POLO AIR 2013/07/29 23:09, Spain’s women’s water polo
team has reached the semi-finals of the FINA World Championships for the first
time in history, seeing off hot favorite and Olympic champion USA 9-6 in a
memorable quarter-final at the Bernat Picornell Pool in Barcelona. It was the
long-awaited revenge for the Olympic final in London . Spain ’s
next rival on Wednesday (21:45) is Hungary
Led by Pareja, who scored three goals in the first period, Spain dominated
the game by the end of the first eight minutes: 4-2. At the beginning of the
second quarter, Pareja added another goal to her name before the U.S. team
started to fight back, scoring two fast consecutive goals. Coached by Miki Oca,
the Olympic runner-up was able to take the advantage into halftime.
In the third period, with a great defense on both sides, the
two teams only scored one goal each and Spain dominated the last quarter
(3:1) to take home the victory on home turf as Laura López netted the 8-5.
Pushed by the home crowd, Spain
achieved an historic victory as they have never beaten USA in a major
championship — drawing two and losing five.
“We were looking forward to this match,” said Ester. “They
took away the gold medal from us in London and
we did not want to go home without a medal here in Barcelona .” Her teammate Pareja has played
the best game of the tournament so far. The team captain said that “the key was
to play 100 percent from the first minute. We played the perfect game.”
The results of today’s quarter-finals were as follows:
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar