FINA Water Polo World League: Day 2
The second day of the 2010 Men's FINA Water Polo World League Super Finals being played in Nis, Serbia concluded with most of the attention being devoted to the clash between hosts Serbia and last year's finalists, Croatia.
Croatia were coming into the game off the back of a surprise defeat to Australia in their first game. The Croatian team needed a win here today if they were to have any hopes of qualifying for the semi finals but all those hopes were dashed after a closely fought 9-8 game with the Serbians.
The Croatians got off to the perfect start, racing to a 3-0 lead by the time the first period ended. The home fans appeared to be shocked by the impressive Water Polo displayed by Croatia, who seemed were going to cause a major upset, perhaps the biggest at the tournament.
In the second period, however, the Serbians came back into the game and showed just why they are favourites, along with Montenegro, to win the competition. Scoring four times in a matter of minutes, the Serbians made it 4-4 by the time the second period was over and with the break starting they had put themselves in a very good position, completely over-turning the initial advantage obtained by the Croatians. In fact, the momentum seemed to be with the Serbians, while the Croatian team was showing signs of nervousness.
The third period saw a very heated battle between the two sides but once again, as in the last period, it was the Serbians who came out on top. The score at the end of the period was 7-6 to the Serbians, to the delight of the home fans who had come out in great numbers to support their team. There were few who could argue that Serbia did not deserve their lead, after completing one of the most impressive come backs of the tournament so far.
The last quarter of the game was perhaps the closest of the four, with Serbia just managing to hold on for a win that guarantees them a place in the next round, and now all that remains to be decided is who will take the top spot in the group.
For Croatia, this is an early exit from the tournament which will come as a shock to many in the world of Water Polo because they were very impressive in last year's edition of the tournament, finishing runner up's to Montenegro and defeating their opponents in this match, Serbia, en route to the final.
The Croatians will have to look at the game and wonder just how they managed to give up a three goal lead in just one quarter. Neutrals watching the games will be happy though because this means that the highly anticipated clash between Serbia and Montenegro in the final of the tournament is still possible and by the level of quality displayed by both sides in the competition so far, who could argue that there could be a more interesting final possible at the games this year.
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