13th FINA Men's World Cup Preview

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13th FINA Men's World Cup Preview

Δημοσίευσηαπό Lambros10 » Πέμ Ιουν 15, 2006 8:49 am

13th FINA Men's World Cup Preview

13 Jun 2006 - The World's best eight waterpolo teams will contest the World Cup at the Hajós Alfréd National Sports Pool situated on the beautiful Margaret Island of Budapest. Team previews with compliments from Gergely Csurka, www.waterpolo.hu

Croatia

They are coming right after the two Greats, the Hungarians and the Serbs and belonging to the group could be labelled as the XXX. Together with the Italians and the Russians, the Croats are the ones who wouldn’t surprise anyone by taking a major title – winning a medal would be regarded business as usual – however it’s also less and less surprising if the team actually hit the rock-bottom.

Finishing on the podium or around the 8th place at the actual event is just a matter of a few little things in the case of the Croats who put together their national team quite fast after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. We saw some example for both occasions within few weeks. Maybe the most telling story came in 2003 when they should have won the European title in Kranj (though lost in the extra-time against the Serbs) and afterwards they could go only for the 9th place in the World Championships. However, it hardly surprised anybody who watched their heroic performance in Atlanta (where they knocked out the Yugoslavians and the Italians and were stopped by only the Spaniards) and also watched them falling downhill just a year and a half later to hit the 9th place in Perth.

The play of the national team never really came together in these years, which was a huge contradiction of what we saw at club-level. Jug Dubrovnik and Mladost Zagreb are amongst the most feared opponents in the European field but while these two managed to stay at the elite’s level the national team was dropped back in the most occasions. We might note that changing the head-coaches year by year was not the way of smart building of the team. Forgotten faces from the past reentered the team, then disappeared after a season and in the meanwhile the Croats went up and down.

The winds of change must have touched everyone when Ratko Rudic took over the team after Athens. After spending one and a half decades abroad. The great master who won three Olympic gold medals as a coach decided to return home. No excuses, no talking back, no opposition: the great Ratko made order pretty soon and started to rebuild the Croatian side. He had the necessary tools and materials as the country was always rich in water polo talent and that led to another great performance in Montreal where Rudic’s boys pushed the Serbs to the limit in the semifinal.

Spain

They are still a force to be reckoned with in the world of water polo, but not in the same way as we knew them some years before. Spain was a nice little Mediterranean team until the middle of the 80s, when the work of their Eastern European coaches made the team more effective. With the magician, Manuel Estiarte in the leading role, the Spaniards demonstrated their strength for the first time in the Madrid World Championships where they won the bronze-medal.

But it was only the beginning of a great era. The first true sign of the Spaniards’ greatness was their silver medal won in the 1991 World Championships in Perth.

Everybody thought Spanish years would come. Instead the Italians started to dominate. Estiarte and company continued to fail to win the most important games against the Italians in the semifinal of the European Championship in Sheffield, the final of the World Championships in Rome.

In Atlanta, the field was much tougher than in Barcelona because the competition consisted of the Croats, the Serbs, the Russians. Additionally, Hungary had just won their first gold medal in 17 years in the 1995 edition of the World Cup, so they added to the intense competition against the Spaniards. The mountain to climb was much higher than in 1992. But they made it. Faith gave them back what it took away in Barcelona. They clinched the Olympic title with Joan Jané, their Spanish Coach leading from the bench.

Naturally the triumph did not make them any younger but their greats were still fired up when something big was at stake. They didn’t peak in friendly tourneys, not even in the European Championships and World Cups. But whenever the World Championships and Olympic Games came they were up for the task. In 1998 they reserved their energy to the last phase making the best of their lucky draw and within 24 hours, they defended splendidly to beat the era’s best performers, Yugoslavia and Hungary. A year later, in the Games, they defeated Croatia and only lost to the Russians in the memorable 9:55 minute sudden-death match.

Once more, everybody thought this had been the swan-song of their great generation and they wouldn’t be a competitive factor anymore. But the biggest show was still ahead. In 2001 they managed to add another World Championship-gold to their tally. It was the most memorable one of all as they reached the top of the podium after winning 4-2 twice: first in the semis against Italy then in the final against Yugoslavia. Defense was everything in that year based on the extraordinary performances of Jesús Rollán.

As seen by some very heavy defeats at the 2003 quarters of the European Championships, and the 2003 and 2005 World Championships, the current Spanish squad is of no match against the two big guns, Hungary and Serbia-Montenegro. Nevertheless, the World Cup in Budapest will be a test for the Spaniards to see whether their decline stops, slows, or hastens.

Greece

What were missing in Athens they had in Montreal: the improving Greek team finally stood on the podium. In the good old times, their performance against the greats was based mainly on their enthusiasm and that put them to the category of the ’unpleasant opponents’. Today they belong to the elite, could match anyone thanks to their knowledge of the game and they should be name as one of the medal contenders.

