Montenegro and Serbia to clash for gold at EA Men’s U18 Water Polo Championships in Oradea
Montenegro and Serbia were dominant winners of their semi-finals in the elite level competition at the EA Men’s U18 Water Polo Championships at Oradea in Romania. Apart from a minor lapse in the second period, Montenegro allowed only a single goal to Italy in the other three quarters. And Serbia’s stormy start stunned the Greeks, who never recovered from the shock In Division One, Belgium beat Bulgaria in a shootout (after missing four penalties in regular time) and they will face Israel, winners against the Portuguese hosts, in the gold medal match at Rio Maior.
Strahinja Gojkovic, emulating his illustrious father, Vladimir, led Montenegro to another brilliant win that took them into the final of the elite level EA Men’s U18 Water Polo Championships. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Semi-finals
Montenegro v Italy 10-6
Though Italy were outstanding against Spain in the quarters, especially in defence, they were unable to match the power and composure of the mighty Montenegrin team. Montenegro, lacking real talent in the generations born in 2005 and 2006, sent their 2007 age-groupers to U18, U19 majors in the previous years, so unlike the other teams, where most of the players hit the pool at a European Championship for the first time here, their talented youngsters had a lot of experience already.
And they came up with another power demonstration to claim their fifth win in a row as they limited the Italians to six goals (something the Italians had done to the Spanish a day earlier). They were simply brilliant in the back, where their goalie Marko Pejovic was like a stone-wall. And they remained impressively calm after the second period where the Italians managed to make a serious impression as they recovered from a 3-0 deficit.
When Danilo Stupar’s fine finish re-set the three-goal gap at 5-2, it all seemed to be back in Montenegro’s hand. But then Antonio Chianese hit two from action in 42 seconds, taking the Montenegrins out of their comfort zone. At 6-5 down, Italy even had two possessions to go even but wasted them, and Miljan Boskovic fended off two defenders to score a crucial one from the centre, with 0:08 on the clock, for 7-5.
That was a boost, and the five-minute break was enough for his side to regain their composure. Having shut out the Italians in the entire opening period, Montenegro did it again in the third. Strahinja Gojkovic’s 6m blast set the tone 22 seconds into the quarter, then a tremendous battle ensued, but the Montenegrin defence withstood the pressure, with Pejovic’s hand reaching everywhere.
When Nikola Petrovic managed to score another goal from the centre, exactly six minutes after Gojkovic’s hit, it effectively decided the match. Italy, constantly bouncing back from the Montenegrin wall, now faced a mountain to climb, and it changed to mission impossible when Stupar’s shot from 10m also hit the back of the net just 0.7 seconds before the buzzer.
Danilo Stupar (7) and his team mates had every reason to celebrate after outclassing Italy. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
With a 10-5 advantage, the Montenegrins simply needed to take care of defence in the final quarter. And they did that effectively. The Italians’ confidence was erased every minute. They wasted two man-up early on before getting one goal back when only 1:48 remained. Indeed, that was their lonely goal in the entire second half, while the Montenegrins rested their key players and didn’t take any risk as they cruised to the final.
Greece v Serbia 14-20
The opening period produced some incredible scenes. Serbia stormed to a 0-4 lead in four minutes, with a couple of fine finishes and lucky goals from loose balls. They also killed two man-downs, and the Greeks looked very much bewildered at this stage. Then their big man, Ilias Angelopoulos found the right moment to swam away for his usual one-on-one to put his side on the scoreboard with 3:19 to go. After a missed 6 on 5, Dimitrios Chatzis put away the following one and the Greeks had some chance to get closer… only to face a 2 on 1 after a lost ball which gifted the Serbs a goal, a third for Vuk Conkic.
Vuk Conkic’s early goals put the Serbs on the winning track in their semi-final against Greece. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
That turned out to cost them dear as the Serbs came back as determined as ever and Luka Drobnjakovic reset the four-goal gap from their first possession with a brilliant centre-shot. The Greeks’ confidence was fading as they missed back-to-back extras, while Conkic netted his fourth, again from the centre for 2-7. Though Angeloulos put away another 6 on 5 they were unable to build on that small momentum. Instead, a counter killed it soon as an extra and a penalty gave the Serbs a huge 3-10 lead. After this 94-second storm it was hard to see a Greek comeback, even though Chatzis’ brilliant lob shaved one goal off shortly before the middle break.
There was no way to stop the rising talent of the Serbs on the night. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Forced into a chasing game, the Greeks tried everything, but they were unable to lift their level high enough to have some consistency. Just when they managed to score back-to-back goals, they couldn’t find solutions in defence and could never cut inside the five-goal difference. While their offence improved, at the end, they conceded five goals once more, just like in the previous periods, so even though this quarter saw five goals apiece, the gap remained six before the last period, at 9-16.
This triggered a shooting contest as the Serbs’ win was no longer in danger. The match saw ten more goals, again five apiece, bringing the final total to 34. Dimitrios Chatzis netted eight goals but his individual brilliance had little impact against the Serbs’ magnificent team effort.
For 5-8th places
Spain’s former world champion player and head coach Javier Sancher-Toril called a crucial time-out deep in the third period that inspired his charges to victory over France. Toril wasn’t happy about seeing his side, who had gone 1-5 ahead within eight minutes, go 7-6 down after the French had scored three connecting goals.
