Wednesday, March 5

Preliminaries

Intermediate Ranking

see Top Scorers  |  see Goalkeeper Statistics  |  see Overall Team Statistics  |  see Cumulative Statistics

Games review

Game 19: 13:00, Wednesday, March 5
GROUP B
FYRO MACEDONIA 7 CANADA 12
Referees: Luka VULETIC (CRO), Radu MATACHE (ROU).
Quarters: 3-3, 2-3, 2-4, 0-2

Teams:
FYROM: Dalibor PERCINIC, Risto MAGKOVIC, Ivan VUKSANOVIC (2), Goran KRSTONOSIC (3), Hebojsa MILIC, Saso POPOVSKI, Marko MICIC (1), Vladimir KRECKOVIC, Dusan KRSTIC, Marko BASIC (1), Dimitah DIMOVSKI, Danijel BENIC, Milos UROSEVIC. Head Coach: Alexandar KRSTONOSIC.
CANADA: Robin RANDALL, Constantine KUDABA (1), Devon DIGGLE, Kevin MITCHELL (1), Justin BOYD, Thomas MARKS, Brandon JUNG (1), Kevin GRAHAM (2), Aaron FELTHAM (2), Sasa PALAMAREVIC (1), Jean SAYEGH (3), Nathaniel MILLER (1), Nicholas YOUNGBLUD. Head Coach: Dragan JOVANOVIC.

Match report:
FYROM bowed out of Olympic contention with a five-goal loss to Canada. For Canada it beats the demons of allowing Italy back into the game yesterday after being three up and will have to wait until tomorrow to see which of the top three placings it will obtain in Group B. Canada had chances to put the game away earlier but was indecisive on extra man and utilised some poor shot selections. These are things Canada needs to iron out before tomorrow's vital clash with Germany. It wasn't until the last few minutes of the second quarter that Canada gained the advantage it needed against the Macedonians, who would tire in the third. When Sayegh rocketed in two left-arm goals on extra and counter at the start of the third, the result was heading Canada's way. This looked the case when FYROM's paramount player Vuksanovic was suspended for kicking. Canada went to the timeout but botched the extra-man attack and Micic scored at the other end for 8-6 down. When Sayegh scored again on extra in the last seven seconds of the quarter, Canada was almost safe. Graham put the result beyond doubt with a goal on counter at 3:33. Kudaba put the icing on the cake on counter inside the last half-minute. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press

Canada a invins miercuri Macedonia cu 12-7 (3-3, 3-2, 4-2 2-0) in grupa B a turneul preolimpic de polo pe apa de la Oradea. Pentru canadieni au marcat Jean Sayagh 3 goluri, Kevin Graham si Aaron Feltham cate 2, Constantine Kudaba, Kevin Mitchell, Branbdon Jung, Sasa Palamarevic si Nathanaiel Miller, cate un gol. De la macedonieni au inscris Goran Krstonosic de trei ori, Ivan Vuksanovic de 2 ori, Marco Micic si Marko Basic o singura data. Rompres (A. Bunescu)

Game 20: 14:30, Wednesday, March 5
GROUP B
MEXICO 4 ITALY 25
Referees: Sergey NAUMOV (RUS), Decio PATELLI (BRA).
Quarters: 0-9, 1-5, 1-3, 2-8

Teams:
MEXICO: Orlando ORTEGA, Diego CASTANEDA, Rainer SCHMIDT, Jorge LOPEZ, Daniel VAZQUEZ, Maximiliano AGUILAR, Oliver ALVAREZ (3), Fausto VAZQUEZ, Armando GARCIA, Richard SCHMIDT (1), Gonzalo MEJIA, Jorge PEREZ, Andres ONETO. Head Coach: Raul DE LA PENA.
ITALY: Stefano TEMPESTI, Francesco POSTIGLIONE (2), Leonardo BINCHI (4), Fabrizio BUONOCORE, Luigi DI COSTANZO (1), Maurizio FELUGO (1), Andrea MANGIANTE (2), Alberto ANGELINI (2), Fabio BENCIVENGA, Alessandro CALCATERRA (7), Leonardo SOLTANI (2), Federico MISTRANGELO (4), Fabio VIOLETTI. Head Coach: Paolo MALARA.

