Croatia downs hosts and plays with Italy for 5th place

September 23, 2022

Croatia's Cubranic and Kolak Photo: Laszlo Balogh/Total Waterpolo

Italy and Croatia will play in the 5th-place match at the European U19 Men’s Championships in Podgorica.
The sixth competition day began with the semifinals for the classification between 5th and 8th place.
The Italians didn’t let Germany surprise them and recorded a 9:6 victory.

Croatia beat host Montenegro easier than expected. The Croats built a 5-goal lead already in the middle of the second quarter, and extended the margin to 7 until the end (14:7).

Day 6 – Classification 5th-8th place: Germany – Italy 6:9, Croatia- Montenegro 14:7. Semifinals: Hungary – Serbia (17:30), Greece – Spain (19:00)

For all the results and live scores, visit Total Waterpolo Arena

2022 European Men’s Championships, Podgorica, Day 6

Classification 5th-8th place, semifinals

Germany – Italy 6:9 (3:3, 0:2, 1:3, 2:1)

The Germans opened the match with a 2:0 lead, but the Italians responded strongly, scoring three goals in 01:22 minutes. Germany leveled at 3:3 before the first break, but the „Settebello“ controlled everything in the pool in the second period and built a 5:3 advantage.

All photos: Total Waterpolo

Sekulic made it 4:5 early in the second half, but then came a new 3:0 series by the Italians, who had a solid 8:4 advantage before the final eight minutes and didn’t let Germany endanger their victory.

Francesco Condemi was the best scorer of the match (3 goals).

Croatia – Montenegro 14:7 (3:1, 5:4, 2:1, 4:1)

Croatia’s and Montenegro’s medal hopes were sunk by Greece and Spain, respectively, yesterday. Croatia recovered better from a quarterfinal loss and recorded the victory easier than expected.

The Croats were always in front. After a 3:1 first quarter, the Croats opened the second period even better than the first. Hrvoje Zvono scored a nice goal from almost eight meters for 4:1. By the middle of the second quarter, the Croats streched the margin to five (6:1). Montenegro reduced the gap to three twice (4:7 and 5:8), but the Croats didn’t let the hosts come back in the match. They regained a 5-goal lead midway through the third period (10:5) and there was no way back for the home side.

Hrvoje Zvono (CRO)

The statistics indicate that the Croats were more motivated to win 5th place. They were more aggressive in the attack and had 12 more attempts to score than Montenegro. Their shot percentage was 14/32, and Montenegro’s 7/20. Montenegro avoided a bigger defeat partly because of its goalkeepers Ilija Radovic and Dragoljub Cetkovic, who combined 13 saves.

Hrvoje Zvono was the player of the match. He scored four goals, and had two assists and three steals.

The 5th-place and the 7th-place game will be played on Sunday.