BIWPA

19 junio 2014

Super Final men´s World League DUBAI 2014





Foto: Water Polo World League Super Final- Press Conference
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Serbia defends World League crown for 8th total - Super Final day 6

|Saturday 21 June 2014, 12:27|Tim Hartog
© Marcel ter Bals
Brazil have claimed 7th place in this year's World League Super Final thanks to a late 7-8 win over China in a physical 7th place play-off to start the final day of action at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai. Actually the Brazilian side just led the score in total for just over 3 minutes but decided the outcome in their favour in that final phase. A winning goal by Guilherme Gomes on man-up with 49 seconds remaining saw Brazil avoiding a last-place finish edging China. Equally important in the triumph to close off the tournament was when Adrian Delgado caught fire in the beginning of the final period scoring twice in a minute to get Brazil in the lead for the first time that match. Despite China equalising twice at 6-6 and 7-7 they still had to settle for the loss as Gomes' winner left not enough time to erase that blow.

FLASH QUOTES:

Paolo Malara (ITA) — Head Coach
“I’m happy with the team because we played strongly. Brazil is very good. Yes, we controlled the game for much of the time but we must have a good attitude and make a habit of winning. With more matches against stronger teams and more experience, we will do better. It was good we played three strong matches against Montenegro, Hungary and Serbia, despite the scores. Step by step the younger players get to play the best teams in the world. This is good.”

Chufeng Zhang (CHN) — Three Goals
“I actually feel good about the way our team played. I think overall we are very happy. We came in confident that we would win some games but I guess not today. I wanted to win the quarterfinals but we were still able to showcase some of our skills.”

Ratko Rudic (CRO) — Brazil Head Coach
“We had yesterday one shocking game and all the players were very depressed and couldn’t sleep. They were thinking about the loss. It’s very difficult to find the motivation for this game. We were playing and struggling from the beginning of the game. It was close more for them than us. Then at the end we found the strength to make the result our way. It was a good indication for the team that we can come back from bad situations.”

Bernardo Gomes (BRA) — Suspended Player
“We trained very hard for this tournament. It’s not the position we would rather be in but it was good to get the victory. We have been training very hard and we are hoping that we will improve in future tournaments.”




USA vs. Canada (14-11)

Team USA finished the World League Super Final in 5th place after a deserved 14-11 victory over neighbours Canada in today's second match. The US side walked away from their opponents in the third period after a close first half in a phase where Canada was struggling to convert the extra-man possessions and saw USA making fewer mistakes on the other end. The good shooting of Josh Samuels and Bret Bonanni in the fourt period finished things off as Team USA kept on scoring to lead 13-7 midway through. Canada however made a late surge but it was not enough as the deficit proved to be too big and USA could hold on to win by three. The win and 5th place finish will earn the team $ 30,000 as prize money. Canada takes home $ 25,000.

FLASH QUOTES:

Jack Kocur (USA) — Acting Head Coach
“Obviously a win is a win so we are happy with that. Canada is a good team so we always have strong fights and good battles out there. They have great two-metre men who complement our two-metre defenders. It was a slow finish but again we were happy to have the win.”

McQuin Baron (USA) — Goalkeeper
“I’m only 18 years old coming into the tournament. It’s an honour to play in the tournament, to play with all these Olympians. It’s an awesome experience. Today we had our ups and downs, but obviously getting the victory is what it is all about. Every tournament you go to you want to win a medal. Our average age is about 20 years old and we have lots to work on.”

Alex Beslin (CAN) — Head Coach
“Based on the type of match and the way we played from start to finish, my team was tired. Especially with (the effort of) the last game. It was the main reason for the mistakes and a reflection of the tired condition of the players. There was a high percent changed that we would not finish well. We have to hold the intensity all the game. It wasn’t enough. Yesterday we were completely excited with one athlete who kicked in, But six days in a row and two times in the past four weeks is a lot to ask. Generally I am satisfied with the tournament. There were many good signals, aims and actions. They implemented what I asked so I am generally satisfied.”

Alex Taschereau — Goal Scorer
“It’s always tough against the States. We had the first game and lost it in the last quarter so today we tried to play hard from the first quarter. We will have to get them back in the near future. From us it’s all that experience with not many players in Europe. We can use what we learnt in this tournament and build on the team chemistry for the Pan Ams.”




Montenegro vs. Australia (12-9)

Montenegro like last year claimed the World League bronze medal after edging Australia in a penalty shoot-out 12-9. The match in regular time got into an exciting finish where Australia looked close to an historic first bronze medal but it was Nikola Murisic who levelled the score once again with just 8 seconds remaining: 8-8. A blow for the Aussie Sharks who had been up in the score for almost the whole match but were forced to penalties to decide the contest. Montenegro goalie Zdravko Radic came up big in the shoot-out blocking both John Cotterill and Jarrod Gilchrist attempts. Antonio Petrovic then pulled the trigger to net his attempt as Montenegro won the contest 12-9 and claim another bronze medal.

FLASH QUOTES:


Vido Lompar (MNE) — Assistant Coach
“This was a very, very difficult match as Australia was a strong team who swum all game. Just one goal difference most of the game. Look at the last attack. We had to score to go to penalties, which was fantastic. This is the fifth time we have been in the semifinals and this is very good preparation for Budapest, the European Championships. Australia is to be congratulated on a great game and a great coach. I am very happy for my team.”

Antonio Petrovic (MNE) — Two Goals
It was a tough game. Australia is a very good team/ We were struggling through the game but in the end we showed our strength to win the game. The new guys really showed their mettle in this game today. Our goalkeeper was fantastic in the penalty shootout. It is wonderful to have won the bronze medal. It is never easy to win a medal.”

Elvis Fatovic (CRO) — Australia Head Coach
“This is my second competition as Australia head coach and my second heart-breaking game, like Croatia in the World Championships. But I must say I am so proud of these players of how they responded after yesterday and against a much, much more experienced team than we are. I’m really proud of how they played. We didn’t come here just to be part of the tournament. We are very happy that we are the best non-European team. Next step is to be much closer. This showed that in the close future we will be very competitive with everyone.”

Richard Campbell (AUS) — Captain
“This was the best game of the week so far so it was disappointing to lose like that. We hope to be more consistent in the future, but that’s when we become a bit more experienced. We planned on being very competitive throughout the week and I think we achieved.”




Hungary vs. Serbia (6-10)

Serbia defended their World League crown in a much anticipated final and replay of last year's gold medal match as they convincingly defeated Hungary 6-10 in a dominant performance. The Serbs completed a trio of back-to-back titles now standing on an impressive total of 8 triumphs. In Sunday's final against Hungary at the Hamdan Sports Complex both teams started off levelled with goals being exchanged after standout and tournament top scorer Filip Filipovic had opened the scoring for Serbia. From the second period onwards however the game turned into an almost one-sided affair as Serbia simply overpowered a sloppy Hungarian side scoring four unanswered goals in the second term continueing their advantage after the main break. Only to take the foot off the gas pedal in the final eight minutes where could try to make the score look a little less worse by scoring three straight and unaswered goals, all by the Varga brothers (Denes 2, Daniel 1), to finish at 6-10. Both Filipovic and Stefan Mitrovic, Hungarian league top scorer last season, scored a team-high 3 goals for Serbia. Denes Varga finished with 4 for runners-up Hungary (seven-time medallist). Both finalists with finishing in the top 2 of this year's World League have qualified for the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia as the first two teams to do so beside hosts Russia who are automatically qualified. Serbia, with the World League victory, won prize money of $ 100,000 while runners-up Hungary will take $ 70,000.

Awards:
Most Valuable Player: Daniel Varga (HUN)
Best Goalkeeper: Gojko Pijetlovic (SRB)
Highest Goal-scorer: Filip Filipovic (SRB) — 17 goals

Media All Star team: 

Goalkeeper: Gojko Pijetlovic (SRB)
Centre forward: Dusko Pijetlovic (SRB)
Field Players: Alexander Bowen (USA), Filip Filipovic (SRB), Mladan Janovic (MNE) Aidan Roach (AUS), Daniel Varga (HUN).  

FLASH QUOTES:

Tibor Benedek (HUN) — Head Coach

“I always said that Serbia was the form team here. That was plenty clear from the second period. Their five-metre shots meant we couldn’t do anything. They won the game in one period and were 7-2 up.” On the preparation for the European Championships: “We have to improve our work. It is not only Serbia who is strong. There are a lot of strong teams there.” On the best outcome from Dubai: “There were many. We played some important games. Today we did not concentrate enough.”

Dejan Savic (SRB) — Head Coach
“I think we won because we played very well in defence, but I’m a little disappointed with the final quarter because we lost three goals. I think that my guys thought they had already won. I hope it will be better for us, not like last year where we won the World League and got seventh at the World Championships. We hope to medal at the European Championships.”

Gojko Pijetlovic (SRB) — Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament
“It’s our second year in a row and most of us were on the team last year so it was good to win again. Our main goal was to make it to the finals and once we got in, obviously we wanted to win it. It was also good to see a lot of progress from Australia, USA and Brazil. We were surprised at how much better they are playing.”

Filip Filipovic (SRB) — Highest Goal-scorer of the Tournament
“First of all I would like to congratulate my team-mates. We did really well. We didn’t expect this result. The final is unique; I am very glad we had a very tough week. It is great Serbia have retained this trophy. I gave my all to score as many goals as I could in this game tonight. We knew Hungary would come back at us so we got a great start. I am delighted with my own performance and scoring goals and that my team-mates gave me that opportunity.”






All photos available on our Google+ account here.
Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

16-21 June, 2014

Schedule and results

Saturday, 21 June

China (L17) vs. Brazil (L18) 7-8 (2-1, 1-1, 2-2, 2-4) - (7th/8th place)
China scorers: Chufeng Zhang 3, Junliang Guo 2, Feihu Tan, Nianxiang Liang.

Brazil scorers: Adrian Delgado 3, Guilherme Gomes 2, Bernardo Gomes, Felipe Silva, Gustavo Guimaraes.