Match report:
The game you have to have. Italy had it after a blistering first half, relinquished the accelerator and drove in neutral for the remainder of the encounter. This allowed Mexico some breathing space and set up some attacks. Italy had a full spread of goal-scorers from all over the pool. The flashiest goal of the game came from Italian captain Calcaterra. He had the luxury of backhand baulk before backhanding into goal from three metres. On one attack he gained the ball and decided not to charge into his comfort zone of two metres, deciding instead to drill the ball from six metres. It started the second-quarter scoring. He ended the first-quarter scoring when he "cherry picked", received the ball, swam forward with the clock ticking down, baulked and scored just as the hooter sounded. He went on to score seven goals, a tournament high for one match, and has 12 for the week. Mexico would have been happy with the manner of its goals with Alvarez scoring the first from a five-metre free throw at 2:35 in the second period. His second came off a short cross pass on the two-metre line. He scored his third just four seconds from full time. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press

Italia a realizat miercuri un scor fluviu in compania Mexicului, 25-4 ( 9-0, 5-1, 3-1, 8-2) in grupa B a turneul preolimpic de polo pe apa de la Oradea. A fost evidenta diferenta de clasa inca din prima repriza a meciului, cand italienii au reusit un sec 9-0. Din formatia pregatita de antrenorul Paolo Malara s-au remarcat, prin eficacitate, capitanul echipei, Alessandro Calcaterra, care a reusit 7 goluri. De la mexicani, cel mai bun a fost jucatorul Oliveiro Alvarez, care a reusit 3 goluri. Rompres (A. Bunescu)

Game 21: 16:00, Wednesday, March 5
GROUP B
GERMANY 18 IRAN 2
Referees: Nikolaos STAVROPOULOS (GRE), Mikhail STEPANOV (KAZ).
Quarters: 5-0, 5-0, 5-1, 3-1

Teams:
GERMANY: Alexander TCHIGIR, Florian NAROSKA, Timo PURSCHKE, Marko SAVIC, Steffen DIEROLF (1), Mark POLITZE (2), Heiko NOSSEK (5), Thomas SCHERTWITIS (2), Tobias KREUZMANN (3), Moritz OELER (3), Andreas SCHLOTTERBECK (2), Soren MACKEBEN, Michael ZELLMER. Head Coach: Hagen STAMM.
IRAN: Ali Reza SHAHIDIPOUR, Arameh AGHAZARIAN, Seyed MIR MEDI, Mahdi KARAMIZARANDI, Mohammad MEHDI TEIRAN, Ali PIROZKHAH, Kambiz AFSHARI (1), Khadempir SOHEIL (1), Mohsen JALILI, Shirijian ALIAKBAR, Sadjad ABDIHANJANI, Amir HOSSEIN KHANI, Meisam JAFARI. Head Coach: Nevan KOVACEVIC.

Match report:
Germany maintained its unblemished record with a clinical display of water polo. It was a polished team against rank amateurs trying their best against a team just one step away from Olympic inclusion. Nossek piled on the goals with two goals in the each of the first and fourth periods with another, a penalty strike, in the third. Afshari brought up Iran's first goal at 5:39 in the third from the top. Zellmer got his left hand on it but it just crept over the line. The second Iranian goal was excellent and one of the best of the tournament. Soheil drove down the right just as his centre forward was being mauled at two metres. The referee excellently played the advantage and Soheil, with the ball in the left hand and looking like fending off the defender behind him, surged forward and slammed the ball into goal. It was the last of the match and to Iran's credit was still 3:28 from full time. The statistics did not favour Iran with just an 8.7 percent strike rate while Germany scored 56 percent of its chances. Germany scored four from five extra-man goals while Iran missed both its chances. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press

Echipa de polo pe apa a Germaniei a invins miercuri categoric Iranul, cu 18-2 ( 5-0, 5-0, 5-1, 3-1) intr-un meci care a contat pentru grupa B a turneului preolimpic de la Oradea. De la germani, pregatiti de antrenorul Stamm Hagen, cel mai eficace jucator, cu 5 goluri, a fost Heiko Nossek. De la iranieni, antrenor Neven Kovacevic, au reusit sa inscrie Soheil Khadempir si Kambiz Afshari. Tot in grupa B, miercuri, Italia a invins Mexicul cu 25-4, iar Canada pe Macedonia cu 12-7. Romrpes (A. Bunescu)

Game 22: 17:00, Wednesday, March 5
GROUP A
SLOVAKIA 18 KAZAKHSTAN 5
Referees: Doriel TERPENKA (CAN), Fillipo GOMEZ (ITA).
Quarters: 4-2, 3-1, 5-0, 6-2

Teams:
SLOVAKIA: Michal GOGOLA, Peter NEBAL (1), Juraj ZATOVIC (2), Josef HROSIK (3), Lukas SEMAN (3), Alexander NAGY, Martin PALASCAK (2), Karol BACO (4), Andrej JANICEK (1), Martin MRAVIK, Michal KRATOCHVIL, Thomas BRUDER (2), Michal HRUSKA. Head Coach: Ante NAKIC.
KAZAKHSTAN: Dimitriy AXYONKIN, Mixail KOLOTVIN, Amirbek SAPAROV, Nurlan SARTAEV, Alan ORAZALINOV, Roman PILIPENKO, Yernur KOILEYEV, Rustam UKUMANOV (3), Mikhail RUDAY, Ravil MANAFOV, Adil TEMRXANOV (2), Alexex DENCHENKO. Head Coach: Askar ORAZALINOV.

