By Bruce Wigo
BEIJING, China, August 18. DAY four of the Men's Olympic Water Polo Tournament at the Yingdong Natatorium in Beijing began with a shocker. Italy beat Serbia, 13 – 12. The loss by Serbia threw the Group into flux, with the potential for four teams to be tied with six points. It would all come down to the USA's game against Germany. A win for the Americans meant that they would advance first in the group and earn a bye into the semifinals. A tie and they would move on to the quarterfinals as the second in the group, but a loss would eliminate them from medal competition and the Germans would advance.
The two great surprises of the men's tournament have been the play of the Serbs and the Americans. The self-destruction of the Serbian team began last year with the separation of Montenegro from the Republic of Serbia & Montenegro. Montenegro, competing or the first time in Olympic competition has several players that were stars for Serbia & Montenegro in Athens. Then star player Danilo Ikodinovic was critically injured in a motorcycle accident before the European Championships in July. At the European Championships, it was evident that there was dissention on the team and in Beijing, the team imploded during their loss to arch rival, Croatia. Even after their 4 – 2 win over the U.S., there was no joy in Belgrade. Today, with superstar goalkeeper Denis Sefik still sitting on the bench, the Serbian goal was riddled by 13 Italian shots. While they still move on to the quarterfinals, the way they are playing makes their prospects for advancing to the semis appears slim.
The other great surprise of the tournament has been the play of the Americans. When Hall of Fame coach Ratko Rudic left the team in 2004 to return to coach his native Croatia, he left saying he was leaving a team he believed could win the gold medal in Beijing. But under Rudic's replacement, Guy Baker, the team finished a worst-ever 11th place at the 2005 FINA World Championships. Baker was subsequently replaced by Ricardo Azevedo, but the team showed little improvement, lost confidence and funding from the USOC. Enter Schroeder, who worked as hard on the minds as the bodies and he gained the confidence of the players. Entering this tournament, this team believed they could win and now they are on the verge of their first podium finish since Schroeder captained the team in 1988. But first they had to get past Germany and it proved to be no easy task.
Germany's Heiko Nossek put the first goal on the scoreboard at 6:57 of the opening period. Jeff Powers tied the game two minutes later. Nossek and the U.S.'s Tim Hutten, the NCAA Player of the Year last year, traded goals before Ryan Baliey scored on a power play to give the USA a 3 – 2 lead at the end of one.
A Jeff Power backhand at the start of the second period gave the USA a 4 – 2 lead.
At 21, years of age, J. W. Krumpholz is the youngest player on Team USA and the only player with collegiate eligibility remaining. At 2:20, Krumpholz drew an exclusion at two meters and thirteen seconds later a Krumpholz power play goal from the post gave the U.S. a 5 – 2 advantage. Heiko Nossek scored his third goal on a power play to cut the margin to 2, and that's how the first half ended.
At 3:55 of the third period, Nossek fired a power play goal from the left side to trim the U.S.'s lead to one. At 2:41, Tobias Kreuzmann scored another power play for Germany to tie the score at 5. At 1:08 Adam Wright found Layne Beaubien open and Beaubien converted to put the U.S. back on top, 6 – 5. With nine seconds remaining in the third quarter, Ryan Bailey drew a five meter penalty, which Wright converted to give the USA a two goal lead.
Germany was first on the board in the fourth as Oeler Moritz scored on a power play at 5:49, to bring Germany back to within one. With a little less than three minutes in the game, Adam Wright found space on a drive behind the German defense, received a perfect back door pass from Peter Varellas and the U.S. was up again by two. But at 2:33 Nossek netted his fifth goal of the game and score stood at 8 – 7. With :23 seconds left in the game, Germany's center forward, Thomas Schertwitis was fouled near the five meter line. He fired a backhand that appeared to score the tying goal, but the referees ruled the foul occurred inside the five meter line and disallowed the goal. On the turnover, the U.S. held the ball and advanced as the top team in Group B and a bye into the final four.
The U.S. defense has been outstanding and been the stingiest of the tournament. Merril Moses continues to be the outstanding goalkeeper of the tournament. Although Tony Azevedo was held scoreless for the second time in the tournament, he drew attention from the German defense that opened up the other players to score.
In other games, Australia and Montenegro tied 5 – 5. This result means Montenegro moves on the quarterfinals against Croatia. The U.S. will play the winner of Serbia v. Spain. The team from Hungary won the A Group and will play the winner of the other quarterfinal game which pits the hard luck Serbians against Spain.
