Thursday, March 6
Preliminaries
| hour | no | game | intermediate results | final result | referees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:00 | 25 - B4/B2 | ITA - GER | 3-0 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 5 - 5 | Vuletic, Brguljan |
| 14:30 | 26 - B1/B5 | MEX - CAN | 2-2 | 1-5 | 0-6 | 3-5 | 6 - 18 | Patteli, Stepanov |
| 16:00 | 27 - A3/A6 | BRA - SVK | 1-1 | 1-3 | 4-5 | 0-3 | 6 - 12 | Naumov, Matache |
| 17:30 | 28 - A4/A2 | GRE - RUS | 2-1 | 2-1 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 8 - 6 | Tulga, Chaney |
| 19:00 | 29 - B3/B6 | IRI - MKD | 0-3 | 1-3 | 2-3 | 3-3 | 6 - 11 | Bohat, Davalos |
| 20:30 | 30 - A1/A5 | ROU - KAZ | 5-0 | 4-0 | 2-1 | 8-1 | 19 - 2 | Gomez, Spiegel |
Intermediate Ranking
Group A| team | G | W | L | T | Dif | P | rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Romania (ROU) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | +29 | 8 | 2 |
| A2 | Russia (RUS) | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | +27 | 6 | 3 |
| A3 | Brasilia (BRA) | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | -29 | 2 | 5 |
| A4 | Greece (GRE) | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | +24 | 10 | 1 |
| A5 | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -58 | 0 | 6 |
| A6 | Slovakia (SVK) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | +7 | 4 | 4 |
Group B
| team | G | W | L | T | Dif | P | rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Mexico (MEX) | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | -70 | 1 | 6 |
| B2 | Germany (GER) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | +54 | 9 | 1 |
| B3 | Iran (IRI) | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | -44 | 1 | 5 |
| B4 | Italy (ITA) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | +48 | 8 | 2 |
| B5 | Canada (CAN) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | +22 | 7 | 3 |
| B6 | Macedonia (MKD) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -10 | 2 | 4 |
see Top Scorers | see Goalkeeper Statistics | see Overall Team Statistics | see Cumulative Statistics
Games review
Game 25: 13:00, Thursday, March 6
GROUP B
ITALY 5 GERMANY 5
Referees: Luka VULETIC (CRO), Mario BRGULJAN (MNE).
Quarters: 3-0,1-3, 1-2, 0-0
Teams:
ITALY: Stefano TEMPESTI, Francesco
POSTIGLIONE, Leonardo BINCHI, Fabrizio BUONOCORE, Luigi DI COSTANZO (2), Maurizio
FELUGO (1), Andrea MANGIANTE, Alberto ANGELINI, Fabio BENCIVENGA (1), Alessandro
CALCATERRA (1), Leonardo SOLTANI, Federico MISTRANGELO, Fabio VIOLETTI.
Head Coach: Paolo MALARA.
GERMANY: Alexander TCHIGIR, Florian
NAROSKA, Timo PURSCHKE, Marko SAVIC, Steffen DIEROLF (1), Mark POLITZE (2), Heiko
NOSSEK (2), Thomas SCHERTWITIS, Tobias KREUZMANN, Moritz OELER, Andreas SCHLOTTERBECK,
Soren MACKEBEN, Michael ZELLMER. Head Coach:
Hagen STAMM.
Match report:
The fact Italy could only score two goals in three quarters of water polo led to
its not gaining an Olympic berth. Germany just needed the draw to go to Beijing
as the group winner and when the game was locked at 5-5 halfway through the third
period, few would guess that it would be the final score. Neither could penetrate
the defence and not many shots at this stage looked like going in. Italy started
strongly at 3-0 up after seven minutes with one on extra. Germany did not panic,
even when the teams traded extra-man goals midway through the second period. Inside
the last two minutes before halftime, Germany gained two more extra-man goals but
was still a goal down. The game levelled when Politze converted a penalty at 7:19
of the third. He then went for his third major when swimming over an opponent. Mistrangelo
gained his third immediately after. Nossek gave Germany the edge at 4:15 on extra
but the celebrations were put on hold when Felugo scored the sixth extra-man goal
of the game for 5-5. Both teams took timeouts to no avail and Germany used its time
in the last minute to the fullest but that still left Italy 10 seconds after a timeout.
