Spain and Hungary are the first two semifinalists of the 5th FINA Men’s World U18 Championships in Belgrade.
Hungary advanced to the semis with a convincing 11:4 victory over Italy.
The second quarterfinal duel was a real thriller. After several twists and turns, Spain defeated Greece 9:8. The game was open until the last attack.
In the evening session, Serbia will play against Croatia, while Montenegro and the Netherlands will face off in the last match of the day.
Canada and the USA advanced to the 9th-place match, New Zealand and Uzbekistan will play for 13th place, etc…
2022 World Men’s U18 Championships, Day 7
Quarterfinals 1 and 2
Hungary – Italy 11:4 (3:2, 1:1, 4:0, 3:1)
Hungary: Gyapjas, Szepfalvi , Nagy 1, Balogh 1, Gaszt 3, Biros, Ionescu, Leinweber 2, Bede 1, Varga 2, Szecsi , Szalai 1, Csite. Head coach: Kovacs-Csatlos.
Italy: Giannotti, Provenziani 1, Bragantini, Agnolet, Rossi, Gullotta , Florena , Somma 1, Marini 1, Urbinati 1, Rocchino, De Simon 1, Valle. head coach: Angelini
The Hungarians played almost flawless in defense and demolished Italy in the first quarterfinal.
The Hungarians led from the beginning. They built a 2:0 lead and from that point on. Italy cut the deficit three times (1:2, 2:3, 3:4), so everything was still open before the second half. But, the Hungarians dominated in the third period. Ronald Gaszt opened the series with an action goal in the 18th minute. Shortly after Akos Nagy added one more for 6:3. Italy couldn’t make good opportunities to score; they struggled in the attack. Hungary stopped Italy’s best scorers. Everything was practically decided in the last 39 seconds of the third period. Vince Varga scored an action goal at 00:39. Then, Italy lost the ball, and Hungary had a counter-attack. Balogh made no mistake; made it 8:3, and the contest was over.
The Hungarians went to 11:3 before Italy scored a consolation goal. Just 33 seconds before the end, Provenziani found the net (4:10) and ended his team’s goalless phase that lasted for almost 20 minutes.
Hungary’s coach Robert Kovacs-Csatlos congratulated his boys but said that it wasn’t easy to achieve a win today:
“It wasn’t easy. It was a pretty hard game. But, we were well-prepared We concentrated on defense and controlled the match from the beginning. I am happy because of the win, but also because the boys understood how they had to play the games like this.”
Greece – Spain 8:9 (3:3, 1:1, 1:2, 3:3)
Greece: Damigos, Defteraios, Nikolaidis, Salech, Almyras, Kastrinakis 1, Ch.Bitsakos, A.Bitsakos 5, Myrilov, Mathiopoulos 1, Spachits, Kandanoleon 1, Partsoglou. Head coach: Machairas.
Spain: Teclas, Villamayor, Gil 1, Ivaylov Patchaliev 1, Frigola, Lopez 2, Ibanez 1, Perez 1, De La Cruz, Otero 1 1, Gomila 2, Garcia. Head coach: Sanchez-Toril.
Spain’s defense All photos by Slovodan Sandic/Water Polo Federation of Serbia
The game between Greece and Spain was an even contest from the first whistle. In the first half, two goals didn’t separate the rivals. Greece led 1:0, 2:1, and 3:2. Two seconds before the first break, Perez leveled at 3:3. In the 10th minute, Gomila gave Spain the first lead in the match (4:3). However, the Greeks kept the rival scoreless in the following 10:47 minutes, while they netted two goals for a 5:4 advantge.
However,, after that, Greece’s goalless phase started. Midway through the third quarter, Spain started taking control. Otero leveled at 5:5 from a counter-attack. Spain entered the final period with a 6:5 lead. At the beginning of the fourth period, Gil netted an action goal for the first 2-goal lead in the match (7:5). Three minutes before the end, Andreas Bitsakos converted a man-up for 6:7, but, shortly after, Spain regained a 2-goal advantage(8:6). However, the big battle continued. At 01:23, Andreas Bitsakos added another goal, again with a power play advantage and leveled at 8:8. In the next attack, Spain forced exclusion and had a 6 on 5, which Ibanez converted to a 9:8 lead with 44 seconds left on the clock. The series of man-up attacks continued until the very end. Greece had an extra player in its last possession but lost the ball eight seconds before the buzzer and Spain advanced to the semifinals.
