15th FINA World Championships 2013: Water Polo Women: Day 5: ESP 9 USA 6

POLO AIR INDONESIA,  29 July 2013, It was the Olympic final all over again. This time the script had changed and Spain won instead of United States of America. Four times USA came within one goal of Spain, but that was it. Spain won 9-6 — a six-goal turnaround from the London Olympics just a year ago.

There was no Maggie Steffens five-goal haul but there was a Jennifer Pareja four-goal procession in the first half as Spain turned at 4-2, levelled the third quarter 1-1 and won the last 3-1. This was all about Spain, five times the bridesmaid and twice finishing level with USA in major competition, but never winning before tonight.

The landscape has changed and USA is no longer the dominant force of last year (many retirements), and slipping further from the bronze medal gained at the World League in Beijing a month ago.

The match was electric, mainly because of the Spanish surge, two Pareja goals making it 3-1. She scored either side of the first break, had four goals and saw her team 5-2 ahead.

Kameryn Craig, who scored three goals in a match where the USA centre forwards were stifled, scored USA’s third and Steffens pierced the goal on penalty to close the half at 5-4.

Maica Garcia, at the top of the third, and Melissa Seidemann four minutes later were the only scores of the period. The latter goal came off a rebound. Pareja had a fifth goal rejected but no fear, Garcia and Laura Lopez for a second goal each and Roser Tarrago on extra had the game sewn up by 0:39.

Craig scored vented her frustration with a great centre-forward goal inside the final half-minute for 9-6.

Spain was medal bound and USA will play in the round 5-8 for the second time in two years, finishing sixth to Australia in Shanghai.

The extra-man statistics belie the fact Spain actually converted one from seven and USA none from eight. That was some of the tightest defensive play of the championship and both sides have the scars to prove it.

15th FINA World Championships 2013: Water Polo Women: Day 5: ESP 9 USA 6

POLO AIR INDONESIA,  29 July 2013, It was the Olympic final all over again. This time the script had changed and Spain won instead of United States of America. Four times USA came within one goal of Spain, but that was it. Spain won 9-6 — a six-goal turnaround from the London Olympics just a year ago.

There was no Maggie Steffens five-goal haul but there was a Jennifer Pareja four-goal procession in the first half as Spain turned at 4-2, levelled the third quarter 1-1 and won the last 3-1. This was all about Spain, five times the bridesmaid and twice finishing level with USA in major competition, but never winning before tonight.

The landscape has changed and USA is no longer the dominant force of last year (many retirements), and slipping further from the bronze medal gained at the World League in Beijing a month ago.

The match was electric, mainly because of the Spanish surge, two Pareja goals making it 3-1. She scored either side of the first break, had four goals and saw her team 5-2 ahead.

Kameryn Craig, who scored three goals in a match where the USA centre forwards were stifled, scored USA’s third and Steffens pierced the goal on penalty to close the half at 5-4.

Maica Garcia, at the top of the third, and Melissa Seidemann four minutes later were the only scores of the period. The latter goal came off a rebound. Pareja had a fifth goal rejected but no fear, Garcia and Laura Lopez for a second goal each and Roser Tarrago on extra had the game sewn up by 0:39.

Craig scored vented her frustration with a great centre-forward goal inside the final half-minute for 9-6.

Spain was medal bound and USA will play in the round 5-8 for the second time in two years, finishing sixth to Australia in Shanghai.

The extra-man statistics belie the fact Spain actually converted one from seven and USA none from eight. That was some of the tightest defensive play of the championship and both sides have the scars to prove it.

15th FINA World Championships 2013: Water Polo Women, Day 5: Spain inflicts more pain on USA as Olympic champion bows out of medals

POLO AIR INDONESIA, 29 July 2013, For the second day in a row, Spanish water polo teams have bundled United States of America out of medal contention at the Bernat Picornell Pool. On Sunday, the men defeated USA 10-6 in a quarterfinal qualifier and tonight in a rematch of the 2012 London Olympic Games final, it was Spain’s turn to turn the tables on the USA, winning 9-6, vastly different from the USA’s 8-5 victory a year ago.

With half of Barcelona seemingly in the stands, they cheered on Jennifer Pareja and her team to what was an historic victory as Spain has never beaten USA in a major championship — drawing two and losing five.

Pareja scored her four goals in the first half as she helped her team to a 4-2 opening quarter, 5-4 at halftime and 6-5 at the final break. For more than a minute near the end the score was 8-5 ironically but that became a match-winning 9-5 and a late USA goal went in silence.

Spain will now meet Hungary in one semifinal while the other semifinal will be between Olympic bronze medallist Australia and the swift Russia.