USA (W17) vs. Canada (W18) 14-11 (3-3, 2-2, 4-1, 5-5) - (5th/6th place)
USA scorers: Josh Samuels 4, John Mann 3, Bret Bonanni 2, Alex Bowen 2, Michael Rosenthal, Anthony Daboub, Nolan McConnell.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 3, Justin Boyd 3, Scott Robinson 2, Constantin Kudaba, Alec Taschereau, Zacchary Kappos.

Montenegro (L19) vs. Australia (L20) 12-9 after shoot-out (1-2, 3-2, 1-2, 3-2; penalties: 4-1) - (3rd/4th place)
Montenegro scorers: Antonio Petrovic 3, Darko Brguljan 3, Mladjan Janovic 2, Drasko Brguljan 2, Jovan Saric, Nikola Murisic.

Australia scorers: Aidan Roach 3, Richie Campbell 2, Aaron Younger 2, Jarrod Gilchrist, Billy Miller.

Hungary (W19) vs. Serbia (W20) 6-10 (2-3, 0-4, 1-3, 3-0) - (1st/2nd place)
Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 4, Norbert Madaras, Daniel Varga.

Serbia scorers: Filip Filipovic 3, Stefan Mitrovic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Dusko Pijetlovic, Andrija Prlainovic.

Previous results

Monday, 16 June

Hungary vs. Australia 11-5 (3-1, 3-0, 2-2, 3-2)
Hungary scorers: Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Marton Szivos 2, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Harai 2, Marton Vamos, Daniel Varga, Marton Toth.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 2, Aiden Roach 2, John Cotterill.

Serbia vs. China 21-9 (6-3, 5-1, 7-3, 3-2)
Serbia scorers: Andrija Prlainovic 5, Stefan Mitrovic 4, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Slobodan Nikic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Milos Cuk, Nikola Radjen.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Ning Pan 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Zhongxian Chen, Jinghao Chen, Chufeng Zhang.

USA vs. Canada 12-9 (1-1, 1-4, 3-3, 7-1)
USA scorers: Alexander Bowen 3, Alexander Obert 2, Michael Rosenthal 2, Josh Samuels 2, John Mann 2, Nolan McConnell.

Canada scorers: Scott Robinson 2, Oliver Vikalo, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Justin Boyd, Kevin Graham, Dusan Radojcic, Jared McElroy.

Brazil vs. Montenegro 5-15 (0-6, 1-3, 2-3, 2-3)
Brazil scorers: Jonas Crivella, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha, Gustavo Guimaraes.

Montenegro scorers: Nikola Murisic 5, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Mladjan Janovic 2, Jovan saric 2, Antonio Petrovic, Predrag Jokic.

Tuesday, 17 June

Brazil vs. China 12-9 (3-0, 5-0, 3-4, 1-5)
Brazil scorers: Felipe Silva 4, Guilherme Gomes 2, Gustavo Guimaraes 2, Jonas Crivella, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 3, Chufeng Zhang 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Lun Li, Jinghao Chen.

Hungary vs. Canada 10-3 (1-1, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0)
Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 3, Marton Vamos 2, Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Kevin Graham.

Serbia vs. Montenegro 14-5 (3-0, 2-0, 5-1, 4-4)

Serbia scorers: Dusan Mandic 5, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Montenegro: Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic.

USA vs. Australia 4-8 (1-2, 2-1, 0-3, 1-2)
USA scorers: John Mann 2, Alex Obert, Michael Rosenthal.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aiden Roach 2, George Ford, John Cotterill, Lachlan Edwards.

Wednesday, 18 June

Hungary vs. USA 16-9 (3-1, 4-2, 5-2, 4-4)
Hungary scorers: Daniel Varga 4, Norbert Madaras 3, Marton Szivos 3, Marton Vamos 2, Marton Toth 2, Denes Varga, Balazs Harai.

USA scorers: Josh Samuels 4, Bret Bonanni 2, Alex Bowen, Jackson Kimbell, John Mann.

Serbia vs. Brazil 12-4 (3-1, 5-1, 3-1, 1-1)
Serbia scorers: Milos Cuk 5, Slobodan Nikic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Andrija Prlainovic 2, Zivko Gocic.

Brazil scorers: Bernardo Gomes 3, Adrian Delgado.

Australia vs. Canada 8-10 (2-3, 2-2, 3-3, 1-2)
Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aaron Younger 2, Tyler Martin 2, Aidan Roach.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 5, Constantin Kudaba 2, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Kevin Graham.

China vs. Montenegro 8-9 (2-3, 1-1, 2-4, 3-1)
China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Jinghao Chen 2, Chufeng Zhang 2, Lun Li, Tao Dong.

Montenegro scorers: Filip Klikovac 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Dragan Draskovic, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic, Jovan Saric.

Thursday, 19 June

Montenegro (2A) vs. USA (3B) 10-4 (2-0, 2-2, 3-0, 3-2) 
- game 13
Montenegro scorers: Mladjan Janovic 4, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Darko Brguljan, Uros Cuckovic.

USA scorers: Anthony Daboub, Bret Bonanni, Alex Bowen, John Mann.

Brazil (3A) vs. Australia (2B) 7-14 (1-5, 5-3, 0-5, 1-1)
 - game 14
Brazil scorers: Marcelo Franco 2, Felipe Silva 2, Guilherme Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha.

Australia scorers: Nathan Power 3, Jarrod Gilchrist 3, Aaron Younger 3, John Cotterill, Aidan Roach, Lachlan Edwards, Mitch Emery, Billy Miller.

Serbia (1A) vs. Canada (4B) 16-11 (4-1, 3-3, 2-2, 7-5) - game 15
Serbia scorers: Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Zivko Gocic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Dusan Markovic, Nikola Radjen, Andrija Prlainovic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicarci 3, John Conway 2, Oliver Vikalo, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Dusan Radojcic, Zacchary Kappos, Jared McElroy.

China (4A) vs. Hungary (1B) 5-13 (1-3, 1-4, 1-3, 2-3) - game 16
China scorers: Tao Dong 2, Feihu Tan, Zhongxian Chen, Nianxiang Liang.

Hungary scorers: Marton Toth 4, Daniel Varga 3, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos, Balazs Harai.

Friday, 20 June

USA (L13) vs. China (L16) 15-5 (4-1, 6-1, 1-2, 4-1) - game 17
USA scorers: Alex Bowen 6, Anthony Daboub 2, Bret Bonanni 2, John Mann 2, Nicholas Bell, Michael Rosenthal, Josh Samuels.

China scorers: Tao Dong 2, Feihu Tan, Junliang Guo, Ning Pan.

Brazil (L14) vs. Canada (L15) 13-14 (1-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-4; penalties: 6-7)
 - game 18
Brazil scorers: Adrian Delgado 3, Felipe Silva 2, Ruda Franco 2, Bernardo Gomes 2, Jonas Crivella, Guilherme Gomes, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Rocha.

Canada scorers: Justin Boyd 5, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Scott Robinson 2, Alec Taschereau 2, Kevin Graham 2, Constantin Kudaba.

Montenegro (W13) vs. Hungary (W16) 8-10 (2-3, 1-2, 4-4, 1-1) - game 19
Montenegro scorers: Mladjan Janovic 2, Drasko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Uros Cuckovic, Filip Klikovac.

Hungary scorers: Balazs Erdelyi 3, Norbert Madaras 2, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Daniel Angyal, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga, Marton Toth. - game 19

Australia (W14) vs. Serbia (W15) 5-12 (1-2, 2-5, 0-2, 2-3)
 - game 20
Australia scorers: Aaron Younger 2, John Cotterill, Aidan Roach, Lachlan Edwards.

Serbia scorers: Filip Filipovic 5, Dusan Mandic 2, Dusko Pijetlovic 2, Zivko Gocic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic.

N.b.: times mentioned are local time.
Photos by Marcel ter Bals.

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Hungary, Serbia to play for gold again - Super Final day 5

|Friday 20 June 2014, 12:18|Tim Hartog
© Marcel ter Bals
USA will be playing for a 5th place finish at the World League Super Final in Dubai after posting a convincing 15-5 victory over China in the crossing matches on Friday. Carried by a 6-goal performance from Alex Bowen, a tournament high, the Americans wasted no time in grabbing control of the match. Led by Bowen, who already scored 5 in the first half, USA proved superior al game long, despite physical play from the Chinese side who, apart from the third period, while missing two players due to injury could not do much to turn things around and had to settle for a played game at half-time already. USA will now meet Canada after their shoot-out win over Brazil later on Friday.

FLASH QUOTES:

Dejan Udovicic (SRB) — USA Head Coach
“I’m glad we responded after yesterday (against Hungary). It was good to be going in the right direction. Every game is important and we are trying to finish with a win tomorrow. We need such experiences, bad and good from this tournament to learn for the future.”

Alexander Bowen (USA) — Six Goals

“I haven’t scored that many goals before in a tournament. I’m pretty excited. What matters is that our team won in the end. We took some steps in the right direction in this game. We started working a lot for each other and sacrificing the body for everyone else. I was definitely working harder and my teammates worked for me and that actually opened up opportunities for me. It was really a team effort. The last couple of games were disappointing for us and we really needed to focus on us and our team.”

Paolo Malara (ITA) — China Head Coach

“USA were very good, China very tired. The mind is very tired and it’s very difficult, but given it 100 percent in every match. We don’t have an easy match tomorrow but hopefully we will get a good result. I believe in my work and the moment it is step to step working with these young players and preparing them mentally for these big games is very important.”

Ning Pan (CHN) — Left Hander
“Two guys didn’t play and it made a big difference. It was difficult against a big team. We came in expecting to place eighth. Now we want Canada to win so we can meet Brazil. Our coach is doing a good job but today we just didn’t attack.”




