The Olympic water polo competition is heating up after the second day of qualification was completed today. Every group is packed with top quality teams and most of them are all medal contenders. The day saw emphatic wins for Brazil and Italy, while Serbia and Hungary succumbed in dangerous ties. Croatia emerged victorious in the match of the day against Montenegro and Spain was the victor in a dramatic match against the USA. 

Group A: Brazil rolling, slips for Hungary and Serbia

First up on Maria Lenk Aquatics center, World Champions Serbia took on World Championships bronze medalists Greece. Greece has not a good tradition against Serbia, as they have to beat them two years, but the start of the match did not suggest so. Quickly, the Greeks trapped Serbia in a slow defensive game, in which they excelled, especially with the goalkeeper, Flegkas, who was a wall. Serbia seemed a bit rusty and lost many chances with the extra player, while even on defense, their level was falling down as the time was going by. This way, Greece ended the first half leading 4-1.

Stefan Mitrovic battling with Aggelos Vlachopoulos. Photo:Getty Images/Quinn Rooney
Stefan Mitrovic battling with Angelos Vlachopoulos. Photo:Getty Images/Quinn Rooney

Sooner or later, the Serbian comeback would start. After a strong first half, the Greek defense started to dissolve. Evidently more tired now, the Greeks could not execute the starting game plan and like this, Serbia took over and gave their own, fast rhythm. In a match of goals now, Serbia was the most successful team, as expected, finding way better resources to the goal post than in the first half. The Greek goalkeeper was tired after a packed first half as well. In the meantime, the Greeks tried their best to hold their lead, when the Serbians were focussing more on how to find more goals. The end of the third quarter, saw the Greek lead reduced to two goals, 7-5.

The fourth quarter was even better for the Serbs, who not only managed to catch up, but they had a shot at escaping with a win, as they led 9-8. In the end, Greece's top scorer Fountoulis found the crucial goal that led to the tie in the end. This was the second tie for Serbia in the Olympic tournament, who has been plagued by slow starts so far. Greece got an important point in the chase for the quarterfinal spot here.

Kostas Flegkas, the Greek hero. Photo:Getty/Torn Pennington
Kostas Flegkas, the Greek hero. Photo:Getty/Torn Pennington

In the second match of the day for Pool B, Hungary met with Australia in a really interesting encounter. Both of the teams started strongly, scoring goals and exploiting their chances at the extra player.  In the second quarter, with the help of a penalty ,Hungary was the one to get the first big lead with 6-4. Till then, the teams could hardly find the way to the goal when they did not perform with an extra player. The first half ended with Hungary leading with one goal, 6-5.

In the third quarter, Hungary was the one to be in the lead at the start, but again, Australia leveled the score quickly. As we were closing on to the end, both teams played carefully on the defense to hold the score and reduce time to their opponents, as the lead was changing almost every minute. The last goals came the one after another and the final score was 9-9. Hungary scored another tie, while Australia won their first point in the competition.

Richie Cambell, the Australian hero with four goals. Photo:Getty/Quinn Rooney
Richie Cambell, the Australian hero with four goals. Photo:Getty/Quinn Rooney

The final match for Group A was the hosts, Brazil, against the group's weaker team, Japan. Brazil did not need to worry for a single minute out there, taking a safe lead from the first half and carrying it out to an emphatic win.

Japan started well, leading 2-0 in the first quarter, but this was before Brazil geared up and scored five consecutive goals in five minutes to get the lead by three goals. The Brazilians quickly understood that if they start aggressively from the start they will leave no room to the less experienced Japanese team. In the second quarter, their count reached the eight consecutive goals, as they led 8-2. The only thing Japan could do is to reduce their deficit before the end of the half to 8-3.

In the rest of the match, Brazil did not look back and with the help of the crowd did a powerful show to sink Japan. In the end, the Brazilians had doubled the goals of their opponents, 16-8. The closest Japan got to tying the hosts was three goals. Like this, Brazil became the only team of the first group with wins in both of their matches and Japan the only with losses in both respectively.

Brazil has been emphatic so far. Photo:Getty Images/Anadolu Agency
Brazil has been emphatic so far. Photo:Getty Images/Anadolu Agency

Group A Standings

1. Brazil        4

2. Greece      3

3. Hungary   2

3. Serbia       2

5. Australia   1

6. Japan         0

The top four teams of each group qualify for the quarterfinals.

