Four European powerhouses —Serbia, Hungary, Greece, and Montenegro —defeated their rivals in the crossover round of the men’s tournament at the World Championships and advanced to the quarterfinals.
The most exciting game of the crossover round was the only encounter between the European teams. Romania caused trouble to Hungary, but the favorite prevailed – 15:11.
In the remaining three games, the European teams outclassed their rivals.
Serbia defeated Japan more easily than expected – 21:14, having a 10-goal lead already in the third quarter. Greece showed no mercy to Brazil and beat the South Americans 17:5. Montenegro recorded a very convincing victory over Canada – 22:10.
Quarterfinals: In the Round of 8, there will be two replays of the Olympic semifinals. Serbia will face Team USA and Croatia will play against Hungary. The finalists of the Paris Games, Serbia and Croatia, haven’t changed their rosters significantly in the past 12 months. The USA rejuvenated the team, and the new squad was dominant in the group stage. However, it’s challenging to assess the Americans’ capabilities since they didn’t have demanding rivals in the group. The matches between Croatia and Hungary are always water polo classics.
Italy will meet Greece. The two teams know each other very well, as they prepared for the World Championships together for some time. Spain, with its experienced squad, is a favorite against a rejuvenated Montenegro team. However, the Montenegrins have played very well in Singapore.
As for the classification matches, Australia and China advanced to the 13th-place game with convincing wins today.
Road to medals
- Crossover round (July 18): Serbia– Japan 21:14, Romania– Hungary 11:15, Brazil– Greece 5:17, Canada– Montenegro 10:22
- Quarterfinals (July 20): Italy– Greece (OF1), Spain– Montenegro (QF2), USA– Serbia (QF3), Croatia– Hungary (QF4).
- Semifinals (July 22): winners QF1 – QF2, winners QF3 – QF4.
- Final Day (July 24)
Japan will play Brazil and Romania will face Canada in the 9th-12th place semifinals.
2025 World Men’s Water Polo Championships, Day 4
CO Crossover round
Serbia – Japan 21:14 (5:2, 4:3, 9:3, 3:6)
Serbia: Vapenski 4, Cuk 3, Lazic 3, Mandic 2, S.Rasovic 2, V. Rasovic 2, Martinovic 1, Randjelovic 1, N. Jaksic 1, Vico 1, P. Jaksic 1.
Japan: Watanabe 3, Inaba 3, Suzuki 3, Ogihara 2, Takata 2, Lowrey 1.
In July 2024, Serbia defeated Japan in a close contest in the first round of the Paris Olympic Games – 16:15. Dusan Mandic scored the winning goal with a minute and a half remaining.
Today, Japan got off to a good start again, but Serbia had a better opening, which allowed it to break the Asians’ resistance in the middle of the game. A disciplined play in defense and an excellent conversion of powerplay shots (7 goals from 9 attempts) were keys to Serbia’s victory. Japan scored 14 goals, fewer than against Spain (16) and Hungary (18), but six of these goals came in the final quarter after Serbia had already secured its spot in the quarterfinals.
Boris Vapenski (Serbia) Photo by Albert ten Hove/MTB-Photo
In the opening minutes, Japan was level at 1:1 and 2:2. By the end of the first quarter, the Serbs had built a 5:2 lead. In the 13th minute, Japan came very close to the Olympic champions (5:6). After that, Serbia’s storm started. It scored three unanswered goals until the end of the first half, earning a 4-goal advantage for the first time (9:5). The Olympic champions added to man-up goals early in the second half to go to 11:5. Suzuki broke Serbia’s 6:0 run. However, a minute before the end of the third period, it stood 17:7, and the contest was over.
During the final eight minutes, the Serbs began to think about the quarterfinals and saved energy for the match against Team USA.
Romania – Hungary 11:15 (3:6, 3:2, 3:3, 2:4)
Romania: Georgescu 5, Neamtu 3, Iudean 1, Prioteasa 1, Tepelus 1.
Hungary: Fekete 3, Ad. Nagy 2, Angyal 2, Kovacs 2, Vismeg 2, Manhercz 1, Vamos 1, Ven. Vigvari 1, Ak. Nagy 1.
As anticipated, Hungary progressed to the quarterfinals, but one of the top teams in the world encountered a tough challenge in the crossover round. Many believed that the match against Romania would be an easy victory for Hungary, especially after Romania suffered two double-digit margin losses to Italy and Serbia during the group stage. However, the Romanians put up a strong fight against the favorites today.
Hungary rushed to a 3:0 lead. Deep into the first period, they extended their advantage to four goals (6:2). Romanians reduced the gap to 3:6. Early in the second period, Gergely Burian made it 7:3 by converting a double man-up. Everything was going as expected. But, in the following several minutes, the Hungarians started missing their chances, Romania’s goalkeeper Tic posted a few nice saves. Romania came back into the match with three straight goals from the team’s biggest ace, Vlad Georgescu. He converted a man-up with 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter to narrow Romania’s deficit to 6:7. Still, Adam Nagy responded in Hungary’s last possession in the first half, 8:6.
