Junior Men's World Championship Teams

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Montenegro	Hungary	South Africa	Croatia
Puerto Rico	Uzbekistan	USA USA   Eugene Chong, ATT, (PNW)   Tommy Friedrich, UT, (PSWP)Alt   Spencer Hamby, CTR, (Central)   Nick Hoversten, UT, (Pacific)   Andrew Lighterink, GK, (PSWP)   James Perry, CTR, (Pacific)   Nick Rascon, ATT, (Sopac)   Paul Reynolds, ATT, (Sopac   Josh Samuels, DEF, (Sopac)   John Sibley, GK, (Pacific)   Nikola Vavic, LFT, (Coastal)   Forest Watkins, DEF, (Sopac)   Chris Wendt, DEF, (Midwest)   Griffin White, ATT, (Sopac)   Head Coach: Doug Peabody   Asst. Coach: Dan Klatt   Asst. Coach: Tim Reed	Slovakia
Iran	Brazil	Spain	Canada
Egypt	New Zealand	Serbia	France
Greece	Italia		Australia

August 22

USA slips home against Spain on opening day

By: Russell McKinnon,
FINA Press Commission

Sinenik, Croatia (August 22).— The United States of America had to draw on its reserves to get past Spain on the opening day of the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here today.

In a Group C encounter where either side could have taken the win in the dying minutes, it was the USA who came through with the winning goal through skipper Joshua SAMUELS with 1:14 left on the clock. It was his fourth goal.

It was the only match of the group with the late withdrawal of Mexico. South Africa and Serbia sat out the day.

Greece and Egypt opened with wins in Group A, Greece hammering Puerto Rico 22-2 and Egypt frustrating Iran 10-2.

Group B also saw easy wins with Italy steam-rolling Uzbekistan 28-1 and Brazil easing up in the last quarter to defeat New Zealand 9-6 after leading 8-2 early in the final quarter.

In Group D, Australia looked a class outfit, beating Slovakia 15-1, while Canada held a healthy 9-2 lead against France before slipping in the final quarter to win 11-7

#1 IRI 2 vs EGY 10 Play by Play

Quarters: 0-4, 2-4, 0-1, 0-1

Referees: Alexander GALKIN (RUS), Nicola NJEGOVAN (SRB).

Extra Man: IRI 0/5; EGY 2/4

IRAN: Saeed CHANABDARSHIRAZI, Amir Hossein BARAEI (c), Ali REZASOLTANI, Ataollah BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY (1), Amin SALEH NEZHAD (1), Amir DEHDARI, Mahdi DAEETAGHI, Malek ZIAEI, Moein ESMAEILPOUR SOUFIANI, Salar EISA BEIGLOO, Arash HATAMI, Mohammad MOHAMMADI, Arash NASIMI SHAD. Head Coach: Neven KOVACEVIC.

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM, Mohanad FATOUH (2), Omar IBRAHIM (2), Karim AHMED (1), Khaled MAHER (1), Almoatassem MOHAMED (1), Yehia TAWFIK (c), Ahmed IBRAHIM (2), Mohamed SABRI (1), Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

Iran put into action the lessons it learned from the first half and played a solid defensive game in the second half. However, Egypt had done the damage and kept Iran scoreless in that half while gaining valuable water time for the whole team.

#2 PUR 2 vs GRE 22 Play by Play

Quarters: 0-4, 1-6, 1-3, 0-9

Extra Man: PUR 0/5; GRE 0/0

Referees: Santiago RODRIGUEZ (ESP), Balasz SZEKELY (HUN).Extra Man: PUR 0/5; GRE 0/0

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT, Alan BAYO, Luis VIDAL, Fabian TORRES (c), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis MOJICA (1), Jesus SANTA, Gerardo POMALES, Derick ESCALFULLERY (1), Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (3), Konstantinos VITELLAS (1), Marios KAPOTSIS (3), Konstantinos GOUVIS (1), Antonios XENAKIS (1), Kyriakos PONTIKEAS, Dmitrios LAPPAS, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS (5), Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS (4), Dimitrios TIGKAS (4), Emmanouil SOLANKAKIS, Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

Puerto Rico learned the hard way what it is like to play a top European nation. Greece had a field day on attack, letting slip by giving up an action goal and one on penalty to Puerto Rico. Greece was fast on stealing the ball and going on the counter.

#3 BRA 9 vs NZL 6 Play by Play

Quarters: 2-1, 3-0, 2-1, 2-4

Referees: Chris FREEBURY (GBR), Dragan RAJEVIC (MNE).

Extra Man: BRA 6/11; NZL 3/7

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES, Douglas MAGALHAES (1), Bernardo ALMEIDA, Arthur SALGADO (1), Ricardo GUIMARAES (2), Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA (1), Tomaz LEAL (1), Caio LIMA, Gustavo COUTINHO (1), Anderson SOARES (2), Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

NEW ZEALAND: Scott GRAHAM, Thomas KEARNS (c, 1), Joseph KAYES (2), Joseph BENSLEY, Jarrod WILSON, Jakob BURKHART, Aiden THORNHILL, David LAMBERT (1), Edward THOMAS, Matthew BRYANT (1), Ricky THOMSON, Adam PYE (1), Lewis WILD. Head Coach: Kurt GOLDSWORTHY.

August 23

Australia secures last-gasp draw with Canada

By: Russell McKinnon,
FINA Press Commission

Sibenik, Croatia (August 22).— Australia scored 12 seconds from time to clinch a 9-9 draw with Canada in Group D action  on day two of the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here today.

Canada held sway early in the match but Australia went two up early in the fourth period thanks to Jeremy DAVIE, only to see Nicolas BICARI score his fourth and fifth goals to give Canada a 9-8 edge.

An exclusion for interference with the free throw gave Australia a man up and Mathew GILES converted from deep right three seconds later to share the points.

In the other Group D encounter, Croatia had a hard opening match against Slovakia before winning the final quarter 5-0 and the game 11-5.

Group B opened the day’s proceedings with Italy rattling through Brazil 15-3 after being 7-0 at halftime, and Hungary’s 37-2 romp against the smaller Uzbekistan players.

Group C presented an potential explosive match in Serbia-United States of America but it was Serbia who made the early running and held off the USA 8-6.

In Group A, Greece had to work hard to beat Iran 7-4 while Montenegro made its first appearance, dispensing with Puerto Rico 19-2

 #8 ITA 15 vs BRA 3 Play by Play

Quarters: 6-0, 1-0, 5-1, 3-2

Referees: Genaro DEL VALLE (PUR), Nick HODGERS (AUS).

Extra Man: ITA 5/7; BRA 0/3

ITALY: Luca MUGELLI, Aimone BARABINO, Luca DA MONTE (3), Davide STEARDO (1), Giacomo GIANNI, Giovanni BIANCO, Cristiano MIRARCHAI (4), Luca MARZIALI (3), Vincenzo RENZUTO (1), Giuliano MATTIELLO (1), Giacomo CUPIDO (1), Matteo GITTO (1), Claudio BISEGNA. Head Coach: Paolo ZIZZA.

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES (1), Douglas MAGALHAES, Bernardo ALMEIDA, Arthur SALGADO, Ricardo GUIMARAES (1), Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA, Tomaz LEAL, Caio LIMA (1), Gustavo COUTINHO, Anderson SOARES, Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

Italy built such a strong case for victory in the first quarter that all Brazil could do was play catch-up water polo. Perhaps the celebration of the victory over New Zealand the day before lulled Brazil into inaction in that first period. The second quarter produced strong defence from Brazil and the last some activity on the scoresheet. Italy showed once again, albeit against weaker teams, that it can generate strong attack as evidenced by its 43 goals so far.

 #9 HUN 37 vs UZE 2 Play by Play

Quarters: 9-0, 9-1, 10-1, 9-0

Referees: Jean Michel DELON (FRA), Ahmed YOUSSEF (EGY).

Extra Man: HUN 4/4; UZB 0/10

Teams:

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI (3), Kristian ZACZKOVICS (2), Bertalan RUSZ (4), Tamas ZAKAB (4), Bence BATORI (6), Bence FUZEP (4), Adam SZENTEZI (2), Daniel ANGYAL (3), David JANSIK (2), Tibor TAZEKAS (2), Mark ERNYEI (4), Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

UZBEKISTAN: Maksin DUDNIKOV, Mirazis KOSIMOV, Azat ISMAYLOV, Ramil VALISHEV, Oleg ZAYSEV, Artem MIRONENKO (1), Kirill RUSTAMOV, Rinat GAYSIN, Oleg SUKHAREV, Vitaliy MALYTSINSKIY, Vitaliy SKRPACHEV, Yaroslav PLETNEV (c, 1). Head Coach: German NURMATOV.

Uzbekistan went the way of some of the other weaker sides against the powerhouses of the sport. The small Uzbeks struggled against the larger and more qualified Hungarians who went on counter at will and spent much time with the cross pass before the shot. It was the first hit-out for Hungary following a bye day and nothing more than a gentle training run.

#10 GRE 7 vs IRI 4 Play by Play

Quarters: 3-0, 1-0, 1-2, 2-2

Referees: Roberto CABRAL (BRA), John WALDOW (NZL).

Extra Man:  GRE 0/10; IRI 2/6

Teams:

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (1), Konstantinos VITELLAS, Marios KAPOTSIS (2), Konstantinos GOUVIS, Antonios XENAKIS, Kyriakos PONTIKEAS, Dmitrios LAPPAS, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS (2), Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS (1), Dimitrios TIGKAS, Emmanouil SOLANKAKIS (1), Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

IRAN: Saeed CHANABDAR SHIRAZI, Amir Hossein BARAEI (c), Ali Reza SOLTANI (2), Ataollah BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY, Amin SALEH NEZHAD, Amir DEHDARI, Mahdi DAEETAGHI, Malek ZIAEI, Moein ESMAEILPOUR SOUFIANI, Salar EISA BEIGLOO, Arash HATAMI, Mohammad MOHAMMADI (2), Arash NASIMI SHAD. Head Coach: Davood REZASOLTANI.

This proved to be an enthralling game with relatively low fouling and scoring. The fact that Greece could not convert extra-man advantage from 10 attempts was telling. Iran managed to lift its game considerably since the day before and controlled much of the play. The efforts of goalkeeper CHANABDARSHIRAZI didn’t go unnoticed, blunting many a Greek attack. However, Greece finished with its second victory and on target for a top-two position.

#11 AUS 9 vs CAN 9 Play by Play

Quarters: 1-2, 1-1, 4-3, 3-3

Referees: Michael GOLDENBERG (UA), Radu MATACHE (ROU).

Extra Man: AUS 1/8; CAN 0/3

Teams:

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE (4), Adam POLIVKA, Nick REDBOND, Matthew GILES (1), James FANNON (1), Wade EAMES (3), Aaron YOUNGER, Paul SINDONE, James HOWDEN (c), Jake BURTON, Blake EDWARDS, Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

CANADA: Dusan ALEKSIC, Edgardo MONTES (2), Nicolas BICARI (5), Mark SANTAMARIA, Mathieu CONSTANTIN, Scott ROBINSON, Fillip JUISTOVSKI, Omar TOUNI (1), Graeme MYERS, John CONWAY, Oliver VIKALO (1), Jared McELROY, Luke ANDERSON. Head Coach: Scott SMITH.

The first draw of the tournament was an excellent comment on the two teams’ abilities. Canada twice had a two-goal margin in the first 10 minutes but a three-goal burst in four minutes covering the first break had Australia 4-3 ahead. Canada drew level four times to make it 8-8 with 3:53 remaining and went into the lead at 1:03 when BICARI exploded with his fifth goal for Canada. Australia was lucky to gain a point when GILES snapped in a goal 12 seconds from time on extra. While BICARI was incredible, so too was Australia’s DAVIE with two of his four goals from centre forward, giving him seven for the tournament.

#12 MNE 19 vs PUR 2 Play by Play

Quarters: 5-0, 3-0, 7-1, 4-1

Referees: Chris FREEBURY (GBR), Mario DALLI (MLT).

Extra Man: MNE 5/8; PUR 0/6

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC (2), Vukota MARKOVIC, Branko LUCIC (4), Miljan NIKCEVIC (4), Nikola MARKOVIC, Igor POROBIC (2), Jovan SARIC (c, 2), Radovan LATINOVIC (1), Nikola MURISIC (1), Dusan MANDIC (3), ), Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT, Alan BAYO, Luis VIDAL, Fabian TORRES (c), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis MOJICA (1), Jesus SANTA, Gerardo POMALES (1), Derick ESCALFULLERY, Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

Montenegro graced the stage for the first time and used the session as preparation for latter stages of the tournament. Puerto Rico did well to withstand the challenge but the more powerful Montenegrins had too much grunt.  LUKIC and NIKCEVIC looked dangerous whenever they had the ball in hand but Puerto Rico must be commended for twice breaching the defence.

#13 SRB 8 vs USA 6 Play by Play

Quarters: 3-1, 0-1, 3-0, 2-4

Referees: Dragan STAMPAILJA (CRO),  Vlastimil KRATOCHIVIL (SVK).

Extra Man: SRB 2/4; USA 4/6

SERBIA: Ivan JOVICIC, Strahinja RASOVIC (1), Dorde VUKMANOVIC (1), Srdan VUKSANOVIC, Aleksa SAPONIC (1), Matija SILASKI, Lazar KOMADINIC (2), Nikola DEDOVIC (1), Nikola MARIC (1), Nemanja VBOVIC (1), Milos MILICIC (c), Nikola KOMAR, Dimitrije RISTICEVIC. Head Coach: Nenad VASILEVSKI.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jonathan SIBLEY, Nicholas PASCON, Nikola VAVIC (1), Paul REYNOLDS, Griffin WHITE (2), Nicolas HOVERSTEN, Joshua SAMUELS (c, 3), Eugene CHONG, James PERRY, Forrest WATKINS, Christopher WENDT, Spencer HAMBY, Andrew LIGHTERINK. Head Coach: Douglas PEABODY.

