Semifinals in Manisa – replay of 2021 Europeans in Malta

August 12, 2023

Photo: LEN/Facebook

The same four nations that were in the top four at the 2021 European Men’s U17 Championships in Malta will play in the semifinals at the 2023 Youth Europeans in Manisa: Hungary, Spain, Greece, and Serbia.

Spain edged out Italy 7:6 to reach the semifinals. The other three quarterfinal matches didn’t have thrilling finishes.

Greece came back from a 3-goals down in the second quarter and convincingly beat Croatia – 13:8.

Hungary, which is maybe the biggest favorite for the title, dominated the match against the Netherlands (13:5).

Serbia beat Montenegro by six goals (15:9).

Spain will face Greece tomorrow, and Hungary will play against Serbia in the semifinals.

To remind you, Serbia won gold two years ago in Malta, ahead of Greece, Hungary, and Spain.

As for today’s classification matches, Germany and Turkey advanced to the 9th-place match, Romania won 13th, and Ukraine 15th place.

2023 European U17 Men’s Championships, Day 5

Quarterfinals

Greece – Croatia 13:8 (2:4, 3:2, 5:0, 3:2)

Greece: Lykoudis 4, Laskaridis 3, Kokkinos 2, Zervoudakis 2, Siamas 1, Belesis 1.
Croatia: Jerkovic 3, Raci 2, Sinovcic 1, Prezzi 1, Doknic 1.

Croatia dictated the pace and controlled the game for almost two quarters but couldn’t keep that rhythm throughout the match. The Croats led 2:0 and 4:2 in the first quarter. During the second period, they earned a promising 3-goal lead (5:2, 6:3). However, between the 15th and the 27th minute, Croatia couldn’t score a single goal, while Greece produced a 9:0 run. The Greeks went to 12:6 with less than six minutes left in the game and sealed the ticket for the semifinals.

Hungary – Netherlands 13:5 (4:1, 2:2, 5:0, 2:2)
Hungary: A.Toth 2, Doroszalai 2, M.Toth 2, Haverkampf 2, Cseh 2, Balogh 1, Tatrai 1, Lugosi 1.
Netherlands: Van der Weijden 2, Middelkamp 1, Van den Brom 1, Oerlemans 1.

Hungary imposed its rhythm from the beginning. Already in the 10th minute, the Hungarians were 5:1 up. From that point on, the difference was never smaller than three goals. The Hungarians opened the second half with six straight goals, jumped from 6:3 to 12:3, and could start thinking about the semifinals.

Spain – Italy 7:6 (3:1, 1:2, 3:1, 0:2)
Spain: Gomila 4, Perrone 1, Garcia 1, Granados 1.
Italy: Barigelli 2, Tresa 1, Miraldi 1, De Vecchis 1, Gambacciani 1.

Spain got off to a very good start. It scored goals after the Italians’ first two personal fouls. Gomila converted a man-up for 1:0. The same player doubled his team’s advantage from a penalty shot. Italy leveled at 3:3 in the 14th minute. However, the Spaniards ruled the field in the following minutes. They made a 4:0 run for a big 7:3 advantage. Gambacciani ended the Italians’ silence, which lasted 09:58 minutes, from a penalty shot, and his team trailed 4:7 before the final eight minutes. There were no goals in the fourth quarter for long. In the 31st minute, Italy’s Tresa made it 5:6. Barigeli added an action goal with 43 seconds remaining and Italy was back in the game – 6:7. Spain finished its last possession without a shot, and Italy had a 13-second attack to equalize. But Spain’s goalkeeper Diaz posted a save in the dying seconds.

Serbia – Montenegro 15:9 (3:3, 5:3, 4:2, 3:1)

Serbia: Gladovic 4, Bodiroga 2, Novakovic 2, Icitovic 2, Krstic 2, Dimic 2, Boskovic 1.
Montenegro: markovic 2, Janovic 2, Gojkovic 2, Moracanin 1, Stupar 1, Perov 1.

The neighbors ran a neck-and-neck race in the first half. Before the 16th minute, two goals never separated the rivals. Serbia’s Novakovic converted a man-up at 00:36 to give his team a two-goal lead for the first time (8:6). Montenegro’s Gojkovic halved the deficit in Montenegro’s first possession in the third quarter. Immediately after Strahinja Krstic restored a 3-goal lead with a nice backhander. After that, the Serbs added three more goals and jumped to 12:7. Montenegro didn’t recover from that 0:4 series.

The number in the number of exclusions was the same as in the goals. Montenegro committed 15, and Serbia nine personal fouls. Montenegro entered the second half with 11 available players, since one Montenegrin committed his 3rd personal foul and the other was excluded with substitution in the second quarter.

Classification matches

9^th – 12^th place, semifinals

Germany – France 12:8 (2:0, 5:3, 3:3, 2:2)

Turkey – Malta 12:7 (1:1, 5:2,3:4, 3:0)

Two 3:0 series were crucial for Germany’s victory over France. The Germans built a 3:0 lead in the first nine minutes. The French reduced the gap to one (3:4). At the finish of the first half, the Germans produced a new 3:0 series in 01:13 minutes and were 7:3 up at halftime. France didn’t come close in the second half. Arne Brick Hofmann was unstoppable. He scored seven goals for Germany.

Each side scored a goal apiece in the first eight minutes of the encounter between Turkey and Malta. The Maltese went ahead early in the second quarter – 2:1. However, the Turks, led by Efe Naipoglu (five goals today), replied with four straight goals for 5:2 and controlled the match until the end.

13^th-place match

Georgia – Romania 7:12 (2:2, 1:4, 1:1, 3:5)

The game was an even contest until the middle of the second quarter. Then, Romania scored three consecutive goals and went from 4:3 to 7:3. Georgia couldn’t catch up with the Romanians, who increased the margin to five in the final period.

15^th-place match

Poland – Ukraine 10:13 (1:3, 3:4, 4:4, 2:2)

A 3-goal advantage that Ukraine earned in the first half of the match against Poland proved enough for a 15th-place finish.