MADRID, Jan. 22 (SportsFinding) –
The Spanish men's water polo team qualified on Wednesday for the Hungarian European semifinals after eliminating Serbia (6-6) in an exciting match, which needed to reach the penalty shootout (3-4) for resolution, and will seek the final against Croatia.
As it happened last year in the quarterfinals of the Gwangju World Cup, Spain was erected in the executioner of Serbia after a game dominated by the defenses and where his veteran goalkeeper Dani López Pinedo dressed again as a hero. The team trained by David Martín knew how to suffer and was more accurate from five meters to get into the fight for medals.
The Balkan team hit first with a great start to the game and two consecutive goals from Dusan Mandic, who was the best of his own, but also one of those who subsequently failed in the decisive penalty shootout. A good combination of superiority between Blai Mallarach and Álvaro Granados allowed Spain to minimize damage before the end of the first quarter (2-1).
In the second quarter he saw the best Spanish team. After a bit of Randjelovic that returned the maximum distance for the Serbs, Spain lived four sublime minutes in which he chained four goals and allowed himself to start dreaming of the semifinals. Fran Fernández from afar, Felipe Perrone of penalty and a double by young Bernat Sanahuja turned the score before the break (3-5).
LÓPEZ PINEDO AGIGANTA TO GIVE THE PASS
In the third period, he scored Jaksic in superiority and put Perrone away again with a very fast pitch that surprised Branislav Mitrovic. In the absence of 11:39 for the conclusion, Spain kept its options intact, but life was greatly complicated by its lack of offensive clarity. In fact, he didn't dial again until the penalty shootout.
The goals of Cuk and Mandic left the duel tied in the absence of six minutes and that was when the figure of Lopez Pinedo emerged. With his very inaccurate teammates in the pass, the 39-year-old goalkeeper starred in three consecutive stops of great merit and allowed his team to play him at the ball.
The final goals of Perrone, Adrián Delgado, Marc Larumbe and Granados, added to the failures of Prlainovic and Mandic, confirmed the classification of Spain for the semifinals, on track by the great 11/17 in stops (64% effectiveness) that Lopez ended up signing Pinedo
DATA SHEET.
– RESULT: SERBIA, 6 – SPAIN, 6 (3-5, at rest).
–EQUIPMENT.
SERBIA: G. Pijetlovic (p), B. Mitrovic (p); Mandic (3), Dedovic, Randjelovic (1), Cuk (1), D. Pijetlovic, Vico, Aleksic, Jaksic (1), Filipovic, Prlainovic and S. Mitrovic.
SPAIN: López Pinedo (p), Lorrio (p); Munárriz, Granados (1), Sanahuja (2), De Toro, Larumbe, Delgado, Fernández (1), Tahull, Perrone (2), Mallarach and Bustos.
–PARTIAL: 2-1, 1-4, 2-1, 1-0 and 3-4.
– PENALTY.
1-0, Filipovic, goal.
1-1, Perrone, goal.
1-1, Prlainovic, fails.
1-1, Munárriz, fails.
1-1, Mandic, fails.
1-2, Slim, goal.
2-2, Aleksic, goal.
2-3, Larumbe, goal.
3-3, Cuk, goal.
3-4, Granados, goal.
– ARBITRATORS: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU) and Raffaele Colombo (ITA).
– PAVILION: Budapest Sand Dune.