In the big game of the evening, the Serbians won their opening game against the North Americans who just held out Spain the day before. Serbia started strongly and as Doug PEABODY said after the game, “We can’t give away a two and four-goal lead and expect to win”. The USA had its work cut out and Serbia could be forgiven first-game nerves in allowing the USA to come back into the game.  At 3-2 it was evenly poised but a zip third quarter for the USA proved crucial.  Outscoring Serbia in the final quarter, with captain SAMUELS scoring a hat-trick, was just too late.

#14 CRO 11 vs SVK 5 Play by Play

Quarters: 3-3, 2-1, 1-1, 5-0

Referees: Alexander GALKIN (RUS), Torsten BOCK (GER).

Extra Man: CRO 8/16; SVK 3/8

Teams:

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC (1), Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (1), Marko IVANKOVIC (4), Franko GERATOVIC (1), Marko MACAN, Andrija VLAHOVIC, Kristijan MILAKOVIC (3), Luka KOLAR, Marko BAUTOVIC (c), Duje LUSIC, Luka PAVLOVIC (1), Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

SLOVAKIA: Ludovit KOZAR, Audrey KASPER (1), Kristian POLOVIC (2), Michal SOMSAG (1), Vladimir PLVAN, Gergely MAGYAR, Marek MOLNAR, Sebastian NAGY, Marek BIELIK, Miroslav MIKLODA, Jaroslav RUZICKA, Filip KSINAN (1), Lukas KOZMER. Head Coach: Szabolcs ESCHWIG-HAJT.

Croatia stuttered to victory, needing a 5-0 final quarter to fend off Slovakia, who played far better than its opening 15-1 loss to Australia. Croatia looked rusty and needed to keep pace with Slovakia, which was warming to the occasion in front of hostile crowd. The pace was strong all game with excellent play from both teams. But it was the last quarter that saw Croatia awaken and show spectacular skills, especially directly in front of goal.

Points tables:

GROUP A:

GROUP B:

GROUP C:

GROUP D:

August 24

Serbia clinches a draw with Spain in Sibenik

Sibenik, Croatia (August 24).— Nemaja UBOVIC scored twice in the last three minutes to secure a 4-4 draw with Spain in a Group C encounter on day three of the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here today.

UBOVIC missed a big chance a minute earlier but made sure with his next two chances to gain a point after Spain took a 3-0 lead at quarter time and couldn’t score again until early in the fourth quarter.

South Africa was in action for the first time, losing 18-6 to the United States of America in the other group match.

Group A saw an excitingly close game when Greece took on Egypt. The game was 8-7 early in the final quarter before Greece applied the accelerator and finished 13-7 ahead.

Group B witnessed Hungary shunt aside Brazil 14-4 and Italy cold-shouldered New Zealand in the third period after the game was 3-3 at halftime. Italy went on to win 12-5.

Australia remained without a loss in Group D with a 14-6 win over France while Canada’s unblemished record was ruined by Croatia who were overpowering, winning 13-3

#15 BRA 4 vs HUN 14 Play by Play

Quarters: 1-1, 1-7, 1-4, 1-2

Referees: Dragan RAJEVIC (MNE), Hushang HAFEZI (IRI).

Extra Man: BRA 1/9; HUN 3/9

Teams:

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES, Douglas MAGALHAES, Bernardo ALMEIDA (2), Arthur SALGADO, Ricardo GUIMARAES, Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA, Tomaz LEAL, Caio LIMA, Gustavo COUTINHO, Anderson SOARES (2), Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI (1), Kristian ZACZKOVICS (2), Bertalan RUSZ, Tamas ZAKAB (1), Bence BATORI (5), Bence FUZEP, Adam SZENTEZI, Daniel ANGYAL (2), David JANSIK (1), Tibor TAZEKAS (2), Mark ERNYEI, Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

Hungary stepped up in the second quarter after a slow start to have the better of Brazil. The Brazilians tried everything and even took chancy passes into centre forward, sometimes gaining ejections. With the goals stacking up, Brazil fought hard and restricted the potentially dangerous Hungarians. A handful of times in the final quarter, Brazil was unlucky not to gain more goals.

#16 USA 18 vs RSA 6 Play by Play

Quarters: 4-1, 5-1, 4-2, 5-2

Referees: Andreas MOIRALIS (GRE), Chris FREEBURY (GBR).

Extra Man: USA /14; RSA 1/6

Teams:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jonathan SIBLEY, Nicholas PASCON (2), Nikola VAVIC (2), Paul REYNOLDS (1), Griffin WHITE (5), Nicolas HOVERSTEN, Joshua SAMUELS (c, 1), Eugene CHONG, James PERRY (2), Forrest WATKINS, Christopher WENDT (3), Spencer HAMBLY (2), Andrew LIGHTERINK. Head Coach: Douglas PEABODY.

SOUTH AFRICA: Matthew CARTER, Devon CARD, Nicholas MELCK, Andrew JONES, Oliver SWART, Shaun CAMPBELL, William NAIDOO, Jason MOSTIERT (c), Matthew LIECHTI, David DU PLESSIS, Nicholas HOCK, Sean MASSYN, Wesley BOHATA. Head Coach: Peter LAVETT.

The USA looked the best so far this tournament and slowly built a solid margin against a vastly inexperienced South Africa. The South Africans have no lead-up games for this event and played their first game only today after a bye day and the lost game against the non-attending Mexico. The USA looked penetrative at the two-metre line and only excellent goalkeeping by CARTER and a few offsides denied its big men more goals.

#17 FRA 6 vs AUS 14 Play by Play

Quarters: 2-4, 2-3, 1-3, 1-4

Referees: Balasz SZEKELY (HUN), Nikola NJEGOVAN (SRB).

Extra Man: FRA 0/7; AUS 5/7

Teams:

FRANCE: Nicolas LEMERLE, Thomas SAUX, Mathieu CHARBIT, Dienne TARDY (1), Sebastiem MONNERET (1), Thomas BRESSOLIER (2), Hadniam COLLINEAU, Reny UNZVETA (1), Gregoine MUTAMBAYI, Michal IZDINSKI (2), Loris JELEFF (c), Remie-Dienne LADOUCE, Konstantin STAJIC. Head Coach: Gilles MADELENAT.

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE (3), Adam POLIVKA (3), Nick REDBOND, Matthew GILES, James FANNON, Wade EAMES (2), Aaron YOUNGER (4), Paul SINDONE (1), James HOWDEN (c), Jake BURTON, Blake EDWARDS (1), Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

Australia held all the cards as the extra-man statistic shows. Australia penetrated from all positions while France tried everything to get the referees’ attention, including a yellow card to coach MADELENAT. The big break came in the third quarter when Australia went four ahead and then five by the break. It went to 13-5 before France scored its first goal in nearly 10 minutes of play.

18 EGY 7 vs GRE 13 Play by Play

Quarters: 3-4, 2-2, 1-2, 1-5

Referees: Mario BIANCHI (ITA), Roberto CABRAL (BRA).

Extra Man: EGY 1/6; GRE 2/7

Teams:

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM, Mohanad FATOUH (2), Omar IBRAHIM (2), Karim AHMED, Khaled MAHER, Almoatassem MOHAMED, Yehia TAWFIK (c), Ahmed IBRAHIM (3), Mohamed SABRI, Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (4), Konstantinos VITELLAS, Marios KAPOTSIS (3), Konstantinos GOUVIS, Antonios XENAKIS, Kyriakos PONTIKEAS (1), Dmitrios LAPPAS, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS (1), Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS (3), Dimitrios TIGKAS, Emmanouil SOLANAKIS (1), Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

The final margin flattered Greece as Egypt was a worthy foe for much of the game. Early in the fourth quarter Ahmed IBRAHIM thumped the air in delight after he scored on extra-man advantage to narrow the game to 8-7 But then the game turned Greece’s way and Egypt could not regain any momentum. The frustration was evident in the Egyptian team with the assistant coach being red-carded  soon after halftime and Omar IBRAHIM being sent for misconduct inside the last minute.

#19 IRI 2 vs MNE 16 Play by Play

Quarters: 0-3, 2-2, 0-9, 0-2

Referees: Radu MATACHE (ROU), John WALDOW (NZL).

Extra Man: IRI 1/5; MNE 4/10

Teams:

IRAN: Saeed CHANABDAR SHIRAZI, Amir Hossein BARAEI (c), Ali Reza SOLTANI, Ataollah BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY (1), Amin SALEH NEZHAD (1), Amir DEHDARI, Mahdi DAEETAGHI, Malek ZIAEI, Moein ESMAEILPOUR SOUFIANI, Salar EISA BEIGLOO, Arash HATAMI, Mohammad MOHAMMADI, Arash NASIMI SHAD. Head Coach: Davood REZASOLTANI.

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC (1), Vukota MARKOVIC (1), Branko LUCIC, Miljan NIKCEVIC (1), Nikola MARKOVIC, Igor POROBIC, Jovan SARIC (c, 2), Radovan LATINOVIC, Nikola MURISIC (5), Dusan MANDIC (4), Nemanja VICO (2), Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

A nine-goal spurt in the third period was the difference between these two teams. Montenegro laboured the game while having the better players but Iran is improving with every game. That quarter saw Montenegro play at its best and it was surely an aberration to lead by just three goals at halftime. MURISIC scored three of his five goals in the opening quarter.

#20 NZL 5 vs ITA 12 Play by Play

Quarters: 2-1. 1-1, 1-6, 1-3

Referees: Doriel TERPENKA (CAN), Nick HODGERS (AUS).

Extra Man: NZL 2/14; ITA 5/15

NEW ZEALAND: Scott GRAHAM, Thomas KEARNS (c, 3), Joseph KAYES (1), Joseph BENSLEY, Jarrod WILSON, Jakob BURKHART, Aiden THORNHILL, David LAMBERT, Edward THOMAS, Matthew BRYANT, Ricky THOMSON, Adam PYE (1), Lewis WILD. Head Coach: Kurt GOLDSWORTHY.

ITALY: Luca MUGELLI, Aimone BARABINO (1), Luca DA MONTE, Davide STEARDO, Giacomo GIANNI, Giovanni BIANCO (3), Cristiano MIRARCHAI (2), Luca MARZIALI (3), Vincenzo RENZUTO (1), Giuliano MATTIELLO (2), Giacomo CUPIDO, Matteo GITTO, Claudio BISEGNA. Head Coach: Paolo ZIZZA.

Italy needed a powerhouse third period to draw clear from a dogged New Zealand in a game that was level at halftime. The Kiwis played their best game of the tournament but the experience and higher skills of the Italians came through in the third quarter. New Zealand worked hard to stop the rot but Italy did more than enough in the fourth for what was not entirely a comfortable win. New Zealand’s big shooting was blocked in the second half while Italy found a scoring rhythm as the Kiwis faced the final burst of the sun before sunset.

#21 ESP 4 vs SRB 4 Play by Play

Quarters: 3-0, 0-2, 0-0, 1-2

Referees: Torsten BOCK (GER), Mario DALLI (MLT).

Extra Man: ESP 2/7; SRB 0/8

SPAIN: Diego TEBAR, Daniel POSTEGUILLO, Oscar CARILLO (c, 2), Carlos SANCHEZ, Sergi CLOLS, Adria CARABI, Albert ASENJO, Victor GUTIERREZ (1), Ruben DE LERA, Andres RODRIGUEZ, Ferran TOMASA, Victor CABANAS (1), Sergi GARCIA. Head Coach: Emilio BAUTISTA.

SERBIA: Ivan JOVICIC, Strahinja RASOVIC, Dorde VUKMANOVIC, Srdan VUKSANOVIC, Aleksa SAPONIC (1), Matija SILASKI, Lazar KOMADINIC, Nikola DEDOVIC, Nikola MARIC (1), Nemanja UBOVIC (2), Milos MILICIC (c), Nikola KOMAR, Dimitrije RISTICEVIC. Head Coach: Nenad VASILEVSKI.

Spain stunned Serbia with a 3-0 opening quarter and then relied on those goals to stay ahead as Serbia scored twice in the second period. Neither team breached the defence in the third. However, Spain broke its 18-minute drought early in the fourth after a timeout. CABANAS finished off the extra-man play off the near post for 4-2. When UBOVIC and KOMADINIC had their excellent chances denied by goalkeeper TEBAR, you could be forgiven for thinking it would demoralise Serbia. However, UBOVIC converted on the third attack for 4-3 at 2:41. Serbia had a chance to equalise inside the second-last minute but the shot was smacked wide. Spain had a five-metre shot rebound off the bar and the Serbian goalkeeper threw the ball too far for TEBAR to collect. Spain lost the ball at two metres and Serbia went on counter with UBOVIC scoring at 0:19 for 4-4. Spain took a timeout and the plan was to shoot only on the final second. It came a few seconds early and Serbia took a long shot , which TEBAR swatted aside for the draw.

#22 CAN 3 vs CRO 13

Quarters: 1-3, 1-5, 1-2, 0-3

Referees: Alexander GALKIN (RUS), Santiago RODRIGUEZ (ESP).

