The Croats did it. They retained their European title in the top age-group category and also completed a historical sweep of all gold medals on offer this summer at the men’s age-group majors. Just like their U16 and U18 boys, the U20 side triumphed too after a hard-fought battle with Spain where the Croatians dominated the fourth period. Italy clinched the bronze after a thrilling shootout win over Montenegro.
Final: Spain v Croatia 14-17
Spain took a flying start and jumped to a 3-1 lead and maintained that gap till the end of the first period when they were 5-3 up. Perimeter shots did the initial damage, then came a buried penalty and a converted extra 18 seconds from time.
And they carried on, Carlos Nunet fired another one in from the distance to make it 6-3, then a second attempt in a six-on-five helped the Croats to pull one back. After killing a man-down their counter ended in a penalty and Gabrijel Burburan buried it, heating up the game. The early sub in the cage helped a lot for the Croats as incoming goalie Antoan Spiler delivered more crucial saved, two of those denied Spain’s man-up finishes.
As a response, Albert Pina stopped Burburan’s next penalty, but he failed to put a hand on Nardo Dragas’ blast from the perimeter which levelled it up at 6-6. Spilar had another catch to ruin the fourth Spanish six-on-five in a row, though he couldn’t do much with Biel Gomila’s rocket 19 seconds before the buzzer, which ended the Spaniards’ 6:21 minute-long drought. Still, the remaining time was enough for the Croats to force an exclusion and Maro Susic’s smart finish just beat the buzzer to tie the gold medal bout 7-7 at halftime.
Another saved action shot gave the chance for the Croats to take the lead for the first time and they earned a penalty, Ante Jerkovic put it away for 7-8. A minute later Dragas doubled it by netting an extra, but Albert Sabadell finally beat the goalie with a 6m blast, followed by another exchange of goals, with Burburan netting another extra while Tomas Perrone scoring a fine one from action for 9-10. After five goals in two minutes, the next three were devoted to some back-and-forth, but this time defences worked a lot better. Both killed a man-up respectively, and the Spanish could launch a counter after that, and Tiago Carrio made it even at 10-10.
That triggered another scoring feast in the last two minutes – first 6m hits found the way to the net, then the extraman plays worked out, so it was 12-12 with 41 seconds to go. Tensions were running high, Croatian head coach Zoran Bajic got a yellow after Spain’s equaliser, then the Spanish assistant coach got his marching order from the bench after an exclusion was called and Burburan sent it home to put the Croats ahead once more at 12-13.
The first half of the fourth produced a tremendous fight. It was felt that the next goal should be crucial – an equaliser or a hit doubling the Croats’ lead. Accordingly, both sides had desperate tries, but the perimeter shots lacked the usual precision. After a saved attempt, Spain had a great two on one, but the ball came late and not on hand – this was a crucial error as the easy chance had gone while the ‘recounter’ ended in a penalty. Pina delivered a huge save on Jerkovic’s shot, but Spain’s fourth shot in this period was denied once more and the Croats played this counter till forcing another penalty. This time Susic made no mistake and with 3:37 on the clock, Spain got under huge pressure. Winning their last matches with great margins, they never faced such a challenge, and they were unable to handle it, indeed.
Another shot was missed, then a block denied them in a man-up, played after a time-out, and Susic finished off the ensuing counter for 12-15 with 2:32 on the clock. This was a killer, no doubt, Spain lost the ball in their next possession and Viktor Toncinic’s free-throw blast practically ended the contest 39 seconds later.
Though Perrone pulled one back, but Burburan had another blast after a calming time-out for 14-17, and the stage was for another joyful celebration of the Croatian players. 1:15 minutes later they erupted in joy, just like their U16 and U18 fellows earlier this summer – they not only retained their European title but completed a historical sweep of age-group majors in a single season. Quite a feat, indeed.
Bronze medal match: Montenegro v Italy 10-10, pen: 3-5
Italy grabbed the bronze in a thrilling encounter, ending a shootout (just like the previous match for the 5thplace, see below). The Italians geared up earlier and after a balanced opening period, they managed to build a two-goal gap in the second and they maintained that till halftime as they could score two from counters in the last minutes before the middle break.
56 seconds into the third, Francesco Scordo hit a great one from the centre for 4-7, followed by some defensive heroics by the Italians who managed to kill three man-downs in a row. Midway through this quarter, they had an extra to go up by four, but a block denied them and Drasko Samardzic finally broke the Montenegrins’ scoreless phase after seven minutes with a pinpoint perimeter shot. Simone de Vecchis put away Italy’s next extra, then they survived another man-down and seemed to bring this 5-8 lead to the fourth but Strahinja Gojkovic made the most of the turmoil in the last seconds to pull one back from action with 0:02 on the clock.
And Stefan Vranes’ free through a minute after the restart put the Montenegrins back on track at 7-8. They had an extra to go even but missed it and Scordo’s man-up goal reset the two-goal gap with 4:23 remaining. Gojkovic’s next blast also ended in the net, and 58 seconds later they were back to even at 9-9 as Ognjen Moracanin finally netted a six-on-five.
The pressure mounted, the Italians managed to force the next exclusion but couldn’t even take a shot and Ljubomir Kovacic put Montenegro ahead from action for 10-9, with 1:25 to go. It was a 3-0 rush, and after a missed Italian shot, they had a ball to close out the game. They couldn’t create more danger while Italy forced an extra 34 seconds from time and Alessandro Salipante, who barely had the role of finishing an extra, put it away 19 seconds from time to save the match to a shootout.
And the Italians buried all their shots, while the Montenegrins, even though benefitting from an exclusion of the Italian goalie in the second round for neglecting the refs’ cautions, missed a shot in the third round and that cost them the medal.
Classification matches
Hungary clinched the 5th place after a grand battle with the Serbs. It was an even match with the lead swinging back and forth, though the Magyars always had a stronger finish to maintain their single-goal lead by the end of each of the first three periods. Then, in the fourth, a couple of great saves from Daniel Szitas helped them to build a massive 14-11 lead with 2:35 to go and they seemed to have the game in hand.
However, the Serbs managed to convert their last three man-ups while the Magyars missed both they had earned. The equaliser came 1.4 seconds from time, sending the match to a shootout. The drama just intensified, after a miss, Hungary had the match ball in the fifth round but a save denied them, but in the second round of the sudden death, Szitas’ last save and the following buried penalty won them the game.
Greece finished 7th after coming out on top in a 35-goal scoring feast. Disappointed about playing only in this match, the Greeks could rarely show signs of organised defending. The half time score 11-9, after the 6-6 partial results in the second period, demonstrated that clearly but they always managed to find the way to score whenever the Germans could cut their deficit to a single goal. That happened a couple of times in the second half, but the Greeks could add two more after 12-11 and never let their rivals closer than two goals in the remaining one and a half periods.
Men’s U20 European Water Polo Championships, Division Elite, Varna
Final: Spain v Croatia 14-17
Bronze medal match: Montenegro v Italy 10-10, pen: 3-5
For the 5th place: Hungary v Serbia 14-14, pen: 6-5
For the 7th place: Greece v Germany 19-16
For detailed results:
For Division One results, check out the results on this link:
Watch each game from both divisions live on www.euroaquaticstv.com