Russia started the day’s proceedings with a 17-9 margin over Canada in which Ekaterina Prokofyeva captain Evgeniya Ivanova scored four each. Russia led 8-3 at halftime.

Australia won the second quarterfinal 9-5 over outgoing world champion Greece with goals being spread around by both teams. The Aussie Stingers led 4-2 at halftime and drew the third period 2-2.

The Hungary-Netherlands match was a statistical nightmare for the Dutch as Hungary won its 50th World Championship encounter — a record — by 11-7. Hungary led 7-1 at halftime in what was an obviously dominating display. Rita Keszthelyi scored four goals by halftime.

15th FINA World Championships 2013: Water Polo Women, Day 5: HUN 11 NED 7

POLO AIR INDONESIA, 29 July 2013, Shooting efficiency proved the killer punch as Hungary produced a stunning 7-1 opening half and finished 11-7 over Netherlands in the third quarterfinal at Bernat Picornell Pool this evening. Hungary became the second top-four team to make the semifinals after Australia earlier beat Greece.

The statistics say it all with Hungary shooting at 44 per cent with its 25 attempts. Netherlands, looking so nervous as the whistling of accurately fired yellow balls whipped past their heads on a regular basis, could manage just 21.9 percent from 32 shots. The Dutch could not say they didn’t have their chances.

Throw in another vital factor and the result spelt doom for the Dutch — Hungarian goalkeeper Flora Bolonyai made 15 saves compared with Ilse van der Meijden’s six.

The statistics keep coming. On the crucial extra-man-attack situations, Hungary converted five from eight and Netherlands two from nine.

While Hungary was hell bent on settling the result early, the Dutch were tentative and lacked punch. Why? When it came to the crunch at 9-4 down with just a quarter remaining, head coach Mauro Maugeri from Italy, must have found the light switch that shed light on the horrific situation.

Netherlands fired in three consecutive goals for 10-7, conceivably a chance of forcing the match to a draw… possibly.

The Dutch looked like the team of old with positive direction and two goals on extra. However, the dream died when Kata Menczinger scored on the deep left at 1:41. Both teams went to a timeout and that something unusual happened when van der Meijden decided she did not like being in goal and went to halfway to foul an opponent. Dora Antal said “thank you”, loaded the cannon and shot the ball down the pool into goal for 11-7 at 0:11.

In that 7-1 dash to the halftime drinks, Hungarian Rita Keszthelyi did her team proud, as she has all championship, with four goals to lift her tally to 16.
The one down point for Hungary, plus a plus for the Dutch, was the defence and almost shut-out, smothering defence of centre forward Barbara Bujka. She had hoped for some majors against her but Netherlands was determined that her threat would be nullified. Now, if only they did that to Keszthelyi!

More statistics? Sure! Hungary became the first nation to win 50 World Championship matches. Who’s second? Ironically, Netherlands with 46! The previous six meetings between the pair were decided by a one-goal margin or ended in a draw, so this was a quantum shift by comparison.

15th FINA World Championships 2013: Spain defeats Olympic champion USA to set eyes on gold medal at Barcelona 2013

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

Spain played an incredible first quarter in front of the home crowd, featuring an aggressive defense to recover the ball fast and fighting in the center positions to create dangerous attacks by team captain Jennifer Pareja. Goalkeeper Laura Ester, who played a brilliant game, explained the key to success in the mixed zone: “We came out to fight.”

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:

Russia v. Canada: 17-9

Australia v. Greece: 9-5

Hungary v. Netherlands: 11-7

Fina World Championship 2013: Serbia going head to head with Montenegro in quarterfinals

POLO AIR INDONESIA, Serbia will face Montenegro in what will be a hotly  contested quarterfinal on Tuesday following the qualification round of  the FINA Men’s Water Polo World Championships at the Bernat Picornell Pool today. Serbia sent Romania packing for home with a 13-5 scoreline and Montenegro defeated Canada 12-4 to set up a tantalising encounter. 

The qualifiers were decisive, unlike the women’s matches the day before where European champion Italy and World League champion China departed the scene.

The other quarterfinals have Greece facing Hungary, Croatia against Australia and Spain playing Italy. Greece started the day’s proceedings with a 13-5 win over South Africa with Alexandros Gounas (GRE) topping the scorers.

Montenegro followed against Canada with Aleksandar Ivovic (MNE) netting three for 13 this championship. Centre forward Nicolas Constantin-Bicari (CAN) finished with eight goals and huge respect.

Olympic champion Croatia repulsed the challenge of New Zealand 21-4. Petar Muslim and Sandro Sukno scored five each for the Europeans. Spain helped United States of America to the airport with a 10-6 margin thanks to Albert Espanol with four goals and Guillermo Molina with three. The championship also saw the last of the talented centre forward John Mann (USA), who scored 10 goals.

