Hungary, Greece, Italy, and Spain qualified for the upper group (1st – 4th place) at the World Cup Division 1 tournament in Alexandroupolis, and thus qualified for the Final Eight in Sydney.
Serbia, Croatia, the Netherlands, and the USA will play in the group for 5th place and battle for the last available Final Eight berth.
All favorites won today’s matches of Round 3, but only Spain recorded a convincing victory.
In Group A, Hungary defeated Serbia 12:10, and Greece beat the Netherlands 14:11 in a match filled with numerous twists and turns. Hungary retained 1st place in Group A, while Greece advanced from 2nd place.
Italy beat Croatia 13:11 in Group B. The “Settebello” broke the Croats’ resistance only at the finish of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The teams will play three games in a round-robin format in two new groups. They all start from zero; the results from the first phase will not be carried over.
2026 World Men’s Cup, Division 1, Day 3
GROUP A
(quarters 2:3, 2:3, 3:5, 3:1)
The match remained competitive until the very end, despite Hungary never allowing Serbia to take the lead. Early in the third period, the Hungarians established a 3-goal advantage. Throughout the rest of the game, they successfully thwarted all of Serbia’s attempts at a comeback. This victory served as a small form of revenge for Hungary, following two previous defeats at the European Championships—once in the group stage and once in the final—where both teams fielded stronger lineups than those in Alexandroupolis. Serbia had five players who won gold in Belgrade, while Hungary featured eight silver medalists from the European Championships.
The European champions had one man fewer on the roster, because of a red card shown to Petar Jaksic at the finish of yesterday’s match against Greece. Head coach Uros Stevanovic was missing because he was also excluded yesterday. Serbia was led from the bench by the twins Stefan and Milos Ciric, with Stefan being the first coach. The Ciric brothers will remain at the helm for the next two games as Stevanovic is suspended for three matches.
The teams were in a neck-and-neck race until 3:3. Then, Hungary built a 2-goal lead for the first time (5:3). The Hungarians entered the second half with a 6:4 advantage. Vismeg increased the margin to 7:4 from a counterattack in the 17th minute.
Gergo Fekete Photo by Krsto Vulovic
The Hungarians had an 8:5 lead a few minutes later. Luka Gladovic scored two back-to-back goals to keep Serbia’s hopes alive (7:8). Still, Hungary built an 11:7 lead before the final period. It seemed that the contest was decided.
But, Serbia didn’t give in, keeping Hungary goalless for almost the entire final period. With 68 seconds remaining, Vuk Milojevic scored from a 6 on 5, reducing the gap to 10:11. Serbia tried to equalize with seven field players in its final possession, but lost the ball, and Fekete set the final score, sending the ball into the empty net with seven seconds to go.
(quarters 3:4, 4:4, 2:2, 2:4)
Netherlands: De Weerd 3, Ten Broek 2, Gbadamassi 1, Van der Weijden 1, Bakker 1, Te Riele 1, Van der Weijden 1.
Greece: Argyropoulos 7, Kalogeropoulos 2, Kakaris 1, Nikolaidis 1, Skoumpakis 1, Papanastasiou 1, Spachits 1.
The story of the Dutch team repeated in Alexandropoulis. The Netherlands played a strong game against a world powerhouse, much like it did against Serbia and Hungary, but lost in the final minutes.
Greece dictated the pace for most of the first half and earned a 3-goal lead twice in the second quarter (6:3 and 8:5). But, after the hosts’ eighth goal, the Netherlands started climbing back, playing very disciplined in defense. The Dutch went on a 4:0 run between the 15th and 19th minute of the game and earned a 9:8 lead. Greece needed a lot of time to recover from the shock. Even though the Dutch attack slowed, their defense, commanded by goalkeeper Snel, remained strong. However, in the last 101 seconds of the quarter, Greece scored twice and entered the final period leading 10:9.
