Quarter-final day in the Division Elite at the Men’s U20 European Water Polo Championships in Varna delivered plenty of drama. Spain and Italy booked their semi-final spots with convincing wins over Hungary and Germany, while Croatia edged Serbia by a single goal in a thrilling 14-13 battle. The biggest drama came in the last quarter-final, as Montenegro survived a remarkable 18-18 contest and a marathon penalty shootout against Greece to complete the final four. Spain will now face Montenegro, while Croatia take on Italy for a place in the final.
Quarterfinals
Spain v Hungary 13-7
Hungary could match Spain’s pace till the middle of the second period, then the Spanish gradually took control. Their brilliant and vibrant defending denied the Magyars in three straight man-ups before the halftime break and that trend continued in the second half when the Spanish limited Hungary to two goals.
The Magyars took a great start and led 0-2, while Spain needed five and a half minutes to strike first, though they quickly equalised, but a pinpoint finish from Maxim Cseh gave Hungary a 2-3 lead.
The Spaniards kicked off the second period with back-to-back goals, but the Magyars replied with a double too in a similar way, a man-up and a fine centre-shot put them ahead once more at 4-5. However, next came Spain again, Marc Rodriguez converted an extra, then Carlos Nunez finished off a four on three counter with a smart shot to set the halftime score at 6-5. At this stage, Hungary could also kill a couple of man-downs, and they also survived a Spanish 6 on 4 before a bad pass ruined their double man-up.
Single extras were also missed at both ends in the next minutes, but Spain could leash a counter after the killed extra and Albert Sabadell doubled their lead.
Andras Toth pulled one back from a penalty fifteen seconds later, but the Spaniards could sell their set-up once more to feed the ball to the 2m line in a six-on-five and Biel Gomila sent it home to reset the two goal-gap.
And soon it went up to four as the Hungarians were unable to overplay their defence in succession, while Nunez hit a big one from the perimeter. And their rivals’ chances were further fading when Aran Pina stopped Toth’s penalty while Saul Granados netted another extra for Spain.
At 10-6, it was hard to see any significant change in the remaining quarter, and it never happened indeed. Spain kept the game under full control, only Hungarian goalie David Szitas saved his side from a bigger defeat as he delivered 14 saves. Pina posted the same number, however, he had a lot more easy catches thanks to his team-mates outstanding efforts in defence.
Serbia v Croatia 13-14
The Serbs were already 2-0 up when the Croats ‘arrived’ to the game but in the remaining four minutes they managed to score four goals, so the action-packed opening period ended in 4-4.
Goals dried up in the first half of the second quarter, defences did a splendid job, then Gabrijel Burburan broke the deadlock with a penalty to put ahead Croatia for the first time, but the Serbs replied right away with a fine man-up finish from Luigi Canepa. After the drought, the next two possessions also saw a goal apiece, before the some missed shots and fine steals Maro Susic’s fine shot made it to the net from an extra, so the Croats led 6-7 at halftime.
Again, as long as the defences were fresh, they could withstand the pressure, even in man-downs, but after three minutes the Croats stroke first, Viktor Toncinic netted an extra and they were up by two for the first time.
Vuk Kojic pulled one back soon from a six-on-five and he delivered a great block in the next man-down, still, the Serbs were unable to come back to even – instead, Burburan hit a fierce one from Croatia’s next man-up, after a time-out.
At this stage, Croatia’s game looked a lot more composed, their goals came after fine team efforts, while the Serbs could stay in the game thanks to a couple of either lucky goal, like a deflected shot in an extra, or individual brilliance, like Uros Adamovic’s lob in a dying possession. Still, Croatia managed to double their lead before the break as Toncinic netted another man-up after some fine passing and they killed the last man-down as well.
Ante Jerkovic’s lethal left made no mistake early in the fourth and the Croats led 9-12 and were still 10-13 up with 5:48 to go.
A great centre-shot from Novak Lazic kept the Serbs above the water and a block in a man-down just strengthened their beliefs. A penalty, forced in a six-on-five, brought them back to 12-13, but Jerkovic buried another extra midway through the final quarter. A second attempt in a man-up, by Filip Novakovic, cut the deficit to a single goal at 13-14 once more and there were 3:31 minutes to play.
And the Serbs had two more man-ups to tie the game but neither worked out well, the Croats defended brilliantly so they could afford missing their six-on-five between the two – at the end, their victory was narrow but still well-deserved.
Italy v Germany 16-10
The Germans could withstand the Italian pressure till halftime, then the favourites started rolling and cruised to the semis.
Germany got off a great start to take a 1-3 lead and even though the Italians climbed back to 4-4 with a couple of great action goals from Diego Tresa, the Germans led 4-5 after the first break, with a penalty, called after a first one was saved but clearing the rebound wasn’t too successful from the Italians’ angle.
And their struggle continued in the second, missed a 6 on 4 early on, then the post denied them in a simple man-up while Oskar Halb converted the Germans’ only extra with 2:39 to go for 4-6.
