Not even halfway through the ten-round FINA Men’s Water Polo World League 2015 European preliminaries and the top qualifiers Croatia, Serbia and Hungary have extended their unbeaten streak after round 4, held on Tuesday January 20.
In Turin, the outcome of the Italy-Croatia clash (Group C) wasn’t decided until the very last whistle with both teams playing intensely. In the fourth quarter, Croatian Maro Jokovic scored to give his team a two-goal advantage (8-6) until left-handed Valentino Gallo reduced the gap to one goal after converting a penalty. Despite Italy’s efforts to force a penalty shoot-out, the ‘Settebello’ had to settle for a 7-8 loss (2-3, 2-2, 1-2, 2-1) against the reigning Olympic champions (leading with 12 points) in front of a 1500-strong cheering crowd.
Italy’s coach Alessandro Campagna said to the Italian Federation (FIN): “We played actively from start to finish despite some errors and against a very strong team. The guys should have reacted differently but at this time of the year it’s difficult to be athletically on top. In all, I think it was a positive performance, which is on the increase.”
In Group A, reigning World champions Hungary faced pressure from Greece, winning in a close 13-15 (5-4, 3-5, 3-3, 2-3) in Athens and taking the lead with 9 points. The Romania-Slovakia match-up in Bucharest was the only one of this round to end in penalty shoot-outs with the locals edging the Slovakians 14-13 (3-4, 1-3, 3-2, 2-0, 5:4).
In Group B, Serbia, holder of seven World League crowns, crushed Russia 8-17 (2-4,1-4,2-5,3-4) in Astrakhan City. Voted FINA Best Athlete in 2011 and 2014, Filip Filipovic netted five goals for Serbia, now leading with 9 points. In Bremen, Spain defeated Germany in a tight 11-12 (2-3,3-5,1-2,5-2) to register their first win in the 2015 edition.
In Group C, host Montenegro boosted their World League campaign with a clean win over Turkey 15-4 (4-0, 3-0, 3-1, 5-3) in Budva, their first in these preliminaries.
After the game, Montenegrin coach Ranko Perovic said: “We showed that we are better than Turkey. Most importantly, the young players were able to step up. These games are ideal for them to gain confidence and experience, and that’s the goal throughout the World League.”
Stefan Vidovic (MNE) added: “This is the first time we play with this team composition and you can see that we’re still groping around. It was a big fight but we managed to overcome Turkey.”
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