last year in Belgrade. Hungary won gold after penalty shootout. Many players who participated in that match will play in tomorrow’s final in Otopeni. Moreover, Serbia’s roster is almost the same as in Belgrade.

Spain and Italy will play in the 5th-place match. Spain defeated Croatia (10:6), and Italy was better than Montenegro after a penalty shootout (13:12) in today’s semifinals of the 5th- 8th place classification.

The Netherlands and Japan will play for 7th, and Romania and Australia for 9th place.
New Zealand beat South Africa in the 13th-place game.

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2023 World U20 Championships, Otopeni, Day 7

Semifinals

Greece – Serbia 8:14 (1:4, 2:4, 2:4, 3:2)

Greece: Bitsakos 3, Georgaras 2, Almyras 1, Gkillas 1, Spahic 1.
Serbia: Gladovic 5, Dimitrijevic 2, Kojic 2, Kovacevic 2, Bozovic 1, Martinovic 1, Brescanski 1.

An encounter between Serbia and Greece in the group stage was a big battle. The Serbs broke the Greeks with two goals at the finish (14:12).

There was no suspense or excitement in the semifinals. The defending champion cruised to the win. Serbia was a better rival from the beginning, but the best Greek player Nikolaos Gkillas “helped” the Serbs. He was excluded for a brutality foul in the second quarter. Serbia made the most of these four minutes playing with a man-up.

But, even before the exclusion, the Serbs imposed their rhythm. They earned a 4:1 lead in the first quarter (Luka Gladovic scored three of these four goals). Gkillas netted for 2:4 from a penalty shot in the 10th minute, and Greece showed that it may comeback. They tightened the defense and didn’t let Serbia increase the margin.

But, 02:47 minutes before the end of the first half, Gkillas kicked Vasilije Martinovic in the middle of the field while they were swimming toward the Greeks’ goal. After the VAR review, the referees concluded that he did it with intention and red-carded Gkillas, so Serbia played with 6 on 5 in the next four minutes. In that interval, the Serbs made a 5:1 series and jumped to 9:3 early in the third quarter.

Nothing changed after the four-minute exclusion expired. Serbia continued dictating the pace. Bitsakos hit the back of the net for 4:9 to wake up Greece’s hopes. However, Serbia responded with three action goals in a row and went to 12:4 and there was no way back for the Greeks.

In the final quarter, Serbia saved energy for the final.

Hungary – USA 13:9 (4:1, 2:2, 2:4, 5:2)

Hungary: Tatrai 5, Vigvari 4, A.Nagy 2, Vismeg 1, Meszaros 1.
USA: R.Dodd 4, McFarland 1, Watson 1, Carson 1, Castilo 1, Mundelius 1.

Hungary demolished Team USA on the second competition day (12:6). Until the finish of the second half, it looked like the semifinal encounter between the same rivals would be very similar to the one in the group stage.

But, just as in the first semifinal, a brutality foul changed the game’s rhythm.

Hungary controlled the game from the beginning. It built an early 2:0 lead. The Americans scored their first goal in the 7th minute. But, David Tatrai closed the first period with two goals (the first was from a 6 on 5, the second from a counterattack after the USA lost the ball in their man-up attack).

The Hungarians entered the second period leading 4:1. The Europeans dominated in the second quarter, too. In their last attack in the second quarter, they increased the margin to five (7:2). But after that goal, the referees stopped the game and checked the situation with a VAR review. They saw that Marcell Szecsi had committed a violent foul by punching Chase Dodd several seconds before the goal. Szecsi received a red card, the goal was disallowed, while the USA got a penalty shot and a man-up in the following four minutes. Ryder Dodd scored from the 5m line for 3:6, which was the score at halftime.

At the beginning of the second half, Hungary made it 7:3, playing with a man fewer (Vismeg found the net). Still, the USA managed to reduce the gap to two (5:7) until the middle of the third quarter. Team USA kept the momentum even after the Hungarians were complete after the exclusion. Carson converted a man-up for 6:7. After that, the USA missed a few chances to equalize, but the Hungarians’ attack couldn’t find good solutions in these moments. Still, an equalizer came in the 23rd minute, when Watson converted a man-up for 7:7. David Tatrai, the MVP of the match, responded with a long-distance goal to give Hungary an 8:7 advantage before the final break.

But, the USA didn’t say its last word. Ryder Dodd converted a man-up in the 26th minute and leveled at 8:8.

However, Hungary retook control soon and proved it was a better team. The Europeans netted four unanswered goals between the 26th and the 30th minute. Akos Nagy opened the series. Then, Vince Vigvari hit the back net twice in less than a minute, both times from the distance. Two minutes and 13 seconds before the end, David Tatrai netted his fifth goal, this time with a man-up. Hungary went to 12:8 and booked the ticket for the final.

5th-8th place classification, semifinals

Spain – Croatia 10:6 (1:4, 3:1, 5:0, 1:1)

Spain: Valls 4, Bargallo 3, Lopez 2, Sesen 1,
Croatia: Tonicic 2, Burdjelez 1, Mozara 1, Cubranic 1, Zvono 1.