Tomorrow, the hosts, Brazil, will face the World Champions Serbians. Hungary will square off with Greece, while the teams out of qualifying position at the moment, Australia, and Japan, will play for their first victory.

Tomorrow's matches. Photo:Rio 2016 website.
Tomorrow's matches. Photo:Rio 2016 website.

Group B: Spain and Italy pass their tests, Croatia edges Montenegro in the battle of the group

For group B, Europeans held up in yesterday's matches. The first match of the day from this group was the one between Italy and France. Italy took the lead in the first quarter and held on their grip in every attempt for a comeback France made. The Italian team was doing a great job in counter attacks and managed to pass the ball to center many times, helping Matteo Aicardi who scored four goals and was a golden substitute. France did well in the extra player but missed a lot when the Italian defense was pressing them back. In the end, Italy emerged victorious 11-8, as France never actually got the lead. 

Italy doing well so far in the Olympic tournament. Photo:Getty/Tom Pennington
Italy doing well so far in the Olympic tournament. Photo:Getty/Tom Pennington

USA and Spain were the ones to battle next in a really important match for the fourth place that will lead to the quarterfinals. The match showed that it would be dramatic from the first minutes, as the leads were changing hands rapidly. Spain scored twice in the final minute of the first quarter to get a 4-2 lead. In the second quarter, USA came back with two successful attacks on the extra player, despite the fact that Spain won a penalty. The first half ended even, at 5 all.

The action was evolving fast in the third quarter, with four goals scored by both teams in two minutes. Spain was not giving chances to USA to attack with an extra player and that helped them steal the lead in the end and get to the final quarter 8-7 up. Spain started the final quarter the best way as well, scoring twice to lead 10-7. The American players got tired as the time went by and the only thing their team managed to do was to score two goals before losing 10-9. That was the second loss for USA, which puts them at the bottom of the group, while this win gave Spain their first points.

USA and Spain played a hard match. Photo:Getty/Quinn Rooney
USA and Spain played a hard match. Photo:Getty/Quinn Rooney

The final match of the day was the best as expected. Hard-core Montenegro team played World Championships Silver medalists Croatia. The Croats started better, being thoroughly aggressive and preventing the Montenegro team from organizing attacks and also managing to score in the first minute. Montenegro tied the score in their first extra player opportunity, but in the next attack, Croatia took the lead again. Six seconds before the first quarter end, Montenegro scored and the two teams entered the second 8-minute part tied at 2 all. Both teams were executing amazing on the defensive part managing to not worry their goalkeepers a lot. Montenegro took the lead for the first time at 3-2, but Croatia scored two back-to-back goals in the final minute to lead 4-3 at the end of the first half.

In the third quarter, Croatia started strong again to lead 5-3, in the biggest lead of the match so far. However, they did not make it to Montenegro's goal post in the rest of the quarter and they got tied at five-all before the start of the final 8 minutes. Both teams were holding firm on their defense, so, the final quarter was the time to loosen their shoulders and fight for the win. Croatia had a response in every attempt of Montenegro to tie them or lead. After a barrage of goals before the final five minutes start, the Croats found themselves on a 7-6 lead. At that point, the goalkeeper from Montenegro did a great job to keep his team close and at the first chance, Montenegro tied at 7 all. In the next minutes, both teams focussed on their defense to avoid errors. In the end, Croatia was the one to laugh last, as they always did in this match, with a great goal from the center the last eight seconds. This way, the World Championships runner-ups got a really important win that will probably decide the top of the group.

Montenegro didnt manage to the big win over Croatia. Photo:Getty/Tom Pennington
Montenegro didnt manage to the big win over Croatia. Photo:Getty/Tom Pennington

Group B Standings

1.Croatia                                   4

1.Italy                                        4 

3.Spain                                      2

3.Montenegro                         2

5.France                                    0

6.United States of America   0

The top four will make it to the quarterfinals.

The two last teams will face each other tomorrow, while Montenegro and Italy will give us a big showdown. Croatia will need to pass the test of Spain.

Tomorrow's matches for Group B. Photo:Getty Images/Tom Hennington
Tomorrow's matches for Group B. Photo:Getty Images/Tom Hennington
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Pan Mich
Just an enthusiastic WTA fan from Greece!