Extra Man: CAN 1/5; CRO 5/11

Teams:

CANADA: Dusan ALEKSIC, Edgardo MONTES, Nicolas BICARI (2), Mark SANTAMARIA, Mathieu CONSTANTIN, Scott ROBINSON, Fillip JUISTOVSKI, Omar TOUNI (1), Graeme MYERS, John CONWAY, Oliver VIKALO, Jared McELROY, Luke ANDERSON. Head Coach: Scott SMITH.

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC, Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (2), Marko IVANKOVIC (4), Franko GERATOVIC (2), Marko MACAN, Andrija VLAHOVIC, Kristijan MILAKOVIC (2), Luka KOLAR, Marko BAUTOVIC (c, 1), Duje LUSIC, Luka PAVLOVIC (2), Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

There was no way Croatia was going to allow Canada to get a sniff of the real action in front of a Croatian crowd. The Croatians took little time in taking charge and with IVANKOVIC on target with three goals by later in the second quarter, Croatia was 6-1 ahead and cruising. BICARI scored his second for Canada for 6-2 but the third didn’t come until the last minute of the third quarter. By then IVANKOVIC had a fourth and Croatia closed the period at 10-3. Canada was by now using its bench as it plays the first game in the morning. A 3-0 period rounded out the game.

Points tables:

GROUP A:

GROUP B:

GROUP C:

GROUP D:

August 25

Slovakia forces Canada to its second draw in Sibenik
Written by Russell McKinnon, FINA Press Commission Member

Sibenik, Croatia (August 25).— There have been three draws in the tournament and Canada has been involved in two of them after four days of competition at the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships in Sibenik.

Canada, who drew 9-9 with Australia on day two, gave up a two-goal lead in the last three minutes before allowing Slovakia to draw level with two goal inside a minute.

It proved crucial in Group D and sent Canada to third spot behind Croatia and Australia.

Croatia pleased the home crowd with a rollicking 20-6 victory over France in the final match of the day.

Iran produced its first victory of the tournament with an thrilling 8-7 victory over Puerto Rico in Group A. Montenegro had a battle on its hands before beating Egypt 12-6.

Group B saw Brazil beat Uzbekistan 15-6 and Hungary withstood a spirited  New Zealand second-half effort to win 14-9.

Group C had just the one match with Spain defeating South Africa 15-3.

#23 SVK 7 vs CAN 7 Play by Play

Quarters: 1-2, 1-2, 2-1, 3-2

Referees: Radu MATACHE (ROU), Mario DALLI (MLT).

Extra Man: SVK 2/3; CAN 2/6

Teams:

SLOVAKIA: Ludovit KOZAR, Audrey KASPER, Kristian POLOVIC (2), Michal SOMSAG (1), Vladimir PLVAN, Gergely MAGYAR, Marek MOLNAR (2), Sebastian NAGY (2), Marek BIELIK, Miroslav MIKLODA, Jaroslav RUZICKA, Filip KSINAN, Lukas KOZMER. Head Coach: Szabolcs ESCHWIG-HAJT.

CANADA: Dusan ALEKSIC, Edgardo MONTES, Nicolas BICARI (2), Mark SANTAMARIA, Mathieu CONSTANTIN (2), Scott ROBINSON (1), Fillip JUISTOVSKI, Omar TOUNI, Graeme MYERS, John CONWAY, Oliver VIKALO, Jared McELROY (2), Luke ANDERSON. Head Coach: Scott SMITH.

Canada may have had the advantage in the first half but Slovakia played better in the second to secure the draw. The equalising goal came at 0:51 from SOMSAG on action. Canada¹s dominance stretched into the third quarter when 5-2 ahead with a goal on extra but wayward shooting proved costly for the Canadians. When 5-2 down, Slovakia responded on the next attack and closed the gap to one two minutes from the break. Canada went two ahead on extra at 6:19 and 7-5 ahead at 2:48 for what looked like victory. NAGY made it 7-6 with a penetrating outside shot while SOMSAG¹s winner came off a Canadian error, leaving him wide open to shoot.

#24 UZE 6 vs BRA 15 Play by Play

Quarters: 2-4, 1-3, 2-4, 1-4

Referees: Genaro DEL VALLE (PUR), Doriel TERPENKA (CAN).

Extra Man: UZB 1/6; BRA 6/10

Teams:

UZBEKISTAN: Maksin DUDNIKOV, Mirazis KOSIMOV, Azat ISMAYLOV, Ramil VALISHEV, Oleg ZAYSEV (1), Artem MIRONENKO (1), Kirill RUSTAMOV, Rinat GAYSIN (3), Oleg SUKHAREV, Vitaliy MALYTSINSKIY (1), Vitaliy SKRPACHEV, Yaroslav PLETNEV (c). Head Coach: German NURMATOV.

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES (4), Douglas MAGALHAES (1), Bernardo ALMEIDA (2), Arthur SALGADO, Ricardo GUIMARAES (3), Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA, Tomaz LEAL, Caio LIMA (1), Gustavo COUTINHO (2), Anderson SOARES (2), Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

Brazil improved to a 2-0-2 record while Uzbekistan is still locked in the cellar with three losses. VALISHEV blotted his copybook with a suspension foul late in the fourth quarter. Brazil pressured Uzbekistan into fouls and reaped the benefits. Brazil looked the stronger side while the Uzbeks tried valiantly in what was their best showing of the week.

#25 PUR 7 vs IRI 8 Play by Play

Quarters: 2-1, 0-2, 2-3, 3-2

Referees: Roberto CABRAL (BRA), Alexander GALKIN (RUS)

Extra Man: PUR 3/6; IRI 3/7

Teams:

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT (2), Alan BAYO (2), Luis VIDAL, Fabian TORRES (c), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis MOJICA, Jesus SANTA (3), Gerardo POMALES, Derick ESCALFULLERY, Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

IRAN: Saeed CHANABDAR SHIRAZI, Amir Hossein BARAEI (c), Ali Reza SOLTANI (3), Ataollah BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY (3), Amin SALEH NEZHAD, Amir DEHDARI, Mahdi DAEETAGHI (2), Malek ZIAEI, Moein ESMAEILPOUR SOUFIANI, Salar EISA BEIGLOO, Arash HATAMI, Mohammad MOHAMMADI, Arash NASIMI SHAD. Head Coach: Davood REZASOLTANI.

Three goals in the final quarter by Puerto Rico's SANTA were not enough to gain parity with Iran, who collected its first win in four matches. The final quarter was spell-binding as these two minnows fought for victory just as hard as some of the senior nations. With just over two minutes remaining Puerto Rico gained an exclusion on the Iranian goalkeeper but the shot smashed into a wall of defenders and almost suspiciously like two hands by one player but the wash was too high to decipher. At the other end, BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY scored on counter for 8-5. SANTA struck at 1:36 and 0:38 but Iran held on for victory.

#26 MNE 12 vs EGY 6 Scoresheet

Quarters: 4-1, 3-1, 1-3, 4-1

Referees: Dion WILLIS (RSA), Balasz SZEKELY (HUN)

Extra Man: MNE 2/4; EGY 1/2

Teams:

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC , Nikola MARKOVIC, Branko LUCIC, Miljan NIKCEVIC (1), Vukota MARKOVIC (2), Igor POROBIC (1), Jovan SARIC (c, 2), Radovan LATINOVIC (1), Nikola MURISIC (1), Dusan MANDIC (1), Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM (1), Mohanad FATOUH (2), Omar IBRAHIM, Karim AHMED, Khaled MAHER (2), Almoatassem MOHAMED, Yehia TAWFIK (c, 1), Ahmed IBRAHIM, Mohamed SABRI, Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

Montenegro gained a third win, albeit a stuttering effort against a defiant Egypt. Montenegro has not impressed greatly at this event but the victories keep coming and only Greece stands in the way of winning Group A. They clash tomorrow in the final round of the preliminaries. Montenegro led 7-2 but Egypt scored the next three goals and, even at 9-6 midway through the fourth period, looked good. However, three goals in the last three minutes, including one six seconds from time, improved the look of the scoresheet. Egypt gave up three penalty fouls, all of which Montenegro converted while Egypt converted its one chance from five metres. Montenegro’s Nikola MARKOVIC was suspended in the third period for misconduct

#27 RSA 3 vs ESP 15 Scoresheet

Quarters: 1-3, 0-4, 2-5, 0-3

Referees: Jean Michel DELON (FRA), Vlastimil KRATOCHVIL (SVK)

Extra Man: RSA 2/6; ESP 2/9

SOUTH AFRICA: Matthew CARTER, Devon CARD (1), Nicholas MELCK, Andrew JONES, Oliver SWART, Shaun CAMPBELL, William NAIDOO, Jason MOSTIERT (c, 1), Matthew LIECHTI, David DU PLESSIS, Nicholas HOCK (1), Sean MASSYN, Wesley BOHATA. Head Coach: Peter LAVETT.

SPAIN: Diego TEBAR, Daniel POSTEGUILLO, Oscar CARILLO (c, 4), Carlos SANCHEZ, Sergi CLOLS, Adria CARABI (2), Albert ASENJO (2), Victor GUTIERREZ (1), Ruben DE LERA (2), Andres RODRIGUEZ (2), Ferran TOMASA, Victor CABANAS (1), Sergi GARCIA. Head Coach: Emilio BAUTISTA.

Spain had too much grunt for South Africa, who was playing just its second match in Sibenik, the UNESCO protected city that is the oldest Croatian town on the Adriatic coast. South Africa had the better extra-man statistics but their were an incredible six penalty shots taken in the game with Spain converting its three and South African making none. It was inexperience against a touch of class and the 8-1 figure early in the third period told the story. South Africa warmed up a little but looked dejected after the game

#28 HUN 14 vs NZL 9 Scoresheet

Quarters: 4-1, 2-1, 4-4, 4-3

Referees: Dragan STAMPALIJA (CRO), Ahmed YOUSSEF (EGY).

Extra Man: HUN 3/8; NZL 4/6

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI (1), Kristian ZACZKOVICS (2), Bertalan RUSZ (1), Tamas ZAKAB (1), Bence BATORI (4), Bence FUZEP, Adam SZENTEZI, Daniel ANGYAL, David JANSIK (2), Tibor TAZEKAS, Mark ERNYEI (3), Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

NEW ZEALAND: Scott GRAHAM, Thomas KEARNS (c, 3), Joseph KAYES (1), Joseph BENSLEY, Jarrod WILSON, Jakob BURKHART, Aiden THORNHILL, David LAMBERT (1), Edward THOMAS (1), Matthew BRYANT (1), Ricky THOMSON, Adam PYE (2), Lewis WILD. Head Coach: Kurt GOLDSWORTHY.

Hungary may have lost concentration for large parts of the match, according to assistant coach Gabor SZABO, but it was good enough to beat New Zealand, who struggled to make passes connect in the opening half. As the quarters suggest, the game took on a different complexion in the second half. Kiwi coach GOLDSWORTHY bemoaned the fact that poor passing earlier put paid to his team’s chances. While the Kiwis were lifting, opportunities started amassing but big man KAYES, who will take up a professional contract in Hungary later this year, missed several excellent chances in the dying stages. As SZABO said: “We can’t let a team like New Zealand score nine goals against us. Croatia maybe, but not New Zealand.”

#29 CRO 20 vs FRA 6 Scoresheet

Quarters: 5-2, 4-0, 6-2, 5-2

Referees: Michael GOLDENBERG (USA), Mario BIANCHI (ITA).

Extra Man: CRO 8/10; FRA 0/5

Teams:

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC (3), Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (2), Marko IVANKOVIC (3), Franko GERATOVIC, Marko MACAN (2), Andrija VLAHOVIC (1), Kristijan MILAKOVIC (2), Luka KOLAR (3), Marko BAUTOVIC (c, 4), Duje LUSIC (1), Luka PAVLOVIC, Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

FRANCE: Nicolas LEMERLE, Thomas SAUX, Mathieu CHARBIT (1), Dienne TARDY, Sebastiem MONNERET (2), Thomas BRESSOLIER, Hadniam COLLINEAU (1), Reny UNZVETA, Gregoine MUTAMBAYI, Michal IZDINSKI (1), Loris JELEFF (c), Remie-Dienne LADOUCE (1), Konstantin STAJIC. Head Coach: Gilles MADELENAT.

France may have opened the scoring but goals were hard to come by against a slick Croatian team playing at home. The game was tied at 2-2 until three minutes from the end of the period and, with BAUTOVIC scoring three successive goals, the lead had stretched to 6-2 early in the second period. The pace continued until 12-2 before COLLINEAU jumped on a rebound and had France’s third goal. By the last break Croatia, with faster swimming and crisper passing, had a nine-goal break. France didn’t stop playing and was rewarded with two late goals.

Points tables:

GROUP A:

GROUP B:

GROUP C:

GROUP D:

August 26

Serbia, Greece  make it through to the quarter-finals

Sibenik, Croatia (August 26).— Serbia, Greece, Italy and Croatia have qualified for the quarter-finals of the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here.

The group winners earn a day off tomorrow and will find out their opponents after second-round play.

For Greece, the relief of making the quarters was not evident immediately as Montenegro thought it had won after the pair tied their Group A fourth and final preliminary-round encounter. In fact, in the last 12 seconds it set up a defensive play to run the clock down instead of trying to shoot. A close reading of the tie-breaking rules would have helped as the decision who finished first came on the third level of the tiebreak, which was who scored more goals against the third-ranked team — Egypt. Puerto Rico beat Iran 13-10 to force a three-way tie for third but the tiebreaking gave Egypt third, Iran fourth and Puerto Rico fifth.