Sadly for Italy the ball missed Calcaterra at two metres and skidded past into Germany's
arms. The delight was obvious as head coach Hagen Stamm and his fellow officials
joined the team in the water to celebrate inclusion in the 2008 Olympic Games, taking
the first berth from this event. Russell McKinnon
/ FINA Press
Game 26: 14:30, Thursday, March 6
GROUP B
MEXICO 6 CANADA 18
Referees: Decio PATTELI (BRA), Mikhail STEPANOV (KAZ).
Quarters: 2-2, 1-5, 0-6, 3-5
Teams:
MEXICO: Orlando ORTEGA, Diego CASTANEDA, Rainer SCHMIDT, Jorge LOPEZ, Daniel VAZQUEZ, Maximiliano AGUILAR (1), Oliver ALVAREZ (1), Fausto VAZQUEZ (2), Armando GARCIA, Richard SCHMIDT, Gonzalo MEJIA (2), Jorge PEREZ, Andres ONETO. Head Coach:
Raul DE LA PENA
CANADA: Robin RANDALL, Constantine
KUDABA, Devon DIGGLE, Kevin MITCHELL (2), Justin BOYD (5), Thomas MARKS (1), Brandon
JUNG, Kevin GRAHAM (2), Aaron FELTHAM (3), Sasa PALAMAREVIC (1), Jean SAYEGH (3),
Nathaniel MILLER (1), Nicholas YOUNGBLUD. Head
Coach: Dragan JOVANOVIC.
Match report:
Canada wrapped up third in Group B with a flogging of Mexico and finished just two
points behind group winner Germany and a point adrift of second-placed Italy. Canada
has played some great water polo here this week but the first quarter wasn't some
of it. Mejia equalised twice for Mexico as Canada could not get into rhythm. Once
head coach Jovanovic delivered a short, sharp message and walked away from his team
at the break, Canada started producing. Three came in four minutes and then the
funniest thing happened. A timeout was called by Canada. Or that's what the man
on the button sitting behind the bench thought. Silly really as no one calls a timeout
after scoring a goal. It was dismissed after a couple of minutes and the game continued
with Sayegh scoring a second. Vazquez gave Mexico its third goal after a timeout
strategy and Palamarevic closed the half's scoring on extra for 7-3. From then on
it was all Canada with a shutout. Canada opened the final quarter for an eight straight
goal and stepped off the accelerator allowing Mexico to score three times before
the end of the match. Russell McKinnon / FINA
Press
Game 27: 16:00, Thursday, March 6
GROUP A
BRAZIL 6 SLOVAKIA 12
Referees: Sergey NAUMOV (RUS), Radu MATACHE (ROU).
Quarters: 1-1, 1-3, 4-5, 0-3
Teams:
BRAZIL: Luis SANTOS, Vicente HENRIQUES
(2), Gabriel ROCHA (1), Lucas VITA, Marcelo FRANCO, Conrado BERTOWZZI, Bernardo
ROCCA, Felipe SILVA (1), Erik SEEGERER, Bruno NOLASCO (2), Mario CAROTINI, Rafael
FARIAS, Anderson SOUZA. Head Coach:
Barbaro DIAS.
SLOVAKIA: Michal GOGOLA, Peter NEDBAL
(1), Juraj ZATOVIC (2), Josef HROSIK (3), Lukas SEMAN, Alexander NAGY, Martin PALASCAK
(1), Karol BACO (2), Andrej JANICEK (1), Martin MRAVIK, Michal KRATOCHVIL (2), Thomas
BRUDER, Michal HRUSKA. Head Coach:
Ante NAKIC.
Match report:
Slovakia secured fourth position in Group A with what was a hard-fought victory. There
was only a goal in it halfway through the third period but then the greater experience
of Slovakia shone through. Brazil levelled twice in the first half and narrowed
the margin to one when Nolasco scored his second from the penalty line at 3:46.
But Zatovic took it two out and, after a timeout; Baco converted off only the second
pass. Palascak, also on extra, had Slovakia comfortably at 9-5 a minute from the
final break. However, it was Gabriel Rocha who scored from two metres for 9-6. Brazil
wasn't in the picture in the final quarter, except when the high-performing Santos
stopped Baco's penalty attempt. Brazil must now compete in the bottom-four group
while Slovakia has a rest tomorrow before playing the 7-10 group on the final two days. Russell McKinnon / FINA Press
Game 28: 17:30, Thursday, March 6
GROUP A
GREECE 8 RUSSIA 6
Referees: Erhan TULGA (TUR), Aaron CHANEY (USA).