Peter Kovacs of Hungary and Andrei Tepelus of Romania Photo: MTB-Photo
The Hungarians opened the second quarter wth two goals to regain a 4-goal advantage (10:6). But, the Romanians didn’t say their last word yet They responded with two goals for 8:10. Both teams had a pretty good conversion of extra player shots today (Hungary 6/9 and Romania 6/10), But, after Romania’s eighth goal, the Hungarians wasted two man-up opportunities in two consecutive attacks, by losing the balls. However, they didn’t pay for it, as the Romanians also failed to capitalize on a great opportunity. Three minutes before the last break, Hungary’s goalkeeper Marton Miszei saved a penalty shot from Iudean. Immediately after, Adam Nagy made it 11:8.
The Romanians didn’t surrender. Hungary was far from its best, but controlled everything in the pool in the final quarter. Romania cut the deficit to two goals twice (10:12 and 11:13), but Hungary kept the rival goalless in the final four minutes. Marton Vamos sealed his team’s win with a power-play goal with 34 seconds left on the clock.
Brazil – Greece 5:17 (0:2, 0:5, 4:5, 1:5)
Brazil: Real 2, Andrade 1, Farias 1, Silva 1.
Greece: Genidounias 3, Chalyvopoulos 3, Gkillas 2, Kalogeropoulos 2, Gkiouvetsis 2, Kakaris 2, Argyropoulos 2, Pouros 1.
Greece struggled in the attack in the first half, but the defense was up to the task, and they booked the ticket for the quarterfinals well before the final buzzer.
Aristides Chalyvopoulos (Greece) Photo by Albert ten Hove/MTB-Photo
Greece scored “only” seven goals in the first 16 minutes, even though they had 20 attempts. But Brazil’s goalkeeper, Joao Fernandes, who recently joined Vasas, was outstanding, posting eight saves in the first half. Still, at the other end of the pool, Brazil didn’t pose a significant danger to Greece’s defense. The Greeks played very disciplined , they marked Brazil’s best scorers. The statistics said all–Greece’s goalkeeper Andreaidis didn’t concede a goal in the first half, even though he made his first save only in the 16th minute.
The second half was a formality. Brazil finally found the way to the net at the beginning of the third quarter, when Silva converted a man-up. Greece’s defense weakened in the third period, but the Europeans refound their rhythm in the fourth quarter.
Canada – Montenegro 10:22 (3:7, 0:5, 4:5, 3:5)
Canada: O’Donnell 3, D’Souza 3, Djerkovic 1, Cote 1, Lapins 1, Soleimanipak 1.
Montenegro: Gardasevic 5 , Cetkovic 4, Gojkovic 3, Kholod 2, Dj. Radovic 2, Macic 2, Vujovic 2, Markovic 1, V.Radovic 1.
Similarly to the encounter between Greece and Brazil, the first 16 minutes were crucial in the match Canada – Montenegro. The Canadians scored the first goal in the match, but Montenegro responded with three. In the 4th minute, O’Donnell made it 2:3. From that point until the end of the first half, the Montenegrins dominated. They scored four goals in three minutes to establish a 7:2 lead. The Canadians scored the last goal in the first quarter. Montenegro netted five unanswered goals in the second period, most of them coming from quick attacks.
Balsa Vuckovic of Montenegro
After a 12:3 first half, the Montenegrins let themselves relax and conceded seven goals, but scored ten.
Interestingly, Canada committed only five personal fouls. Montenegro didn’t score a single goal with a man-up, but converted all three penalty shots. Canada’s powerplay shot conversion was 4/8 and missed its only penalty.
CL 13th – 16th place classification, semifinals
South Africa – Australia 4:27 (1:5, 1:10, 2:9, 0:3)
South Africa: Ward 1, Watt 1, Bowers 1, Neser 1.
Australia: Power 4, Byrnes 4, Glanzing 4, Berehulak 3, Krstic 3, Nangle 2, Putt 2, Mercep 2, Lambie 1, Negus 1, McJannett 1.
Singapore – China 8:21 (1:6, 3:6, 1:5, 3:4)
Singapore: Lok 2, Fong 1, Goh 1, Yap 1, Rajandra 1, See 1.
China: Z.Chen 6, Y. Chen 2, Wen 2, B. Wang 2, Y. Liu 2, Peng 2, Cai 2, Xie 1, Li 1, Z.Liu 1.
As expected, both semifinals of the 13th–16th place classification were lopsided contests.
Australia doesn’t belong to the group of teams that are lower than 12th place, while South Africa isn’t among the best 16 teams in the world. Despite the “Sharks” not achieving their objective and reaching the crossover round, they found enough motivation to play a good game and outplay the Africans.
Matthew Byrnes (Australia) Photo by Albert ten Hove/MTB-Photo
The encounter between the Asian teams was similar to the match Australia – South Africa. The difference in quality between China and Singapore is significant. The Chinese earned a 6:1 lead in the first eight minutes. Early in the second half, they stretched the margin to ten (14:4). Singapore fought hard until the end, but China increased their win to 13 goals.
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