By Bruce Wigo
BEIJING, China, August 10. THE Chinese made their Olympic debut in men's water polo with an unorthodox style of play that made them surprisingly competitive with the heavily favored Americans, who looked nothing like the medal contenders previously predicted in my preview. The Americans held only a 4-3 lead at the half over the team ranked 12th in the 12-team field. The star of the game was Tony Azevedo who got the Americans on the board early with two quick goals. He threw in a total of 5 goals for the game. Layne Beaubien contributed two and Jesse Smith put in the final goal for the victors in the final 30 seconds.
Outside of Azevedo, neither team showed much on offense and the game was marked by very few exclusion fouls being called by the officials. As a result, the game proved to be quite dull as the teams swam back and forth every 30 seconds or so with little front court action. America's Merrill Moses played well in goal, blocking 11 of the 15 shots that the home team threw at him. At the other end of the tank, the U.S. directed only 14 shots on target. They will have to shoot better and play better than they did tonight if they hope to advance to the quarterfinals. To advance they clearly need a win in their next match, against Italy. Based on action tonight, the Italians are, next to China, the weakest team in the B Group.
We got to see Italy play Croatia in the game immediately prior to the USA vs. China match and Croatia won that game by the score of 11 – 7. Italy has long been considered the home of the top professional water polo league in the world. It's water polo's version of the NBA and is where salaries are the highest and where the world's great players, like Farago, Milanovic, Estiarte, and Kasas have played. The success of the Italian league was long considered to be a key to Italy's Olympic success in the 1990's. But now the pro league may be taking the blame for Italy's Olympic failures. After barely making it to Beijing in the Olympic qualification tournament, the Italians were completely dominated by Croatia tonight. Their game was undisciplined and unimaginative and they were behind by the score of 10 – 4, before closing the gap in the final minutes. Croatia was led by Hall of Fame coach Ratko Rudic, the coach who took Italy to Olympic glory in 1992 and 1996, in addition to coaching the USA from 2001 to 2004. His team looked like medal contenders this evening showing a stifling defense, precision passing and pin-point outside shooting.
The water polo action began in this morning at Yingdong Natatorium with Spain coasting past Canada 16 – 6. Nine different Spaniards scored in a dominating performance. It was the type of game the USA would have hoped to play against one of the weakest teams in the field. Perhaps it was opening game jitters and playing before a highly partisan crowd.
Next up was the highly-anticipated match between Hungary vs. Montenegro which saw the two European powerhouses draw with 10 goals apiece. The Magyars needed World Junior MVP Denes Varga's heroics to savage the tie for the defending Olympic champions. Varga, who played only eight minutes, scored his second goal of the game, with 32 seconds left in the contest. This outcome means that goal difference could decide which team earns the bye for the Group A into the semi-finals. Of course Spain and Australia could have a lot to say about this.
In Group B, Serbia's superstar goalkeeper, Denis Sefik was surprisingly vulnerable in the first quarter as Germany jumped out to a 3-1 lead before the Serbs came back to win, 11-7. Sefik is unquestionably the best goalkeeper in the world today. At 6'6" and 265 lbs., he is a giant, intimidating wall upon which Serbia's hopes for the gold medal rest.
The first game of the second session provided the first upset of the day. Australia controlled Greece throughout the contest and won by the score of 12 – 8. Seven different players found the back of the net for the Aussies. Pietro Figioli was the big gun with four goals. The Australians are very similar to the Americans in that they are comparatively young, but are fast and experienced. If they continue to play as they did today, they could reach the quarter finals. To do so they will have get at least one win in Group A over Hungary, Croatia or Spain. Not an easy task as these teams all finished in the top four at the 2007 World Championships.
