2024 Olympic Water Polo: Reigning Champs Serbia Defeat Japan in Barnburner Match (Day 2 Recap)

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Water Polo: July 27 – August 11, 2024
•  Paris Aquatic Centre/La Défense Arena — Paris, France
• Meet Central
• Full Water Polo Match Schedule

The US women started off strong in their quest for a 4-peat in water polo, winning their first game of the 2024 Olympic against Greece. Defending Olympic silver medalists Spain also won their first game of the tournament on the first day of water polo action. 

Group B, Match 1: Spain 9, Australia 5

Right off the bat, Spain took the lead in this match with Martin Famera winning possession of the ball off of the sprint and getting it to Alberto Munarriz Egana for the goal. A few seconds later, Famera was called on an exclusion, which was taken advantage of by Australia’s Milos Masimovic to tie the score 1-1. Spain scored one more goal by the end of the first period to enter the second period up 2-1. After a slow start to the second period, Egana scored again off of teammate Marc Larumbe Gonfaus’ steal, creating a 3-1 lead for Spain. Though Australia tried to even the score back up with another goal, Spain held control of the ball throughout the rest of the period, scoring 2 more times to create a 5-3 lead. 

The beginning of the third period was relatively quiet aside from a goal for Spain from Gonfaus. With the score stuck at 6-3, Australia attempted to regain some ground with an offensive surge, but came out without any additional points. In the last 3 minutes of the period, the teams exchanged a series of goals to bring the score to 8-4 entering the 4th period. Australia gained possession of the ball off of the sprint, with Mattew Byrnes handing it off to Milos Maksimovic for a goal. Spain then attempted to refocus their offensive efforts, setting off a series of shots. Their efforts proved successful as Alvaro Granados Ortega scored the final goal of the game off of a field exclusion on Byrnes, leading Spain to an eventual 9-5 victory.

Group B, Match 2: Serbia 16, Japan 15

Defending Olympic gold medalists Serbia managed to hold off a rapidly rising Japanese team in one of the closest matches of the tournament so far. Japan won the opening sprint with Taiyo Watanabe gaining possession of the ball. However, Watanabe then was called on a foul, forcing a turnover which Serbia’s Dusan Mandic took advantage of to score the first goal of the game. Less than a minute later, Mandic found the net again, bringing the score to 2-0 in favor of Serbia. However, Japan quickly responded with back-to-back goals from Yusuke Inaba and Nemanja Ubovic, tying the score 2-2. Though Serbia tried to pull ahead to a 4-2 lead before the end of the period, Japan continued to match the score, ending the first period tied 4-4. The second period started highly defensive with the teams exchanging fouls and turnovers before Japan finally earned their first lead of the game with a goal by Toi Suzuki. That lead would only last for about 15 seconds, however, as Mandic scored again to tie the score 5-5. Once again, Serbia attempted to pull-away only to have every goal matched by Japan. With 39 seconds left in the period, Mitsuru Takata brought Japan to an 8-7 lead.

Less than 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter, Serbia tied the score at 8-8 with Strahinja Rasovic scoring off of an action shot. Three additional Serbian goals brought the team to a 11-8 lead, their largest of the game. However, Japan continued their pattern of responding to the situation, with Yusuke Inaba earning a goal off of a penalty shot to bring the score to 11-8. Despite trying to hold off the Japanese offensive, the period ended with Serbia only leading by 1 point with the score at 12-11. The same pattern repeated well into the 4th period. With the score tied at 15-15 with 1:35 left to play, Mandic continued his fantastic play with his 7th goal of the game, leading Serbia to a 16-15 victory. 

Mandic contributed 11 of the team’s 33 shots on goal, leading the whole field with 7 goals. Japan’s Inaba also had a strong game, scoring 6 goals out of 8 shots on goal. 

Group A, Match 3: Italy 12, USA 8

The first period opened with the Americans gaining control of the ball off of the sprint, with Hannes Daube quickly turning it into a goal for a 1-0 lead. However, less than 20 seconds later Italy responded with Lorenzo Bruni driving down the center of the pool for a tying goal. From there, Italy took advantage of a series of US fouls, bringing in 3 more goals for a 4-1 lead. American Alex Bowen then managed to net one in for the United States off of an exclusion on Francesco di Fulvio, narrowing the score to a 4-2 lead for Italy to end the first period. A highly defensive 2nd period saw both teams exchange the ball on several occasions. However, no goals were scored until American Max Irving scored to bring the US within one point of Italy. With less than 10 seconds left in the period, Edardo di Somma scored on an Italian counter attack to bring the score to 5-3 in favor of Italy. 

Italy opened the third period with a goal, which was quickly matched by the Americans. However, Nicholas Presciutti set the Italians off on a 7-4 lead with an action shot goal shortly afterwards. From there, Italy continued to hold the US down offensively, with a large number of turnovers on both sides. With 2:05 left in the 3rd period, Francesco di Fulvio scored off of an exclusion on Daube. Italy ended the 3rd period up 9-4 on the US, despite the US making several attempts to score. Early in the 4th period, Italy extended their lead over the US to 12-6. Soon afterwards, the US began to gain a little momentum with a penalty shot goal by Irving. However, the team couldn’t pull it together quickly enough, with the match ending in a score of 12-8 in favor of Italy. 