Quarters: 2-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-2
Teams:
GREECE: Nikolaos DELIGIANNIS, Anastasios
SCHIZAS, Dimitrios MAZIS, Konstantinos KOKKINAKIS, Ioannis THOMAKOS (2), Argyris
THEODOROPOULOS, Christos AFROUDAKIS (1), Georgios NTOSKAS (4), Georgios AFROUDAKIS,
Dimitriy MITELOUDIS, Matthaios VOULGARAKIS, Emmanouil MYLONAKIS (1), Georgios REPPAS.
Head Coach: Alessandro CAMPAGNA.
RUSSIA: Seman DAVITASHVILI, Sergey
LISUNOV, Sergey EVSTIGNEEV, Evgeny FINAEV, Roman BALASHOV (1), Alexander ERYSHOV,
Pavel KHALTURIN (1), Dmitry STRATAN (2), Andrey REKECHINSKIY, Marat ZAKIROV, Sergey
GARBUZOV (1), Irek ZINNUROV (1), Dmitry DUDKIN.
Head Coach: Boris POPOV.
Match report:
Greece can thank Ntoskas for his four glorious goals and Thomakos for a near-halfway
slider well inside the final minute for a berth in Beijing. Greece was the better
team and led all the way. It also had the confidence on extra man. However, it was
Ntoskas who stole the show with his shots from deep left squeezing their way past
the post and lifting the energy in the Greek team. A late save on extra by Deligiannis
from point-blank range typified Russia's bad luck. The winner in a very tight match
came off the arm of Thomakos. Greece didn't want to fire in a quick shot and the
ball was passed way back to Thomakos near halfway at the end of possession time.
With almost everyone else down in front of Greece's goal, Thomakos threw a long,
low shot and it slipped under Davitashvili's right arm at 0:34, had Greece two goals
up and sent the team to Beijing. The goalie may think it was his fault Russia has
yet to qualify but it was the team that didn't fire against a country starting to
believe it is an Olympic contender. Russia valiantly tried to come back into the
game midway through the final quarter, narrowing the game to 7-6 when Stratan dragged
down a ball on extra but it was too late. Russell
McKinnon / FINA Press
Game 29: 19:00, Thursday, March 6
GROUP B
IRAN 6 FYRO MACEDONIA 11
Referees: Jan BOHAT (SVK), Mariano DAVALOS (MEX).
Quarters: 0-2, 1-3, 2-3, 3-3
Teams:
IRAN: Ali Reza SHAHIDIPOUR, Arameh
AGHAZARIAN (1), Seyed MIR MEDI, Mahdi KARAMIZARANDI (1), Mohammad MEHDI TEIRAN (1),
Ali PIROZKHAH, Kambiz AFSHARI (2), Khadempir SOHEIL, Mohsen JALILI, Shirijian ALIAKBAR,
Sadjad ABDIHANJANI, Amir HOSSEIN KHANI, Meisam JAFARI (1).
Head Coach: Nevan KOVACEVIC.
FYROM: Dalibor PERCINIC, Risto MAGKOVIC,
Ivan VUKSANOVIC (2), Goran KRSTONOSIC, Hebojsa MILIC, Saso POPOVSKI (1), Marko MICIC
(2), Vladimir KRECKOVIC, Dusan KRSTIC (2), Marko BASIC (1), Dimitah DIMOVSKI (1),
Danijel BENIC (2), Milos UROSEVIC. Head Coach:
Alexandar KRSTONOSIC.
Match report:
FYRO's former Serbian players were too strong for the Iranians, who showed plenty
of zest until the final whistle. MKD shot to a 6-1 lead at the start of the third
quarter but from then on the game was even. The determination of both teams to play
well in the final quarter resulted in better shots and less fumbling as had been
displayed earlier. Four of the goals came in the last two minutes with the last
two in the final 16 seconds. Mehdi Tieran was spectacular when he drove down the
left after Dimovski's goal at 16 seconds, He picked up and sent the ball into the
net with three seconds left on the clock. MKD hadn't improved as much in the five
days as Iran has and former Croatian men's coach Kovacevic must be pleased with
the progression in such elite company. Russell
McKinnon / FINA Press
Game 30: 20:30, Thursday, March 6
GROUP A
ROMANIA 19 KAZAKHSTAN 2
Referees: Fillipo GOMEZ (ITA), Ulrich SPIEGEL (GER).
