Spain beat the United States on the opening day of the “Frecciarossa Cup”, which started in the swimming center in Ostia near Rome this evening.
Besides Spain, and Team USA, home team Italy takes part in this three-day tournament.
Frecciarossa Cup (Ostia, February 11 – 13), Day 1
USA – Spain 9:15 (3:5, 1:5, 2:3, 3:2)
USA: Hooper 2, Irving 2, Vavic 1, Obert 1, Cupido 1, Bowen 1, Stevenson 1.
Spain: Granados 6, Perrone 3, Barroso 2, Fernandez 1, Cabanas 1, Asensio 1, Mallarach 1.
Team USA arrived in Italy after a very successful tour through the countries of former Yugoslavia. Two weeks ago, the Americans won 1st place at the tournament in Podgorica, while they played two friendly games with Croatia in Zagreb (in the first match, they won after a penalty shootout 22:21, and then lost to the hosts by four goals 10:14).
The Spaniards opened today’s match excellently. The silver medalists at the 2019 World Championships dominated the first half. They rushed to a 10:4 lead by the end of the second quarter. The Americans managed to regroup themselves during the middle break, and the second half was a balanced battle. But, the Spaniards managed to maintain a 6-goal difference, which they built in the first 16 minutes.
Alvaro Granados, who scored six goals, was the man of the match, Felipe Perrone added three. Johnny Hooper and Max Irving scored two goals each for the United States.
Tomorrow, the USA will face Italy. The tournament will be finished on Saturday, with a re-match of the 2019 World Championships final game, Italy – Spain.
