Croatia joined Hungary, Italy and Montenegro as quarter-finalists in the elite level of the Men’s U18 European Water Polo Championships being staged in Oradea, Romania. Other qualifiers will emerge from crossover matches involving Group A and B teams and top finishers from Group C and D on Thursday. The battles for the top spots produced sheer excitement, Montenegro downed Spain in a 14-13 thriller, while Hungary shut out Italy in the last period to secure a coming-from-behind win – a penalty save from their goalie 0.1 seconds from time sealed their victory.
Group A&B: Croatia thrash the Serbs to clinch the last QF spot
Even at age-group events, the Serbia v Croatia duels never disappoint, and this was the case in Oradea, too. It was a massive struggle with 33 exclusions but while the calls were balanced (17-16), the game was not as the Croats started dominating from the second period. The Serbs played for some pride as after back-to-back losses they were out of the race for the first two spots while the Croats still had hope to make the quarters directly.
Just another day at the office in a Croatia v Serbia duel – Fran Dobric above a Serbian rival. Credit:Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
With master-shooter Maro Susic on fire, they managed to build a four-goal lead by halftime and added more to lead 6-12 before the last period. Indeed, Susic made the difference as he already hit six in three periods. The Croats laid back somewhat in the fourth, but their win was never in danger.
Next came Montenegro and Spain with the top spot at stake – though the Spaniards were in an all-or-nothing situation as a win would have rocketed them to the first place while a loss would mean they were dropped to play a crossover match while Croatia advanced to the QF.
Consequently, the two sides produced a thrilling battle, where Strahinja Gojkovic, son of Montenegro’s former head coach Vladimir, hit a classic hat-trick to make it 3-6, but the Spaniards geared up and managed to come back to 7-8 before halftime. Though Danilo Stupar hit another one from action for 7-9, Tomas Soler netted a penalty 16 seconds later and after a killed man-down the Spanish added two more in just 45sec to take back the lead at 10-9.
Miljan Boskovic levelled it up, then Gojkovic missed a penalty, still, turning into the last minute in the third, Stupar finished off a counter to swing the lead to the group-leaders at 10-11. But the remaining time was enough for Javier Sanchez-Toril to bury a 6 on 5, so it was all even at 11-11 before the last quarter.
The excitements just grew in the fourth, Nikola Petrovic sent the ball home from Montenegro’s first extra but after some back-and-forth battling, the Spaniards came up with another quick double, both from action, in 39 seconds for 13-12. It was hard to see they would not score again in the remaining five minutes, but it just happened.
After Marko Milinic equalised from a 6 on 5, Spain got three man-ups in a row, but the Montenegrin defence withstood the pressure and 54 seconds from time Stupar’s lethal left did the damage from the perimeter. Despite keeping both time-outs, the Spaniard couldn’t create more danger and had to settle for the third place, while Montenegro won this tough group with three great wins and Croatia moved to the quarters as well.
Montenegro completed a third group win today after a fierce struggle against Spain, Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
In Group A, the QF spots had been booked as both Hungary and Italy bagged six points on the first two days. The top spot was at stake in their evening clash – while the loser would face a probable clash against Spain in the quarters (though the Serbs, despite their three losses, didn’t seem any easier opponent for the winning side here).
It was a thriller, worthy of the two powerhouses’ classic battles on senior level. Italy had the better start, but the Magyars raised their game and with a couple of blasts from the perimeter took over the lead before halftime at 7-6. The Italians turned it with two fast man-up goals in 39 seconds while the Hungarians started struggling in front. They needed five minutes to force their first 6 on 5 in the period and Maxim Cseh put it away to level it up at 8-8.
This triggered a massive scoring festival where Alberto Costanco came up with two brilliant action goals to give his side a two-goal lead, but Cseh matched him as he also netted two more, though between those Chianese also found the back of the net. This three minutes of madness saw six goals, three apiece, and now the Italians led 10-11.
Not for long as Csanad Bella made a steal and swam away to equalise for 11-11, 21 seconds into the fourth. An enormous battle ensued, four gruelling minutes ticked down with no goals, the Italians missed two 6 on 5s, then Benedek Rabb managed to break the deadlock in a dying extra as Italian goalie Federico Castrucci could only catch his ball behind the virtual goal-line. It was still 3:23 to go, but the worn-out players couldn’t take really sharp shots.
As we entered the last minute, time-outs refreshed the young warriors which led to incredible scenes at the end. A steal set up Italy’s final assault and they had two clear chance in the last 10 seconds but Kristof Damosy stopped both with outstanding saves. Wild celebrations erupted around the goalie, though there were still a couple of seconds left and the Italians managed to jump onto Bence Fiedler who held the ball in his hand (also very much into the celebrations), inside the five-metre line which resulted in a penalty. Diego Tresa, who netted four in the game, took the ball – but Damosy completed his miraculous series of catches to secure Hungary’s win and first place finish.