Group B went the same way with Italy and Hungary drawing by the same score — 7-7. This time it went to the second tiebreak only with the result against third-ranked Brazil important. Italy won 15-3 while Hungary only won 14-4. New Zealand took fourth with a 16-9 victory over fifth-placed Uzbekistan.

Serbia beat South Africa 16-3 to clean up the four-team Group C.

Croatia needed a last-minute goal to beat Australia 10-9 and take Group D. Australia led for three-quarters of the game but sustained the loss of leading player Aaron Younger early and saw Croatia take the lead just before the final break, It was a riveting game nonetheless. France claimed fourth spot with a 12-5 win over Slovakia

#30 EGY 10 vs PUR 13

Quarters: 2-5, 3-1, 2-5, 3-2

Referees: John WALDOW (NZL), Dion WILLIS (RSA).

Extra Man: EGY 1/7; PUR 1/4

Teams:

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM (2), Mohanad FATOUH (3), Omar IBRAHIM (1), Karim AHMED (1), Khaled MAHER (1), Almoatassem MOHAMED, Yehia TAWFIK (c), Ahmed IBRAHIM (2), Mohamed SABRI, Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT (1), Alan BAYO (2), Luis VIDAL, Fabian TORRES (c, 2), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis< MOJICA (2), Jesus SANTA (4), Gerardo POMALES (2), Derick ESCALFULLERY, Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

Puerto Rico came through with the victory after dominating the first part of the game and the last. However, Egypt showed true heroism in clawing back a 6-2 deficit to level the game at 6-6 at 5:30 in the third period. Puerto Rico quickly made that 9-6 and maintained at least a three-goal margin to
the end. Both teams played to a higher level than previous matches as their part of the tournament starts to get interesting. The win makes the group interesting with three teams Puerto Rico, Egypt and Iran ‹ on two points, with no prospect of determining final positions until the Greece-Montenegro game later in the day.

#31 RSA 3 vs SRB 16

Quarters: 0-5, 1-4, 0-4, 2-3

Referees: Hushang HAFESI (IRI), Andreas MOIRALIS (GRE).

Extra Man: RSA 0/7; 7/12

Teams:

SOUTH AFRICA: Matthew CARTER, Devon CARD (1), Nicholas MELCK, Andrew JONES, Oliver SWART, Shaun CAMPBELL, William NAIDOO, Jason MOSTIERT (c), Matthew LIECHTI, David DU PLESSIS (2), Nicholas HOCK, Sean MASSYN, Wesley BOHATA. Head Coach: Peter LAVETT.

SERBIA: Ivan JOVICIC, Strahinja RASOVIC (1), Dorde VUKMANOVIC, Srdan VUKSANOVIC (3), Aleksa SAPONIC (2), Matija SILASKI (1), Lazar KOMADINIC (1), Nikola DEDOVIC (1), Nikola MARIC, Nemanja UBOVIC (1), Milos MILICIC (c, 3), /> Nikola KOMAR (3), Dimitrije RISTICEVIC. Head Coach: Nenad VASILEVSKI.

Serbia shot to a 5-0 lead and then protected the lead, only allowing one goal to be scored in the first three periods. South Africa, learning with every game, overcame the emotion of playing one of the top nations on the planet and thoroughly deserved the close final quarter ‹ great preparation for the lower play-offs. South Africa denied Serbia five extra-man attacks in a game where it converted seven from 12. Serbia topped the group, ahead of the United States of America and Spain, and became the first team through to the quarter-finals.

#32 NZL 16 vs UZE 9

Quarters: 4-2, 5-2, 2-1, 5-4

Referees: Nick HODGERS (AUS), Dragan RAJEVIC (MNE).

Extra Man: NZL  2/8; UZB 3/5

Teams:

NEW ZEALAND: Scott GRAHAM, Thomas KEARNS (c, 3), Joseph KAYES (8), Joseph BENSLEY, Jarrod WILSON, Jakob BURKHART, Aiden THORNHILL, David LAMBERT, Edward THOMAS (1), Matthew BRYANT, Ricky THOMSON (3), Adam PYE (1), Lewis WILD. Head Coach: Kurt GOLDSWORTHY.

UZBEKISTAN: Maksin DUDNIKOV, Mirazis KOSIMOV, Azat ISMAYLOV (3), Ramil VALISHEV (1), Oleg ZAYSEV, Artem MIRONENKO (1), Kirill RUSTAMOV, Rinat GAYSIN (3), Oleg SUKHAREV (1), Vitaliy MALYTSINSKIY, Vitaliy SKRPACHEV, Yaroslav PLETNEV (c). Head Coach: German NURMATOV.

New Zealand looked a little jaded after its game against Hungary the previous night and never reached top gear in beating Uzbekistan. This allowed the Asian nation to double its goal count for the tournament. Both teams were without a win before the game. The biggest contributor was the massive KAYES with a tournament-high eight goals. Uzbekistan¹s resistance and adventurousness on attack was rewarded with four goals in the final period. The shock for some was to witness the smallest boy at the tournament, an Uzbek, up against the bigger Kiwis.

#33 FRA 12 vs SVK 5

Quarters: 5-1, 2-1, 1-2, 3-1

Referees: Santiago RODRIGUEZ (ESP), Nikola NJEGOVAN (SRB).

Extra Man: FRA 4/7; SVK 1/6

Teams:

FRANCE: Nicolas LEMERLE, Thomas SAUX, Mathieu CHARBIT (2), Dienne TARDY, Sebastiem MONNERET (3), Thomas BRESSOLIER, Hadniam COLLINEAU, Reny UNZVETA, Gregoine MUTAMBAYI, Michal IZDINSKI (3), Loris JELEFF (c, 1), Remie-Dienne LADOUCE (3), Konstantin STAJIC. Head Coach: Gilles MADELENAT.

SLOVAKIA: Ludovit KOZAR, Audrey KASPER, Kristian POLOVIC (2), Michal SOMSAG (1), Vladimir PLVAN, Gergely MAGYAR, Marek MOLNAR, Sebastian NAGY, Marek BIELIK (2), Miroslav MIKLODA, Jaroslav RUZICKA, Filip KSINAN, Lukas KOZMER. Head Coach: Szabolcs ESCHWIG-HAJT.

France took fourth in the group with its first victory and points, defeating Slovakia who had a draw with Canada yesterday. France was untroubled after a 3-0 start that became 7-2 midway through the second quarter Surprisingly, it was a full eight minutes later before it could score again but the 8-4 three-quarter margin went to 10-4 and the game as a spectacle was over. France was competent on attack with excellent passing, although Slovakia did manage to show some resolve when on extra. Slovakia was unlucky not to have its last-gasp shot given a goal as it appeared to have been shot before the buzzer.

#34 MNE 7 vs GRE 7

Quarters: 1-0, 2-3, 1-3, 3-1

Referees: Mario BIANCHI (ITA), Michael GOLDENBERG (USA).

Extra Man: MNE 1/5; GRE 4/10

Teams:

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC , Vukota MARKOVIC (4), Branko LUCIC, Miljan NIKCEVIC, Nikola MARKOVIC, Igor POROBIC, Jovan SARIC (c), Radovan LATINOVIC, Nikola MURISIC (3), Dusan MANDIC, Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (2), Konstantinos VITELLAS, Marios KAPOTSIS (1), Konstantinos GOUVIS, Antonios XENAKIS, Kyriakos PONTIKEAS, Dmitrios LAPPAS, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS (3), Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS (1), Dimitrios TIGKAS, Emmanouil SOLANKAKIS, Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

Montenegro thought it had beaten Greece for the group win but in actual fact, Greece won on the third tiebreak. The first was the draw between the two, the second was the goal differential against third team Egypt, which was six, and the third tiebreak was the higher score against Greece (Greece’s 13-7 as opposed to Montenegro’s 12-6). In the pool, Montenegro called for a timeout with 12 seconds left in the game and set up a defensive possession zone and retained the ball until the final whistle. Montenegro cheered as if it had won the group and gained a quarterfinal berth. One team left the pool elated and the other dejected but in the wrong order. Greece earlier gave up a 6-4 lead at the final break and 7-5 with 4:40 remaining. Montenegro scored through MARKOVIC at 1:34 and again at 0:37, giving him four for the match.

#35 HUN 7 vs ITA 7

Quarters: 1-2, 1-1, 2-3, 3-1

Referees: Dragan STAMPALIJA (CRO), Vlastimil KRATOCHVIL (SVK).

Extra Man: HUN 1/3; ITA 1/7

Teams:

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI (1), Kristian ZACZKOVICS (2), Bertalan RUSZ, Tamas ZAKAB (1), Bence BATORI (2), Bence FUZEP (1), Adam SZENTEZI, Daniel ANGYAL, David JANSIK, Tibor TAZEKAS, Mark ERNYEI, Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

ITALY: Luca MUGELLI, Aimone BARABINO (1), Luca DA MONTE (2), Davide STEARDO (1), Giacomo GIANNI, Giovanni BIANCO, Cristiano MIRARCHAI (1), Luca MARZIALI (1), Vincenzo RENZUTO, Giuliano MATTIELLO (1), Giacomo CUPIDO, Matteo GITTO, Claudio BISEGNA. Head Coach: Paolo ZIZZA.

Italy and Hungary may have tied but Italy wins the group on the second tiebreak, having a 12-goal differential against third-ranked Brazil, as opposed to Hungary’s 10-goal margin. That made two 7-7 draws in a row needing a close look at the rules. Hungary had to come back from two goals down at the final break after having a three-goal margin earlier in the period. With 3:26 left Italy was still 7-5 ahead but Hungary replied through ZACZKOVICS and then via a wishful 10m shot from FUZEP with 29 seconds left on the clock.  Italy retained the ball and the group win.

#36 CRO 10 vs AUS 9

Quarters: 1-2, 4-4, 3-1, 2-2

Referees: Torsten BOCK (GER), Alexander GALKIN (RUS).

Extra Man: CRO 8/14; AUS 3/11

Teams:

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC (3), Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (1), Marko IVANKOVIC (2), Franko GERATOVIC, Marko MACAN, Andrija VLAHOVIC (1), Kristijan MILAKOVIC (1), Luka KOLAR, Marko BAUTOVIC (c, 1), Duje LUSIC, Luka PAVLOVIC (1), Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE (1), Adam POLIVKA (3), Nick REDBOND, Matthew GILES, James FANNON, Wade EAMES (2), Aaron YOUNGER (2), Paul SINDONE, James HOWDEN (c, 1), Jake BURTON, Blake EDWARDS, Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

Australia led for three-quarters of the game and scored some fantastic action goals but Croatia cleaned up the extra man and won the group. Croatia punished the Aussie errors and managed to get danger man YOUNGER and GILES sent for three major fouls early. Australia came back twice in the final quarter but allowed a late Croatian goal inside the last half-minute. A draw would have been enough for Croatia but the win was a reward for sticking close to the Aussies. It was a high-fouling match with 26 majors and an error late in the game when the referees allowed the game to restart with one less player for the Australians caused a stir and gave the ball to Croatia at a crucial period of the game.

Points tables in ranking order:

GROUP A:

GROUP B:

GROUP C:

GROUP D:

August 27

Montenegro, Spain, Australia and USA check in for quarter-finals

Sibenik, Croatia (August 27).— Montenegro, Spain, Australia and United States of America won through to the quarter-finals at the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here today.

Montenegro needed a goal 14 seconds from time to beat a defiant Canada 8-7. The Canadians came back from three goals down to level the game twice in the final period. Montenegro gets to play Italy in the quarter-finals.

Spain crushed Hungary’s heart in a 6-2 second quarter and went on to win 10-6 in a tight second half. Spain was by far the better team and adept on extra-man advantage, setting up a showdown with Greece.

Australia came through its encounter with Egypt, turning a 5-2 halftime lead into a 15-3 romp.

The USA ground out an 8-1 win over Brazil after leading 4-0 at halftime, gaining a shot at Croatia tomorrow.

In the 13-19 bracket, Slovakia beat Iran 11-2, France topped Puerto Rico 13-5 and South Africa gained its first win — 15-10 over Uzbekistan.

#37 IRI 2 vs SVK 11

Group 13-19 crossover

Quarters: 1-5, 0-1, 0-2, 1-3

Referees: Nikola NJEGOVAN (SRB), Nick HODGERS (AUS).

Extra Man: IRI 1/8; SVK 0/4

Teams:

IRAN: Saeed CHANABDAR SHIRAZI, Amir Hossein BARAEI (c, 1), Ali Reza SOLTANI, Ataollah BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY, Amin SALEH NEZHAD, Amir DEHDARI, Mahdi DAEETAGHI (1), Malek ZIAEI, Moein ESMAEILPOUR SOUFIANI, Salar EISA BEIGLOO, Arash HATAMI, Mohammad MOHAMMADI, Arash NASIMI SHAD. Head Coach: Davood REZASOLTANI.

SLOVAKIA: Ludovit KOZAR, Audrey KASPER, Kristian POLOVIC (2), Michal SOMSAG, Vladimir PLVAN, Gergely MAGYAR, Marek MOLNAR (6), Sebastian NAGY (2), Marek BIELIK, Miroslav MIKLODA, Jaroslav RUZICKA (1), Filip KSINAN, Lukas KOZMER. Head Coach: Szabolcs ESCHWIG-HAJT.

Slovakia¹s MOLNAR saw to it that his team would advance up the line in its cross-over clash with Iran. Slovakia has promised much this tournament and failed to deliver while Iran is improving with every game and will be hoping to gain a second win in the play-off for 17th on Saturday. The second period was bland with only two ejections and no goals on extra.

