Ferencvaros, Marseille, NBG… show no mercy

The season has started in most of the major national leagues this week.

After the first round, held on Wednesday, the Hungarian clubs played the matches of the 2nd round this weekend.

The French League, which started early in September, came to the 2nd round, like the championship in Hungary.
The Spanish, Serbian and the Regional League kicked off with the games of the first rounds. The qualifications for the Italian Cup have been played this weekend.

Most of the favorites cruised to victories.

Hungary, 2nd round: Ferencvaros plays without aces and wins with ease

Ferencvaros posted the biggest win on Day 2 of the Hungarian Championships. The reigning champion played without Denes Varga, Dusan Mandic, Szilard Jansik, Soma Vogel, and Edoardo Di Somma, but it ran over Szentes – 20:6. Adam Nagy led the attack with five goals.

Vasas started slowly, but it earned a comfortable 13:7 victory over UVSE. OSC Budapest found it easy to beat Kaposvar (14:8). Szolnok secured a solid 4-goal win over Miskolc – 11:7 in the second half.

Ferencvaros – Szentes 20:6 (3:2, 5:1, 6:1, 6:2)

Vasas-UVSE 13:7 (1:0, 6:2, 1:3, 5:2)

OSC Budapest-Kaposvar 14:8 (7:4, 2:1, 2:0, 3:3)

Szolnok-Miskolc 11:7 (2:3, 2:1, 3:2, 4:1)

BVSC-Szeged 20:14 (4:4, 7:3, 4:3, 5:4)

Honved-PVSK Pecs 10:8 (4:1, 2:1, 2:3, 2:3)

KSI-Eger 10:15 (2:5, 3:3, 3:3, 2:4)

Standings: 1. Ferencvaros 6, 2. OSC 6, 3. BVSC 6, 4.vasas 6, 5. Szolnok 6, 6. Honved 6, 7. Eger 3, 8. Miskolc 3, 9. PVSK 0, 10. KSI 0, 11. Szeged 0, 12. Kaposvar 0, 13. UVSE 0, 14. Szentes 0.

For all the results, scorers and the standings, visit the Hungarian League’s page on Total Waterpolo Arena.  

Italian Cup: Savona, Brescia and Ortigia make no mistake in qualifications

Serie A1 hasn’t started yet. But all teams in the Italian 1st league, except Pro Recco, opened the domestic season this weekend.

The qualification tournaments of the Italian Cup were played from Friday to Sunday in three pools.

Pro Recco didn’t play in the qualifications since it is directly qualified for the Final Eight (April 12 – 14) as the title holder. The top two teams from each group joined Recco at the F8.

Savona, Brescia and Ortigia arrived at the F8 as the group winners Besides them, Trieste, Posillipo and Salerno qualified.  The eighth participant will be the host of the tournament – Iren Quinto Genoa, which finished 4th in Group A.

The goal-difference decided which team would qualify in two cases. Trieste and 3rd-placed De Akker won 7 points each in Group A, but Trieste’s advantage is a better goal-difference. The same criterion was decisive in the battle for 2nd place in Group B, where Posillipo took the ticket for the F8 ahead of host Roma Vis Nova.

GROUP A (Camogli)

Round 1: Quinto – Savona 5:15, Camogli – Trieste 5:16. De Akker bye
Round 2: Trieste – Quinto 14:10, Savona-De Akker Team 17:10. Camogli bye
Round 3: Savona – Trieste 14:8, De Akker – Camogli 16:10. Quinto bye
Round 4: Trieste-De Akker 14:14, Quinto – Camogli 17:5. Savona bye
Round 5: De Akker – Quinto 12:11, Camogli – Savona 9:19. Trieste bye.

Standings: 1.Savona 12, 2. Trieste 7 (+9), 3. De Akker 7 (0), 4. Quinto 3, 5. Camogli 0.

GROUP B (Monterondo, host Roma Vis Nova)

Round 1:Roma Vis Nova – Distretti Ecologici Nuoto Roma 8:5, Posillipo – Brescia 4:9
Round 2: Brescia – Roma Vis Nova 21:6, DE Nuoto Roma – Posillipo 10:13.
Round 3: Brescia – DE Nuoto Roma 19:8, Roma Vis Nova – Posillipo 10:10.

Standings: 1. Brescia 9, 2. Posillipo 4 (-2), 3. Roma Vis Nova 4 (-12), 4. Distreti Ecologici Roma Nuoto 0.

GROUP C (Catania)

Round 1: Ortigia – Catania 18:6, Salerno – Telimar 11:11
Round 2: Catania – Salerno 12:14, Telimar – Ortigia 9:11
Round 3: Ortigia – Salerno 12:4, Catania – Telimar 15:15.

Standings: 1.Ortigia 9, 2. Salerno 4, 3. Telimar 2, 4. Catania 1.

I Pairs of the quarterfinals (April 12 ): Pro Recco – Posillipo, Brescia -Trieste, Ortigia 1928 – Iren Genova Quinto, Savona – Salerno.

France, 2nd round: Big wins for Marseille and Noisy

The finalists of the playoffs in the past three seasons, Marseille and Noisy-le-Sec, recorded almost identical wins in the second round of the French League.

Marseille beat Montpellier 21:8 in the first match of the day. Thomas Vernoux and Alexandre Bouet scored four goals each in a win.

Like Marseille, Noisy scored 21 goals in the 2nd round but conceded one fewer. The Parisians beat newcomer Taverny 21:7. Denis do Carmo and returnee Viktor Rasovic led Noisy’s attack with five goals each.