The irate coach’s message to his players was clearly effective as they responded with a 0-3 run, and even though the French pulled one back early in the fourth, four more Spanish hits decided the outcome. The last two minutes produced a scoring festival with three goals apiece as Spain got some consolation after their bitter defeat against Italy in the quarters.
Spain woke up in time to claim an expected win over France. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
Hungary, group winners, and Croatia, runners-up in the previous stage, had both hoped for more at these Championships – and now they had to find some motivation to go for the 5th place.
In the opening period, both sides found joy in front and forgot defending, which was mirrored by the scoreboard, which stood at 6-6 after eight minutes. With 2:42 remaining in the second quarter, and with Hungary 9-8 up, Roland Csendes lost his temper and his punch didn’t go unnoticed. There is no VAR at this event, but referee Nikolous Boudramis immediately invoked a 4min ejection for the transgressor.
The Hungarians were a lot more determined than their Croatian opponents, especially in the second half . Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
However, the Croats were unable to get the most out of it. A 4-1 partial run gave them a two-goal lead, but the Magyars counteracted four man-downs and that restored their momentum for the rest of the third period. Mor Benedek and Maxim Cseh were unstoppable, scoring six apiece, and incoming young goalie Levente Horvath delivered big saves, including a crucial penalty stop. Their 0-4 run in the third did the damage, at the end, and they won the second half 9-3, after trailing 9-11 at half-time, to set up a meeting with Spain on the last day.
Classification matches
The morning session concluded as if a final had been finished. The Maltese players’ celebration was worthy of one for a gold medal. They had secured 9th place, the best rank any Maltese team has achieved at a major European championship.
Just like in the group stage, they beat the Germans in a shootout. Malta can thus be considered the masters of the penalties as this was their third victory in the five-minute roulette – they had beaten Poland in the same way a day earlier in the 9-12th crossovers.
It was a balanced match which could have gone either way. The last minutes were thrilling as both sides netted action goals, three apiece as the Maltese could always stun the German defence from their perimeter shots to equalise from time to time. Then a single save, in the fourth round in the shootout, sealed the Maltese triumph, which prompted wild celebrations.
Malta celebrated in style after earning 9th place following their third shoot-out win at these Championships in their match against Germany. Credit: Aniko Kovacs/European Aquatics
The Dutch were a lot calmer as they clinched the 11th place with a commanding performance against Poland.
Division One, Rio Maior
Belgium stunned Bulgaria with a determined performance and ousted another group-winner after their victory over Moldova in the quarters. This game offered great excitement, just as their previous encounter had done. Belgium managed to build a 6-4 lead which could have been even larger by halftime, had they not missed two penalties before the middle break.
The Bulgarians came back to 7-7 in the third, though Lev Dams managed to put away a penalty with 48 seconds of the quarter remaining. At 10-8, Belgium forced another penalty – this time the ball ended up on the post. What could have been a three-goal lead with four minutes to go was soon erased by the Bulgarians, for whom Georgi Pangkovski levelled to 10-10 with 1:15 on the clock.
Robin Sergeant managed to score from the centre to halt his side’s four-and-a-half-minute drought, but Martin Ivanov equalised from action too, 23 seconds from time. The decision was left to the shootout, where the Bulgarians missed their very first attempt and that gave such an uplift for the Belgians that they went on converting all five shots – after missing four in the regular time.
Belgium and Bulgaria were entangled in a great battle in which the Belgians were ultimately successful. Credit: Nikola Krstic/European Aquatics
In the second semi, hosts Portugal kept up with Israel for three periods only to run out of gas for the fourth where the Israelis’ strength and skills prevailed. The home side took the lead, to which Israel replied with four straight goals – althoughthe Portuguese came back to 4-4. The action-packed second quarter saw five more goals as Israel led 7-6 at half-time.
Portugal drew level twice in the third, but Amos Neeman netted one from action for 9-8, and even though the hosts survived a double man-down, a late penalty doubled Israel lead before the final break.
Shir Refaeli added one more, from action, almost three minutes into the fourth for 8-11 and after Portugal missed three 6 on 5s in a row, it seemed they didn’t have enough left in the tank. Nearing the finish, Israel scored twice in a span of 34 seconds to secure their victory while the hosts were unable to score again. in fact, after the scored stood at 8-8 there followed a 5-0 blast from Israel while Portugal had no goals in the last 11min 49sec.
Results, Day 6
Elite Championships, Oradea
Semi-finals
Montenegro v Italy 10-6
Greece v Serbia 14-20
For places 5-8th
France v Spain 11-16
Croatia v Hungary 14-18
For the 9th place
Germany v Malta 12-12, pen: 4-5
For the 11th place
Netherlands v Poland 18-7
Fixtures for Sunday
19.30 – Final: Montenegro v Serbia
18.00 – Bronze medal: Italy v Greece
16.30 – 5th place: Spain v Hungary
15.00 – 7th place: France v Croatia
Division One, Rio Maior
Semi-finals
Belgium v Bulgaria 11-11, pen: 5-4
Israel v Portugal 13-8
For 5-8th places
Moldova v Slovakia 18-13
Lithuania v Switzerland 8-9
For the 9th place
Austria v Great Britain 12-14
For the 11th place
Denmark v Czechia 8-9
Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics
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