The fourth period of a tense battle in front of the packed stands started with an equalizer. Hofmeijer made it 10:10 in the 26th minute. Midway through the final period, Greece netted two power-play goals within 40 seconds (Argyropoulos and Nikolaidis), going to 12:10. But Van der Weijden immediately answered with an extra player for 11:12.
Dimitrios Skoumpakis (Greece) Photo by Krsto Vulovic
Two minutes and four seconds from the end, Skoumpakis scored another 6 on 5, giving the hosts a 2-goal lead again (13:11). The Netherlands head coach, Branko Mitrovic, called a challenge. After a VAR review, the referees confirmed the goal and excluded Mitrovic because of protesting (something similar happened yesterday in the match Greece – Serbia). The Dutch didn’t have energy for one more comeback. They attacked with seven field players in the last minute, but lost the ball. The home side’s power engine, Argyropoulos, who stole the ball, sent it into an unguarded net, sealing Greece’s win. It was Greece’s only second action goal in the match as they scored 10 with a man-up (having an excellent powerplay conversion – 10/15) and one from a penalty. The Dutch netted four power-play goals from 10 attempts.
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GROUP B
(quarters 2:1, 5:6, 4:2, 2:2)
Italy: Iocchi Gratta 3, Cassia 2, Cannella 2, Ferrero 1, Di Somma 1, Dolce 1, Gianazza 1, Carnesecchi 1.
Croatia: Lazic 2, Pavlic 2, Kharkov 2, Buric 1,Tonicic 1, Radan 1, Brubnjak 1, Butic 1
The first half was a “tit for tat” battle. Italy took a one-goal lead seven times, and Croatia leveled on each occasion. After Tonicic equalized at 6:6 in the 13th minute, the Croats had a few chances to go ahead, but they failed. Matteo Iocchi Gratta scored for 7:6 with 64 seconds left in the first half, but Viktor Tonicic replied soon with an extra player.. There were a lot of exclusions in the first half, and Croatia made the most of it, scoring five goals with an extra player (shot 5/8), and two from penalty shots. Italy’s conversion of extra player shots was 4/6.
Edoardo Di Somma Photo by Krsto Vulović.
Ferrero and Carnesechi gave Italy a two-goal lead at the beginning of the third period for the first time (9:7).
The Croats leveled once again at 9:9 in the 21st minute. They had a great opportunity to go in front in their next possession, with a double man-up, but failed. Italy immediately forced a penalty foul and converted it. The Croats lost the ball in their next attack. The “Settebello” earned an 11:9 lead with a man-up. Iocchi Gratta added another power-play goal in Italy’s first possession in the final period. That 3:0 run after Croatia’s wasted 6-on-4 possession proved vital for Italy’s win. Croatia didn’t come close in the rest of the game.
(2:3, 5:2, 6:1, 2:2)
Spain: Sanahuja 3, Valls 2, Granados 2, Valera 2, Larumbe 1, Daura 1, Cabanas 1, Gomila 1, Biel 1, Rodroguez 1.
USA: Saveljic 3, Daube 2, Castillo 1, R.Dodd 1, Brown 1.
The Americans, who fell too early in the matches against Croatia and Italy, started bravely against the World Champions. Hannes Daube converted a penalty shot in the 8th minute to give the USA a 3:2 lead at the first break. However, it was the Americans’ only lead in the game.
Spain opened the second period with three goals, going to 5:3. The rest of the quarter saw a balanced battle, and the Europeans maintained a 2-goal advantage until the end of the first half (7:5).
Bernat Sanahuja Photo: MTB-Photo
In the third quarter, Spain was widening the gap step by step.Fran Valera made it 11:5 in the 23rd minute. Daube ended the Spaniards’ series, but the Europeans scored twice in the last 57 seconds of the third period, to build a comfortable 13:6 lead. The fourth period was a formality.
Standings: 1. Italy 9, 2. Spain 6, 3. Croatia 3, 4. USA 0.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