Brazil vs. Canada (13-14)


Canada will be the opponent of the USA in the battle for 5th place at the World League Super Final after a shoot-out sudden death win edging Brazil. The game that led to the tournament's first shoot-out got off to a rather slow start and just 4 goals in the first half before it ignited after the main break. With Brazil taking a seemingly comfortable lead nothing showed signs of a possible shoot-out. Not before Justin Boyd caught fire in the final period scoring 4 straight goals for Canada to bring them from trailing 7-4 to tying the game in extremis 7-7 with just 2 seconds left on the clock.
In the shoot-out that followed all 5 selected shooters made no mistake in their first round of attempts and it was not until Adrian Delgado's shot was deflected by Canada goalie Dusan Aleksic that decided the outcome straight away as, from that pair, Canada international Alex Taschereau had converted his attempt before that.

FLASH QUOTES:

Brain Parillo (CAN) — Acting Head Coach
The heart rate is good. It’s not untypical of these guys not to give up. Lots of games we have been down three goals, but we were down by four, how much time, I don’t know. They had belief no matter what. We talked about playing to the last minute whatever happened.” On Justin Boyd’s incredible effort: “Justin is a warrior. His injury checked out. I’ve known that kid since he was 11 years old and he has a fighting spirit. They just refused to die.” On the last play and who would shoot: “We don’t have a template on the power play. Anyone can shoot.”

Justin Boyd (CAN) — Four-goal hero
“Against the States (USA) in the first game I hit my arm pretty hard and let it go for a few days. The physio said get it X-rayed and the first doctor said it was broken and I was in a full cast for the night and then I went to see the specialist and he said no. So I took yesterday off and felt better today so I got in and obviously for my team and myself it took us a while to get going, but once we did we controlled the game. It feels pretty good (to have got the four goals in normal time). In the past, playing against Brazil a lot being in the Americas together, they always bring it on us pretty hard and they never quit, no matter what. I just kept playing until the end. I’m really happy we pulled off that win, especially in a shootout having five different guys score goals for us.”

Ratko Rudic (CRO) — Brazil Head Coach
“For us we need to work on the psychological preparation. We had an advantage near the end of the game and we need to hold on to this. This is where we expected to be. What I expected happened. If we can win the final game it will be a good result for us.”

Felipe Silva (BRA) — Captain
“It was only the last three minutes we stopped playing. We need to learn playing the whole game through. Other than that it was perfect.”




Montenegro vs. Hungary (8-10)

In the first of pair of semi-finals Montenegro made it a real battle but had to settle for a defeat at the hands of Hungary who used a better first half to take two-goal leadand continue that in the remainder of the contest. That however did not ment the Monteengrins came not close on several occasions. But it looked like whenever they managed to do so, Hungary always had the answer going up from 5-5, 6-7 and 7-8 scores to restore their two-goal advantage in the third period. Especially when Balazs Erdelyi scored his 3rd of the game from deep left setting the score at 7-10 with just seconds to play in the third session, it seems Hungary made the defintive call for the win and a second straight final appearance. A good tip-in goal from centre-forward Filip Klikovac for Montenegro with .54 on the clock came too late as Hungary played out the clock and even saw a shot attempt blocked to retain possession and finish off the contest. Hungary, defending world champions, played the gold medal final of last year's edition in Chelyabinsk, Russia only to fall to Serbia 12-7.

FLASH QUOTES:

Tibor Benedek (HUN) — Head Coach
“I’m very happy to be in the final tomorrow. We came here, we wanted to play Montenegro and Serbia and it’s important for our preparation for the European Championships. One is done and tomorrow we play Serbia, who, for me, is the favourite. This competition is very important to me. Last year we got second and it was a good start for this team for the season and it’s the same situation now, it’s good preparation and an important tournament.” On qualifying for the 2015 FINA World Championships: “I am delighted.”

Balasz Erdelyi (HUN) — Three Goals
“The game went pretty well. What else can I say? We played well; we executed the game plan. We made some mistakes on defence. We gave up eight goals.” On what Hungary took from the match: “We had an opportunity to work on both our offence and defence. We made too many mistakes on defence and we will try to fix that for tomorrow.”

Ranko Perovic (MNE) — Head Coach
“We weren’t so good in defence. We gave away three easy goals. We hope to play much better than today. I really believe we could have won today. I hope we will do better than today and win our final game.”

Mladjan Janovic (MNE) — Two Goals
“For us we came to this tournament without four players and our aim was the semifinals and now for the moment we will play Australia for third place. Hungary and Serbia arrived here with their best teams and will be in the final, which is correct.” On missing a key penalty attempt when 9-7 down: “It is difficult when you take two or three penalties in a row. I have to think where to shoot. The goalie can’t lose. I can change the angle.”




Australia vs. Serbia (5-12)

Last year's final will get a replay on Saturday in Dubai as defending champions Serbia joined Hungary in the final dominating Australia in 5-15 performance in the semi-final. The combination of Serbia's outside shooting and dangerous pair of centre-forwards in Dusko Pijetlovic and Slobodan Nikic proved too much for Australia's defence to handle. The Elvis Fatovic coached side struggled to get away from the Serbian pressure and managed to score just 5 goals despite hanging on in the opening period. The following two session however saw the Serbs walking away, not be endangered in the final eight minutes. Filip Filipovic went on in the first half to finish as the game's and now even tournament, top scorer netting 5 shots on Friday. Aaron Younger finished with a team-high 2 for Australia.

FLASH QUOTES:

Dejan Savic (SRB) — Head Coach
“This was a very tough match. The referees left it a little harder today, not just for our match, but also the Hungary-Montenegro game. We played very well today, especially in defence. This was the key for our win. Tomorrow is the big final between two teams who deserve to be in the final match.”

Filip Filipovic (SRB) — Five Goals

“We prepared for the game. As I said last night we improved on our defence, which gave us the launch to our attack. We have a historical tradition against Hungary. This is just one part of the preparation. We are training a lot in the mornings. We will hope we bring our best game to tomorrow’s final and a final is a final. We are fighting for a World League we want to win. Hungarian games are always very tough.”

Elvis Fatovic (CRO) — Australia Head Coach

“It’s not nice when you lose, but I am not so unhappy with our presentation because for almost two quarters we played really good defence. Then we just had a small mistake, but against a team like Serbia that’s enough to punish us. They are very strong physically and they didn’t give us many chances in attack.”

John Cotterill (AUS) — Longest-serving Aussie Shark
“We are quite proud of ourselves. We came out firing in the first quarter. Overall there was a lack of teamwork. Yesterday we really came together, but today we didn’t play our complete game. We wanted to back it up, but it’s tough in a 24-hour time period. Obviously we came into the tournament wanting to win it, but we were hoping for the semis, so we can be quite proud of ourselves.”




Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates


16-21 June, 2014


Schedule and results

Friday, 20 June

USA (L13) vs. China (L16) 15-5 (4-1, 6-1, 1-2, 4-1) - game 17
USA scorers: Alex Bowen 6, Anthony Daboub 2, Bret Bonanni 2, John Mann 2, Nicholas Bell, Michael Rosenthal, Josh Samuels.

China scorers: Tao Dong 2, Feihu Tan, Junliang Guo, Ning Pan.

Brazil (L14) vs. Canada (L15) 13-14 (1-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-4; penalties: 6-7) - game 18
Brazil scorers: Adrian Delgado 3, Felipe Silva 2, Ruda Franco 2, Bernardo Gomes 2, Jonas Crivella, Guilherme Gomes, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Rocha.

Canada scorers: Justin Boyd 5, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Scott Robinson 2, Alec Taschereau 2, Kevin Graham 2, Constantin Kudaba.

Montenegro (W13) vs. Hungary (W16) 8-10 (2-3, 1-2, 4-4, 1-1) - game 19
Montenegro scorers: Mladjan Janovic 2, Drasko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Uros Cuckovic, Filip Klikovac.

Hungary scorers: Balazs Erdelyi 3, Norbert Madaras 2, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Daniel Angyal, Daniel Varga, Denes Varga, Marton Toth. - game 19

Australia (W14) vs. Serbia (W15) 5-12 (1-2, 2-5, 0-2, 2-3) - game 20
Australia scorers: Aaron Younger 2, John Cotterill, Aidan Roach, Lachlan Edwards.

Serbia scorers: Filip Filipovic 5, Dusan Mandic 2, Dusko Pijetlovic 2, Zivko Gocic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic.

Saturday, 21 June

14.30: China (L17) vs. Brazil (L18) (7th/8th place)
15.50: USA (W17) vs. Canada (W18) (5th/6th place)
17.10: Montenegro (L19) vs. Australia (L20) (3rd/4th place)
18.30: Hungary (W19) vs. Serbia (W20) (1st/2nd place)

Previous results

Monday, 16 June

Hungary vs. Australia 11-5 (3-1, 3-0, 2-2, 3-2)
Hungary scorers: Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Marton Szivos 2, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Harai 2, Marton Vamos, Daniel Varga, Marton Toth.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 2, Aiden Roach 2, John Cotterill.

Serbia vs. China 21-9 (6-3, 5-1, 7-3, 3-2)
Serbia scorers: Andrija Prlainovic 5, Stefan Mitrovic 4, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Slobodan Nikic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Milos Cuk, Nikola Radjen.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Ning Pan 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Zhongxian Chen, Jinghao Chen, Chufeng Zhang.

USA vs. Canada 12-9 (1-1, 1-4, 3-3, 7-1)
USA scorers: Alexander Bowen 3, Alexander Obert 2, Michael Rosenthal 2, Josh Samuels 2, John Mann 2, Nolan McConnell.

Canada scorers: Scott Robinson 2, Oliver Vikalo, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Justin Boyd, Kevin Graham, Dusan Radojcic, Jared McElroy.

Brazil vs. Montenegro 5-15 (0-6, 1-3, 2-3, 2-3)
Brazil scorers: Jonas Crivella, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha, Gustavo Guimaraes.

Montenegro scorers: Nikola Murisic 5, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Mladjan Janovic 2, Jovan saric 2, Antonio Petrovic, Predrag Jokic.

Tuesday, 17 June

Brazil vs. China 12-9 (3-0, 5-0, 3-4, 1-5)
Brazil scorers: Felipe Silva 4, Guilherme Gomes 2, Gustavo Guimaraes 2, Jonas Crivella, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 3, Chufeng Zhang 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Lun Li, Jinghao Chen.

