By It was demoralizing nearly from the start and by the time the Croatians had scored five goals without answer there were no more references to historic wins over Hungary and Croatia in California earlier this summer. The Balkan powerhouse, coached by water polo sage and former US coach Ratko Rudic,
USA v. Hungary
An improbable, inspirational, and nearly magical tournament is over. The US was overmatched and overwhelmed despite remaining within four goals of the winner of three consecutive Olympic gold medals. Karma, mojo, whatever you want to call it, ran out in crashing fashion. Merrill Moses had his worst game of the
Serbia v. Montenegro
Serbia wins the bronze over Montenegro, 6-4. I didn’t follow the game completely, only learning late that Sefik and Sapic weren’t going to play. I did catch a glance at a particularly interesting shot of a Montenegrin clutching a Serbs throat at two meters. No matter how much the Serbs
Reactions to the US Victory Over Serbia
Deservedly, the men’s water polo team is cropping up in articles all over the internet. Many of them cover the same material that has been shared since the beginning of the tournament, but not all. I’ll post some of the more interesting ones here as I run in to them.
USA v. Serbia
[Terry Schroeder] recalled how in 1988 Russia “threw” a match to face the United States in the semifinals, rather than Yugoslavia. The ploy motivated the Americans to knock out Russia. “If Serbia gets that far, we’ll be ready for them,” he said.* They were ready. Merrill Moses led the US,
USA v. Germany
A historic win for the Yanks, not so much for the quality of the win over Germany (a team with glaring weaknesses, not including its superb goalkeeping) but for the team’s ability to finish an important game. The US was opportunistic on offense, and played markedly better than in every
USA v. Croatia
A remarkable turnaround from the last performance against Serbia. The US beats Croatia 7-5 based on yet more excellent defense and goaltending. Croatia did not shoot particularly well when they did get the chance. But the US, with its 2 meter defense by committee, deserves the bulk of the credit.It
Hungary v. Greece
What happened to Greece? Their defense is just awful, and the Hungarians could have won that game short-handed. But the highlight of that game was one of the most amazing sucker-saves I’ve ever seen a goalie make. (Be sure to sign up for the webcasts on nbcolympics.com so you can
Notes for Wolf Wigo (and others)
Watching the Serbia-Croatia game it dawned on me that water polo needs its own John Madden. Wolf, you can be that guy, 90 pounds lighter and unafraid of jet air travel. You made some great observations (Jeff Powers’ mobilty at the center position helping the defensive counter attack, for example).
Croatia v. Serbia
What to make of the Serbian meltdown versus Croatia? They appear to be a team that needs everything to be going their way in order for their immense talent to be fully displayed. It was the reverse against Croatia, where they displayed only a remarkable lack of effort and defense.
