Panionios, Honved, and De Akker have qualified for the Conference Cup Final Four after winning their matches on Day 2 of the Quarter Final Stage in Athens.
In Group A, Panionios and Honved narrowly defeated Posillipo and Tenerife, respectively, in the second round. The teams from Greece and Hungary will now compete for the top spot in the group in their encounter on Sunday.
In Group B, De Akker secured first place by beating the host team Apollon 14:11 today. Tomorrow, Apollon and Mataro will face off in a match that will determine who finishes in second place.
2026 Conference Cup Quarter Final Stage, Day 2
GROUP A
Posillipo – Panionios 12:13 (3:3, 2:3, 5:4, 2:3)
Posillipo:Da.Radovic 3, Mattiello 3, Rocchino 3, Aiello 1, Cuccovillo 1, Bertoli 1.
Panionios: Gounas 5, Bitsakos 3, Mourikis 2, A.Bitsakos 1, Takata 1, Kapetanakis 1
Tenerife – Honved 15:16 (4:4, 4:4, 5:5, 2:3)
Tenerife: Araya 5, Garcia 3, Gorria 3, Andion 1, Diaz 1, Pyatkin 1, De Weerd 1
Honved:Moskov 7, Ekler 4, Kevi 3, Bencz 1, Vadovics 1.
Both games were decided in thrilling endings.
Panionios led for most of the match against Posillipo. However, the Italians made a comeback late in the third quarter, taking leads of 9:8 and 10:9. Panionios’s veteran Mourikis leveled the score at 10:10 just five seconds before the last break. Danilo Radovic then put Posillipo in front, 11:10, at the beginning of the fourth period. Midway through the final quarter, Panionios regained the lead at 12:11. Mattiello equalized for Posillipo at 12:12 in the 31st minute, but Kapetanikis scored during a man-up situation to make it 13:12 in the next possession. The Italians were unable to equalize in the final minute.
The encounter between Tenerife and Honved was quite similar. After 24 minutes, the teams were tied at 13:13. The teams quickly exchanged goals at the beginning of the final quarter. Moskov then converted a penalty shot, giving Honved a 15:14 lead. Following this, there were no goals for a while, until the 30th minute, when Ekler extended the Hungarians’ advantage to 16:14. In the remainder of the match, Tenerife was only able to reduce the deficit to one goal.
Standings: 1. Panionios 6, 2. Honved 6, Posillipo 0, 4. Tenerife 0.
GROUP B
Apollon – De Akker 11:14 (4:2, 2:5, 1:3, 4:4)
Apollon Smyrnis: Bogdanovic 4, Laskaridis 2, Daube 2, Gardikas 1, Alveridis 1.
De Akker: Campopiano 5, Bragantini 2, Milakovich 2, Di Murro 2, McFarland 1, Lucci 1, Urbinati 1.
Mornar – Mataro 12:14 (2:7, 3:3, 4:3, 3:1)
Mornar: D.Zivkovic 4, R. Akrap 3, Stojanac 2, Hrvatic 1, Buselic 1, D.Akrap 1.
Mataro: Aguirre 4, Rodriguez 3, Bertan 2, Ivaylov 1, Gil 1, Magrina 1, Veich 1, Marti 1.
Apollon was a better rival in the first half of the duel with De Akker. The Greeks had a 2-goal lead on a few occasions. Two minutes before the end of the second period, the home side was one step ahead of the Italians, 6:5. But, De Akker scored five unanswered goals by the middle of the third quarter and jumped to 10:6. That run was vital for the Italians’ victory.
Mataro’s explosive start against Mornar set the tone of the match. In the last 130 seconds of the first period, the Spaniards went on a 4:0 run to jump from 4:2 to 7:2 . In the next three periods, Mornar closed the gap to two goals a few times, but wasn’t able to make a comeback.
Standings: 1. De Akker 6, 2.Apollon 3, 3. Mataro 3, 4. Mornar 0.
More articles about the Conference Cup
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