Hungary vs. Canada 10-3 (1-1, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0)
Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 3, Marton Vamos 2, Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Kevin Graham.

Serbia vs. Montenegro 14-5 (3-0, 2-0, 5-1, 4-4)
Serbia scorers: Dusan Mandic 5, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Montenegro: Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic.

USA vs. Australia 4-8 (1-2, 2-1, 0-3, 1-2)
USA scorers: John Mann 2, Alex Obert, Michael Rosenthal.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aiden Roach 2, George Ford, John Cotterill, Lachlan Edwards.

Wednesday, 18 June
Hungary vs. USA 16-9 (3-1, 4-2, 5-2, 4-4)
Hungary scorers: Daniel Varga 4, Norbert Madaras 3, Marton Szivos 3, Marton Vamos 2, Marton Toth 2, Denes Varga, Balazs Harai.

USA scorers: Josh Samuels 4, Bret Bonanni 2, Alex Bowen, Jackson Kimbell, John Mann.

Serbia vs. Brazil 12-4 (3-1, 5-1, 3-1, 1-1)

Serbia scorers: Milos Cuk 5, Slobodan Nikic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Andrija Prlainovic 2, Zivko Gocic.

Brazil scorers: Bernardo Gomes 3, Adrian Delgado.

Australia vs. Canada 8-10 (2-3, 2-2, 3-3, 1-2)
Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aaron Younger 2, Tyler Martin 2, Aidan Roach.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 5, Constantin Kudaba 2, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Kevin Graham.

China vs. Montenegro 8-9 (2-3, 1-1, 2-4, 3-1)
China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Jinghao Chen 2, Chufeng Zhang 2, Lun Li, Tao Dong.

Montenegro scorers: Filip Klikovac 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Dragan Draskovic, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic, Jovan Saric.

Thursday, 19 June

Montenegro (2A) vs. USA (3B) 10-4 (2-0, 2-2, 3-0, 3-2) - game 13
Montenegro scorers: Mladjan Janovic 4, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Darko Brguljan, Uros Cuckovic.

USA scorers: Anthony Daboub, Bret Bonanni, Alex Bowen, John Mann.

Brazil (3A) vs. Australia (2B) 7-14 (1-5, 5-3, 0-5, 1-1) - game 14
Brazil scorers: Marcelo Franco 2, Felipe Silva 2, Guilherme Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha.

Australia scorers: Nathan Power 3, Jarrod Gilchrist 3, Aaron Younger 3, John Cotterill, Aidan Roach, Lachlan Edwards, Mitch Emery, Billy Miller.

Serbia (1A) vs. Canada (4B) 16-11 (4-1, 3-3, 2-2, 7-5) - game 15
Serbia scorers: Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Zivko Gocic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Dusan Markovic, Nikola Radjen, Andrija Prlainovic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicarci 3, John Conway 2, Oliver Vikalo, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Dusan Radojcic, Zacchary Kappos, Jared McElroy.

China (4A) vs. Hungary (1B) 5-13 (1-3, 1-4, 1-3, 2-3)
 - game 16
China scorers: Tao Dong 2, Feihu Tan, Zhongxian Chen, Nianxiang Liang.

Hungary scorers: Marton Toth 4, Daniel Varga 3, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos, Balazs Harai.

N.b.: times mentioned are local time.
Photos by Marcel ter Bals.





Australia to face defending champs in semis - Super 

Final day 4

|Wednesday 18 June 2014, 22:23|Tim Hartog
Montenegro was the first team to reach the semi-finals of this year's World League Super Final after beating USA 10-4 in a superior quarter-final performance on Thursday. Although in control the Montenegrins still didn't look like the side that came in as one of the favorites to improve on claiming a bronze medal in last year's edition in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Still USA was not capable of imposing their style of play, rarely could find the centre-forward, and just occasionaly took advantage of poor goalkeeping from Montenegro goalie Zdravko Radic, although he proved more consistent than in yesterday's close victory over China (8-9). On the other end it was Mladjan Janovic who did most of the damage having a good shooting afternoon as he netted 4 shots. Both Drasko Brguljan and Vjekoslav Paskovic contributed a pair of goals for the winners. Montenegro will now face Hungary in a big semi-final clash, after the Hungarians got rid of China in the day's final quarter-final match 5-13.

FLASH QUOTES:

Ranko Perovic (MNE) — Head Coach

“We changed our approach today. We must do hard work. We always want to win. For tomorrow, who knows?”

John Mann (USA) — Captain

“I think we didn’t execute very well; that was the bad part of it. Obviously we’re growing as a team; we can’t come out like that so we have to play a higher level and come back tomorrow and improve. I don’t think you can ever be satisfied with yourself; you have to keep improving. There’s so many things we need to work on. Obviously this is not the result we were looking for so we have to keep driving and growing.”

Drasko Brguljan (MNE) — Two Goals
“We played very well today. We didn’t play so well in the group play. They have two very good centres so we had to play very good defence. It will be difficult as we are missing three very good players. We expect to play Hungary. They play very fast. If we counter attack like we did today we should have a good chance.”

Dejan Udovicic (SRB) — USA Head Coach
“This is the worst way you can lose a game because we did not play anything. This is terrible. This is our worst performance of the tournament today. We must change. Yes, we have 10 guys from college. Nobody cares about this. I don’t care about this. There is no reason to play like this today.”




Brazil vs. Australia (7-14)


Australia took revenge for their surprising interncontinental qualification tournament semi-final loss (9-6) to Brazil weeks ago this time eliminating the Ratko Rudic coached side from the medals race as they posted a good 7-14 victory. A big third quarter ignited the Australian dominance that held on for the entire second half. With 8 goal scorers, including a trio of players with 3, the Aussie Sharks  used a balanced attack to down the Brazilians who, after a pretty solid second quarter just trailed 6-8 at half-time but were outplayed in the remainder. Australia in the semi-finals will now face defending champs and favorites Serbia after they held off Canada 16-11 in a high scoring game.

FLASH QUOTES:

Elvis Fatovic (CRO) — AUS Head Coach
“Unfortunately we had to learn from our mistakes and that’s what happened from yesterday and even during this game today because we played a really good first quarter and in the second quarter we gave up five goals and the next quarter we played really good. Against teams like Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary there’s no comeback when that happens. We must insist on strong defence and then we can play well. I think we are a better team than Brazil, but they have definitely improved a lot in the past two years so they will be a big opponent in the future. We had a couple of serious meetings yesterday. It’s not a problem to lose in sport, but if we had an approach like yesterday and don’t respect the opponent, then that’s something I don’t want to have in my team.”

Nathan Power (AUS) — Three Goals
“We haven’t been ourselves this trip, so it’s good to get the team unity again. Today was all about playing with Aussie pride and the boys came out firing in the first quarter. Seeing the guys play like they should and claiming goals is good to see. It was good to finally stick it to a team and play as a unit.”

Ratko Rudic (CRO) — BRA Head Coach
“I’m not happy. It’s evident that they were more psychologically prepared and made a lot of strong, physical contact. Our players didn’t react to this kind of game. We didn’t play as we can play. We played very badly on defence. They are organised well. When you start bad and not psychologically ready at any part of the game, it is bad.”

Marcelo Franco (BRA) — Two Goals

“It’s very disappointing. We train to win games. Our target is fifth place so we must win our next game.”




Serbia vs. Canada (16-11)

Defending champs Serbia expectedly qualified for the semi-final by beating Canada 16-11 in a high scoring encounter. Perhaps a bit too high scoring from Serbian perspective conceding 11 goals in a mostly controlled game. Suffering from another strong performance by centre-forward Nicolas Constantin-Bicari who was the only one crossing the Serbian dominance early in the game by scoring his team's first three goals in the first half. The Canadians then managed to hung on in the third session but never looked to be able to complete a comeback. The Serbs went on to score another 7 goals in the final quarter, including 2 straight from standout Dusko Pijetlovic, on their way to the 5-goal win and will now play Australia in the semi-final on Friday.

FLASH QUOTES:

Filip Filipovic (SRB) — Two Goals
“We conceded too many goals. It’s not a good preparation for tomorrow’s game against Australia. Most disappointed with defence today. In serious matches we will be punished. We have great shooters in our team from 13 players we can choose from. We want to score more goals… but also want to improve in our defence. Tomorrow is a big match. We will have a meeting and we will try to improve as much as we can. Our target is the final. I saw Australia train last week and I was very impressed. I think the Croatian coach of Australia is doing an excellent job with them. They are looking at World Championships next year in Kazan and we will have a tough game tomorrow.”

Nikola Radjen (SRB) — Centre Back

“It was very difficult for us against Canada as they are a very specific team. In the beginning there was a little pressure. We are expecting to win our semifinal. We came here for first place. Canada didn’t allow us to get easy goals, which was good, but they scored many goals near the end of the game when we were well ahead. The most important thing was that we kept Canada to under five goals in the first half.”

Alex Beslin (CAN) — Head Coach
“We did play much better than previous games, but we gave them a couple of easy goals at the very beginning and that cost us the most. I’m disappointed we are not in the top four.  It would have been difficult, but not impossible. After yesterday we need to appreciate every win. It wasn’t easy; we missed a couple of easy chances and these are things we need to fix and it cost us a four-goal difference.”

Jared McElroy (CAN) — Goal Scorer
“We came in expecting a tough match. We played three strong quarters. I don’t think anything went wrong; we played pretty well overall as a team. We just have to look to our next game.”




China vs. Hungary (5-13)

Hungary was the final side to join the semi-finalists after a solid yet dominating 5-13 victory over China in the last quarter-final of the day. The Hungarians were in control throughout but, especially in the final period, had to deal with a physical Chinese team trying to make the best of their match-up with the reigning world champions although an upset never looked to be there. Holding the China team far from the goal, their only danger from inside came on man-up from the post players but it turned out just to be some individual standout performances could get past Hungarian goalie Viktor Nagy. The 2013 world championships best goalkeeper, this time on goal replacing Attila Decker, looked confident as ever and more than once could launch his team-mates with a long pass being on the counter attack. Back-up centre-forward Marton Toth, thanks to a strong finish in the 4th quarter, went on to become top scorer netting 4 while Daniel Varga added three for the winners. They now set up a big clash with Montenegro in the semi-finals tomorrow.