Spain’s head coach Javier Sanchez Toril:
“Tiny details decided in this match. We were better in the finish. I am very happy because we managed to beat an excellent Greek team, although we had one player fewer (Ed -one of Spain’s players was suspended last evening after a VAR review, and they had only 12 players on the roster in the quarterfinals)
Greece’s head coach Ilias Macharais:
“We weren’t prepared well for this match, so we must continue the tournament in the classification games”
Semifinals 9th-12th place
Australia – Canada 6:10 (1:3, 1:4, 1:2, 3:1)
Australia: Dwyer, Miller, Bruce, McKell 3, Tucker 1, Dart, Valentine, McKenzie, Fodor, Goldschmidt 1, Burdack, Rathbone 1, Purcell. Head coach: Fox.
Canada: Sterne, Mekni 2, Marquez 2, Taylor 2, Hachem 1, O’Neill, Diacenco 1, Evans 1, Gavric , Oviedo-Ladik 1, Rogers, Malcom-Teleky, Mahmoud. Head coach: Szeri.
Kazakhstan – USA 4:26 (0:6, 2:7, 1:7, 1:6)
Kazakhstan: Matolinets, Satbergen, Yeremin 1, Yuryev, Kalybek 1, Kumukhamedoc, Pustovalov, Nurtaza, Panteleyev, Vilin 1, Suleimenov, Beloussov 1, Baizhumanov. Head coach:
Khodzinskiy.
USA: Clansen, Schneider 1, Arakelian 1, Mnatsakanian 2, Verdegaal 4, Tsotadze 5, Ausmus 1, Castillo 3, Dodd 3, Leichty 3, Burghardt 1, Loth 2, Herzer. Head coach: Sinclair.
The North Americans will play in the 9th-place match.
Team USA had no problems beating Kazakhstan, while Canada made an achievement they will remember for a long. The youth team of Canada beat Australia for the first time in history.
Andriei Oviedo-Ladik (CAN)
The Canadians were a better rival throughout the match. They scored an opener. Australia leveled at 1:1. But, Canada responded with six straight goals and built a 7:1 advantage. In the last second of the first half, Australia broke the silence when McKell converted a penalty. Canada continued controlling the game after the middle break, and its win wasn’t in danger.
Semifinals 13th – 16th place
Turkey – South Africa 16:9 (1:2, 6:2, 2:2, 7:3)
Turkey: Tugrul, Akinci , Ercikdi 2, Cetin 1, Kuloglu 4, Karabenli, Erkoyar 1, Emir, Yener 3, Caferli 2, Sarac, Caner 4, Zobu. Head coach: Olcaytu.
South Africa: Rajak, Good, Moshela, Voke, Pryce 5, Breda, Botha 2, Tarr, Lomax 1, Saayman 1, Grimett, Sennett, Jacob. Head coach: Silenko.
Brazil – New Zealand 10:12 (3:2, 1:5, 4:1, 1:1, PSO 1:3)
Brazil: Kayatt, Tiberio, Domeneghetti 1, Diaz 1, Freitas, Gomes 3, Oliveira 1, Felipe, Rocha 1, Zerbielli 2, De Oliveira 1, Fernandes, Silva. Head coach: Nascimento.
New Zealand: Frost, Soldatovic 6, Morton 2, Phillips, Keightley, Shivnan, Champman, Carrington 1, Pickering, Johns, Brown 1, Frazer 2, Anderson. Head coach: Teokotal-White.
Turkey beat South Africa, while New Zealand secured a spot in the 13th-place match after a penalty shootout.
The “Kiwis” had a 3-goal lead twice in the match against Brazil (7:4 and 8:5). Brazil leveled at 8:8 with three quick goals at the finish of the third period. New Zealand went in front again early in the fourth. Three minutes before the end, Brazil leveled at 9:9. After that, there were no goals and the match entered a shootout. The hero of the penalty thriller was New Zealand’s goalkeeper Boston Frost, who saved three shots. New Zealand’s attack was led by Andrei Soldatovic, who scored five goals in regular time and one in the shootout.
Boston Frost (NZL)
17th-place match
Uzbekistan – Kuwait 26:4 (2:2, 5:0, 11:1, 8:1)
Uzbekistan: Sattarov, Yumangulov 1, Vishnyakov 1, Dashov 5, Nasyrdinov 1, Rustamov 2, Sayfiddinov 5, Dilmurodov 1, Turgunov 5, Krivoxijin 3, Rakhimov 1, Yusufjanov 1, Safullaev. Head coach: Nachaev.
Kuwait: Baqer, Alzaid, Mubarak, Altheyab, Buftain 1, Aldusari 2, Alhusaini 1, Alkhadhr, Alzaid, Alshammari, Alrayyes, Alkandari 1, Almatar. Head coach: Markoglou.
Day 8 (August 18)
Semifinals: Hungary – Spain (19:00), Winners QF3 – QF4 (20:30)
Classification matches: for 15th place (09:00), for 13th place (10:30), for 11th place (12:00), for 9th place (13:30), semifinals 5th– 8th place (16:00 and 17:30)
