USA Water Polo Plans North Texas New Year’s Showcase with Serbia, Spain
The U.S. Men’s Water Polo Team will host Serbia and Spain for a six-game tournament this month, calling it the North Texas New Year’s Showcase, announced on Monday.
Six games will be played over seven days from Dec. 28-Jan. 3. The first three will occur at LISD Westside Aquatic Complex in Lewisville, Texas, with the next three at the SMU Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium in Dallas. The three teams will play each other twice each.
All matches will be streamed on USA Water Polo’s Youtube channel, with single-game tickets and muti-game passes available.
North Texas New Year’s Showcase full schedule
- Dec. 28: USA vs. Serbia, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT)
- Dec. 29: Spain vs Serbia, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT)
- Dec. 30: USA vs. Spain, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT)
- Jan. 1: Spain vs Serbia, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT)
- Jan. 2: USA vs. Serbia, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT)
- Jan. 3: USA vs. Spain, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT)
All three nations placed in the top six at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Serbia won the gold medal in Japan, its second title. Spain fell to Hungary in the bronze-medal match, while the United States finished sixth, having fallen to Spain, 12-8, in their quarterfinal. Serbia edged Spain, 10-9, in the semifinals there.
Spain is the reigning world champion, having beaten Italy in a penalty shootout in Budapest last summer. Both the United States and Serbia lost in the quarterfinals there, the Serbians beating the Americans for a second time at the tournament in the fifth-place game.
The U.S. is expected to field a near first-choice roster, with the bulk of the Worlds squad available. Olympians Alex Bowen, Luca Cupido, Ben Hallock, Hannes Daube, Thomas Dunstan, Drew Holland, Johnny Hooper, Max Irving, Ben Stevenson, Marko Vavic and Dylan Woodhead are all up for selection.