This served as a wake-up call for the Italians who hit back with three connecting goals in a span of 92 seconds, again, Tresa did the bulk of the job adding two goals sending his side 7-6 up at halftime.
And they kept on riding the wave by hitting two more in 50 seconds – when Fabio de Marco could finally score for Germany from the perimeter, it halted a 5-0 run, but it did not end the Italian rally. In the next two minutes, they added three more to expand the gap to four and held on for a 12-9 advantage before the last break.
The fourth saw a determined Germans going for a final assault but they missed another man-up, just like late in the third, and after 3:22 minutes of battling, Italy stroke first, Antonio Chianese finished off a counter and after another wasted German six-on-five, Maurizio Maffei’s action goal put the game to bed at 14-9. The remaining time saw a couple of more goals, Tresa hit his 6th, he was 6 for 6 in shooting, a remarkable individual effort. Indeed, the match between the other group-winner versus the fourth placed sided ended in a 6-goal beating, just like Spain’s and Hungary’s contest.
Greece v Montenegro 18-18, pen: 11-12
The fourth quarter-final match had everything, it couldn’t have offered any more drama. Defences, especially in the first half, were unable cope with the tremendous shooting power at both ends. Then Montenegro survived a 4min ejection, Greece completely failed to capitalise on that man-advantage. Later, the goalies struggled once more to come up with any consistency and as the match headed into the shootout, they were still out of rhythm as none of them could make a save on 23 straight attempts before Marko Pejovic caught the ball to send Montenegro to the semis.
It was a real offensive feast in the first two periods. Each ended in 6-6, so it stood 12-12 at halftime, enough for a full-time score elsewhere.
The Greeks could jump to a two-goal lead twice in the first period, but the Montenegrins levelled it up every time. In the second, defences managed to make some efforts in the first four minutes which saw a direct red card for Greece’s Spyridon Likoudis and a missed penalty from Strahinja Gojkovic. After that, their rivals went up by two once more, at 9-7, but the Montenegrins needed 30 seconds to tie it again.
Madness returned for the remaining three minutes, all but one possession ended in a goal, perimeter shots did most of the damage as it stood 12-12 at halftime.
The middle break also broke the offences’ superiority, it took almost three minutes to see the first hit after the restart, Gojkovic sent the ball home from an extra.
The first big twist came a bit later, with 4:37 on the clock, soon after a denied Greek man-up. A tougher scene, reviewed by the VAR ended the 4min ejection of Tim Perov and Konstantinos Belesis buried the penalty for 13-13. But in the following four minutes the Greeks could score a single goal, while the Montenegrins managed to force exclusions in two possessions which helped them to burn the man-down time while possessing the ball. And their heroic efforts paid off once they got back to full strength as Danilo Stupar hit a big one from a counter with 0:09 on the clock for 14-14.
Man-up goals, one apiece, kicked off the last period, and after some battling, the scenario was repeated around the 5min mark.
Tadija Matijasevic fired one in from the wing after a great set-up in action, then they killed a man-down and with 1:52 from time, Montenegro were up by two at 16-18 as Andrej Durutovic’s shot hit the bar and then bounced in from the goalie’s head.
Greece were in trouble, but they managed to respond in a great way as a patient man-up play halved the distance as Kontsantinos Bitsakos sent the ball to the net from the left wing with 1:19 remaining.
After a steal and a time-out, the Greeks could force another extra and this time Belesis found the hole on the wall to tie this breathtaking encounter 19 seconds from time. Montenegro had the last shot, but it was off the target so the decision was left to the penalties.
Just as across the fourth quarters, the shooters ruled the shootout, leaving no chance for the goalies, though both sides tried to change their respective netminders after every two-three shot. It took 24 attempts to find the winner, after 23 shots buried in a row, Pejovic could finally make a save – to heighten the Greeks’ drama, he stopped Belesis’ shot who was his team’s best player in the match with five goals…
While the Montenegrins celebrated wildly their huge win, some just asked gently: does anyone remember they were two goals down against Malta early in the fourth period just 24 hours earlier?
Classification matches
Malta were four goals down at halftime against Turkiye and trailed by three with 3:35 to go in the fourth but a great 0-3 finish brought them back to 14-14 and they won the shootout to play for the 9th place.
They will face the Netherlands who blew away the French in a lopsided contest, where they took control in the middle two periods with an 8-2 run.
Slovenia finished 15th beating the Czechs convincingly, and Romania left no chance for the host Bulgarian team in the game played for the 13th position.
Men’s U20 European Water Polo Championships, Division Elite, Varna
Quarter-finals
Spain v Hungary 13-7, Serbia v Croatia 13-14, Italy v Germany 16-10, Greece v Montenegro 18-18, pen: 11-12
Fixtures, semi-finals: Spain v Montenegro, Croatia v Italy
For 9-12th places
Turkiye v Malta 14-14, pen: 4-5; France v Netherlands 9-19
For the 13th place
Romania v Bulgaria 15-11
For the 15th place
Slovenia v Czechia 17-13
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