FLASH QUOTES:

Tibor Benedek (HUN) — Head Coach
“It was a strange game. China was very physical and very strong. In the beginning we made a lot of mistakes, especially on extra-man chances. We did a lot of hard work, but too many mistakes, then we started to capitalise and we became better and better. In the last period I was afraid for the players’ health, especially the centre forwards. Now we must prepare for the most important game, against Montenegro (in the semifinals).”

Marton Toth (HUN) — Three Goals
“I’m happy about our playing and it’s also good to have fans in the crowd. I didn’t like the circumstances with the refereeing but this is the game. I hope that tomorrow we play like last year’s final.”

Paolo Malara (ITA) — China Head Coach
“I think it is good play today because one player left with injury. No 10 (Jinghao Chen, who scored four goals in the rounds) had broken ribs. We were playing with Hungary. They are world champions. They are the best team in the world. I think the result of 13-5 was good for us. Yesterday we played very good against Montenegro and we played good tonight against Hungary. They have quality players. I am happy for the team; I hope in the future we will get good results.”

Feihu Tan (CHN) — Captain
“We played much stronger. Playing Hungary is very difficult but each game we are getting better and we hope to play better tomorrow.”




Check out all photos on our Google+ account here.

Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates


16-21 June, 2014


Schedule and results


Thursday, 19 June

Montenegro (2A) vs. USA (3B) 10-4 (2-0, 2-2, 3-0, 3-2) - game 13
Montenegro scorers: Mladjan Janovic 4, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Darko Brguljan, Uros Cuckovic.

USA scorers: Anthony Daboub, Bret Bonanni, Alex Bowen, John Mann.

Brazil (3A) vs. Australia (2B) 7-14 (1-5, 5-3, 0-5, 1-1) - game 14
Brazil scorers: Marcelo Franco 2, Felipe Silva 2, Guilherme Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha.

Australia scorers: Nathan Power 3, Jarrod Gilchrist 3, Aaron Younger 3, John Cotterill, Aidan Roach, Lachlan Edwards, Mitch Emery, Billy Miller.

Serbia (1A) vs. Canada (4B) 16-11 (4-1, 3-3, 2-2, 7-5) - game 15
Serbia scorers: Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Zivko Gocic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Dusan Markovic, Nikola Radjen, Andrija Prlainovic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicarci 3, John Conway 2, Oliver Vikalo, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Dusan Radojcic, Zacchary Kappos, Jared McElroy.

China (4A) vs. Hungary (1B) 5-13 (1-3, 1-4, 1-3, 2-3) - game 16
China scorers: Tao Dong 2, Feihu Tan, Zhongxian Chen, Nianxiang Liang.

Hungary scorers: Marton Toth 4, Daniel Varga 3, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos, Balazs Harai.

Friday, 20 June

14.30: USA (L13) vs. China (L16) - game 17
15.50: Brazil (L14) vs. Canada (L15) - game 18
17.10: Montenegro (W13) vs. Hungary (W16) - game 19
18.30: Australia (W14) vs. Serbia (W15) - game 20

Saturday, 21 June

14.30: L17 vs. L18 (7th/8th place)
15.50: W17 vs. W18 (5th/6th place)
17.10: L19 vs. L20 (3rd/4th place)
18.30: W19 vs. W20 (1st/2nd place)

Previous results

Monday, 16 June

Hungary vs. Australia 11-5 (3-1, 3-0, 2-2, 3-2)

Hungary scorers: Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Marton Szivos 2, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Harai 2, Marton Vamos, Daniel Varga, Marton Toth.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 2, Aiden Roach 2, John Cotterill.

Serbia vs. China 21-9 (6-3, 5-1, 7-3, 3-2)

Serbia scorers: Andrija Prlainovic 5, Stefan Mitrovic 4, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Slobodan Nikic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Milos Cuk, Nikola Radjen.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Ning Pan 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Zhongxian Chen, Jinghao Chen, Chufeng Zhang.

USA vs. Canada 12-9 (1-1, 1-4, 3-3, 7-1)
USA scorers: Alexander Bowen 3, Alexander Obert 2, Michael Rosenthal 2, Josh Samuels 2, John Mann 2, Nolan McConnell.

Canada scorers: Scott Robinson 2, Oliver Vikalo, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Justin Boyd, Kevin Graham, Dusan Radojcic, Jared McElroy.

Brazil vs. Montenegro 5-15 (0-6, 1-3, 2-3, 2-3)

Brazil scorers: Jonas Crivella, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha, Gustavo Guimaraes.

Montenegro scorers: Nikola Murisic 5, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Mladjan Janovic 2, Jovan saric 2, Antonio Petrovic, Predrag Jokic.

Tuesday, 17 June

Brazil vs. China 12-9 (3-0, 5-0, 3-4, 1-5)
Brazil scorers: Felipe Silva 4, Guilherme Gomes 2, Gustavo Guimaraes 2, Jonas Crivella, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 3, Chufeng Zhang 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Lun Li, Jinghao Chen.

Hungary vs. Canada 10-3 (1-1, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0)
Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 3, Marton Vamos 2, Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Kevin Graham.

Serbia vs. Montenegro 14-5 (3-0, 2-0, 5-1, 4-4)
Serbia scorers: Dusan Mandic 5, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Montenegro: Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic.

USA vs. Australia 4-8 (1-2, 2-1, 0-3, 1-2)
USA scorers: John Mann 2, Alex Obert, Michael Rosenthal.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aiden Roach 2, George Ford, John Cotterill, Lachlan Edwards.

Wednesday, 18 June

Hungary vs. USA 16-9 (3-1, 4-2, 5-2, 4-4)
Hungary scorers: Daniel Varga 4, Norbert Madaras 3, Marton Szivos 3, Marton Vamos 2, Marton Toth 2, Denes Varga, Balazs Harai.

USA scorers: Josh Samuels 4, Bret Bonanni 2, Alex Bowen, Jackson Kimbell, John Mann.

Serbia vs. Brazil 12-4 (3-1, 5-1, 3-1, 1-1)
Serbia scorers: Milos Cuk 5, Slobodan Nikic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Andrija Prlainovic 2, Zivko Gocic.

Brazil scorers: Bernardo Gomes 3, Adrian Delgado.

Australia vs. Canada 8-10 (2-3, 2-2, 3-3, 1-2)
Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aaron Younger 2, Tyler Martin 2, Aidan Roach.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 5, Constantin Kudaba 2, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Kevin Graham.

China vs. Montenegro 8-9 (2-3, 1-1, 2-4, 3-1)
China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Jinghao Chen 2, Chufeng Zhang 2, Lun Li, Tao Dong.

Montenegro scorers: Filip Klikovac 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Dragan Draskovic, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic, Jovan Saric.

N.b.: times mentioned are local time.



Hungary, Serbia win groups unbeaten - Super Final day 3

|Tuesday 17 June 2014, 23:30|Tim Hartog
© Marcel ter Bals
Hungary have finished first in group B after posting a solid 16-9 win over USA in the World League Super Final group stage's third game on Wednesday. After a slow start the Americans fought their way into the game in the fourth period but it came too late after trailing 12-5 at three-quarter time. The Hungarians could allow themselves slowing the pace, preparing for the play-off phase of the tournament, although allowing four goals in the final period with Josh Samuels on the highlight for Team USA going off to score a total 4 goals. However the victory for the favorite Hungarians was never in danger as a good start, with a pair of netted shots for veteran left-hander Norbert Madaras in the opening period, helped them establish a 4-1 lead early in the second period. Hungary build on from there and, led by Daniel Varga's 4 goals, went on to win 16-9. They will now face group A's 4th seed China in the crossover matches on Thursday for a spot in the semi-finals.

FLASH QUOTES:

Tibor Benedek (HUN) — Head Coach

“We played three tough games against very strong, physical teams. It is very difficult, but tomorrow the competition starts (quarterfinals). It will be another story. I said after the first game that that we should play better game by game. We always played better. When we play Montenegro and Serbia, we have to be prepared. The European teams are preparing for the European Championships in a little over three weeks. We are more advanced than the other (non-European) teams.” On having achieved what he set out to do in the group stage: “I prefer to play a motion game. We play with a lot of movement. I think it is nice to see.”

Marton Szivos (HUN) — Three Goals

“I think it was a good start. We worked so hard. I think we played better today than before. I am very happy with my performance.” When asked about his heart problems earlier this year, he said: “Everything is OK at the moment.” On his family’s Olympic tradition of father and grandfather winning Olympic golds: “I am proud of our family tradition.”

Dejan Udovicic (SRB) — USA Head Coach
“Generally we had a good game. I am satisfied with the effort and motivation. We made some naïve mistakes and turnovers.” On the improvement from the day before: “It’s normal to go up and down, especially when you play games back to back. Playing at this level each day is good for team development. We will take everything we can from this. It’s just a matter of putting this together so we can be competitive with the European teams.”

Josh Samuels (USA) — Four Goals

“We started a little slow. But attacked harder towards the end. I still need to get a little bit more used to European players, which playing in Montenegro has helped with. As a team we just need to always start strong.”




Serbia vs. Brazil (12-4)

As expected Serbia claimed victory in group A in Wednesday's second match beating Brazil 12-4 in a solid yet one-sided victory. The Brazilians were simply overpowered in attack by Serbia right from the start and throughout the match had trouble creating chances closer than shot from 5 or 6 meters out. With again both Serbian goalies (one half each) in comfortable position it was on to the counter attacks to do the job at the other end. That performance was highlighted by Milos Cuk who went off to score 5 goals. The defending champs' opponent in the quarter-final turned out to be Canada despite their win over Australia.

FLASH QUOTES:

Dejan Savic (SRB) — Head Coach
“First of all we came here to use this tournament as preparation for the European Championships (in three weeks), so we are in big training. This morning we had swimming training and before the game we were training in the gym. If someone was looking at this game, they would see a big difference in the movement of the players from yesterday. We used these first matches for preparation.” On the best point of the three matches: “We had very good defence. It was what I wanted of my players, so we can be satisfied.”

