Visiting games recorded wins in all five games of the second round of the French League.
The most exciting matches were derby games played in Aix-en-Provence and Douai. Noisy-le-Sec defeated Pays d’Aix 16:14. Tourcoing was better than Douai in a low-scoring encounter (6:5).
2021/22 French Championship, Day 2
Pays d’Aix – Noisy-le-Sec 14:16 (5:3, 2:6, 3:6, 4:1)
Pays d’Aix: Giga 3, Bakircilar 2, Monneret 2, Dino 2, Grgurevic 2, Khasz 1, Popadic 1, Bibi 1.
Noisy-le-Sec: Petkovic 4, Krapic 4, Peisson 2, Marzouki 2, Caumette 2, Do Carmo 1,Bjorch 1.
Douai – Tourcoing 5:6 (1:1, 0:2, 2:2, 2:1)
Douai: Gorria 2, Lepoint 1,Michel 1, Vitrant 1.
Tourcoing:Rocchietta 2,Canonne 2, Randjic 1, Krisman 1.
Montpellier – Marseille 9:14 (1:4, 2:4, 3:2, 3:4)
Montpellier: D.Zivkovic 4, Roussel 2, Kalinic 1,Spilliaert 1,Piot 1.
Marseille: Vernoux 4, Vukicevic 4, Crousillat 3, Kovacevic 2, Bouet 1.
Nice – Strasbourg 10:15 (0:5, 3:3, 3:4, 4:3)
Nice: K. Butic 4, Cutovic 3, Sterling 1, De Nardi 1, D. Butic 1.
Strasbourg : Valentino 4, Misic 3, Missy 3, Denux 2, Bachelier 1, Cesca 1, Buha 1.
Reims – Sete 10:14 (2:3, 2:3, 3:2, 3:6)
Reims: Culina 3, Dubar 2, Pesteric 2, Blary 1, Jakhaia 1, Popovic 1.
Sete: Chandieu 9, Lopinot 3, Furman 2.
Pays d’Aix and Noisy faced off in front of a lot of spectators, who returned to the stands of the pool in Aix-en-Provence after a long pause due to the pandemic. The fans’ support helped Pays d’Aix to earn an early four-goal lead (4:0 and 5:1). At the finish of the first period, Noisy, the runner-up in the 2021 French League, found its rhythm. The visitors equalized midway through the second period (5:5), while they took the lead for the first time in the 14th minute (7:6). From that point on, Noisy was always ahead.
The Parisians controlled the match. In the 21st minute, they earned a 5-goal advantage (14:9) and maintained the difference until the end of the quarter. They opened the fourth period with a goal for 16:10. The home side started coming back. Ninety seconds from the end, Pays d’Aix came very close to Noisy (14:16), but the hosts couldn’t go further. Croats Antonio Petkovic and Ivan Krapic led the visitors’ offense with four goals each. Noisy’s goalkeeper Stefan Zivojinovic posted several important saves in the final few minutes.
Noisy has six points after two rounds. Pays d’ Aix scored 30 goals in the first two matches in the season, but it conceded 34 (it lost 16:18 to Tourcoing last week) and still has no points.
Since 2017, Douai hasn’t beat Tourcoing in the derby between the teams based in the Nord department (France’s most populous department). The tradition has been continued. Tourcoing defeated the neighbors 6:5 this weekend. Douai scored the first goal, but the visitors earned a 2-goal advantage (3:1) by the end of the first half. Douai halved the deficit twice during the third quarter (2:3, 3:4),. However, Tourcoing entered the final quarter leading 5:3. In the 28th minute, Douai’s Gorria scored for 4:5. Canonne found the net to give Tourcoing a 6:4 lead with 74 seconds to go. Gorria added one more goal (5:6), but it happened too late – eight seconds before the end.
Marseille secured a win over Montpellier in the first half. In the 15th minute, the reigning champions had a 6-goal advantage (8:2). After that, Montpellier managed to reduce the gap to three goals twice (6:9, 7:10), but the visitors’ win wasn’t in danger. The best scorers were Marseille’s Thomas Vernoux and Ante Vukicevic and Montpellier’s Duje Zivkovic. Each scored four goals. Olympians Andrija Prlainovic, Michael Bodegas and Uros Cuckovic, who missed Marseille’s first match in the season, played in Montpellier.
Strasbourg water polo players opened the game against Nice with a 7:0 lead, and a great start put them on the right track.
Sete beat Reims, thanks to an excellent finish of the game. Four minutes before the end, the rivals were tied at 9:9. Reims, led by outstanding Piette Chandieu, who scored nine goals, knocked down the hosts in the finish and recorded a 14:10 victory.
1 Marseille 2 – 6
2 Strasbourg 2- 6
3 Noisy-le-Sec 2 – 6
4 Tourcoing 2 – 6
5 Montpellier 2 – 3
6 Sete 2 – 3
7 Pays d’Aix 2 – 0
8 Douai 2 – 0
9 Reims 2 – 0
10 Nice 2 – 0