#38 PUR 5 vs FRA 13

Group 13-19 crossover

Quarters: 1-4, 1-4, 2-2, 1-3

Referees: Ahmed YOUSSEF (EGY), John WALDOW (NZL).

Extra Man: PUR 1/9; FRA 1/7

Teams:

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT (1), Alan BAYO (1), Luis< VIDAL, Fabian TORRES (c, 1), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis MOJICA, Jesus SANTA, Gerardo POMALES, Derick ESCALFULLERY (2), Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

FRANCE: Nicolas LEMERLE, Thomas SAUX (2), Mathieu CHARBIT (2), Dienne TARDY (1), Sebastiem MONNERET, Thomas BRESSOLIER, Hadniam COLLINEAU (1), Reny UNZVETA (2), Gregoine MUTAMBAYI (1), Michal IZDINSKI (1), Loris JELEFF (c, 1), Remie-Dienne LADOUCE (2), Konstantin STAJIC. Head Coach: Gilles MADELENAT.

France moved into the strong position of playing South Africa in the 13-19
semifinals tomorrow with a slick performance against Puerto Rico. The
difference between the two was huge and France slowed down in the third and
hit top gear again in the fourth. France is the obvious choice to win the
group but some of the other teams are improving fast. Puerto Rico will play
Uzbekistan.

#39 UZB 10 vs RSA 15

Group 13-19 crossover

Quarters: 2-4, 1-4, 5-5, 2-2

Referees: Genaro DEL VALLE (UZB), Jean Michel DELON (FRA).

Extra Man: UZB 4/8; RSA 1/3

Teams:

UZBEKISTAN: Maksin DUDNIKOV, Mirazis KOSIMOV, Azat ISMAYLOV, Ramil VALISHEV (1), Oleg ZAYSEV, Artem MIRONENKO (2), Kirill RUSTAMOV (3), Rinat GAYSIN (2), Oleg SUKHAREV, Vitaliy MALYTSINSKIY, Vitaliy SKRPACHEV, Yaroslav PLETNEV (c, 2). Head Coach: German NURMATOV.

SOUTH AFRICA: Matthew CARTER, Devon CARD (1), Nicholas MELCK, Andrew JONES (1), Oliver SWART (4), Shaun CAMPBELL (1), William NAIDOO (1), Jason MOSTIERT (c), Matthew LIECHTI (1), David DU PLESSIS (3), Nicholas HOCK (2), Sean MASSYN (1), Wesley BOHATA. Head Coach: Peter LAVETT.

South Africa scored its first win of the tournament and Uzbekistan grabbed 10 goals and lost. This was a good result for both teams in the context of the world championships. At this stage of the tournament these lower teams will have some tough, close matches in the final two days. One of the best performers today was RUSTIMOV, the smallest player and one of three players born ¹95 in the competition, who scored three goals, including a wonderful lob.

#40 MNE 8 vs CAN 7 Scoresheet

Group 1-12 crossover

Quarters: 2-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3

Referees: Mario DALLI (MLT), Alexander GALKIN (RUS).

Extra Man: MNE 2/5; CAN 1/5

Teams:

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC , Vukota MARKOVIC (1), Branko LUCIC, Miljan NIKCEVIC, Nikola MARKOVIC, Igor POROBIC, Jovan SARIC (c, 2), Radovan LATINOVIC (1), Nikola MURISIC (3), Dusan MANDIC (1), Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

CANADA: Dusan ALEKSIC, Edgardo MONTES, Nicolas BICARI (2), Mark SANTAMARIA, Mathieu CONSTANTIN (1), Scott ROBINSON (2), Fillip JUISTOVSKI, Omar TOUNI (1), Graeme MYERS, John CONWAY, Oliver VIKALO (1), Jared McELROY, Luke ANDERSON. Head Coach: Scott SMITH.

Canada came back to 6-6 in the final quarter, cracking a three-goal deficit but Montenegro came up with the goal that counts in the last 14 seconds. Montenegro booked a place in the quarter-finals against Italy and overcame what has been a shaky tournament for the Croatian neighbour. Canad had an excellent finish with the three goals, attaining 6-6 at 3:27 and then levelling again with 30 seconds remaining. However, a lapse allowed LATINOVIC to send Montenegro to the quarters. Montenegro converted both its penalty shots and Canada converted its one.

#41 HUN 6 vs ESP 10 Scoresheet

Group 1-12 crossover

Quarters: 2-1, 2-6, 0-1, 2-2

Referees: Radu MATACHE (ROU), Andreas MOIRALIS (GRE).

Extra Man: HUN 2/7; ESP 3/8

Teams:

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI, Kristian ZACZKOVICS, Bertalan RUSZ (1), Tamas JAKAB (2), Bence BATORI (1), Bence FUZEP (1), Adam SZENTEZI, Daniel ANGYAL, David JANSIK (1), Tibor TAZEKAS, Mark ERNYEI, Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

SPAIN: Diego TEBAR, Daniel POSTEGUILLO, Oscar CARILLO (c, 2), Carlos SANCHEZ (1), Sergi CLOLS (1), Adria CARABI (1), Albert ASENJO, Victor GUTIERREZ (2), Ruben DE LERA (1), Andres RODRIGUEZ, Ferran TOMASA (1), Victor CABANAS (1), Sergi GARCIA. Head Coach: Emilio BAUTISTA.

Spain upset powerhouse Hungary with a huge second quarter that sent it to the quarter-finals. Spain created quite a stir in the late afternoon sun at a time when the sunset causes many a problem for the goalkeeper, in this case Hungary’s. But Spain created a positive position in the second quarter. After trailing 2-0 after four minutes, Spain fired back with the next four goals. Hungary replied with one but Spain shot out to 7-3. GUTIERREZ scored twice from in front of goal but then sent two one-on-one shots into the goalkeeper. On the second, Hungary countered and JAKAB scored with 15 seconds left in the half. In the third, Spain scored on extra and Hungary’s BATORI had his penalty shot blocked. Hungary missed two consecutive extra-man chances in the last minute of the period to give Spain a handsome 8-4 lead heading into the final period. Then CLOLS fired the killer punch from low on the right for 9-5 with just 4:32 remaining. ZAKAB responded on counter at 4:17 for 9-5 in a game where both goalkeepers were playing at their best. Spain took a timeout and an extra-man cross-pass on two metres to CABANAS was successful at 3:56. RUSZ gained a consolation goal on counter for 10-6.

#42 EGY 3 vs AUS 15

Group 1-12 crossover

Quarters: 1-2, 1-3, 0-5, 1-5

Referees: Doriel TERPENKA (CAN), Chris FREEBURY (GBR).

Extra Man: EGY 1/4; AUS 5/7

Teams:

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM, Mohanad FATOUH (1), Omar IBRAHIM (1), Karim AHMED, Khaled MAHER, Almoatassem MOHAMED, Yehia TAWFIK (c), Ahmed IBRAHIM, Mohamed SABRI (1), Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE, Adam POLIVKA (1), Nick REDBOND (1), Matthew GILES (1), James FANNON, Wade EAMES (3), Aaron YOUNGER (4), Paul SINDONE, James HOWDEN (c, 1), Jake BURTON (2), Blake EDWARDS (2), Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

Australia took time to settle against Egypt before throwing in a 5-0 third period and cruise away into the islands. Egypt applied plenty of pressure in the first half but ran out of steam as Australia stepped up a notch and did what was necessary in front of more than 30 yellow-shirted supporters. Australia earned a quarter-final match-up with Serbia. YOUNGER (4) and EAMES (3) were again to the fore as all players gained a run in preparation for the sharp end of the tournament. Australia’s BURTON was ejected for violence late in the second quarter after scoring his second goal.

#43 BRA 1 vs USA 8

Group 1-12 crossover

Quarters: 0-2, 0-2, 0-2, 1-2

Referees: Dragan STAMPALIJA (CRO), Hushang HAFEZI (IRI).

Extra Man: BRA 1/5 ; USA 3/8

Teams:

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES, Douglas MAGALHAES, Bernardo ALMEIDA, Arthur SALGADO, Ricardo GUIMARAES, Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA, Tomaz LEAL, Caio LIMA, Gustavo COUTINHO, Anderson SOARES (1), Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jonathan SIBLEY, Nicholas PASCON, Nikola VAVIC (1), Paul REYNOLDS (1), Griffin WHITE (2), Nicolas HOVERSTEN (1), Joshua SAMUELS (c, 1), Eugene CHONG, James PERRY, Forrest WATKINS (1), Christopher WENDT, Spencer HAMBLY (1), Andrew LIGHTERINK. Head Coach: Douglas PEABODY.

The USA came through a dour match-up with Brazil, gaining what it required — a quarter-final berth. Coach PEABODY will be hoping his team didn’t expend too much energy in preparation for what is going to be a hard quarter-final face-off with host nation Croatia, which is looking the form nation here in Sibenik. The big USA supporter base looked happy with the victory, although a little laboured and built on a 4-0 halftime lead.

August 28

Greece v Serbia and Montenegro v Croatia in world championship semifinals

Sibenik, Croatia (August 28).— Greece will play Serbia while Montenegro will clash with Croatia in the semifinals of the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships in Sibenik tomorrow.

Greece won through firstly with a 5-2 success against Spain, who was expected to go further in this tournament following a fantastic four-goal victory over Hungary the night before.

Montenegro then took apart Italy 10-6 after only gaining the lead before halftime.

Serbia needed extra time to get up against Australia after leading 7-6 just before fulltime. Australia equalled to force the two extra periods and went ahead in the first only to see Srdan VUKSANOVIC score twice on extra-man advantage to seal the win at 9-8.

Croatia beat the United States of America 11-6 after only leading 5-4 at halftime.

In the 9-12 bracket, Hungary dusted off Canada 16-8  and Brazil downed Egypt 13-11 thanks to seven goals from Gustavo COUTINHO, the second highest individual performance of these championships.

In the bracket 13-19, New Zealand beat Slovakia 13-7 to book a play-off with France for 13th place. France defeated South Africa 10-4.

Puerto Rico needed extra time to beat Uzbekistan 12-10 after the game was level at 9-9 by fulltime. Uzbekistan bows out of the tournament while Iran and Puerto Rico play off for 17th tomorrow.

#44 SVK 7 v NZL 13

Group 13-19 crossover

Quarters: 2-2, 1-3, 3-3, 1-5

Referees: Mario DALLI (MLT), Genaro DEL VALLE (PUR).

Extra Man: SVK 4/8; NZL 5/7

Teams:

SLOVAKIA: Ludovit KOZAR, Audrey KASPER, Kristian POLOVIC (1), Michal SOMSAG, Vladimir PLVAN (1), Gergely MAGYAR, Marek MOLNAR (2), Sebastian NAGY (1), Marek BIELIK, Miroslav MIKLODA, Jaroslav RUZICKA (2), Filip KSINAN, Lukas KOZMER. Head Coach: Szabolcs ESCHWIG-HAJT.

NEW ZEALAND: Scott GRAHAM, Thomas KEARNS (c, 6), Joseph KAYES (4), Joseph BENSLEY (1), Jarrod WILSON, Jakob BURKHART, Aiden THORNHILL, David LAMBERT, Edward THOMAS (1), Matthew BRYANT, Ricky THOMSON (1), Adam PYE, Lewis WILD. Head Coach: Kurt GOLDSWORTHY.

New Zealand came through a spiteful game to gain a slot in the 13th-place play-off tomorrow. The Kiwis made the break late in the second quarter and went to 8-4 before giving up two goals late in the third period. New Zealand then took the game to 11-6 with the 10th Kiwi goal coming from a five-metre banana-bender from the sideline by captain KEARNS, who scored six goals. An alleged face punch by Slovakia’s PLVAN on New Zealand’s WILSON turned the game nasty as the men from Down Under finished with a flourish. New Zealand had the benefit of scoring three penalty goals and five on extra.

#45 PUR 12 v UZB 10 (OT)

Group 13-19 crossover

Quarters: 3-1, 2-2, 1-3, 3-3, 3-0, 0-1

Referees: Chris FREEBURY (GBR), Dion WILLIS (RSA).

Extra Man: PUR 4/9; UZB 4/7

Teams:

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT (1), Alan BAYO (1), Luis VIDAL (2), Fabian TORRES (c, 6), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis MOJICA (1), Jesus SANTA (1), Gerardo POMALES, Derick ESCALFULLERY, Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

UZBEKISTAN: Maksin DUDNIKOV, Mirazis KOSIMOV, Azat ISMAYLOV, Ramil VALISHEV (2), Oleg ZAYSEV, Artem MIRONENKO (3), Kirill RUSTAMOV, Rinat GAYSIN (2), Oleg SUKHAREV (1), Vitaliy MALYTSINSKIY, Vitaliy SKRPACHEV, Yaroslav PLETNEV (c, 2). Head Coach: German NURMATOV.

Uzbekistan may have led by two goals twice in the third quarter but it was the first period of extra time that sunk its hopes of victory. Puerto Rico commanded much of the first half of the game with Uzbekistan coming back to 6-6 by three-quarter time and then looking the winning team. Then it became Puerto Rican captain TORRES’ game, scoring twice to level the game at 9-9 forcing extra time. Uzbekistan was stunned and the sunset came down on its tournament play when TORRES scored twice, including his sixth goal one second from the end of the first period for a comfortable 12-9 margin. MIRONENKO was the only scorer of the second period and Uzbekistan slid out of the tournament while Puerto Rico will play Iran for 17th place tomorrow.

