Serbia Defeats Croatia 9-8
Serbia, the hosting country of water polo’s World League Super Final, has been performing brilliantly since the beginning of the tournament. The Serbians were impressive against South Africa as the match looked more like training than a real competition. They crushed the South Africans with an embarrassing score of 22-0. Serbia’s dominating victory meets the expectations of its supporters, which are hoping for the championship title from their team, instead of the third place they earned in last year’s competition.
The Serbian’s performance against Croatia (last year's second place winners) was quite different. Ending the match with a painfully tight score of 9-8, the Serbians were once again victors. It was a difficult loss for Croatia, which had been, prior to the match, stunned by the Australian Sharks, 10-7.
Fortunately for the Croats, they will be facing South Africa next; a team that now possesses very few players from its former 2008 Beijing Olympic Games team, and are therefore less experienced. The Croats will definitely have to play more aggressively and hold up a better defence in order to stay in the competition and eventually reach the podium for a second time.
It was a meaningful victory for Serbian water polo players, who had been playing under the Croatian flag for many years before having a team of their own. This was their way of setting the record straight, by showing that Croatia had often won due to its talented Serbian players. Now Croatia would only have their own players to count on in order to win titles.
Croatia does possess some talented players in its team already, who have been able to distinguish themselves during the recent matches. Maro Jokovic is one of them. The 203cm tall Croat has been playing with the Croatian National Water polo team, with which he has won the League in 2006 in Dubrovnik and the World Championship in 2007 in Melbourne. He started playing water polo when he was seven years old, and entered his regional club, the VK Jug Dubrovnik called "Gusar" (Pirate), when he was fourteen. Jokovic has been playing ever since in the right wing position, and has used his left-handedness as an advantage in the game to offset his opponents.
Serbia also has some experienced players. Vanja Udovicic is a Serbian star. He began his water polo career in Belgrade’s club called Partizan, before joining VK Jadran and Herceg Novi. He then moved on to play for two seasons for the Italian club called Circolo Nautico Posillipo from Naples. Shortly after, he started playing defence for the Pro Recco, another Italian club. He was part of the Serbian national team that won the World Championship in 2009 and 2005, the European gold medal in 2003 and 2006, and the Olympic silver medal in 2004.
The Serb came very close to never competing with his fellow countrymen, however, last June when the Pro Recco leadership gave him an ultimatum: either leave the Italian club or play within the Italian national team for the upcoming events. The Serb was simply too good not to become an Italian water polo player full-time, apparently. Udovicic dutifully refused, however, which as a result, ended his contract with the Pro Recco club. His decision was covered in the Serbian press, and the Serbian Water Polo Association president publicly honoured Udovicic for standing up for his country under the Italian menace.
The crowd will be able to support its home grown team, Serbia, against the Australian Sharks, which have already defeated Croatia. Hopefully, the hosting team will be able to remind the Australians that they are among the best teams in the world.
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