Milos Cuk (SRB) — Five Goals
“I think we prepared very, very well for the quarterfinals with our three victories. We are playing very well now and I think we can go all the way to the final. My goals are for the whole team. It’s good I got five goals, but it’s about the team and we have a very important job tomorrow.” On his skill of shooting: “I learnt from my coaches (in Vojvodina — Dejan Stanojevic — and Partizan — Vladimir Vujasinovic and Igor Milanovic) . I hope we can go all the way because we played very well in the first three games and I hope we can do it this time.”

Ratko Rudic (CRO) — Brazil Head Coach
“The result was what we expected. We expected Serbia to win as they are clearly the strongest here, but it was a good test for us and in the beginning we played well and were organised, but later we made more mistakes and let them counter attack. There was a lack of concentration. We will analyse this and try to play better and maybe have a better result. For us it’s a good introduction to this level.”




Australia vs. Canada (8-10)The third encounter of the day turned out to be the closest one with the relative underdog as winners 8-10. The Canadians got lifted by the performance of centre-forward Nicolas Constantin-Bicari who was a real threat and used two technical and accurate tip-ins to decide the game en route to a 5-goal performance. Australia struggled throughout and still lacked the absence of their starting centre-forward Joel Swift as the goals had to come from individual performances such as Richie Campbell's who fired in three shots but could not avoid Canada ending up as winners. It came after a close finish that could have seen either side triumphing but instead Canada's Constantin-Bicari came up huge scoring two goals in the final period. Although Tyler Martin brought the Aussie Sharks within one with 3.39 remaining to play, the game got decided by Constantin-Bicardi who was there for the tip-in right after a man-up where Australia's Aaron Younger got his 3rd personal foul.
The win however was not enough to help Canada taking 2nd place in group B as a three-way tie. The first tie-breaker, goal differential, got in favour of Australia, followed by the second tie-breaker for 3rd/4th place which is the head-to-head result between USA and Canada, in favour of the victorious US team (9-12). So Australia finished 2nd in group A while USA held on for 3rd and Canada, despite their confidence-boosting win over Australia.

FLASH QUOTES:

Alex Beslin (CAN) — Head Coach
“We came late to this tournament (mentally) and we should have beaten USA. We were targeting second in our group and aiming for a four-goal difference. Game by game we have improved and our defence was tighter.”

Nicolas Constantin-Bicari (CAN) — Five Goals
“It was really important for us. We haven’t beaten this team in 10 years and it was really good for us. It’s always good to help the guys to win the game and it was really awesome to score five goals. It’s not about the team in front of us. This tournament is really about us. We try to remain focused and have lots of energy and I think we did a really good job today. We improved from the USA game where we let the game go in the second half but today we stuck it out for the 32 minutes.”

Elvis Fatovic (CRO) — Australia Head Coach
“That’s how we look when we think we are good.”

Tyler Martin (AUS) — Centre Forward

“It was a slow start today and we couldn’t really get ahead, going goal for goal. We let in lots of soft goals. The team is fairly young and needs more big-game experience. We’ve showed we can play with anyone when we play well. We didn’t show up today. Basically we just played like shit.”




China vs. Montenegro (8-9)

China was close to a major upset playing a fatiqued Montenegro side that had its mind in the quarter-final, and maybe further up the tournament, already. Not coming out as focussed and prepared China hung on and, despite trailing all match, got close on several occasions including the final period where Montenegro had to step up the gas pedal in the final minute to avoid a possible
embarrassing tied game and penalty shoot-out to decide the outcome. Although it wouldn't have endangered their second place finish in group A, the Ranko Perovic coached side held on to win 8-9 and will now face group B's number 3 USA in tomorrow's quarter-finals. Centre-forward Filip Klikovac finished as top scorer for Montenegro scoring two goals.

FLASH QUOTES:

Paolo Malara (ITA) — China Head Coach
“I’m very happy with my team. I was hoping for 9-9, but I was very happy with the result. We can take away a lot. We had a good mentality and played well. It’s good experience playing these matches.”

Dragan Draskovic (MNE) — Driver
“China played a really good game. We are very tired. We trained very hard this morning. China played very fast and it was very difficult for us. The quarterfinal is a big game because this is the game you play to get into the medals so basically it is very hard to training hard in the morning and play hard in the evening.”





Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates


16-21 June, 2014

Schedule and results

Wednesday, 18 June

Hungary vs. USA 16-9 (3-1, 4-2, 5-2, 4-4)
Hungary scorers: Daniel Varga 4, Norbert Madaras 3, Marton Szivos 3, Marton Vamos 2, Marton Toth 2, Denes Varga, Balazs Harai.

USA scorers: Josh Samuels 4, Bret Bonanni 2, Alex Bowen, Jackson Kimbell, John Mann.

Serbia vs. Brazil 12-4 (3-1, 5-1, 3-1, 1-1)
Serbia scorers: Milos Cuk 5, Slobodan Nikic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Andrija Prlainovic 2, Zivko Gocic.

Brazil scorers: Bernardo Gomes 3, Adrian Delgado.

Australia vs. Canada 8-10 (2-3, 2-2, 3-3, 1-2)

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aaron Younger 2, Tyler Martin 2, Aidan Roach.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 5, Constantin Kudaba 2, Scott Robinson, Alec Taschereau, Kevin Graham.

China vs. Montenegro 8-9 (2-3, 1-1, 2-4, 3-1)
China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Jinghao Chen 2, Chufeng Zhang 2, Lun Li, Tao Dong.

Montenegro scorers: Filip Klikovac 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Dragan Draskovic, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic, Jovan Saric.

Check out all photos on our Google+ account here.

Thursday, 19 June


14.30: Montenegro (2A) vs. USA (3B) - game 13
15.50: Brazil (3A) vs. Australia (2B) - game 14
17.10: Serbia (1A) vs. Canada (4B) - game 15
18.30: China (4A) vs. Hungary (1B) - game 16

Friday, 20 June

14.30: L13 vs. L16 - game 17
15.50: L14 vs. L15 - game 18
17.10: W13 vs. W16 - game 19
18.30: W14 vs. W15 - game 20

Saturday, 21 June

14.30: L17 vs. L18 (7th/8th place)
15.50: W17 vs. W18 (5th/6th place)
17.10: L19 vs. L20 (3rd/4th place)
18.30: W19 vs. W20 (1st/2nd place)

Previous results


Monday, 16 June

Hungary vs. Australia 11-5 (3-1, 3-0, 2-2, 3-2)
Hungary scorers: Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Marton Szivos 2, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Harai 2, Marton Vamos, Daniel Varga, Marton Toth.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 2, Aiden Roach 2, John Cotterill.

Serbia vs. China 21-9 (6-3, 5-1, 7-3, 3-2)

Serbia scorers: Andrija Prlainovic 5, Stefan Mitrovic 4, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Slobodan Nikic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Milos Cuk, Nikola Radjen.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Ning Pan 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Zhongxian Chen, Jinghao Chen, Chufeng Zhang.

USA vs. Canada 12-9 (1-1, 1-4, 3-3, 7-1)
USA scorers: Alexander Bowen 3, Alexander Obert 2, Michael Rosenthal 2, Josh Samuels 2, John Mann 2, Nolan McConnell.

Canada scorers: Scott Robinson 2, Oliver Vikalo, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Justin Boyd, Kevin Graham, Dusan Radojcic, Jared McElroy.

Brazil vs. Montenegro 5-15 (0-6, 1-3, 2-3, 2-3)
Brazil scorers: Jonas Crivella, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha, Gustavo Guimaraes.

Montenegro scorers: Nikola Murisic 5, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Mladjan Janovic 2, Jovan saric 2, Antonio Petrovic, Predrag Jokic.

Tuesday, 17 June

Brazil vs. China 12-9 (3-0, 5-0, 3-4, 1-5)
Brazil scorers: Felipe Silva 4, Guilherme Gomes 2, Gustavo Guimaraes 2, Jonas Crivella, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 3, Chufeng Zhang 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Lun Li, Jinghao Chen.

Hungary vs. Canada 10-3 (1-1, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0)
Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 3, Marton Vamos 2, Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Kevin Graham.

Serbia vs. Montenegro 14-5 (3-0, 2-0, 5-1, 4-4)
Serbia scorers: Dusan Mandic 5, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Montenegro: Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic.

USA vs. Australia 4-8 (1-2, 2-1, 0-3, 1-2)
USA scorers: John Mann 2, Alex Obert, Michael Rosenthal.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aiden Roach 2, George Ford, John Cotterill, Lachlan Edwards.

N.b.: times mentioned are local time.


*****


Serbia powers way past Montenegro - Super Final day 2

Toda la información .....|Monday 16 June 2014, 23:08|Tim Hartog
A flying start and dominating first half ensured the tournament first victory for Brazil as they went on to beat China 12-9 in the opening match of day 2 of action at the men's World League Super Final in Dubai. Despite a nice comeback by the Chinese side, especially in the final period their scoreless first half did to much damage to repair. Brazil's Felipe Silva finished the game as top scorer netting four for the winning side while China captain and veteran Feihu Tan came up big late scoring three goals in the final-quarter comeback.
FLASH QUOTES


Ratko Rudic (CRO) — Brazil Head Coach
“We are happy with the result. We analysed yesterday’s game and found a lot of things we needed to improve on to get a good result. We prepared better and concentrated harder. We played serious and organised and we were strong in attack and defence with good shooting. We hope we will continue to improve. It was difficult to maintain the intensity from start to finish.”

Felipe Silva (BRA) — Four Goals
“The four goals is not the most important thing, it’s helping the defence that is our game. Our philosophy is that everyone can score. I did this today, tomorrow could be different. China always play fine. They had a bad beginning today and in the last game they did the same and came back strongly. It’s always hard to play against Montenegro (Monday). We did a lot of wrong things. The new rules we are still learning, like swimming for the ball. We tried to play like old water polo, but it doesn’t work and today and we tried to do better with the rules. Our team is not a strong team. We have to improve and use a more moving game. We have to try and swim a little bit more.”