Marseille – Montpellier 21:8 (4:2, 3:0, 8:1, 6:5)

Noisy-le-Sec – Taverny 95 21:7 (5:0, 5:2, 6:4, 5:1)

Reims – Nice 8:4 (2:0, 0:0,3:3, 3:1)

Tourcoing – Sete 16:10 (6:1, 3:3, 3:3, 4:3)

Strasbourg – Pays d’Aix 14:7 (3:2, 4:2,4:1, 3:2)

Standings: 1.Marseille 6, 2. Noisy 6, 3. Tourcoing 6, 4.Strasbourg 6, 5. Sete 3, 6. Reims 3, 7. Pays d’ Aix 0, 8. Nice 0, 9. Montpellier 0, 10. Taverny 0.

For all the results, scorers and the standings, visit the French League’s page on Total Waterpolo Arena.  

Spain, 1st round: Barceloneta and Barcelona demolish rivals

There were no close matches in the 1st round of the Spanish Championships.

Barceloneta started its title defense with a 26:4 victory over Real Canoe. Tomas Perrone (17), a nephew of Felipe Perrone, hit the back of the net six times. He debuted for the first team last season but is its regular member from this season. His uncle Felipe added two goals, Roger Tahul five, etc. Croat Ivan Domagoj Zovic, who joined Barceloneta (from Jadran S) at the finish of the transfer window, scored twice in his first match for the Spanish champion.

Barcelona, guided by a new coach, Andrei Iosep, showed no mercy to Catalunya – 18:7 with four goals from Abel Ramon.

The runner-up in the previous season, Sabadell conceded 12 goals in the match against Tenerife. Still, it recorded a five-goal win. A good 4:1 second quarter put Sabadell on the right track. At the end of the game, five goals separated the rivals – 17:12. Alberto Barroso scored five goals for the winning team. Tenerife’s Mees Keuning found Sabadell’s net four times.

Terrassa – Sant Andreu 13:8 (3:2, 1:3, 5:3, 4:0)

Sabadell – Tenerife Echeyde 17:12 (5:5, 4:1, 2:2, 6:4)

Mataro – Sant Feliu 11:7 (2:1, 3:0, 4:3, 2:3)

Barcelona – Catalunya 18:7 (5:1, 4:3, 5:0, 4:3)

Barceloneta – Real Canoe 26:4 (7:0, 6:2, 5:2, 8:0)

Mediterrani – Rubi on September 23.

For all the results, scorers and standings, visit the Spanish League’s page on Total Waterpolo Arena.  

Serbia, 1st round: Favorites start strongly

Twelve teams participate in the Serbian League this season (two more than in the previous one). They are split into two groups of six clubs in the first phase. After five rounds in a single round-robin formula in the first phase, the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs group, and the remaining six will play in the relegation group.

Novi Beograd beat Partizan 17:7 in the derby of the round. Alvaro Granados contributed to the win with five goals. All other favorites recorded big wins. Crvena Zvezda sank NBG Vukovi – 20:11 after a slow start and a 3:3 first quarter. Radnicki played without a few of the most experienced players but easily beat Nais – 20:8.

GROUP A

Stari grad – Proleter 15:14 (4:2, 3:1, 2:6, 1:1, penalty shootout 5:4)
Novi Beograd – Partizan 17:7 (5:1, 5:4, 4:2, 3:0)
Vojvodina – Sabac 7:16 (2:6, 2:5, 1:1, 2:4)

GROUP B

Crvena Zvezda – NBG Vukovi 20:11 (3:3, 6:2, 5:2,6:4)
Nais – Radnicki 8:20 (3:5, 1:5, 1:6, 3:4)
Tas -Valis 10:18 (1:5, 2:3, 1:4, 6:6)

Regional League: Double victory for Jadran Split

A new edition of the Regional League kicked off this weekend. The competition formula has been changed due to a packed calendar, like in many other water polo leagues.

Jadran Split, the Croatian champion, recorded two wins this weekend. First, it defeated Primorje 22:12 on Friday. Jerko Marinic Kragic was the best scorer with four goals. Today, the Split-based side faced Mladost Zagreb. Jadran had a 5-goal lead (7:2) a minute before the end of the first half, but Mladost started coming back and narrowed the distance to one in the middle of the fourth quarter (7:8 and 8:9). Still, it stopped there. Jadran’s Jerko Marinic Kragic scored the last goal in the match and the favorites recorded a 10:8 win

Jug, the reigning Regional League champion, beat Solaris in its first game – 19:12. Rino Buric netted four goals for Jug. Solaris’ captain Antonio Petkovic (who returned to Solaris from Noisy-le-Sec this summer) had the same output in the team from Sibenik.

A day after a loss in Dubrovnik, Solaris visited Herceg Novi and left the pool empty-handed again. Montenegrin champion Jadran Herceg Novi beat Solaris 14:10. Jadran secured the victory with a 7:2 second quarter. Newcomer Ivan Nagaev netted three goals for Jadran. But, Antonio Petkovic was the best scorer in the match, with five goals.

GROUP A, WEEKEND 1 (Split, Dubrovnik, Herceg Novi)

Round 1

Jadran Split – Primorje EB 22:12 (5:3, 8:5, 5:2, 4:2)

Mornar – Mladost Zagreb 9:14 (2:5, 2:5, 2:1, 3:3)

Jug Dubrovnik – Solaris 19:12 (5:2, 4:3, 6:3, 4:4)

Round 2

Mornar – Primorje EB 9:15 (4:2, 1:4, 3:4, 1:5)

Jadran S – Mladost 10:8 (5:1, 2:2, 1:3, 2:2)

Jadran HN – Solaris 14:10 (3:3, 7:2, 3:3, 1:2)

More news about the Hungarian water polo  

More news about the Italian water polo