Group A, Match 4: Croatia 11, Montenegro 8

After being knocked out in the quarter-finals in Tokyo, water polo powerhouse Croatia opened their Paris tournament with a big win over Montenegro. Despite Montenegro gaining the ball off of the opening sprint, a turnover resulted in Luka Bukic gaining the ball for Croatia and scoring less than a minute into the 1st period. A highly defensive style of play continued throughout the period, with the next goal not coming until 3 minutes later when Marko Zuvela was able to take advantage of an exclusion on Jovan Vujovic, leading Croatia to a 2-0 lead. Montenegro attempted to regain some ground on Croatia with Vlado Popadic scoring late in the 1st period. However, Croatia quickly responded as Loren Fatovic hit the net in a man-up situation, producing a 3-1 lead which they would maintain through the end of the 1st period. Early in the 2nd period, Croatia had an opportunity to extend their lead with Bukic having an open shot on net. However, the ball hit the post, giving Montenegro’s Bogdan Durdic an opportunity to scoop the ball up for an action shot goal to narrow Croatia’s lead to 3-2. In the next 4 minutes of play, Montenegro managed to pull the score into a 5-5 tie heading into the second half.

Despite the score tying up, Croatia never showed signs of distress. Two minutes into the third period, Fatovic scored off of a foul on Montenegro’s Aljosa Macic to produce a 6-5 score. Montenegro matched the score at 6-6, but Croatia quickly scored again for a 7-6 lead. From there, Croatia never lost the lead again as Fatovic punched in another action shot goal with less than 2 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter to end the quarter with a score of 8-6. Through the first 3 minutes of the 4th period, Croatia extended their lead to a comfortable 10-6 margin with goals from Konstantin Kharkov and Marko Zuvela. Montenegro attempted to regain ground with Vlado Popadic and Vladan Spaic scoring in the closing minutes of action. However, the Croatian margin proved to be too large, and a last-second score by Buric ended the game in a score of 11-8. 

Group B, Match 5: Hungary 13, France 12

Similar to the earlier match between Serbia and Japan, this match proved to be a barnburner with 2023 World Champions Hungary coming out on top. Hungary gained possession of the ball off of the opening sprint via Krisztian Manhercz. Denes Varga made use of the momentum, scoring the first goal of the game to give Hungary a 1-0 lead. Less than 30 seconds later, Adam Nagy was called on an exclusion, leading to a man-up situation for France. Alexandre Bouet made use of the situation to tie the game 1-1. However, Hungary was not fazed by the score as the team then went on a 4-0 run to end the first quarter up 5-1. Hungary continued their scoring streak into the 2nd period, with Vince Pal Vigvari winning the sprint and getting the ball to Daniel Angyal for the goal. France finally responded with a goal a few minutes later as Michael Alexandre Bodegas hit a shot up the center to bring the score to 6-2 in favor of Hungary. Despite Hungary adding 3 more goals in the period, France slowly began to crawl their way back up the score thanks to two goals from Thomas Vernoux. 

The third period started off relatively slow with no goals through the first 4.5 minutes of play. With 3:14 left in the period, France was granted a man-up advantage with an exclusion on Hungary’s Balazs Harai, which Ugo Crousillat took advantage of to score. Though Hungary responded with a goal of their own, France continued to build momentum and ended the period with a last-second goal by Romain Marion Vernoux to bring the score to 10-7 in favor of Hungary. On the final sprint, Hungary gained possession of the ball and quickly scored, only to be matched by a French goal. With the score standing at 11-8, Hungary punched another goal in to seemingly seal the deal with 6:24 to play. However, a series of penalties on Hungarian players resulted in 2 additional French goals, creating a 13-11 score with a minute left to play. Despite the surge of French momentum, Hungary managed to hold it together, fending off multiple shots on net. With 4 seconds left to play, Bodegas punched one in for France, resulting in a final score of 13-12 in favor of Hungary. 

Bodegas ended the game 3 for 4 shots on goal, leading the field with a 75% shot completion percentage. 

Group A, Match 6: Greece 14, Romania 7

In the final match of the day, reigning silver medalists Greece had a dominant win over Romania with a final score of 14-7. Romania, who earned a spot in the Olympic tournament after South Africa’s withdrawal, couldn’t hold off the Greek offensive from the onset of the game. Despite getting possession of the ball off of the opening sprint, Romania’s Andrei Prioteasa quickly fouled, resulting in Angelos Vlachopoulos putting in a penalty shot for Greece’s first goal. Following that goal, Ioannis Fountoulis produced another Greek goal to bring the score to 2-0. Romania got its first goal of the game shortly afterwards with Andrei Neamtu hitting the net off of an exclusion on Fountoulis, resulting in a 2-1 score. From there, the Greeks took a hold over the game, scoring another 2 goals. Despite Romania putting up a goal of their own, the period ended with a 4-2 score in favor of Greece. That lead was only extended into the second period as Greece dropped another 4 unanswered points, resulting in a 8-2 lead. Romania finally broke that streak with Neamtu hitting a shot off of an exclusion on Vlachopoulos, with Andrei Prioteasa dropping another point soon afterwards. However, their efforts would not be enough as the period ended in a score of 9-5. 

Romania appeared to have some momentum coming out of the half as the team scored their first goal only a minute into play, setting up a 9-6 score. That goal would be their last of the period however, as Greece continued to bombard them on both defense and offense, setting up multiple turnovers. As a result, Greece racked up another strong lead at the end of the 3rd quarter, holding a 11-6 advantage over Romania. Again, at the beginning of the 4th period it looked like Romania might finally try to respond to the Greek barrage. And again, the team failed to produce beyond a single goal early in the period. The 4th period was largely defensive, with Greece substituting in back-up goalkeeper Panagiotis Tzortzatos with 6:50 remaining in the game. When the dust settled, Greece finished the game with a 14-7 victory over Romania, giving the team its first win of the tournament.