The national male teams of Greece and Italy finished the joint preparations in Piraeus with the second friendly match.
Greece recorded a narrow 12:11 victory and took revenge for a 7:10 defeat suffered two days ago in the same pool.
Friendly match, Piraeus
Greece – Italy 12:11 (4:4, 4:3, 3:1, 1:3)
Greece: Tzotzatos, Gkillas 3, Skoumpakis, Kalogeropoulos, Fountoulis 3, Papanastasiou, Alafragkis, Argyropoulos 2, Nikolaidis, Kakaris 3, Gkiouvetsis, Chalzvopoulos 1, Limarakis, Gouvis, Solanakis. Head coach: Vlachos.
Italy: De Luongo, Di Fulvio 4, Alesiani, Ferrero, Fondelli 2, Canella, Renzuto, Echenique 1, Marziali 2, Mladossich, Iocchi Gratta, Condemi, Nicosia, Patchaliev, Cassia. Head coach: Campagna.
The game was an even contest in the first two periods. Italy took an opening 3:1 lead. Still, there were a few twists and turns after that, and the sides were tied five times. The last equalizer was scored by Francesco Di Fulvio, who made it 6:6 in the 12th minute. After that, the hosts replied with two goals, went to 8:6, and were in front until the end. Shortly before the middle break, Fondelli halved the deficit (7:8).
The hosts opened the third quarter with three goals in a row (Kakaris, Argyropoulos and Gkillas), which proved crucial for the outcome. Greece earned an 11:7 lead. The Italians reduced the gap by the end of this quarter. The Greeks restored a 4-goal advantage early in the fourth when Kakaris found the net for 12:8. The Italians scored the last three goals in the match. They came very close at the finish of the encounter but couldn’t equalize.
