By Perhaps the most well-known water polo coach in the US, few are more qualified to critique the US national team as the London Olympic Games kick off than Dante Dettamanti. TWp had the chance to speak with him yesterday about Terry Schroeder’s team and their chances to win Olympic Gold.
USA Men’s Coach Terry Schroeder on Difficult Roster Decision
J.W. Krumpholz was the final cut from the USA men’s water polo squad heading to the 2012 London Olympics this summer. He and John Mann battled for the final spot on the team, which was pared from 14 to 13 players today. Some speculated that Krumpholz was hampered by a
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
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
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.
USA v. Italy
Apparently the US men are capable of putting a sub-par performance behind themselves in a big way. Second-half defensive breakdowns aside, the victory placed the US back in the group of elite teams in the world. Some quick thoughts. One can only hope that Jeff Powers can continue shooting as
USA v. China
Tony Azevdeo was quoted as saying that the Chinese team has improved by quite a bit since a match a few years ago. The Americans’ performance only partially confirmed that. (My own opinion is that China will return to their mediocre international standing once the glow of the Olympics has
