A big derby Strasbourg vs. Tourcoing was in the spotlight of French water polo this weekend. Both teams had ups and downs. After an incredible comeback, Strasbourg recorded a narrow 8:7 win.
2020/21 French League, Day 10
Strasbourg – Tourcoing 8:7 (1:4, 3:3, 3:0, 1:0)
Strasbourg: Markovic 2, Valentino 2, Buha 1, Culina 1, Missy 1, Denux 1.
Tourcoing:Rocchietta 4, Randjic 1, Grgurevic 1, Kujacic 1.
Pays d’Aix – Sete 19:11 (4:2, 6:3, 3:4, 6:2)
Pays d’Aix: Gagulic 3,Veron 3, Bakircilar 3, D’Souz a 2, Gluhaic 2, Saux 2, Popadic 1, Aissi 1, Djerkovic 1, Chauffour 1.
Sete:Porobic 3, Alfonso Pozo 2, Mantion 1, Mijuskovic 1, Sauton 1, Chandieu 1, Kopeliadis 1, Beteille 1.
Nice – Montpellier postponed
Douai – Bordeaux postponed
Played earlier
Marseille – Reims 16:1
Noisy-le-Sec bye
Match of Round 11
Noisy-le-Sec – Reims 19:6 (4:2, 4:1, 4:2, 7:1)
Noisy-le-Sec: Petkovic 5, Bjorch 3, Peisson 3, V. Rasovic 2, Marzouki 2, Krapic 1, Ait Dahmane 1, Caumette 1.
Reims:Caraj 2, Pesteric 1, Krivokapic 1, Calic 1, Vix 1.
The derby was an even contest in the opening few minutes. Tourcoing grabbed an early 1:0 lead, but Strasbourg equalized quickly (1:1). Then, Tourcoing started to dominate. The visitors, led by Cedric Rocchietta, scored seven unanswered in 09:15 minutes. Tourcoing had a 7:1 advantage in the middle of the second quarter! It seemed that the visiting team would achieve a convincing victory.
But, Strasbourg managed to recover from the opening shock. The titleholder scored three goals in the last three and a half minutes of the first half, and it trailed 4:7 at the middle break. The home team tightened its defense in the third period, while it played very well in attack and erased the deficit in the 22nd minute – 7:7.
The final quarter was a hard defensive battle. Pavo Markovic gave Strasbourg an 8:7 lead in the 27th minute. It turned out that was the last goal in the match, and the hosts earned an important victory. After a great 7:1 run in the first quarter a half, Tourcoing couldn’t find the net in the remaining 20 minutes!
Obviously, both teams were tired, since they played in the LEN Euro Cup qualifications last week. Besides, Tourcoing had a hard match against Pays d’Aix on Wednesday (won 8:7) and ran out of gas for the second half of the match in Strasbourg.
Tourcoing’s Cedric Rocchietta was the best scorer (4 goals), while Strasbourg’s goalkeeper Hugo Fontani was one of the best players, he collected 12 saves.
Pays d’Aix, which also qualified for the LEN Euro Cup 1/8finals, made mistakes in defense in the match against Sete, but the attack worked perfectly. Aix recorded a 19:11 victory.
Noisy-le-Sec blew away Reims 19:6 in the game of the 11th round.
1 Marseille 10 – 30
2 Noisy-le-Sec 10 – 25
3 Strasbourg 10 – 21
4 Pays d’Aix 9 – 16
5 Tourcoing 9 – 13
6 Montpellier 8 – 13
7 Douai 9 – 12
8 Reims 10 – 9
9 Nice 8 – 4
10 Sete 9 – 3
11 Bordeaux 8 – 0