Team-mates celebrate with Hungarian goalie Kristof Damosy after he made his final miracle save. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Greece finished third after beating The Netherlands. The Greeks were flying high in the first half as they stormed to an 8-3 lead, shutting out the Dutch for 12:31 minutes. Then their defence began to melt down and the Dutch started to come closer and closer. With 4:45 on the clock, Greece’s lead was narrowed to 14-12 and their rivals had a couple of possession to cut it back to a single goal but were unable to add more. Dimitrios Chatzis then buried a penalty three minutes from time and that brought some calm in the Greek camp to sail away with a fine win, a bit of morale-booster before the knockout stage.
Group C&D: Poland shock Turkiye and advance to the crossovers
The day began with Poland’s shock win over Turkiye. The Turks, who managed to beat the Romanians and nearly upset France, were considered the favourites but after taking a 3-1 lead, they showed a first meltdown when the Polish staged a 0-4 rush and that rocked their confidence. Forced into an uphill battle, they finally caught up Poland early in the fourth at 9-9, but the response was fierce, another 0-3 rush with missed Turkish man-ups en route. They pulled two back, but Milosz Janicki’s action goal for 11-13, followed by another wasted 6 on 5 killed their momentum. That was too much to handle which led to a couple of ugly scenes, with a flood of red cards including three 4min expulsions for violent actions but Poland prevailed. The loss dropped Turkiye out from the race for the crossover spots, while Poland had to wait for the outcome of Romania’s match against France.
It was a historic day for Poland as they advanced from their group for the first time at the elite championships, Credit:Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
The hosts went all-in in the opening period as they needed at least a point to go through. Though they missed a penalty, they still led 1-3 after eight minutes and had a man-up to expand the gap but missed it – and soon they found themselves in a sharp downward spiral. In a span of 3:07 minutes, the French staged the perfect storm, a 5-0 run, which left the Romanian stranded.
It took them 12 painfully long minutes to score again, and they could climb back to 7-5, but the next French wave killed their dreams. It was another devastating 70 seconds with three connecting goals, followed by a fourth one a bit later and at 11-5 the home side was done. They kept on fighting though, but there was no way back – Poland’s three-goal win over Turkiye rocketed them to the top of the three-way tie for the second place, behind France which posted a perfect 3/3 record.
In the other group, Malta claimed a great win over Georgia. Fuelled by their sensational shootout win over Germany, the Maltese close-to-perfect performance in the third with a 4-0 run cemented their top spot. Germany finished second as they did a clean job against Ukraine.
Division One, Rio Maior
Bulgaria and Israel made no mistake in the third round to join Moldova and Portugal as winners of their respective groups. With the second and third ranked teams also advancing, the other matches mostly served preparation purposes for the knockout phase.
The only real excitements came in the clash of Switzerland and Ireland where the favourite Swiss stormed to a 7-4 lead in eight minutes. Then the Irish, after two heavy defeats, staged a great comeback, equalised by halftime and led by two before the final quarter. All they needed was a three-goal win and that was in their hand at 12-15, but the Swiss managed to put away their very last man-up, with 0:05 on the clock – so the Irish were five seconds away to make the crossovers; instead, Denmark advanced to the next round, thanks to the win they claimed against Ireland.
Results, Day 3
Elite Championship, Oradea
Group A
Hungary v Italy 12-11, Greece v Netherlands 16-13
Final rankings: 1. Hungary 9, 2. Italy 6, 3. Greece 3, 4. Netherlands 3
Group B
Serbia v Croatia 9-13, Spain v Montenegro 13-14
Final rankings: 1. Montenegro 9, 2. Croatia 5, 3. Spain 4, 4. Serbia 0
Group C
Turkiye v Poland 11-14, France v Romania 14-8
Final rankings: 1. France 9, 2. Poland 3, 3. Romania 3, 4. Turkiye 3
Three-way tie: Poland 3 (25-23), Romania 3 (23-23), Turkiye 3 (23-25)
Group D
Germany v Ukraine 19-8, Malta v Georgia 13-8
Final rankings: 1. Malta 8, 2. Germany 7, 3. Georgia 3, 4. Ukraine 0
Crossovers on Thursday
16.00 France v Netherlands
17.30 Poland v Greece
19.00 Malta v Serbia
20.30 Germany v Spain
For the 13-16th places
9.00 Georgia v Turkiye
10.30 Ukraine v Romania
Quarter-finals (Day 5)
Montenegro v FRA/NED
Croatia v POL/GRE
Hungary v SRB/MLT
Italy v GER/ESP
Division One
Group A
Czechia v Slovakia 10-16
Final rankings: 1. Moldova 6, 2.
Group B
Bulgaria v Denmark 23-8, Switzerland v Ireland 13-15
Final rankings: 1. Bulgaria 9, 2. Switzerland 3, 3. Denmark 3, 4. Ireland 3
Three-way tie: Switzerland 3 (25-21), Denmark 3 (20-22), Ireland 3 (25-27) – due to the same goal-difference (–2), the result against each other decided (DEN v IRL 14-10)
Group C
Israel v Austria 26-12, Great Britain v Belgium 13-15
Final rankings: 1. Israel 9, 2. Belgium 6, 3. Great Britain 3, 4. Austria 0
Group D
Final rankings: 1. Portugal 2, 3. Lithuania 1
Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics
