Álvaro Granados and Felipe Perrone lead the 6-9 win against Serbia
MADRID, 29 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s water polo team won the bronze medal this Saturday in the World Championship, held in Fukuoka (Japan), thanks to a 6-9 victory against Serbia and which was guided by the goalscoring production of Álvaro Granados and Felipe Perrone.
After the cruel defeat in the semifinals last Thursday against Hungary (12-11), conceding the final goal with bad luck and in the last second of the stopwatch, Spain pulled itself together this time to beat the Serbian team and finish the tournament in the third podium step.
From the first sprint won by Martin Famera, the Spanish team was more in tune than their opponent, despite the initial 1-0 scored by Strahinja Rasovic. In the goal of Spain, Edu Lorrio had ownership and that goal did not intimidate him, as he became one of the bastions of his team in the following minutes.
Álvaro Granados and Álex Bustos quickly turned the score around, with Bernat Sanahuja putting Spain ahead with the third (2-3) while almost all the Serbian attacks went through Rasovic’s right arm. The first period ended 3-3, although Roger Tahull broke the tie with a good maneuver at the buoy position.
Once again he scored the Balkan box, thanks to Nikola Jaksic with a long shot; then Granados made it 4-5 and Rasovic immediately responded with the tie. It was then that Uros Stevanovic’s pupils ‘dried up’, also seeing that Granados himself scored a penalty to make it 5-6 just before the break.
Upon returning from the bench, Alberto Munárriz increased his team’s lead (5-7) against a dull rival without ideas. Despite a missed penalty by Granados with 3:53 left to end the third period, Serbia was unable to get emboldened and conceded a double from Perrone, leaving the result (5-9) seen to be judged.
In the last offensive of the Balkans, with a few seconds left for the final honk, a rebound on the head of Perrone himself after a shot by Vuk Milojevic put the ball into the goal defended by Lorrio (6-9). On this occasion, the stroke of bad luck did not mean tears for Spain, since its previous income had earned it bronze.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: SERBIA, 6 – SPAIN, 9 (5-6, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
SERBIA: Mitrovic (p); Radulovic, Rasovic (3), Randelovic, Lazic, Milojevic (2), Drasovic, Jaksic (1), Jankovic, Ubovic, Vucinic, Martinovic.
SPAIN: Lorrio (p); Munarriz (1), Pomegranates (3), Sanahuja (1), Bull, Larumbe, Famera, Cabanas, Tahull (1), Platform (2), Mallarach and Busts (1).
–PARTIALS: 3-3, 2-3, 0-2 and 1-1.
–REFEREE: Frank OHME (ALE) and Raffaele Colombo (ITA).
–HALL: Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall B in Fukuoka (Japan).