Spain and Montenegro responded to their quarterfinal defeats with victories in Friday’s classification matches at the Men’s Water Polo World Cup Final Eight in Sydney.
Spain overcame a young Croatian side 18-14, while Montenegro defeated Georgia 18-16 to secure the other place in Saturday’s fifth-place playoff.
Croatia and Georgia will meet in the seventh-place match, before the tournament turns its attention to the semifinals between Australia and Hungary and Italy and Greece.
Spain control high-scoring contest against Croatia
Spain dictated much of the contest against Croatia, winning 18-14 after leading at the end of every quarter.
Vlaho Pavlić opened the scoring for Croatia inside the first minute, but Spain responded with three unanswered goals and remained in front for the rest of the match.
The reigning world champions began to create separation during the second period, extending their advantage to four goals at 9-5 and 10-6. Croatia continued to compete and remained within range, reducing the deficit to 11-9 early in the final quarter.
Spain’s efficiency with the extra player eventually proved decisive. The Spaniards converted 10 of their 15 power-play opportunities and moved five goals clear at 16-11 midway through the fourth period.
Croatia responded with three consecutive goals to close the gap to 16-14 with just under four minutes remaining. However, Spain scored the final two goals to remove any possibility of a late comeback.
Unai Biel and Marc Daura led Spain with four goals apiece, while Roger Tahull added three. Pavlić produced another impressive individual display for Croatia, finishing with seven goals.
Spain won the four quarters 5-4, 6-4, 3-2 and 4-4.
Montenegro stay ahead to defeat Georgia
Montenegro also scored 18 goals as they secured an 18-16 victory over Georgia.
The match was a repeat of the World Cup Division 2 final, which Montenegro won 19-17, but Friday’s meeting followed a different pattern. Montenegro led throughout after scoring on three of their opening four possessions to establish an early 3-0 advantage.
Georgia reduced the deficit to one goal by the end of the opening quarter, but Montenegro continued to find success through counterattacks and restored a four-goal advantage at 7-3.
Georgia again responded with three unanswered goals and remained within two at half-time, trailing 9-7.
The teams exchanged goals during the third period before Montenegro began to pull clear. Several important saves from Ilija Radović helped his side create a four-goal advantage, which later grew to five at 16-11 and 17-12 in the final quarter.
Georgia reduced the deficit during the closing stages, but Montenegro’s victory was never seriously threatened.
Balša Vučković and Dušan Matković scored three goals each for Montenegro. Nika Shushiashvili led Georgia with four.
Montenegro won the opening three quarters 3-2, 6-5 and 5-4, before Georgia took the final period 5-4.
Saturday’s programme begins with Croatia facing Georgia for seventh place, followed by Spain against Montenegro in the fifth-place match. Australia then meet Hungary in the first semifinal at 10:30 CEST, before Italy face Greece at 12:15 CEST.
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