No
upsets on the second day of the competition (Round 2 in Ostia, Round 1 in
Budapest) – the favourite teams all bagged three points, though Jug and Recco
had tighter encounters with Marseille and Ortigia respectively. Olympiacos
added another win too, while Brescia, Ferencvaros and Barceloneta enjoyed fine
openers in the Duna Arena.
Group A
– Ostia (ITA) Round 2: Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) v CN Marseille
(FRA) 11-10, Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 11-10, CC
Ortigia (ITA) v Pro Recco (ITA) 7-10
Group B
– Budapest (HUN) Round 1: Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v AN Brescia (ITA) 9-15, Jadran
Herceg Novi (MNE) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) 2-11, Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v
Zodiac CN Atletic Barceloneta (ESP) 8-16
Marseille
was close again but after a narrow loss to 8-time winner Recco on Monday, this
time they had to settle for a single-goal defeat against 2016 champion Jug. The
game had a different pattern compared to the one they had on Monday, this time
Jug surged to a commanding 8-4 lead by the middle of the third when the French
started climbing back. With 1:35 to go, they closed the distance to one at 10-9
with a fabulous goal from the centre by Vladan Spaic. However, just 27 seconds
later Luka Loncar also sent one home from the hole and that sealed the Croats’
win – a late man-up goal at 0:04 did not affect the outcome.
Olympiacos
also arrives to the big Wednesday showdown against Jug with two wins under its
belt. The Greeks offered a very balanced performance against Spandau – they
virtually ended the contest by halftime as they netted three in a span of 111
seconds to take a 4-8 lead. Sitting comfortable in the driving seat, the 2018
winners switched back one or two gears but never let the Germans closer than
two goals. What’s more, after 8-10 they staged a great finish by adding three
more.
The
Italian derby brought a more balanced contest than expected. Ortigia took a 3-2
lead early in the second but Recco responded with three consecutive goals.
Still, the Sicilians kept coming back and in the middle of the third they
equalised at 7-7. That was their swansong though as they was running out of
gas: they could not net any more in the last 10:05 minutes, indeed they could
not set up any bigger scoring chance in the final period while Recco finally
got the upper hand by burying two man-ups and a penalty.
In
Budapest, the competition pool of the magnificent Duna Arena welcomed back
top-level water polo after January 26. But what a difference: the European
Water Polo Championships ended in an electrifying atmosphere with 5,000 people
on the tribune – now the stands were empty, a sad sign of how the world has
changed in the meantime.
For a
little longer than a period, the opening encounter of Dinamo and Brescia
offered some stunning scenes. The Italians took a 0-2 lead quickly, only to see
Dinamo netting four goals in a row and leading 4-2 after the first period. Soon
they were 5-3 up but then Brescia, playing without its suspended head coach
Alessandro Bovo (had been red carded in the last game of the qualifications),
took control and with a 0-7 rush they closed down the game. Indeed they won the
middle two periods 2-10 and earned an easy win – Angelos Vlachopoulos scored 5
for them this afternoon.
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Ferencvaros was up next and the local side did not disappoint its fans in front
of the TV as they dominated the match against Jadran from the beginning to the
end. It was interesting to see how well their defence worked after two
embarrassingly high-scoring defeats in the domestic league (conceded 15 and 16
goals respectively against Szolnok and OSC). Here they held a clean sheet for
22:50 minutes – though one should note that Jadran is no longer the team which
sat in a qualifying position in March when the season was halted. Five
key-players left the Montenegrins and that was clearly visible against the much
more experienced and skilled rival. Jadran could net its first goal at 0-8 with
1:10 remaining from the third (thanks to a lucky bounce) while Ferencvaros
offered a couple of brilliantly played manups and finished the afternoon with
two conceded goals.
Barceloneta
also did a clean job against Hannover. The Spaniards brought their great
counter-attacking game to the pool and extended the gap quarter by quarter.
Though Hannover benefitted from the video review when their goal was called for
4-6 after the officials checked the goal-line camera’s view – but this proved
to be temporary help only. By halftime the Spaniards led 5-8 and before the
last period it stood 6-12 as Alberto Munarriz was on fire and scored 6 goals.
QUICK
LINKS: LIVE TV – RESULTS – CALENDAR – ROSTERS – DEEPBLUEMEDIA PHOTO GALLERY
Fixtures,
Wednesday
Group
A, Round 3: 15.15 Marseille v Ortigia, 17.45 Olympiacos v Jug, 20.15 Recco v
Spandau
Group
B, Round 2: 14.00 Barceloneta v Dinamo, 16.30 Ferencvaros v Brescia, 19.00
Jadran v Waspo
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