Croatia lost the match for the third time at the Championships after earning a big advantage. The Croats couldn’t keep a 5-goal lead in the games against Montenegro and a 4-goal advantage against Serbia yesterday. Today, something similar happened.

Croatia started excellently and dominated the first quarter. Midway through the second, the Croats still had a 3-goal advantage (5:2). But, then, Spain started ruling the field and netted seven goals in a row to enter the final period leading 9:5. In the 26th minute, Tonicic ended Croatia’s goalless phase that lasted 13 minutes, but it was too late for a comeback.
Spain beat Croatia for the second time in Otopeni. The score of the match in the group stage was 12:7.

Italy – Montenegro 13:12 (1:0, 4:1, 1:5, 2:2, PSO 5:4)

Italy: Condemi 5, Balzarini 2, Gullotta 2, Somma 2, Provenziani 1, Serino 1.
Montenegro: Gojkovic 3, Vukicevic 3, Mrsic 2, Bastrica 1, Perov 1, Stupar 1, Stevovic 1,

Montenegro didn’t take revenge for a 7:9 defeat to Italy in the group phase.

Today, the Italians dictated the pace in the first half, Montenegro was able to overcome a big deficit, but Italy emerged as a winner in the penalty drama.

The first goal was scored already in the 2nd minute. Condemi gave Italy an initial 1:0 lead. The next goal came in the 9th minute, Serino made it 2:0. Shortly after, Condemi added his second goal for 3:0. The Montenegrins got on the scoreboard only in the 14th minute when Gojkovic converted a double man-up. Still, it didn’t disturb the Italians, who increased the margin to four by the end of the first half (5:1).

The second half produced a completely different storyline. Montenegro produced a 5:0 run and took a 6:5 lead (18th minute). The Italians started recovering from a shock late into the third quarter. Condemi got them back into life with a goal from a distance for 6:6 at 00:16.

Gojkovic gave Montenegro a new lead of 7:6, but Somma leveled immediately. Condemi put Italy in front – 8:7 with 64 seconds remaining on the clock. The Italians kept a slim advantage almost until the end, but Vukicevic beat the buzzer, scoring a power play goal two seconds from the end and prolonging the match into a shootout.

Jovan Vujovic was the only one who didn’t score in the penalty series, and Italy advanced to the 5th-place match.

9th-12th place classification, semifinals

Japan – Romania 14:11 (4:4, 2:5, 4:2, 4:0)

Japan: Ogihara 5, Inoue 3, Jo 3, Fukuda 1, Ura 1, Kano 1.
Romania: Neamtu 3, Tepelus 2, Dinca 2, Belenyesi 1, Insinna 1, Pascaluta 1, Piriianu 1.
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The game was quite balanced. Still, Romania dictated the pace for more of the time and was almost always ahead in the first three quarters, but the hosts ran out of gas for the final eight minutes.

Romania took a two-goal lead in the early stage of the game (2:0, 3:1, 4:2). Japan leveled the score at the finish of the first quarter, but the home side was a far better rival in the third quarter and built a 3-goal lead (8:5, 9:6). The Japanese were, obviously, better physically prepared. They were narrowing the distance step-by-step and trialed by a goal before the final eight minutes (10:11). In the fourth quarter, Japan’s goalkeeper Kotaro Yasuda was outstanding, he posted six saves in this quarter and boosted his teammates’ self-confidence. Japan scored four goals for a comfortable 14:11 win.

Australia – Netherlands 2:7 (0:3, 2:0, 0:1, 0:3)

Australia:Munk 1, Krstic 1.
Netherlands: Bakker 2, Van der Weijden 2, Heitink 1, Voorvelt 1, Meijn 1.

It was a really strange game. Neither of the teams shined in the attack, but when a team scores only two goals, it’s almost impossible to win.

The Dutch scored three goals in the first quarter and kept a 3:0 lead until the 14th minute when the “Sharks” broke their deadlock. By the end of the first half, they added one more goal, but it turned out that it was all Australia’s attack did in today’s game. They had a lot of chances with a man-up, but missed almost all. Still, the match was open until the middle of the fourth period. In the 28th minute, the Netherlands was only two goals ahead (4:2), mainly because Australia’s goalkeeper Barker had a good day (11 saves). Still, with three unanswered goals in the last five minutes, the Netherlands secured a convincing win.

17th-place game

New Zealand – South Africa 8:5 (2:1, 2:2, 3:0, 1:2)

New Zealand: McDowell 2, Frazer 2, Morton 1, Soldatovic 1, Brown 1.
South Africa:Harrod 2, Botha 1, Mansvelt 1, De Villers 1.

New Zealand’s 3:0 run at the finish of the first and at the beginning of the second period was crucial for the outcome. Until the 7th minute, the teams were in a neck-and-neck race. A minute and a half before the first break, the teams were tied at 1:1. The “Kiwis” started their series with a power-play goal from Frazer in the 7th minute.a They added two in the first two minutes of the second quarter – 4:1 and after that they were always in front. They repeated a 3:0 series in the third quarter and South Africa’s hopes disappeared.

VISIT TOTAL WATERPOLO ARENA FOR THE SCHEDULE AND LIVE SCORES OF THE WORLD U20 CHAMPIONSHIPS 

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