FINA Water Polo World League, Day 4 Part 2: Montenegro Pound South Africa 21-2, Serbia 17-4 vs China
The two teams rated as favourites to take the FINA Water Polo World League title, Serbia and Montenegro, played the last two quarterfinals of the day against China and South Africa respectively. The games came after two very tightly contested quarterfinals (United States vs. Croatia, which Croatia won 13-11, and Spain vs. Australia, which Australia won 6-5). No one, though, expected either of the last two quarterfinals to be as close as the others, and that is exactly how it eventually played out.
The defending champions, Montenegro, played South Africa, who had finished bottom of their group and stood no chance at all against one of the best teams in the tournament. Montenegro, on the other hand, had finished top of their group and look likely to make it to the final for the second consecutive year. The match was as one-sided as everyone thought it would be, with the score ending up at 21-2.
This was the third time South Africa conceded more than 20 times in a match, in what has been one of the worst performances at the World League since its inception. The match started and finished with Montenegro dominating, but it was the ten consecutive goals in the second period that did the most damage, meaning that the South Africans were completely swept away, despite managing two goals of their own this time.
Damjan Danilovic finished with the second highest individual score of the quarterfinal round, netting four times during the game in one of the most impressive performances of the tournament so far. For the South Africans, Ryan Bell and Nicholas Molyneux scored one apiece, but it was not even enough to count as a consolation prize, as South Africa now only have the 7th place playoff to look forward to. South Africa will face Spain next. Montenegro now look ahead to their semifinal game against the Australians, who defeated Spain to book their place in the next round.
In the last quarterfinal of the day, Group 2 winners and hosts Serbia played China, who finished bottom of Group 1. This was another game in which the underdogs weren't given a chance, and it proved to be a simple victory for the hosts in the end, which sees them book a semifinal place against Croatia in the next round.
The score at the end of the game was 17-4 to the Serbians, who dominated throughout the game and particularly in the last two periods, where they didn't concede a single goal, showing just why they are rated so highly in the world of Water Polo. Filip Filipovic was the highest scorer of the round with five successful attempts, which meant that China had no chance to come back in the game. Other impressive performers for the Serbians included Andrija Prlainovic and Slobodan Nikic, who contributed with three goals apiece. China now face USA in the next round.
The win for Serbia sets up a re-match of last year's semifinal against the Croatians, which the Croatians famously won. However, this time, on home ground, Serbia will be looking to go all the way and win the tournament for the fifth time in their history.
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