Match report:
Slovakia played a fast, open game against a team that struggled to last the distance and in the process collected its first win. With fatigue came mistakes and plenty of them by Kazakhstan. The energy and pace of Baco, the brute strength of Seman and the power and control of Hrosik, combined with a superb team effort, Slovakia rained in the goals, especially in the second half. Kazakhstan was competitive but head coach Orazalinov looked like he wanted to tear every hair out of his head at times. Ukmanunov's second goal at 4:57 in the second period was the last for more than 14 minutes of play. Slovakia scored seven in that period with Bruder scoring from 10m and another 25 seconds later on counter. Kazakhstan used a timeout inside the last three minutes to set a penalty foul attempt, which came off and gave Ukmanunov his third goal. Slovakia scored the last three goals in 80 seconds, showing its supremacy over the Asians. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press

Echipa Slovaciei a invins miecuri formatia Kazahstanului cu 18-5 ( 4-2, 3-1, 5-0, 6-2) in grupa A a turneul preolimpic de polo pe apa de la Oradea. De la nationala slovaca, antrenata de Nakic Ante, s-a remarcat Karol Baco, autor a 4 goluri. De la invinsi, pregatiti de tehnicianul Askar Orazalinov, cel mai eficace a fost capitanul Rustam Ukumanov, care a inscris de 3 ori. Tot miercuri, dar in grupa B au fost consemnate rezultatele Germania – Iran 18-2, Italia a invins Mexicul cu 25-4, iar Canada pe Macedonia cu 12-7. Rompres (A. Bunescu)

Game 23: 19:00, Wednesday, March 5
GROUP A
RUSSIA 11 BRAZIL 3
Referees: Aaron CHANEY (USA), Andrej GJORGJIEVSKI (MKD).
Quarters: 4-2, 2-0, 2-0, 3-1

Teams:
RUSSIA: Seman DAVITASHVILI, Sergey LISUNOV (1), Sergey EVSTIGNEEV, Evgeny FINAEV, Roman BALASHOV, Alexander ERYSHOV (1), Pavel KHALTURIN (1), Dmitry STRATAN (2), Andrey REKECHINSKIY, Marat ZAKIROV (1), Sergey GARBUZOV (2), Irek ZINNUROV (2), Dmitry DUDKIN. Head Coach: Boris POPOV.
BRAZIL: Luis SANTOS, Vicente HENRIQUES (1), Gabriel ROCHA (1), Lucas VITA, Marcelo FRANCO, Conrado BERTOWZZI, Bernardo ROCCA, Felipe SILVA, Erik SEEGERER, Bruno NOLASCO (1), Mario CAROTINI, Rafael FARIAS, Anderson SOUZA. Head Coach: Barbaro DIAS.

Match report:
Brazil proved a tough customer but Russia slowly unravelled its attack and surged to a comfortable and controlled victory. Goals were hard to come by for Brazil but the first quarter yielded a goal on extra and a second from the penalty line. Strata scored his second just 16 seconds from the first break, making the scoreline look good for Russia. Brazil, with a strong defence, limited Russia to four goals in the next two quarters but one was on counter and Eryshov's goal midway through the third quarter was gained on a cross pass at two metres when unguarded. Lisunov's goal at the top of the fourth was gained in the same manner. At 5:11 of the fourth, Gabriel Rocha scored from centre forward when pushed out to four metres and with three defenders solidly hammering away at him. The goal was 21 minutes after Henriques' penalty. Russia finished with the final two goals and now has its eyes firmly set on the crucial match-up with Greece tomorrow. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press 

Game 24: 20:00, Wednesday, March 5
GROUP A
ROMANIA 7 GREECE 8
Referees: Mario BRGULJAN (MNE), Erhan TULGA (TUR).
Quarters: 2-3, 1-1, 1-0, 3-4

Teams:
ROMANIA: Bertina NENCIU, Cosmin RADU (4), Tiberiu NEGREAN, Florin BONCA (1), Andrei IOSEP, Andrei BUSILA (1), Gheorghe DUNCA, Ramiro GEORGESCU, Edward ANDREI-DINA (1), George GEORGESCU, Cosmin BAIDOC, Kalman KADAR, Robert DINU. Head Coach: Vlad HAGIU.
GREECE: Nikolaos DELIGIANNIS, Anastasios SCHIZAS, Dimitrios MAZIS, Konstantinos KOKKINAKIS (2), Ioannis THOMAKOS (1), Argyris THEODOROPOULOS (2), Christos AFROUDAKIS (1), Georgios NTOSKAS (2), Georgios AFROUDAKIS (1), Dimitriy MITELOUDIS, Matthaios VOULGARAKIS, Emmanouil MYLONAKIS, Georgios REPPAS. Head Coach: Alessandro CAMPAGNA.