Quarters: 5-0, 4-0, 2-1, 8-1
Teams:
ROMANIA: Bertina NENCIU, Cosmin
RADU (1), Tiberiu NEGREAN (3), Florin BONCA (1), Andrei IOSEP (3), Andrei BUSILA,
Gheorghe DUNCA (2), Ramiro GEORGESCU (2), Edward ANDREI-DINA (3), George GEORGESCU
(2), Cosmin BAIDOC, Kalman KADAR (2), Robert DINU.
Head Coach: Vlad HAGIU.
KAZAKHSTAN: Dimitriy AXYONKIN, Mixail
KOLOTVIN, Amirbek SAPAROV, Nurlan SARTAEV, Alan ORAZALINOV, Roman PILIPENKO (1),
Yernur KOILEYEV, Rustam UKUMANOV (1), Mikhail RUDAY, Ravil MANAFOV, Adil TEMRXANOV,
Alexex DENCHENKO. Head Coach: Askar
ORAZALINOV.
Match report:
Romania settled for second position in the group and looks forward to tomorrow's
all-import battle for the final berth in Beijing. For tonight it was a straight-forward
exercise in getting things right, honing skills and combinations and keeping the
fans happy. Only about 800 turned up to witness the annihilation of Kazakhstan but
they were vocal just as much as previous nights, especially when the word "goaaaaaaaaal"
came up on the screen. Kazakhstan tried hard but could only gain a long lob from
Pilipenko as a consolation, coming early in the third period. Ukumanov scored late
in the fourth quarter. Nenciu was given the night off and Dinu got a decent run
in goal. The Romanian intensity was there all game as it will be needed in tomorrow's
clash with Canada. Radu, who has pleased all week, took until the final quarter
to gain his goal. Russell McKinnon / FINA Press
Day 5 report
Germany and Greece qualify for the Olympic Games
Germany and Greece became the ninth and 10th teams to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games men's water polo tournament today. Competing at the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament at the Ioan Alexandrescu Pool here, Germany gained a 5-all draw with three-time champion Italy, just enough to take out Group B. Greece will be back at the Olympics hopefully to go one better than 2004 and make the dais in Beijing after defeating Russia 8-6 to claim Group A. Germany's encounter was nail-biting with the final scoreline being reached with nearly four minutes left in the third period. It was all defence from there in a game where Italy led 4-1 until late in the second quarter. German head coach Hagen Stamm said: "It is a big honour to be the first team to qualify from this tournament. It makes sure of the money for the next four years and the next generation. It is an excellent success, especially to come from 3-0 and 4-1 down. No one at the pool thought we had any chance to come back and we did it. "I am very proud of the team because it continued fighting (to come back). The Italian game was our biggest success. We played good against Canada, MKD and Italy. "The most important thing was our man down (defence) at the end of the game," he said. "It was a physically hard game but the most important thing is that we came back from 4-1 to 5-4." Italy now moves to the crucial quarterfinals tomorrow against Russia in a clash where three-time champion Italy meets Russia, who won two gold medals as the USSR. One goes to Beijing while the other drops out. Greece played a controlled game and always had the edge on Russia, never being headed from the moment Christos Afroudakis scored the opener in the first minute. Greece held 6-3 and 7-4 leads but Russia came back with two goals in two minutes midway through the final quarter. It was three minutes later that Ioannis Thomakos put the game and the qualification spot beyond doubt. Head coach Alessandro Campagna was ecstatic after the match. The former Italian Olympic champion said: "We deserved to qualify because we played very well at the tournament, especially in the match-up yesterday with Romania. We were composed and took the pressure in front of many spectators. We played and reacted very well. "I now have plenty of good information for the future. We won as the protagonist and the players believe in themselves much more." When asked what went through his mind when Thomakos scored the winner from well outside in the last minute, Campagna said: "That was the moment the ticket for Beijing was history!" Romania skittled Kazakhstan 19-2 to take second place in the group and will face Canada, an 18-6 winner over Mexico today, in the other quarterfinal. It will be a tough ask for Canada to play in front of about 1800 people, dominated by Romanians, for the final berth to Beijing. In other games today, Slovakia beat Brazil 12-6 for fourth and fifth spots in the group as it turned out, and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia swam past Iran 11-6 for fourth and fifth ranking in Group B. Russell McKinnon / FINA Press