#46 FRA 10 v RSA 4

Group 13-19 crossover

Quarters: 1-1, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1

Referees: Roberto CABRAL (BRA), Ahmed YOUSSEF (EGY)

Extra Man: FRA 3/8; RSA 2/13

Teams:

FRANCE: Nicolas LEMERLE, Thomas SAUX (1), Mathieu CHARBIT, Dienne TARDY, Sebastiem MONNERET (2), Thomas BRESSOLIER (1), Hadniam COLLINEAU, Reny UNZVETA (3), Gregoine MUTAMBAYI, Michal IZDINSKI, Loris JELEFF (c, 1), Remie-Dienne LADOUCE (2), Konstantin STAJIC. Head Coach: Gilles MADELENAT.

SOUTH AFRICA: Matthew CARTER, Devon CARD (2), Nicholas MELCK, Andrew JONES, Oliver SWART (1), Shaun CAMPBELL, William NAIDOO (1), Jason MOSTIERT (c), Matthew LIECHTI, David DU PLESSIS, Nicholas HOCK, Sean MASSYN, Wesley BOHATA. Head Coach: Peter LAVETT.

France rightfully moved into the play-off for 13th with New Zealand after a well-compiled game. South Africa applied pressure from the start and was unlucky with two refereeing decisions that led to two French goals and a 4-2 advantage. The first came with a seemingly incorrect ejection and the second with a free-throw goal scored with a backhand by the French centre forward within three metres of the goal. That inflamed the South African crowd and took the wind out of South Africa’s sails although it must be said that France was always going to be the winner. France took advantage in the third period and coasted in the fourth. South Africa had the better of the ejections but could not convert while JONES was sent for misconduct in the third period.

#47 CAN 8 v HUN 16

Group 9-12 semifinal

Quarters: 1-3, 2-4, 5-4, 0-5

Referees:  Santiago RODRIGUEZ (ESP), John WALDOW (NZL).

Extra Man: CAN 3/6; HUN 1/2

Teams:

CANADA: Dusan ALEKSIC, Edgardo MONTES (1), Nicolas BICARI (2), Mark SANTAMARIA (1), Mathieu CONSTANTIN (1), Scott ROBINSON (1), Fillip JUISTOVSKI, Omar TOUNI (1), Graeme MYERS, John CONWAY (1), Oliver VIKALO, Jared McELROY, Luke ANDERSON. Head Coach: Scott SMITH.

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI, Kristian ZACZKOVICS (1), Bertalan RUSZ (2), Tamas JAKAB, Bence BATORI (5), Bence FUZEP (2), Adam SZENTEZI, Daniel ANGYAL (3), David JANSIK (1), Tibor FAZEKAS (2), Mark ERNYEI, Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

Hungary, still smarting from missing the top eight — a rarity for the country — made sure of the victory over Canada. BATORI did what he does best, and that is scoring goals, but this time he as supported by his team as it went from 3-1 at the quarter to 7-3. Canada burst back into the game and brought it to within one goal at 9-8, stretching to 11-8 after that scare. Canada ran out of steam and couldn’t find the crack in the Hungarian defence as Hungary increased the score on the board. Canada had opportunities but poor passing in front of goal let it down. It was a low-fouling match in which Canadian goalkeeper ALEKSIC gave up a penalty but then blocked the shot when 9-5 down. However, Hungary scored 13 seconds later.

#48 EGY 11 v BRA 13

Group 9-12 semifinal

Quarters: 5-3, 2-3, 2-4, 2-3

Referees: Michael GOLDENBERG (USA), Dragan RAJEVIC (MNE)

Extra Man: EGY 4/12; BRA 4/7

Teams:

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM (2), Mohanad FATOUH (1), Omar IBRAHIM (3), Karim AHMED (2), Khaled MAHER (1), Almoatassem MOHAMED, Yehia TAWFIK (c, 2), Ahmed IBRAHIM, Mohamed SABRI, Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES, Douglas MAGALHAES (1), Bernardo ALMEIDA, Arthur SALGADO, Ricardo GUIMARAES (1), Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA (1), Tomaz LEAL, Caio LIMA, Gustavo COUTINHO (7), Anderson SOARES (3), Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

Egypt paid the price for not marking SOARES in the final quarter, losing the game to Brazil by just the two goals. SOARES was left untouched on the right and converted the go-ahead goal at 11-10 and the winning 13-10 goal at 1:33 in what was an exciting match. Egypt led 7-6 at halftime and went 8-6 and 9-7 ahead before the awesome arm of COUTINHO took hold. He had three by halftime and scored another three in the third with a go-ahead 12-11 goal in the fourth period. If Egypt had paid more attention to these two the score could have been completely different. Egypt’s FATOUH was excluded from the game for misconduct in the third period.

#49 GRE 5 v ESP 2

Group 1-8 Quarter-final
Quarters: 1-0, 1-0, 0-1, 3-1 Referees: Dragan STAMPALIJA (CRO), Radu MATACHE (ROU).

Extra Man: GRE 0/5; ESP 0/1

Teams:

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS, Konstantinos VITELLAS, Marios KAPOTSIS, Konstantinos GOUVIS, Antonios XENAKIS, Kyriakos PONTIKEAS (1), Dmitrios LAPPAS (1), Angelos VLACHOPOULOS (c, 2), Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS (1), Dimitrios TIGKAS, Emmanouil SOLANKAKIS, Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

SPAIN: Diego TEBAR, Daniel POSTEGUILLO, Oscar CARILLO (c, 2), Carlos SANCHEZ, Sergi CLOLS, Adria CARABI, Albert ASENJO, Victor GUTIERREZ, Ruben DE LERA, Andres RODRIGUEZ, Ferran TOMASA, Victor CABANAS, Sergi GARCIA. Head Coach: Emilio BAUTISTA.

The critical stage of the tournament had finally arrived and goals were not on the agenda, it seemed, except for the final quarter when it mattered. However, Greece became the first team to make it to the semifinals. Defence was more important. Greece led 2-0 at halftime and could not score another goal until early in the fourth period, converting counter. Spain responded quickly through captain CARILLO but Greece made it 4-2 with a cross pass on counter to DERMITZAKIS at 6:04. There was still time for Spain but it was nearly three minutes later that Greece went to a timeout and VLACHOPOULOS converted extra-man for 5-2. A minute later CARILLO ended his match when he struck a Greek player on the face when going for the ball. Greece held out Spain and the team that humbled Hungary 10-6 the night before with a spectacular display was relegated to the fifth-eighth series.

#50 ITA 6 v MNE 10

Group 1-8 Quarter-final
Quarters: 1-1, 2-3, 2-3, 1-3

Referees: Torsten BOCK (GER), Alexander GALKIN (RUS).

Extra Man: ITA 2/12; MNE 8/11

Teams:

ITALY: Luca MUGELLI, Aimone BARABINO (1), Luca DA MONTE, Davide STEARDO, Giacomo GIANNI (1), Giovanni BIANCO, Cristiano MIRARCHAI (c, 1), Luca MARZIALI (2), Vincenzo RENZUTO, Giuliano MATTIELLO, Giacomo CUPIDO, Matteo GITTO (1), Claudio BISEGNA. Head Coach: Paolo ZIZZA.

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC (1), Nikola MARKOVIC (3), Branko LUCIC (2), Miljan NIKCEVIC, Vukota MARKOVIC, Igor POROBIC, Jovan SARIC (c, 2), Radovan LATINOVIC, Nikola MURISIC (2), Dusan MANDIC, Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.<p>

Montenegro surfed into the semifinals with a come-from-behind victory over Italy. It looked a smooth operator early in the tournament while the Montenegrins were rough around the edges. Italy led at one, two and three, only to have Montenegro level. Then Montenegro made its own plans, taking a one-goal lead at halftime. This became 5-3, 6-4 and 7-5 before the final break. VIDOVIC from the top and Nikola MARKOVIC with his third on extra took Montenegro to 9-5 at 3:48 left in the game. Italy could not crack it after a timeout and on the next extra-man play had the ball blocked by KANDIC. Italy again used the extra and the short cross pass to Barabino found the net for 9-6. MURISIC found the cage on lob to close the scoring at 10-6.

#51 SRB 9 v AUS 8 OT

Group 1-8 Quarter-final

Quarters: 3-2, 2-1, 1-2, 1-2, 1-0, 0-2

Referees: Jean Michel DELON (FRA), Mario BIANCHI (ITA).

Extra Man: AUS 2/6; SRB 3/8

Teams:

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE (3), Adam POLIVKA, Nick REDBOND, Matthew GILES, James FANNON (2), Wade EAMES, Aaron YOUNGER (3), Paul SINDONE, James HOWDEN (c), Jake BURTON, Blake EDWARDS, Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

SERBIA: Ivan JOVICIC, Strahinja RASOVIC (2), Dorde VUKMANOVIC, Srdan VUKSANOVIC (2), Aleksa SAPONIC, Matija SILASKI, Lazar KOMADINIC, Nikola DEDOVIC, Nikola MARIC, Nemanja UBOVIC (3), Milos MILICIC (c, 2), Nikola KOMAR, Dimitrije RISTICEVIC. Head Coach: Nenad VASILEVSKI.

Serbia needed extra time to get over a tireless Australia after the game was tied at 7-7 by fulltime. YOUNGER and UBOVIC swapped two goals each before DAVIE scored on extra to give Australia the lead at the first break.  MILICIC scored from deep to level in the second quarter but DAVIE after a wrestle at two metres and YOUNGER cleaning up a loose ball at four metres, gave the Aussies a 5-3 break at halftime. RASOVIC opened the third period on counter for Serbia and MILICIC converted a penalty to level the game at 5-5 by 5:59. FANNON scored just after the extra-man situation had finished at 3:17 for the lead going into the final quarter. UBOVIC scored his third with a massive goal from centre forward, lunging forward and turning to score. RASOVIC shot from deep right and the ball bounced back into his hand to score for 7-6 at 5:30. A Serbian timeout came to nothing and Serbian had the game in hand as it went inside the final minute. Australia blocked an extra-man attempt by Serbia and on the counter, DAVIE fumbled, then smacked in the ball at 0:38 for 7-7. Serbia called a timeout but the shot was blocked on the line, giving Australia the ball to control to force extra time. FANNON took Australia to the lead on extra in their first attack of the first period of extra time and each attack thereafter was thwarted by solid defence and one Aussie turnover. VUKSANOVIC scored the second attempt on extra in the next period for 8-8. DAVIE was excluded and Serbia took a timeout at 0:59. VUKSANOVIC scored a repeat goal for the lead with 38 seconds left in the game and Australia called a timeout but Australia tried to play the ball to centre forward where it was easily snapped up by Serbia, who then wasted the time to go to the semifinals.

#52 CRO 11 v USA 6

Group 1-8 Quarter-final

Quarters: 3-2, 2-2, 3-1, 3-1

Referees: Balasz SZEKELY (HUN), Vlastimil KRATOCHVIL (SVK).

Extra Man: CRO 6/9; USA 2/4

Teams:

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC, Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (2), Marko IVANKOVIC (2), Franko GERATOVIC (1), Marko MACAN, Andrija VLAHOVIC (1), Kristijan MILAKOVIC (1), Luka KOLAR, Marko BAUTOVIC (c, 2), Duje LUSIC, Luka PAVLOVIC (1), Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jonathan SIBLEY, Nicholas PASCON, Nikola VAVIC, Paul REYNOLDS (1), Griffin WHITE (1), Nicolas HOVERSTEN, Joshua SAMUELS (c, 1), Eugene CHONG, James PERRY, Forrest WATKINS (2), Christopher WENDT (1), Spencer HAMBY, Andrew LIGHTERINK. Head Coach: Douglas PEABODY.

Croatia pleased a home crowd with victory against a gallant USA, which hasn’t played pretty water polo all week until tonight. Croatia struggled to stop the outside shooting and general all-round play of the North Americans after leading 3-1. The USA came back to level at 3-3 midway through the second quarter thanks to WATKINS’ second goal and was one a parity at four before PAVLOVIC scored to give Croatia the halftime lead. GERATOVIC took Croatia out to two and by the next break Croatia had the game in a glove at 8-5. A 3-1 final quarter showed the power of the Croatians and the USA must be congratulated on lifting for the quarter-finals.

August 29

Greece and Croatia to face off in world junior men’s final

Sibenik, Croatia (August 29).— Greece and Croatia will play for gold at the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here tomorrow evening.

Greece beat Serbia 6-5 with a goal in the last six seconds while Croatia had to come back from 3-1 down to beat Montenegro 8-6.

In the group 5-8 semifinals, Spain easily accounted for Australia 9-5 and Aimone BARABINO scored a backhand goal six seconds from time to beat the United States of America 9-8.

In the classification matches, Puerto Rico beat Iran 6-4 for 17th; Slovakia beat South Africa 17-10 for 15th; France downed New Zealand 9-5 for 13th; Canada trumped Egypt 12-3 for 11th and outgoing champion Hungary staved off Brazil 8-7 for ninth

#53  IRI 4 v PUR 6 Scoresheet 17th Place

Classification 17th & 18th

Quarters: 1-1, 0-1, 1-2, 2-2

Referees: John WALDOW (NZL), Doriel TERPENKA (CAN).