Match report:
Undoubtedly the match of the tournament with the home fans thinking almost every call against them was wrong. With no standing room left and more than 1500 people crammed into the stadium, both teams gave a fantastic performance but in the end it was Greece who destroyed the immediate hopes of Romania. Radu was the star for Romania in the first half scoring all its goals. But Greece took a 3-1 lead through Christos Afroudakis and Kokkinakis from the top. Ntoskas scored on counter but the Romanians were screaming because one of their shots seemed to go in the goal, hitting the wood several times before popping out. Less than a minute later Radu grabbed one back from centre forward off a cross pass. Radu's third came at the top of the second quarter on extra for 3-3. It wasn't until nearly five minutes later that the crowd was silenced when Ntoskas scored his second on extra for a one-goal lead at halftime. Busila lifted his team's spirits with a high shot from the top at 6:23 of the third for 4-4. Both teams took timeouts with Romania at 5:11 and Greece at 1:53. Romania's shot smashed into Deligiannis' stomach while Greece's attempt evaporated when a Mylonakis' pass to Christos Afroudakis was too high. No shot was taken within the possession period. Romania had the last big chance of the quarter but Deligiannis stopped. Just over a minute into the final period Mylonakis was ejected and Andrei-Dina converted from the top for 5-4. The deafening roar subsided quickly when Theodoropoulos did the same thing at the other end 40 seconds later. Radu gained an exclusion but his shot didn't get past Deligiannis, much to the crowd's disgust. The booing and the jeering continued until Georgios Afroudakis accepted an air ball in centre forward, turned and scored for a 6-5 lead at 4:34. Bonca rifled in a bouncer from the top at 4:09 and the game was levelled for the fifth time. Bonca was excluded and the pass was popped into Kokkinakis on the right post. He turned and bounced the ball in from two metres for 7-6 at 3:6. Bonca had a pass intercepted but on the next attack Radu drew and exclusion on Mazis and an altercation occurred. Romania took a timeout and after a dozen passes Radu scored off his left hand at 0:53 and eight seconds after the man had returned. On the Greek attack and nearing the end of possession, Thomakos had a hopeful shot from eight metres and watched it slide into the bottom right at 0:28 for 8-7. The crowd was bereft. Romania still had a chance but Mylonakis stole the ball at eight metres and swam away. Greece called a timeout at 0:05. Romania pressed but Mylonakis just swam the ball for five seconds and Greece had won 8-7 but still needs to beat Russia tomorrow to win the group and go to Beijing. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press 

Day 4 report

Crunch day looms with two Olympic berths to be decided

Greece and Germany are in the box seats for a trip to Beijing should they come through critical matches at the men's Olympic Games Qualification Tournament at the Ioan Alexandrescu Pool here tomorrow. Germany is currently unbeaten in Group B with four wins while Italy is close behind with three wins and a draw. The group winners automatically take two of the four berths available here. Greece tore the hearts out of the Romanians when it won 8-7 in an absolute thriller where the game was locked six times. The winning goal was a slider from eight metres inside the last half-minute. While Greece will be elated, thoughts will quickly turn to tomorrow's last preliminary round encounter with Russia, who defeated Brazil 11-3 tonight. Should Russia win and Romania beats Kazakhstan as expected, then there would be a three-way tie and Romania would probably win the group. Greece just needs a draw to go to Beijing. Germany and Italy will play off for Group B's automatic position in the Olympics. In fact, Germany just needs to at least draw the game to get to Beijing without the complications of the quarterfinals. Germany strolled past Iran 18-2 today for four straight victories. Italy was equally unashamed in piling on the goals, downing Mexico 25-4. But the previous day's draw with Canada will force Italy to go strongly for the win to get that Olympic berth a day earlier than the cut-off date. Canada is still in the mix for second spot in the group but needs a huge assistance from Germany tomorrow. However, it secured a top-three position by defeating the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia 12-7, which has no chance of playing a meaningful match in the quarterfinals. Russell McKinnon, FINA Press