In a scenario that’s never been seen before, all the teams that qualified in first and second in their respective groups were knocked out in the Quarter-Finals by their third and fourth placed rivals. Shockingly, Croatia ousted Spain and Serbia sank Greece with Nikola Jaksic’s last-gasp blast from 11m. In the third European clash, Hungary edged out Italy in a penalty shootout to put an end to the recent Mediterranean dominance. The USA also beat Australia with penalties.
Two extraordinary matches kicked off the Wednesday Madness in the fully packed Defense Arena – 16,000 fans witnessed as the two group winners fell in a span of three hours. Spain went up first against a spirited Croatian team in the rematch of the European Championship final, then Serbia ousted Greece in one of the most dramatic endgames we’ve ever seen in an Olympic knockout match (the two also contested the Olympic final in Tokyo, though the line-ups were different).
Croatia set the tone against Spain with Maro Jokovic’s double, the veteran leftie hit two in 49 seconds, while the Spaniards couldn’t penetrate the Croats’ defence. The European champions finally broke their silence after 11 minutes, still, their rivals responded immediately twice, for 4-2. What’s more, two more action goals put them 6-2 up, which prompted an emergency time-out call from David Martin.
It helped somewhat as Perrone put away an extra 48 seconds from time and Granados pulled one more back from another 6 on 5 to halve the gap. The Croats didn’t panic, Fatovic could halt the Spanish run with a fine shot from a man-up and another exchange of goals secured an 8-5 lead for the reigning world champions before the last break. Spain pushed hard, two converted man-ups brought them back to 8-7 to heat up the battle. With some luck, Buric’s ball bounced in from the goalie’s head, but Miguel del Toro also hit one from close to make it 9-8. Next a save denied the Croats’ first attempt but Kharkov sent the ball home after the corner with 3:24 remaining. Spain had desperate attempts but Bijac and his defenders withstood the pressure and the Spaniards, after winning all five group matches, lost the most important one to add four more years of waiting time for the next medal after the gold from Atlanta 1996.
Serbia had all the problems in the world in the group stage, especially in defending. They conceded 15 from Japan and Spain, 17 from Hungary, was downed 8-3 by the Aussies… And now they are back to the semis to carry on their tremendous run started in 2000. Their team does not remind anyone of the two mighty ones winning the last two editions, however, when the stakes are high, their fighting spirit rises significantly. And – they still have a couple of outstanding individuals whose skills are second to none. Indeed, it wasn’t their team effort which gave them the edge over the Greeks but their brilliant shooting skills which kept them in the match and never let the pressure ease on the favourites.
Greece took the lead three times in the first, the Serbs equalised each time, then with a couple of usual rockets from Mandic they managed to go ahead 5-6 at half-time. The Greeks had a better spell again and turned the cards in the third to go 9-8 ahead, still, the Serbs kept their calm and found the proper finishes in their man-ups to come back to 10-10 in the fourth. After three minutes of intensive battling, Mandic let another rocket fly which gave the Serbs the lead once more with 2:33 to go (it was his 5th goal in the afternoon). Both sides had chances but at the end the Greeks managed to equalise from a 7 on 6 with a fierce shot from Vlachopoulos for 11-11, with 0:06 on the clock. They were celebrating wildly to save the match to a shootout at least, only to watch in horror as Nikola Jaksic’s ball passed three blocks and bounced in from the bar. It was an 11m blast, with 0:02 on the clock, good enough to send the Serbs through and make the Greeks weeping.
In the evening session, the miseries of the higher ranked teams continued as the third ranked USA beat the surprise team of the tourney, the Aussies. The Americans came back from three goals down – surviving their ‘usual’ 4min man-down called for brutality – to win the contest in a shootout. Then came the big evening fight between Hungary and Italy.
And it brought as much drama and tension as the first three if not more. Hungary started off strongly but the Italians began climbing back towards the end of the opening period. Then in the second, a hotly contested brutality call seemed to halt the Italians’ surge as, after their goal was disallowed and Krisztian Manhercz scored his fourth to put back Hungary in the driving seat at 4-2. However, the Magyars were unable to use the man advantage and didn’t add any more goal during the four-minute man-up while Italy scored one which lifted their spirit as they came out with a 1-1 draw from this situation. And they kept going, hit four action goals in a row with some mastershooting from Echenique and di Fulvio and led 6-4. That was the time when Gergo Zalanki arrived at the match and kept his team in the game as it stood 6-7 before the final period, thanks to his double. Echenique was still on fire to make it 6-8 from a man-up, Fekete pulled one back from a 6 on 5, then after the Magyars denied a man-down, Zalanki stunned his Recco team-mate Del Lungo from action for 8-8. The drama just intensified as Vogel denied a second penalty in the game, this time by Fondelli and Manhercz hit his fifth from a dying man-up to put Hungary ahead once more, with 2:50 remaining. Presciutti used all his experience to finish off a man-up 83 seconds from time, then Del Lungo caught Manhercz’s shot in man-down with 0:50 on the clock. Italy had a possession after a time-out, missed it and the Magyars launched a 2 on 1 counter but Del Lungo managed to have a hand on Jansik’s close-range shot 16 seconds from time.
It left the decision to the penalties and with Vogel in Hungary’s goal, it seemed to be a pre-determined contest. Indeed it was – after stopping two in regular time, Vogel came up with three more saves which let the Hungarians two misses, they still prevailed and made the semis once more, while the Settebello missed the cut again after Tokyo.
Men’s Olympic tournament, Quarter-finals
Croatia v Spain 10-8, Greece v Serbia 11-12, USA v Australia 7-7, pen: 4-3, Italy v Hungary 9-9, pen: 1-3
Semi-finals: Serbia v USA, Croatia v Hungary