Extra Man: IRI 0/5; PUR 2/4

Teams:

IRAN: Saeed CHANABDAR SHIRAZI, Amir Hossein BARAEI (c, 1), Ali Reza SOLTANI, Ataollah BARKHORDARY ROZBAHANY (1), Amin SALEH NEZHAD (1), Amir DEHDARI, Mahdi DAEETAGHI (1), Malek ZIAEI, Moein ESMAEILPOUR SOUFIANI, Salar EISA BEIGLOO, Arash HATAMI, Mohammad MOHAMMADI, Arash NASIMI SHAD. Head Coach: Davood REZASOLTANI.

PUERTO RICO: Ramon VIDAL, Francisco VARGAS-AYMAT (2), Alan BAYO (1), Luis VIDAL, Fabian TORRES (c, 1), Roberto ESTREMERA, Francisco GARCIA, Luis MOJICA, Jesus SANTA (1), Gerardo POMALES, Derick ESCALFULLERY (1), Jose MARIN, Fernando ZAYAS_SANCHEZ. Head Coach: Angel MUNIZ.

Puerto Rico claimed 17th position after taking seven minutes to score its first goal. Iran fought hard but the Puerto Ricans were a little slicker and better on extra-man advantage. Puerto Rico gave up six fouls, including a penalty, which NEZHAD converted. Puerto Rico twice led by two goals in the third period while Iran closed the gap to 4-3 with just over four minutes remaining. Puerto Rico went to a 6-3 lead with Iran scoring the last inside the final minute.

#54 SVK 17 v RSA 10 Scoresheet 15th Place

Classification 15th & 16th
Quarters: 5-3, 2-2, 5-2, 5-3

Referees: Ahmed YOUSSEF (EGY), Chris FREEBURY (GBR).

Extra Man: SVK 7/11; RSA 3/13

Teams:

SLOVAKIA: Ludovit KOZAR, Audrey KASPER (1), Kristian POLOVIC (2), Michal SOMSAG (2), Vladimir PLVAN (1), Gergely MAGYAR (1), Marek MOLNAR (7), Sebastian NAGY (3), Marek BIELIK, Miroslav MIKLODA, Jaroslav RUZICKA, Filip KSINAN, Lukas KOZMER. Head Coach: Szabolcs ESCHWIG-HAJT.

SOUTH AFRICA: Matthew CARTER, Devon CARD (2), Nicholas MELCK, Andrew JONES, Oliver SWART (2), Shaun CAMPBELL, William NAIDOO, Jason MOSTIERT (c, 2), Matthew LIECHTI (1), David DU PLESSIS (3), Nicholas HOCK, Sean MASSYN, Wesley BOHATA. Head Coach: Peter LAVETT.

Slovakia closed the tournament with 15th place, turning a close game into a wider margin, especially with a couple of cheap goals near the end of the third period. The two-goal halftime margin stretched to five by the next break. MOLNAR, who had already scored four goals by then, notched up three more in the final eight minutes. It was a scrappy game with 29 major fouls and Slovakians POLOVIC and MIKLODA were sent for misconduct in the third and fourth periods respectively. Slovakia slipped three placings from the juniors in 2007 for Slovakia while South Africa improved two positions.

#55   NZL 5 v FRA 9 Scoresheet 13th Place

Classification 13th & 14th

Quarters: 0-2, 1-2, 0-3, 4-2

Referees: Nikola NJEGOVAN (SRB), Dion WILLIS (RSA).

Extra Man: NZL 1/5; FRA 4/8

Teams:

NEW ZEALAND: Scott GRAHAM, Thomas KEARNS (c), Joseph KAYES (1), Joseph BENSLEY, Jarrod WILSON (injured, not playing), Jakob BURKHART, Aiden THORNHILL, David LAMBERT, Edward THOMAS, Matthew BRYANT (1), Ricky THOMSON, Adam PYE (3), Lewis WILD. Head Coach: Kurt GOLDSWORTHY.

FRANCE: Nicolas LEMERLE, Thomas SAUX, Mathieu CHARBIT (2), Dienne TARDY (1), Sebastiem MONNERET (2), Thomas BRESSOLIER, Hadniam COLLINEAU (1), Reny UNZVETA (1), Gregoine MUTAMBAYI, Michal IZDINSKI (2), Loris JELEFF (c), Remie-Dienne LADOUCE, Konstantin STAJIC. Head Coach: Gilles MADELENAT.

France won through in a game that bogged down in the third period as both teams seemed sluggish, taking too many poor shooting options. The game improved in the final quarter with New Zealand awakening to win the period. France controlled the extra-man attack and defended man down brilliantly. New Zealand felt the loss of WILSON who received a broken nose in the encounter with Slovakia and was hospitalised. New Zealand improved three positions from Long Beach two years ago and France dropped three.

#56 CAN 12 vs EGY 3 Scoresheet 11th Place

Classification 11th & 12th

Quarters: 5-0, 5-0, 0-1, 2-2

Referees: Dragan RAJEVIC (MNE), Roberto CABRAL (BRA).

Extra Man: CAN 0/1; EGY 1/7

Teams:

CANADA: Dusan ALEKSIC, Edgardo MONTES (2), Nicolas BICARI (3), Mark SANTAMARIA, Mathieu CONSTANTIN (1), Scott ROBINSON (1), Fillip JUISTOVSKI (1), Omar TOUNI (1), Graeme MYERS, John CONWAY (2), Oliver VIKALO, Jared McELROY, Luke ANDERSON. Head Coach: Scott SMITH.

EGYPT: Ramy ALFRID, Ahmed ABDELHAMID, Islam SALAH ELDIN, Karim KASSEM, Mohanad FATOUH (1), Omar IBRAHIM, Karim AHMED, Khaled MAHER (1), Almoatassem MOHAMED, Yehia TAWFIK (c), Ahmed IBRAHIM (1), Mohamed SABRI, Moustafa MOHAMMED. Head Coach: Walid MOHAMED.

Canada raced through the first two periods and applied the brakes, using the rest of the game as a training event. This allowed Egypt back into the game for a meaningful contest. Canada showed all its skills in the first half with counters producing many of the goals. But it was also the skills of cross-passing and watching out for other players that brought more goals. Canada finished 11th, two places better than in Long Beach, and Egypt boosted its ranking to 12th from 16th.

#57 BRA 7 v HUN 8 Scoresheet 9th Place

Classification 9th & 10th

Quarters: 0-0, 2-1, 4-2, 2-4

Referees: Nick HODGERS (AUS), Hushang HAFEZI (IRI).

Extra Man: HUN 2/5; BRA 1/11

Teams:

HUNGARY: Marcell MEIXNER, Balazs KORENYI, Kristian ZACZKOVICS, Bertalan RUSZ, Tamas JAKAB, Bence BATORI (3), Bence FUZEP, Adam SZENTEZI, Daniel ANGYAL (1), David JANSIK (1), Tibor FAZEKAS (2), Mark ERNYEI (1), Botond BARABAS. Head Coach: Szilard DEREKAS.

BRAZIL: Anderson FERREIRA (c), Gustavo GUIMARAES (1), Douglas MAGALHAES (1), Bernardo ALMEIDA (1), Arthur SALGADO, Ricardo GUIMARAES, Matheus CRIVELLA, Lucas SA, Tomaz LEAL, Caio LIMA (1), Gustavo COUTINHO (1), Anderson SOARES (2), Matheus LIMA. Head Coach: Angelo COELHO.

This was an incredible game with outgoing champion Hungary coming from 1-0 down halfway through the second period to being 8-3 up in the fourth and nearly allowing Brazil to level. If Brazil could work its extra-man better, the result could have been quite different. So many chances were lost. Brazil had the edge for nearly a minute but the disappointing Hungarians lifted their game to travel through to 7-3 at the final break. With the game in hand, Hungary sat back and Brazil bounced in with four goals in the last 3:20. Three goals came in the last 84 seconds of play, such was Brazil’s determination. Hungary goes home as world No 9 and Brazil’s 10th is better than 14th in Long Beach.

Group 5-8 Semifinals

#58  ESP 9 v AUS 5 Scoresheet

Group 5-8 Semifinal

Quarters: 1-2, 3-0, 2-2, 3-1

Referees: Mario DALLI (MLT), Michael GOLDENBERG (USA).

Extra Man: ESP 2/2; AUS 2/10

Teams:

SPAIN: Diego TEBAR, Daniel POSTEGUILLO, Oscar CARILLO (c, 2), Carlos SANCHEZ, Sergi CLOLS, Adria CARABI (10, Albert ASENJO, Victor GUTIERREZ, Ruben DE LERA (1), Andres RODRIGUEZ, Ferran TOMASA (2), Victor CABANAS (1), Sergi GARCIA. Head Coach: Emilio BAUTISTA.

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE, Adam POLIVKA, Nick REDBOND, Matthew GILES, James FANNON, Wade EAMES (1), Aaron YOUNGER (1), Paul SINDONE (1), James HOWDEN (c), Jake BURTON (2), Blake EDWARDS, Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

Spain moved into the play-off for fifth place with a comfortable 9-5 victory over a sluggish Australia. The southern continent led the first period but then slipped into poor attack, crowding and inconsistent shooting. The insertion of big centre forward BURTON made a difference with two goals to bring the score to 6-5 at the top of the fourth quarter but Spain has too much talent and completely outplayed the Aussies with a handsome margin.

#59 ITA 9 v USA 8 Scoresheet

Group 5-8 Semifinal

Quarters:3-1, 3-1, 1-4, 2-2

Referees: Santiago RODRIGUEZ (ESP), Andreas MOIRALIS (GRE).

Extra Man: ITA 3/5; USA 2/4

Teams:

ITALY: Luca MUGELLI, Aimone BARABINO (2), Luca DA MONTE (1), Davide STEARDO (2), Giacomo GIANNI, Giovanni BIANCO, Cristiano MIRARCHAI (2), Luca MARZIALI, Vincenzo RENZUTO, Giuliano MATTIELLO (1), Giacomo CUPIDO, Matteo GITTO (1), Claudio BISEGNA. Head Coach: Paolo ZIZZA.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jonathan SIBLEY, Nicholas PASCON (2), Nikola VAVIC (1), Paul REYNOLDS, Griffin WHITE (2), Nicolas HOVERSTEN (1), Joshua SAMUELS (c), Eugene CHONG, James PERRY (1), Forrest WATKINS (1), Christopher WENDT, Spencer HAMBY, Andrew LIGHTERINK. Head Coach: Douglas PEABODY.

BARABINO was the toast of Italy after his heroic centre-forward, backhand goal six seconds from time to break an 8-8 deadlock. Italy took the timeout and set the play to get the ball cleanly to BARABINO, who was first checked and then skimmed in the right-hander past SIBLEY. Italy went to the fifth-place play-off with Spain while the USA will play traditional rival Australia for seventh. Italy controlled the match from the start and at 5-1 it looked like a runaway victory. However, the USA toiled hard to reduce the deficit to 6-5 and 7-6 by the last break.  Then Italy’s bubble burst when firstly WHITE and secondly PASCON took the USA into the lead. Cheers of “USA” were starting to dull the sound of “Italia” from the parochial supporters. With 32 seconds on the clock STEARDO  sent in a five-metre missile to level. Then, 26 seconds later BARABINO was elevated to sainthood. USA head coach PEABODY was still irate after the match regarding the contra foul that gave Italy the chance to win. He gained a yellow card for his poolside outburst

Group 1-4 Semifinals

#60 GRE 6 v SRB 5 Scoresheet

Group 1-4 Semifinal

Quarters: 1-1, 1-1, 1-2, 3-1

Referees: Torsten BOCK (GER), Balasz SZEKELY (HUN).

Extra Man: GRE 1/5; SRB 1/3 Teams:

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (1), Konstantinos VITELLAS, Marios KAPOTSIS (4), Konstantinos GOUVIS (1), Antonios XENAKIS, Kyriakos PONTIKEAS, Dmitrios LAPPAS, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS, Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS, Dimitrios TIGKAS, Emmanouil SOLANKAKIS, Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

SERBIA: Ivan JOVICIC, Strahinja RASOVIC (1), Dorde VUKMANOVIC, Srdan VUKSANOVIC (1), Aleksa SAPONIC, Matija SILASKI, Lazar KOMADINIC, Nikola DEDOVIC (2), Nikola MARIC, Nemanja UBOVIC (1), Milos MILICIC (c), Nikola KOMAR, Dimitrije RISTICEVIC. Head Coach: Nenad VASILEVSKI.

Greece is back in the world championship limelight, making the gold-medal final with victory over Serbia and hoping to emulate the Greek team of 2001 in Istanbul, winning gold. KAPOTSIS did what BARABINO did in the previous match and become a hero of his nation. He scored his fourth and most important goal when needed most and just nine seconds from time. There was a slight controversy in how the possession came to earn the goal but the fine line was probably correct and Greece lost the ball and regained it for a new possession. KAPOTSIS drove down the left a few metres and rose high and fired the ball, throwing his head wildly, urging every gram of strength in his body to send the ball over the line. IOVICIC charged the ball and blocked it but the ball spun under his arm and into the bottom right, fully crossing the line as IOVICIC vainly lunged for the orb. Greec had the game after leading 2-1 at halftime but trailing 4-3 at the the final break after DEDOVIC scored twice. KAPOTSIS levelled three minutes into the final spell and UBOVIC responded immediately from two metres. Greece took a timeout and GENIDOUNIAS scored off the extra-man play from deep right. At 1:30, Serbia went to a timeout but twice VUKSANOVIC shot with the first going over the back line off the goalkeeper and the second skimming offt he crossbar. Greece had a timeout at 0:45 and the rest is history.

#61 MNE 6 v CRO 8 Scoresheet

Group 1-4 Semifinal

Quarters: 2-1, 1-1, 2-4, 1-2

Referees: Alexander GALKIN (RUS), Mario BIANCHI (ITA).

