The list of the participating clubs in Qualification Round 2 for the Champions League has been completed today.
Jadran Split and Apollon Smyrnis recorded crucial wins in Group B of the Qualification Round 1. They joined six teams that qualified for the next round yesterday: Terrassa, Montpellier, Savona, Terrassa (Group A in Savona), OSC Budapest, and Jadran Herceg Novi (Group B in Podgorica).
Jadran Split and Apollon secured their Qualification Round 2 berths with victories in today’s morning session. Jadran beat Sintez (14:11), while Apollon defeated Enka (12:9).
The most important match of the evening session in Podgorica was the duel between Jadran Herceg Novi – Apollon Smyrnis. Jadran celebrated a 14:8 win and cemented 3rd place in the group. The Montenegrins even have a chance to finish in 1st place, but they have to make a surprise and beat heavy favorite OSC in the last round tomorrow.
Before the last round in the group in A, host Savona is atop, but the race for 1st place hasn’t finished yet. The fourth round brought a lot of goals and excitement.
Day 4, results
Group A (Savona) – Round 4: Vitoria – AZS UW Warsaw 17:13, Montpellier – Primorac 11:11, Savona – Terrassa 12:11
Group B (Podgorica) – Round 5: Zaibas – OSC 6:21, Jadran S – Sintez 14:11, Enka – Apollon 9:12. Round 6: Jadran S – Zaibas 18:6, Jadran HN – Apollon Smyrnis 14:8, OSC – Enka 17:11.
Champions League, Qualification Round 1, Day 4
Group A (Savona), Round 4
Vitoria – AZS UW Warsaw 17:13 (6:3, 2:1, 4:3, 5:6)
Vitoria Guimaraes: Sousa 5, Ramos 3, Sobetchi 2, Lopes 2, Teixeira 1, Castro 1, Matos 1, Costa 1, Pereira 1.
AZS UW Warsaw: Grabinski 3, Macijewski 3, Chupryna 3, Moore 3, Madej 1.
The fourth round in Savona was opened with a duel between two teams that had no points after three rounds. Vitoria defeated Warsaw in a flood of goals. Both teams will finish their European season after tomorrow’s fifth round.
Montpellier – Primorac 11:11 (1:4, 6:0, 3:2, 1:5)
Montpellier:Ivankovic 5, Delas 1, Mustur 1, Alfonso Pozo 1, Kalinic 1, D.Zivkovic 1, I.Zivkovic 1.
Primorac: Draskovic 5, Gopcevic 3, Macic 3.
Montpellier and Primorac shared the points in a rollercoaster match, that saw the big ups and downs of both teams. The first quarter belonged to the Montenegrins, but the French scored six unanswered goals in the second period and earned a 7:4 advantage. Primorac started coming back after the middle break. Still, Montpellier extended its lead to 10:6 before the final quarter. Primorac re-called its form from the first quarter and opened the final period with four goals to equalize in the 29th minute (10:10). But, Ivankovic gave Montpellier a new lead shortly after. A minute and 45 seconds from the end, Aljosa Macic closed the match with an action goal for the final score (11:11).
Savona – Terrassa 13:12 (2:1, 3:6, 6:4, 2:1)
Savona: Iocchi Gratta 5, Rizzo 4, Vuskovic 1, Molina 1, Fondelli 1, Caldieri 1.
Terrassa: Gutierrez 4, Barroso 3, Flores 2, Sanchez 1, Alarcon 1, De Lera 1.
After a narrow win over Terrassa, Savona climbed into 1st place in the group, but the hosts won’t stay there if they don’t beat Primorac tomorrow.
Terrassa took control in the second quarter and earned a three-goal lead in the 15th minute (6:3). Savona was coming back step-by-step and leveled three times at the finish of the third period 9:9, 10:10, 11:11). Vuskovic scored an action goal in the 2nd minute of the 4th period for 12:11. Barosso equalized (12:12). However, Savona took all three points, as Matteo Iocchi Gratta, the best scorer of the World U20 Championships, found the net 69 seconds before the end for the final score (13:12).
The battle for 1st and 2nd place in the group isn’t only for pride. The teams ranked 1st and 2nd in the groups in Savona and Podgorica will be in the 3rd pot of the draw for Round 2. The 3rd-placed and 4th-placed will be seeded into the 4th pot.
1 Savona (ITA) 4 – 9
2 Montpellier (FRA) 4 – 8
3 Terrassa (ESP) 4 – 7*
4 Primorac Kotor (MNE) 4 – 7*
5 Vitoria (POR) 4 – 3
6 AZS UW Warsaw (POL) 4 – 0
*Head to head: Terrassa – Primorac 11:8
Last day (September 26): AZS UW WP Warsaw-Montpellier (9:00), Vitoria -Terrassa (11:00), Savona-Primorac (13:00).
Group B (Podgorica)
Round 5
Zaibas – OSC 6:21 (6:5, 0:6, 0:5, 0:5)
EVK Zaibas:Jonkus 3, Kuzmenko 1, Vitkauskas 1,Ivovic 1.
OSC Budapest: Vigvari 4, Toth 3, Csacsovszky 2, Dala 2, Burian 2, Aranyi 2,Varnai 2, Salamon 2, Sziladi 1, Manhercz 1.
It took OSC a while to wake up in the first match of the morning session. Zaibas had a 2-goal lead twice in the first quarter (3:1 and 4:2), and entered the second period with a 6:5 advantage. But, OSC found its rhythm soon. The Hungarians didn’t concede a goal in the next three periods, while they scored 16.