Paolo Malara (ITA)  — China Head Coach
“It was a disaster and the team did not play well for the first two periods. The mentality and spirit were very bad. I have been with the team for the past three months and the team is slowly changing its attitude and mentality.”

Feihu Tan (CHN) — Captain
“In the first half we didn’t control our tempo on attack. In the second half we did better defence and found our way to the point of attack. We must have more attention on defence and from the beginning of the game.”




Hungary vs. Canada (10-3)

Tuesday's second match got off to a rather slow start as Hungary and Canada were levelled 1-1 after the opening period with no exclusions. As the Magyars had trouble forcing any more extra-man possessions, the second period's goal all came from action shots with left-handers Norbert Madaras and Marton Vamos got on the scoresheet. From that point on Hungary, although not looking as sharp as in yesterday's win over Australia, were in control even managed to held the Canadians scoreless in the final period en route to a solid 10-3 victory.

FLASH QUOTES:
Tibor Benedek (HUN) — Head Coach
“It was very strange. We have been the victim of improving water polo. Today (the refereeing) completely changed. The referee style without whistling changed everything. We try to make an emotional game of water polo with more moving play, but with this, I don’t understand. If you play pressing it becomes more physical and not a good way forward. I am not happy… with this style of refereeing.”

Denes Varga (HUN) — Three Goals

“It could have been better, but two victories are good. This is the minimum we expect from ourselves. We started to learn how to handle the pressure. So far I don’t feel the pressure. We prepared ourselves for this tournament at the FBI Central and as you can see I have the evidence to prove it (pointing to his arm). We have a lot of young players and our coach has a lot of new ideas. Our defence is starting to be very massive. We have only conceded six goals in two games. Even against these not-strongest good teams it is our main goals to keep good defence. Our offence is normally very strong.” About the top teams: “It’s all just the same Serbia seems to be the strongest and Montenegro also but they are not complete. I hope if we get to that point we can beat them.”

Neil Muir (CAN) — Team Leader
“We tried to focus on defence today ads we know Hungary like to counter-attack so we just tried to build off the defence. We were disappointed and frustrated yesterday so we tried to focus on the positive and played three good quarters. The difference today was we didn’t convert extra-man chances. Going forward we just need to build up our defence.”

Nicolas Constantin-Bicari (CAN) — Two Goals
“It’s tough playing a team like Hungary, but it’s fun to test yourself. It’s good to prepare for tomorrow (against Australia). Defence was our main focus today against such a tough team. It was important to fill our systems against Hungary to prepare for tomorrow.”




Serbia vs. Montenegro (14-5)

The most anticipated match-up of the day, arguably of the entire group stage, was the encounter featuring neighbours Serbia and Montenegro, last year's gold medal and bronze medal winners. But as much as was expected of the match, it turned out to be a one-sided affair where Montenegro just got overpowered by the Serbs who held their opponents scoreless the entire first half and still led 10-1 going into the final period. A simply styfling defence by Serbia caused Montenegro, clearly suffering from missing three masterpieces of their team in captain Nikola Janovic, Aleksandar Ivovic and centre-forward Sasa Misic, from forcing anything on offence while both Serbian goalies Gojko Pijetlovic and in the first half Branislav Mitrovic were comfortable in goal allowing just 5 goals in total. Youngster Dusan Mandic highlighted the Serbian performance by netting 5 goals.

FLASH QUOTES:

Dejan Savic (SRB) — Head Coach
“Nobody expected this result. We played very well in defence and focused on that. It was a great game for us. This is a special game because we have the traditional competition between the two countries as we were united before. Both teams are in preparation for the Europeans. The key for us today was defence. Montenegro just had no solution to our defence and that was the problem for them.”

Dusan Mandic (SRB) — Five Goals
“I really don’t care about the goals. Almost three quarters we did not concede any goals. It’s a great victory. I hope we get to the final. Before I cared about beating our neighbours. Now I don’t care. I’m not surprised by the ease of the victory. The Olympic Games was an a unbelievable experience and gives me lots of strength when I think of that bronze medal. If we do what the coach tells us I think there are no big opponents who will match us.”

Vjekoslav Paskovic (MNE) — Goal Scorer
“This match was in the middle of our preparation for the European Championships. Anyway, we couldn’t find a way to score in the first two quarters and if you play against a team like Serbia, you can’t come back from 5-0 down. Serbia has the two best left-handers on the road and we are playing without left-handers. They have an advantage. We also didn’t play without three main players. Today we just played bad.”




United States of America vs. Australia (4-8)

The day's final game looked to be a close one when both sides exchanged goals in the first half which finished with just a 3-3 score. The defences, obviously familiair with the respective opponent's offensive threats, were on top and it was Australia who found the right answer first. It resulted in a 0-3 third-quarter run by the Aussie Sharks that seemingly decided the match's outcome as the Elvis Fatovic coached side took control and did not let go. Their defensive play and well executred counter attacks proved too much for USA to handle and Australia went on to win 4-8 in response to their tough loss to Hungary on Monday. Australia's Richie Campbell finished as top scorer netting 3 shots for the Sharks.

FLASH QUOTES:

Elvis Fatovic (CRO) — Australia Head Coach
“We’re happy with that. The big difference today was because we played strong defence. We have a chance against anyone if we have good defence. We also need experience. We have a young team and we are missing some key players, so what we really need is more hard games and now we are preparing to play Canada (Wednesday) and defence will be the key.”

Aidan Roach (AUS) — Two Goals
“It was a good win. We weren’t too happy with yesterday (loss to Hungary). It was pretty embarrassing. Today’s game showed that when we play defence we can play with any team in the world. Now we just have to rest up and look forward to tomorrow’s game (against Canada).”

Dejan Udovicic (SRB) — USA Head Coach
“Our man-up (attack) was terrible. This cost us the result. I cannot be satisfied with our performance.”

John Mann (USA) — Two Goals
“You are always disappointed when you lose. You don’t play sport to lose. We are working on a lot of things in the team and building until the end of the summer. Being young is not an excuse and we have to come out and win games and have to execute. We have a ton of skill and a lot of kids and the young men are exceptional players and I actually believe in our future. It’s always good to play and battle against teams you know and set a benchmark with, and with coach Dejan (Udovicic) we’re growing so much and learning so much. We came here to win as many games as we can and finish in the top two.”




Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates


16-21 June, 2014

Schedule and results

Tuesday, 17 June

Brazil vs. China 12-9 (3-0, 5-0, 3-4, 1-5)
Brazil scorers: Felipe Silva 4, Guilherme Gomes 2, Gustavo Guimaraes 2, Jonas Crivella, Marcelo Franco, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 3, Chufeng Zhang 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Lun Li, Jinghao Chen.

Hungary vs. Canada 10-3 (1-1, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0)
Hungary scorers: Denes Varga 3, Marton Vamos 2, Miklos Gor-Nagy, Norbert Madaras, Balazs Erdelyi, Norbert Hosnyanszky, Marton Szivos.

Canada scorers: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 2, Kevin Graham.

Serbia vs. Montenegro 14-5 (3-0, 2-0, 5-1, 4-4)
Serbia scorers: Dusan Mandic 5, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Filip Filipovic 2, Sava Randjelovic, Milos Cuk, Slobodan Nikic, Stefan Mitrovic.

Montenegro: Vjekoslav Paskovic, Antonio Petrovic, Darko Brguljan, Mladjan Janovic, Uros Cuckovic.

USA vs. Australia 4-8 (1-2, 2-1, 0-3, 1-2)

USA scorers: John Mann 2, Alex Obert, Michael Rosenthal.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 3, Aiden Roach 2, George Ford, John Cotterill, Lachlan Edwards.

Check out all photos on our Google+ account here.

Wednesday, 18 June

14.30: Hungary vs. USA
15.50: Serbia vs. Brazil
17.10: Australia vs. Canada
18.30: China vs. Montenegro


*****


USA rallies back for win over Canada - Super Final day 1

|Monday 16 June 2014, 12:41|Tim Hartog
World champions Hungary have started off their 2014 World League Super Final tournament in dominating fashion as they defeated Australia 11-5. The Aussie Sharks, playing the tournament without injured captain Rhys Howden and starting centre-forward Joel Swift, were troubled by Hungary's styfling defence and excelling goalie Viktor Nagy. It was not until the end of the third quarter and final session before Australia, thanks to goals from Aidan Roach, John Cotterill and captain Richie Campbell, got the deficit trimmed down. A dominant first half however by the Hungarians got them off to a flying start as they led 6-1 at half-time before extending their advantage to 8-1 in the third period. In the day's second game defending champs Serbia overpowered China 21-9. Andrija Prlainovic used the one-sided affair to make a first run for a possible tournament highest scorer title by netting 5 shots. A sloppy phase in the third period was quickly put aside in the game's final phase where Serbia even extended their already comfortable lead racing to 20 goals to finish at 21-9. Their main challenge lies tomorrow when Serbia meets Montenegro. The most exciting match of the day occured when USA and Canada faced off in the day's third encounter. The Canadians got off to a good start and were looking well underway to starting the tournament with a win when they established a 2-7 lead in the second quarter. However after that the game turned around and got a completed different site in the final term where USA scored six unanswered and seven total goals to clinch a 12-9 victory over the neighbours. Opening day's final match saw Montenegro blowing past Brazil, especially in a 0-6 first quarter in which newcomer Nikola Murisic went off for three goals. The Primorac-player finished with a total of 5 goals to become top scorer of the Montenegrin side who will take on Serbia in a much anticipated match-up on Tuesday.Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

16-21 June, 2014

Schedule and results

Monday, 16 June

Hungary vs. Australia 11-5 (3-1, 3-0, 2-2, 3-2)
Hungary scorers: Norbert Hosnyanszky 2, Marton Szivos 2, Denes Varga 2, Balazs Harai 2, Marton Vamos, Daniel Varga, Marton Toth.

Australia scorers: Richie Campbell 2, Aiden Roach 2, John Cotterill.