Serbia settled for a 13-5 win over Romania with five Serbian players scoring twice and the match’s best Nicolae Diaconu (ROU). Hungary had to come back from 4-2 down at quarter time to send off Kazakhstan 16-7. Five Hungarians scored twice and Sergey Gubarev (KAZ) fired in three. Will this be the last we see of Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist Russian goalkeeper Nikolay Maximov (KAZ) at this level? He is 41, after all!

Italy, the London Olympics silver medallist, defeated China 11-3 with Alex Georgetti bagging four goals. Chufeng Zhang and Zhongxing Liang left as China’s best scorers with five each.

In the final match of the day, Australia downed Germany 8-4 with three players scoring twice for the Aussie Sharks. Heiko Nossek, who scored Germany’s first two goals, departs as his team’s leading scorer with 10.

Tuesday quarterfinal programme:

15:30  GRE     v          HUN              
17:00  CRO     v          AUS
20:15  MNE    v          SRB
21:45  ESP     v          ITA

Fina World Championship 2013: Champions China and Italy fail to make quarterfinals

POLO AIR INDONESIA, There can only be one winner and even champions have to fall by the wayside some time. This was the case during quarterfinal qualification matches on the fourth day of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Championships at the Bernat Picornell Pool.

In the final match of the night, European champion Italy bowed out in controversial fashion, losing a penalty shootout 13-12 to world champion Greece.

China, fresh from a heroic World League Super Final victory in Beijing, was toppled by Netherlands, 2008 Olympic champion.In a must-win match for the Dutch women’s water polo programme, the women in orange emerged triumphant 11-10, a three-goal burst by Lieke Klaassen late in the match proving the difference. The hat-trick took her total to 16 for the championship, proving her worth to the team and the programme. A loss today could have had brutal ramifications back home.

In 2009, World League champion Montenegro arrived in Rome as the recently crowned king and also missed the top eight. The Dutch were in raptures, as if they had already won the title, while China struggled with the moment and will now head home to rethink their future.

The last match of the day also saw drama and excitement missing from some other encounters, as was the nature of this year’s championship where the bottom eight fly home halfway through. European champion Italy came from behind to lead in the final stages against Greece but the world champion levelled and forced the match to extra time. Both teams scored in the first period but not in the second. Italy missed three shots and Greece scored three for the victory.

The controversial part was where Roberta Bianconi failed to shot when the whistle sounded for the final shot, gifting the match to Greece.

Other matches went to form with Russia dispatching South Africa 22-3, Australia downing Uzbekistan 25-2, Spain bundling out New Zealand 18-6, Olympic champion United States of America beat Brazil 14-3, Canada defeated Kazakhstan 14-8 and Hungary had the better of Great Britain 14-5.

Most interest on Monday in quarterfinals, probably focuses on the clash between Olympic finalists USA and Spain.

Monday programme:

15:30 RUS vs CAN
17:00 AUS vs GRE
20:15 NED vs HUN
21:45 ESP vs USA 

FINA World Championships 2013: Spain stuns USA at Barcelona 2013 Water Polo tournament to reach quarter-finals

POLO AIR INDONESIA, Spain's men's national water polo team dominated the cross-group game against the USA at the Picornell Pool today, sending their American rivals home to secure a quarter-final berth. Coached by Rafa Aguilar, the Iberians won three of four quarters (4-2, 1-2, 2-1, 3-1) to claim a deserved 10-6 victory in front of the home crowd. Spain will face the winner between Italy and China in the Round of the last 8 on Tuesday

Under the eyes of the members of the Spanish Synchronised Swimming team that claimed seven medals at Barcelona 2013, the home team played more confident than in the group stage and showed a brilliant defensive performance from the start of the complicated encounter against the USA. The combination of a superb match of Spain’s goalkeeper Iñaki Aguilar, who prevented the opponent from fighting back in the second half on various occasions, and four goals of Albert Espanyol was sufficient to see off the American side.

“We dealt very well with the pressure today. We are ready to beat any team now and are going to give 100 percent against our next opponent,” said goalkeeper Aguilar after his impressive performance today.

Although the Americans scored to successive goals to get closer to Spain in the fourth period (6-7), the Iberians kept cool and netted three consecutive goals to close out the game. Guillermo Molina (3), Marc Minguell (1) and Espanyol scored the last three goals for the Spanish side.

“We have played the way we wanted. We just had to concentrate on our game and we have made it. If we play against Italy, it will be much more difficult because their system doesn´t fit us — they are very technical,” said Molina in the mixed zone.

It was the fourth win in a row for Spain over USA - 2010 FINA World Cup, 2011 FINA World Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games in London and today