Jadran S – Sintez 14:11 (6:3, 3:3, 2:2, 3:3)
Jadran Split: Buric 3, Setka 3, Bukic 2, Khrakov 2, Marinic Kragic 1, Cagalj 1, Delic 1, Duzevic 1.
Sintez Kazan: Zinnurov 3, Shepelev 3, Lisunov 2, Pronin 1, Bychkov 1, Vasillev 1.
Jadran’s Niksa Dobud and Luka Bukic in defense
Jadran Split mathematically secured a ticket for the second round, with a 14:11 victory over Sintez, while the Russians lost their last chance to advance. Everything was decided in the last two minutes of the first quarter. Two and a half minutes before the first break, the score was 2:2. Then, Jadran netted three goals within 72 seconds (Duzevic,Bukic,Delic) for a 5:2 lead. Lisunov found the net for 3:5, but Cagalj closed the first period (6:3).
Jadran Split kept the advantage in the next three periods. In the middle of the fourth period, Buric gave Jadran a 14:9 lead from a penalty shot, and it was clear that Sitnez couldn’t come back.
Enka – Apollon 9:12 (3:2, 3:3, 0:4, 3:3)
Enka Istanbul: Gurdenli 3, Alkan 2, Ozbek 1, Yebigun 1, Ergin 1, Obradovic 1.
Apollon Smyrnis: Gounas 4, Solanakis 3, Gardikas 2, Mokkas 1, Gusarov 1, Chondrokoukis 1.
Apollon water polo players didn’t let Enka surprise them, but they had to work hard to achieve a win and earn a ticket for Qualification Round 2. Enka had a 2-goal lead in the first quarter (3:1). The Greeks equalized three times during the second period (3:3, 4:4, 5:5), but the Turkish club had a 6:5 advantage at halftime. The Istanbul-based side ran out of gas for the second half. Apollon scored four unanswered goals in the third period for 9:6 and maintained the difference until the final buzzer.
Round 6
Jadran S – Zaibas 18:6 (2:1, 5:2, 5:1, 6:2)
Jadran Split: Duzevic 3, Marinic Kragic 2, Butic 2, Kharkov 2,Delic 2, Pavlovic 2, Galic 2,Buric 1, Pejkovic 1, Bukic 1.
EVK Zaibas: Kuzmenko 2, Voitenko 1, Jokus 1, Pelakauskas 1, Vitkauskas 1.
Zaibas scored the first goal in the match, but Jadran responded with four and controlled the game. Jadran played with a rejuvenated squad. Niksa Dovud and Andjelo Setka missed the game. They were replaced by a 16-year-olf Andro Galic and Antun Pavlovic (17).
Jadran HN – Apollon 14:8 (3:2, 4:3, 4:2, 3:1)
Jadran Herceg Novi: Vucurovic 3, Sladovic 3, Caraj 2, Petkovic 2, Vujovic 1, Da. Radovic 1, Gardasevic 1, Va. Radovic 1.
Apollon Smyrnis: Solanakis 2, Gusarov 2, Gardikas 1, Goniotakis Korderas 1, Tsolakoudis 1.
Encouraged by yesterday’s victory over Sintez, Jadran played another very good game. The hosts broke the rival by the middle of the second period. In the 13th minute, Jadran built a 4-goal lead (6:2). Apollon halved the deficit before a 3-minute break (5:7), but Jadran regained a four-goal lead shortly after the middle pause (9:5). From that point on, the distance was never smaller than three goals.
Jovan Vujovic (Jadran HN)
Jadran will finish atop the group if it beats OSC tomorrow and Jadran Split doesn’t defeat Enka. If the Montenegrins surprise OSC and record a six-goal win, they will secure 1st place regardless of the result of the game Jadran S – Enka. Jadran Split beat its namesake from Herceg Novi 15:10, while OSC defeated Jadran S 14:9.
All in all, there are a lot of combinations. Three teams are in a race for 1st place. Both Jadrans can overtake OSC in the first position, but the most likely option is that OSC will be a group winner.
OSC – Enka 17:11 (4:4, 5:4, 3:0, 5:3)
OSC Budapest: Csacsovszky 4, Manhercz 3, Harai 3, Salamon 2, Toth 2, Sziladi 1, Vigvari 1, Burian 1.
Enka Istanbul: Obradovic 3, Yutimaz 2, Duzenli 2, Yenigun 2, Gurdenli 1, Acar 1
As expected, OSC Budapest beat ENka convincingly, but the Turkish team didn’t surrender easily. OSC needed a lot of time to take control. The Hungarians opened the game with two early goals for 2:0, but Enka went in front in the second quarter (5:4 and 6:5). After Enka’s sixth goal, OSC scored two in 63 seconds for 7:6, but the Turks kept up with a favorite for a while. They leveled at 7:7 and 8:8. Then, OSC netted five straight goals to jump to a 13:8 lead (25th minute) and that was the end of the contest.
Erik Csacsovszky (white cap) scored four goals All photos by PVK Jadran Herceg Novi
1 OSC Budapest (HUN) 5 – 15
2 Jadran S (CRO) 5 – 12*
3 Jadran HN (MNE) 5 – 12*
4 Apollon Smyrnis (GRE) 6 – 9
5 Sintez Kazan (RUS) 5 – 3
6 Enka Istanbul (TUR) 5 – 3
7 EVK Zaibas (LTU) 5 – 0
*Head to head: Jadran S – Jadran HN 15:10, Sintez – Enka 12:6.
Last round (Septemer 26): Zaibas – Sintez (9:00), Jadran Herceg Novi – OSC (10:45), Enka – Jadran Split (12:30).
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