Serbia vs. China 21-9 (6-3, 5-1, 7-3, 3-2)
Serbia scorers: Andrija Prlainovic 5, Stefan Mitrovic 4, Dusko Pijetlovic 3, Slobodan Nikic 3, Dusan Mandic 2, Filip Filipovic 2, Milos Cuk, Nikola Radjen.

China scorers: Feihu Tan 2, Ning Pan 2, Nianxiang Liang 2, Zhongxian Chen, Jinghao Chen, Chufeng Zhang.




USA vs. Canada 12-9 (1-1, 1-4, 3-3, 7-1)
USA scorers: Alexander Bowen 3, Alexander Obert 2, Michael Rosenthal 2, Josh Samuels 2, John Mann 2, Nolan McConnell.

Canada scorers: Scott Robinson 2, Oliver Vikalo, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Justin Boyd, Kevin Graham, Dusan Radojcic, Jared McElroy.

Brazil vs. Montenegro 5-15 (0-6, 1-3, 2-3, 2-3)
Brazil scorers: Jonas Crivella, Bernardo Gomes, Adrian Delgado, Bernardo Rocha, Gustavo Guimaraes.

Montenegro scorers: Nikola Murisic 5, Drasko Brguljan 2, Vjekoslav Paskovic 2, Mladjan Janovic 2, Jovan saric 2, Antonio Petrovic, Predrag Jokic.




Check out all photos of day 1 on our Google+ account here.

Tuesday, 17 June

14.30: Brazil vs. China
15.50: Hungary vs. Canada
17.10: Serbia vs. Montenegro
18.30: USA vs. Australia



Attractive opening match to kick off men's Super Final

|Monday 16 June 2014, 08:11|Tim Hartog
© Sandor Stuber / vlv.hu
The 2014 edition of the men's World League Super Final will get underway today as reigning world champions Hungary take on 2013 World Championships sensation Australia. An interesting match-up between two sides who, during Barcelona 2013, met in the preliminary round where the Aussie Sharks surprised by holding the Hungarians to a 9-9 tie. Then vice-captain, and now captain Richie Campbell came up big on offence scoring 5 goals in the match. The Magyars went on to claim the world title while Australia got eliminated in the quarter-final despite pushing Croatia to the limit in a tense 7-6 encounter. Losses to Greece and Serbia then caused an eventual 8th place finish. The Hungarians played two friendly matches against Italy in the week up to this Super Final with 10-10 in Budapest and a 10-8 loss in Rome last Friday as results. Australia geared up for the Super Final with Serbia and Russia in Belgrade also playing test matches with experimental rules such as a 25m pitch and a women's size ball. The teams of Montenegro, China and the USA will do the same here in Dubai after the tournament. In other games on Monday Serbia takes on China while the battle of North America is scheduled as third encounter where USA faces off against Canada. A match between the intercontinental tournament winners and final qualifying (5th place) team. In today's final contest it is Brazil, finalist in Shanghai against USA, facing Montenegro who are playing without Aleksandar Ivovic, centre-forward Sasa Misic and captain Nikola Janovic. You can follow all matches live as they happen via our digital score sheet available on the home page to provide you with the match details. Pictured: Hungary practicing ahead of the World League Super Final start with Marton Szivos and goalie Attila Decker on defence.

Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates


16-21 June, 2014

Schedule

Monday, 16 June


14.30: Hungary vs. Australia
15.50: Serbia vs. China
17.10: USA vs. Canada
18.30: Brazil vs. Montenegro


*****

Tibor Benedek: ''Serbia are the favorites''

|Sunday 15 June 2014, 09:48|Tim Hartog
With the men's World League Super Final just a day away of getting started, the pre-event press conference was held at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai. Both Hungary's Tibor Benedek and Brazil's head coach Ratko Rudic gave their reaction to the tournament facility and expectations. For Benedek, coming in as 2013 world champions does not mean they are the favorites for a first world league win since 2004: ''For me Serbia are the favorites'', he said. ''They have won the tournament last year and beat us in that final game. But we are improving. For us this is a big and important preparation tournament with some good games, building up to the 2014 European Championships at home in Budapest.'' Coach Rudic of Brazil when asked for his expectations of this tournament coming off a big final against USA at the qualification tournament in Shanghai stated: ''We are on the right way and still learning from the big teams like Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro. But hopefully en route to the 2016 Olympic Games 'the student will get past its teacher', so to speak'', he quoted. ''For now we can use this tournament to learn and show some quality games.'' The World League Super Final will get underway tomorrow with Hungary taking on Australia in a difficult tournamet opener for the reining world champs. A live filled digital score sheet of all matches will be available during and after the games on Waterpoloworld.


Men's World League Super Final
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

16-21 June, 2014

Schedule

Monday, 16 June

14.30: Hungary vs. Australia
15.50: Serbia vs. China
17.10: USA vs. Canada
18.30: Brazil vs. Montenegro

Tuesday, 17 June

14.30: Brazil vs. China
15.50: Hungary vs. Canada
17.10: Serbia vs. Montenegro
18.30: USA vs. Australia

Wednesday, 18 June

14.30: Hungary vs. USA
15.50: Serbia vs. Brazil
17.10: Australia vs. Canada
18.30: China vs. Montenegro

Thursday, 19 June

14.30: 2A vs. 3B - game 13
15.50: 3A vs. 2B - game 14
17.10: 1A vs. 4B - game 15
18.30: 4A vs. 1B - game 16

Friday, 20 June

14.30: L13 vs. L16 - game 17
15.50: L14 vs. L15 - game 18
17.10: W13 vs. W16 - game 19
18.30: W14 vs. W15 - game 20

Saturday, 21 June

14.30: L17 vs. L18 (7th/8th place)
15.50: W17 vs. W18 (5th/6th place)
17.10: L19 vs. L20 (3rd/4th place)
18.30: W19 vs. W20 (1st/2nd place)

N.b.: times mentioned are local time.

*****


USA men's coach announces Dubai Super Final roster

|Friday 13 June 2014, 09:00|Tim Hartog
Huntington Beach, CA - June 12 - USA men's senior national team head coach Dejan Udovicic has announced his roster for the upcoming FINA World League Super Final set for Dubai this June 16-21. The roster contains 13 athletes that competed in the exhibition series with Serbia last week in Northern California. Team USA opens play at the World League Super Final with a match against Canada on Monday.



USA Men's Senior National Team Roster - 2014 FINA World League Super Final


McQuin Baron - Goalkeeper
Conner Cleary - Defender
Nolan McConnell - Attacker
Alex Obert - Center
Jackson Kimbell - Defender
Alex Bowen - Attacker
Bret Bonanni - Attacker
Josh Samuels - Attacker
Michael Rosenthal - Attacker
John Mann - Center
Jon Sibley - Goalkeeper
Nick Bell - Attacker
Anthony Daboub

Head Coach: Dejan Udovicic
Asst. Coach: Jack Kocur
Team Manager: Rick McKee

More info: usawaterpolo.org.

Group A

Brazil, China, Montenegro, Serbia

Group B

Australia, Canada, Hungary, United States

Schedule

Monday, 16 June

14.30: Hungary vs. Australia
15.50: Serbia vs. China
17.10: USA vs. Canada
18.30: Brazil vs. Montenegro

Tuesday, 17 June

14.30: Brazil vs. China
15.50: Hungary vs. Canada
17.10: Serbia vs. Montenegro
18.30: USA vs. Australia

Wednesday, 18 June

14.30: Hungary vs. USA
15.50: Serbia vs. Brazil
17.10: Australia vs. Canada
18.30: China vs. Montenegro

Thursday, 19 June

14.30: 2A vs. 3B - game 13
15.50: 3A vs. 2B - game 14
17.10: 1A vs. 4B - game 15
18.30: 4A vs. 1B - game 16

Friday, 20 June

14.30: L13 vs. L16 - game 17
15.50: L14 vs. L15 - game 18
17.10: W13 vs. W16 - game 19
18.30: W14 vs. W15 - game 20

Saturday, 21 June


14.30: L17 vs. L18 (7th/8th place)
15.50: W17 vs. W18 (5th/6th place)
17.10: L19 vs. L20 (3rd/4th place)
18.30: W19 vs. W20 (1st/2nd place)

N.b.: times mentioned are local time.


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Montenegro to play Super Final without Ivović, Mišić

|Wednesday 11 June 2014, 17:46|Tim Hartog
Last year's FINA Men's World League Super Final bronze medallist Montenegro will travel to this year's edition in Dubai with a far from complete roster. Varied reasons will keep three premier players from competing during the annual World League climax, this year to be contested from 16-21 June in the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai (UAE). Pains after a long and tough club season, and in case of centre-forward Sasa Mišić an actual shoulder injury, saw head coach Ranko Perovic being forced to announce that star player Aleksandar Ivović and Mišić will not be on the Montenegrin roster for the upcoming tournament. Also missing out is captain Nikola Janovic who recently announced to return as national team player but by then already was not scheduled to play the Super Final. It means the 2013 World Championships runner-up will have to adjust the ambition as Perovic reacted to Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti on Wednesday the team's objective will be to reach the semi-finals emphasizing that the summer's premier target will be winning a gold medal at the European Championships in Budapest (14-27 July). Promising youngsters Nikola Murišić (Primorac Kotor) and Jovan Sarić (Jadran Herceg Novi) will now be giving the chance to shine on the international stage as replacements for the two absent stars. Montenegro was drawn in group A together with China, Brazil and Serbia. 

Sasa Mišić. Photograph: dvse.hu.

The Montenegro national team for the 2014 FINA Men's World League Super Final is as follows:

Miloš Šćepanović (goalkeeper), Draško and Darko Brguljan, Vjekoslav Pasković, Antonio Petrović, Filip Klikovac, Dragan Drašković, Mlađan Janović, Jovan Sarić, Uroš Čučković, Nikola Murišić, Predrag Jokić and Zdravko Radić (goalkeeper).

Pictured (top): Aleksandar Ivovic will be one of the major absent players in Dubai next week.

Tune in to Waterpoloworld next week for live scores during the World League Super Final matches as well as photos series, player interviews and more.

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