Extra Man: MNE 1/5; CRO 3/6

Teams:

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC (1), Nikola MARKOVIC (1), Branko LUCIC, Miljan NIKCEVIC, Vukota MARKOVIC (1), Igor POROBIC, Jovan SARIC (c, 1), Radovan LATINOVIC (1), Nikola MURISIC (1), Dusan MANDIC, Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC (1), Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (1), Marko IVANKOVIC (1), Franko GERATOVIC, Marko MACAN, Andrija VLAHOVIC (1), Kristijan MILAKOVIC (3), Luka KOLAR, Marko BAUTOVIC (c), Duje LUSIC, Luka PAVLOVIC (1), Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

Croatia beat neighbour Montenegro for a shot at Greece in the gold-medal final. Croatia needed five of the last six goals to achieve the victory. Montenegro had the upper hand from the start when MURISIC opened five minutes after the start. PAVLOVIC responded for Croatia from two metres on extra man. LATINOVIC sent one in from the top on extra just before the first break. VIDOVIC crushed the hearts of the huge Croatian crowd with Montenegro’s third goal midway through the second period. After a turnover went bad, BENIC found himself free on four metres, scoring for 3-2 at 2:57 with no further scoring in the half. As the wind was whipping up ahead of a storm at the scenic outdoor pool, VLAHOVIC equalised with a drive down the right, slipping the ball past the left hip of KANDIC. It started a rush of goals with the MARKOVIC brothers, Nikola and Vukota, scoring for 5-3. However, MILAKOVIC on the deep left and MARINIC-KRAGIC from the top, had the game at 5-5. IVANKOVIC made it three in a row for Croatia — six goals in four minutes. Montenegro called a timeout with 20 seconds left but the subsequent play saw the ball lost t centre forward. Croatia had two shots hit the post early in the fourth quarter while Montenegro’s second attempt saw captain SARIC arrow in a goal from nine metres for 6-6 at 4:15. Croatia called a timeout at 2:20 and the play was to send the ball to the hole, gain the exclusion and score on extra. It followed the plan and MILAKOVIC scored from deep left on extra for 7-6 at 1:42. On the next Croatian attack, MILAKOVIC scored again, sending the huge crowd to their feet at 0:57 with a two-goal advantage (8-6). Montenegro went to a timeout at 0:31 but the crowd had started to go home. The shot bounced off the goalkeeper into safe hands and Croatia was into the final.

August 30

Croatia claims second world junior gold medal in Sibenik

Sibenik, Croatia (August 30).— Croatia claimed its second gold medal when it won a last-gasp, extra-time victory over Greece on day nine of the XV FINA Junior Men’s Water Polo World Championships here tonight.

In front of 2500 screaming fans, Croatia gained the victory to go with its Havana, Cuba medal in 1997, with a goal two seconds from time by Marko IVANKOVIC after Greece led most of the way. However, Croatia took the lead with six minutes remaining and Greece equalised to take the game to two extra periods.

Greece went 8-7 ahead but Croatia equalised and the game was thought to go to penalty shootout except for the heroic shot by IVANKOVIC, who was named the player of the tournament.

Greek goalkeeper Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS was named the goalkeeper of the tournament while the highest goal-scorer was Bence BATORI from Hungary with 24  goals.

Serbia had to come from 6-5 down to beat Montenegro 7-6 for the bronze medal just before the final buzzer. It was Srdan VUKSANOVIC who fired in a seven-metre shot while poorly guarded to claim the winner 10 seconds from time. Serbia was never headed until inside the final five minutes when Montenegrin Superboy Nikola MARKOVIC scored his third goal.

Spanish captain Oscar CARILLO scored a counter-attack goal 2:20 from time to edge out Italy 7-6 for fifth place. It was CARILLO’S third goal in what has been a spectacular tournament for him. Spain led for all of the match until Italy levelled the game at 5:18 in the last period.

Australia clearly won the seventh-place play-off against the United States of America 11-3 with centre forward Jeremy DAVIE and outside shooter Aaron YOUNGER increasing their tournament tallies to 17 goals each.

The All Star Team named after the championships was:

Goalkeeper: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS (GRE)
Centre forward: Nemanja UBOVIC (SRB)

Australia 11 v USA 3 Scoresheet 7th Place

Classification 7th-8th

Quarters: 2-1, 4-1, 1-1, 4-0

Referees: Doriel TERPENKA (CAN), Mario BIANCHI (ITA).

Extra Man: AUS 2/5; USA 2/10

Teams:

AUSTRALIA: James CLARK, Jeremy DAVIE (3), Adam POLIVKA, Nick REDBOND, Matthew GILES (3), James FANNON (1), Wade EAMES, Aaron YOUNGER (1), Paul SINDONE (1), James HOWDEN (c), Jake BURTON, Blake EDWARDS (2), Edward SLADE. Head Coach: Simon DALEY.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jonathan SIBLEY, Nicholas PASCON, Nikola VAVIC, Paul REYNOLDS, Griffin WHITE, Nicolas HOVERSTEN (1), Joshua SAMUELS (c, 1), Eugene CHONG, James PERRY, Forrest WATKINS (1), Christopher WENDT, Spencer HAMBLY, Andrew LIGHTERINK. Head Coach: Douglas PEABODY.

Australia completed a double by beating the USA comfortably at consecutive world championships in the classification game. In Long Beach they played for fifth and sixth. This time they have slipped down the ladder. Australia was in total control throughout with the USA gaining the first goal but having to watch as the Aussies scored all over the pool and played probably some of their best water polo of the tournament. DAVIE took his tournament total to 17 with three goals and a standout week in centre forward. YOUNGER also scored 17 with just the one today.

Spain 7 v Italy 6 Scoresheet 5th Place

Classsification 5th-6th
Quarters: 2-1, 3-1, 1-2, 1-2
Referees: Nikola NJEGOVAN (SRB), Radu MATACHE (ROU).
Extra Man: ESP 2/5; ITA 1/6
Teams:
SPAIN: Diego TEBAR, Daniel POSTEGUILLO, Oscar CARILLO (c, 3), Carlos SANCHEZ, Sergi CLOLS, Adria CARABI, Albert ASENJO, Victor GUTIERREZ, Ruben DE LERA (2), Andres RODRIGUEZ, Ferran TOMASA (1), Victor CABANAS (1), Sergi GARCIA. Head Coach: Emilio BAUTISTA.
ITALY: Luca MUGELLI, Aimone BARABINO (1), Luca DA MONTE, Davide STEARDO, Giacomo GIANNI (1), Giovanni BIANCO, Cristiano MIRARCHI (1), Luca MARZIALI (1), Vincenzo RENZUTO, Giuliano MATTIELLO, Giacomo CUPIDO (1), Matteo GITTO (1), Claudio BISEGNA. Head Coach: Paolo ZIZZA.
Spain produced its best of the tournament in the latter stages and this match proved the capabilities of the side under the nose of national senior men’s coach Rafael AGUILLAR. DE LERA started the match with the first two goals and by two minutes into the second period Spain was 4-1 ahead thanks to two goals from captain CARILLO, one of the leading players in Sibenik. At halftime the margin was three but Italy came back to 5-4 down and 6-5 behind early in the final quarter. With five minutes remaining, Italian captain MIRARCHI levelled the game, but at 2:20 Spain gained the edge when CARILLO sped down the pool, was gunned down but still managed to pop the ball into the back of the net for what was the 7-6 victory. Italy was the beaten finalist in Long Beach while Spain improved two positions on the 2007 effort.

Serbia 7 v Montenegro 6 Scoresheet BRONZE MEDAL

Bronze Medal Final

Quarters: 2-0, 1-2, 2-2, 2-2

Referees: Dragan STAMPALJIA (CRO), Michael GOLDENBERG (USA).

Extra Man: SRB 2/6; MNE 2/6

Teams:

SERBIA: Ivan JOVICIC, Strahinja RASOVIC (2), Dorde VUKMANOVIC, Srdan VUKSANOVIC (1), Aleksa SAPONIC, Matija SILASKI, Lazar KOMADINIC, Nikola DEDOVIC (1), Nikola MARIC, Nemanja UBOVIC (2), Milos MILICIC (c, 1), Nikola KOMAR, Dimitrije RISTICEVIC. Head Coach: Nenad VASILEVSKI.

MONTENEGRO: Slaven KANDIC, Stefan VIDOVIC (1), Nikola MARKOVIC (3), Branko LUCIC, Miljan NIKCEVIC, Vukota MARKOVIC, Igor POROBIC, Jovan SARIC (c), Radovan LATINOVIC, Nikola MURISIC (2), Dusan MANDIC, Nemanja VICO, Nikola RIBAC. Head Coach: Veselin KRIVOKAPIC.

Srdan VUKSANOVIC ensured Serbia’s rich tradition continued when he slotted a seven-metre shot, 10 seconds from time to secure a 7-6 victory over Montenegro. It seemed that Montenegro had bided its time all game with Nikola MARKOVIC scoring his third and most precious goal to take his country 6-5 ahead at the 4:39 mark in the final period. Serbia had always led, although Montenegro did draw level at 3-3 early in the third quarter. It took Serbia three minutes to recover from MARKOVIC’s shot but MILICIC converted extra at 1:48 for 6-6. Montenegro took a timeout at 0:49 and the game seemed to head for extra time but VUKSANOVIC bronzed out with his winner. A timeout to Montenegro did not yield a goal.

Greece 8 v Croatia 9 Scoresheet GOLD MEDAL

Gold Medal Final

Quarters: 3-1, 1-0, 2-4, 1-2, 1-1, 0-1

Referees: Alexander GALKIN (RUS), Vlastimil KRATOCHVIL (SVK).

Extra Man: GRE 2/7; CRO 5/14

Teams:

GREECE: Georgios PAPADOGIANNIS, Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (3), Konstantinos VITELLAS, Marios KAPOTSIS (2), Konstantinos GOUVIS (1), Antonios XENAKIS, Kyriakos PONTIKEAS (1), Dmitrios LAPPAS, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS, Dimosthenis DERMITZAKIS, Dimitrios TIGKAS, Emmanouil SOLANKAKIS (1), Efstratios KECHAGIAS. Head Coach: Periklis DAMASKOS.

CROATIA: Juraj SELEM, Hrvoje BENIC, Jerko MARINIC-KRAGIC (2), Marko IVANKOVIC (1), Franko GERATOVIC (1), Marko MACAN, Andrija VLAHOVIC (1), Kristijan MILAKOVIC (4), Luka KOLAR, Marko BAUTOVIC (c), Duje LUSIC, Luka PAVLOVIC, Ivan JUKIC. Head Coach: Ivica TUCAK.

Croatia won its second gold medal with an extra-time victory over Greece, attained with a goal in the last two seconds. Croatia opened the scoring through MILAKOVIC on extra but from then on it was all Greece with GENIDOUNIAS levelling with a massive long-range missile, followed by PONTIKEAS’ effort from a shorter range of nine metres. KAPOTSIS scored on extra from the top for 3-1 at 0:52 in front of crowd well in excess of 2000 people. Greece persisted in its long shooting in the second quarter, gaining several corners, but the real achievement was GOUVIS at centre forward, turning strongly and slamming in the 4-1 goal, the final score before halftime. The second half started strongly with DERMITZAKIS nearly pulling off a lone goal. He forced a corner and GENIDOUNIAS rifled in a shot from seven metres for 5-1. The Croatian crowd was demanding home goals and MARINIC-KRAGIC reciprocated with a score on extra. Less than a minute later VLAHOVIC scored on counter down the left. Croatia went to a timeout to try to effect a goal on extra, something ity had particular trouble with in this quarter, but the shot was blocked by a tree-like defence. On the next attack GENIDOUNIAS sent in slider from another postcode (10 metres in fact) for 6-3. MILAKOVIC caused the brass band to strike another victory march when he converted a penalty for 6-4 at 1:32.  Greece called a timeout at 1:11 on extra but GENIDOUNIAS could not get his fourth goal. On the counter, GERATOVIC lifted the crowd with a score at 0:32 to close the period at 6-5. In the competition’s final quarter, the Croatian surge continued with MILAKOVIC and MARINIC-KRAGIC scoring on extra to give the host the lead for the first time. Amid sounds of major explosions just outside the pool where standing spectators overflowed to the pool’s edge, KAPOTSIS silenced the air with his nine-metre rocket for 7-7. Firstly Croatia and then Greece took timeouts but the brick walls said “NO” to goals, sending the game to extra time. Greece won the swim and KAPOTSIS hit the crossbar. On the counter a contra foul occurred and SOLANKAKIS swam on to the loose ball in front of goal and scored for 8-7. Croatia lost the ball on the next attack. Greece had its shot blocked and Croatia went on attack, gained the extra-man play and MILAKOVIC converted instantly for 8-8. Greece didn’t get away a shot before the buzzer, with the shooter dropping the ball. Greece won the swim again in the second period of extra but turned the ball over in the hole. Croatia had the ball intercepted on attack and GENIDOUNIAS sent the ball high on a long shot. Croatia bounced the ball out of the stadium. Greece shot from two metres into the goalkeeper and Croatia took a timeout at 0:45, losing 13 seconds of possession time because the coach couldn’t be heard above the deafening roar. Croatia’s GERATOVIC was called for throwing his body back and the crowd was incensed and a Croatian assistant coach red-carded. Greece went to a timeout at 0:29. Greece turned over the ball and IVANKOVIC forced a national holiday with a blast from nine metres, finding