The turning point came when the Olympic Games were awarded to Athens and the Greek wanted to catch up with the world in all sports. In water polo, they brought coaches from the ex-Yugoslavia who taught the Hellenes how to play with strict discipline. That was the foundation of the future successes as their technical skills and physical parameters couldn’t be compared to those of the Hungarians’ and the Serbs’ – in average of course, they always have one or two great players with fine skills and huge muscles. So the well-organized teamwork and the Mediterranean enthusiasm they can build on and these are the keys to their triumphs.

Finally, they won the bronze medal game in 2005 beating the Croats (before they lost to the Serbs then the Russians). This was the biggest triumph in the history of the Greek water polo, bigger than the silver-medal finish in the 1997 FINA Cup in Athens. It is obvious that their play based on the well-balanced performance of the goalie, the disciplined zonal defense, the well-organized attacks looking for 6-on-5 situations and converting them can develop furher on and this will put them among the medal contenders in Budapest.

Italy

Although the Italian clubs usually sweep the European trophies – in 2005 they won all awards both in the men’s and women’s fields, made an unusual triple triumph in 2003 and have extremely good chances in 2006 – the national team has been stumbling for a long time. The dominance of the first half of the nineties never came back when they collected all gold medals available between 1992 and 1995. Since then they decline slowly. When Ratko Rudic who led them for 10 years left the team after the Sydney Games, his former favorite player Alessandro Campagna took the job. However, what seemed the beginning of a new great era it turned out to be just a recrudescence. After reaching the semifinals twice in 2001 (at the Budapest European Championships and the Fukuoka World Championships) and a silent 2002 season, Campagna received on offer from Greece hard to refuse and after his departure something broke in the Settebello. The team’s performance became hectic: under the new coach, Paolo de Crescenzo they immediately sunk as low as possible finishing 9th in the 2003 European Championships, however, they almost hit the jackpot in Barcelona losing to the great Hungarian team only in the extra-time of the final of the World Championships (and also grabbed silver in the next World League). Nevertheless in Athens another failure came: Italy could not reach the knockout phase, finished only at the 7th place, which brought another change in the bench. Pierluigi Formiconi had huge successes with the girls – finally won the Olympic title with them in 2004 – but with the boys, he didn’t make any breakthrough. In Montreal, they could not join to the field of the medal contenders and again it caused ruckus: new year, new coach. Paolo Malara is the fourth one within five years – Rudic held the job for 10 seasons – and his has a hard task: he has to put together the players who are usually not taking the leading role in their respective clubs. The foreigners are the ones who lead the Italian clubs to great successes and unlike in the past the Italian junior teams do not feed the Settebello enough talented guys. They do have some hope however, connected to the new rules that give more room to the swimming-abilities and the physical stamina and the Italians were always great in these fields of the sport.

Romania

It may come as a surprise but the Romanian national team is among the top eight. The last time they belonged to this elite group was at the beginning of the nineties. Romania joined the field of the FINA Cup for the second time in 1991, long after their first showing in 1979. In 1983 the Dinamo Bucuresti was the finalist in the Winner's Cup. The clubs from Bucuresti earned some respect in the European competitions in the early nineties, however, the great accomplishments of the golden era seemed to have been finally over. Their last laugh was in 1993 when the Romanians knocked out the Croatian team - a team built around the Champions' Cup-winner Mladost Zagreb - and had a shot at the bronze-medal at the Sheffield European Championships.

Yet there was hope because a new era started with the return of Hagiu. As the new head-coach, Hagiu put together a team more organized and more disciplined than before. Now they could taste the sweet taste of victory. At Montreal, after beating the strong German team in the eighth-final, they earned the right to come to Budapest.

Russia

If they were to have their day, it would be impossible to stop them. If they show an average form, the Russians are still dangerous but there is still a good chance to catch them. And if their game starts to jam the team can crash and fall.

Their school is great and prepares them in the best possible way as most Russian players have the ability, the skill, and the technique. But these qualities rarely form a team. They are keen to risk as sometimes they are too creative and overwriting the basic rules of discipline and that does not always bring the right results. Their results underline this soundly: sometimes the risk pays back but if you look at it as a whole, the price is far too high for that kind of play.

One thing is for sure, if they want to play their game based on quick counters, brilliant individual actions, beautiful but risky plays, they need an opponent who commits enough mistakes. Just remember their game against Hungary in Rome where they were trailing 6-1 in the first quarter, 6-9 at halftime, but regained the lead in a 4-0 score in the third quarter after Hungary missed five men-ups and two penalties.

The two bronze medals from the previous two Olympics highlight Russia’s strength. The difference of their performances was shown also during these Games as they were swept away by Hungary 13-6 in the Sydney final, but lost only 7-5 to the Hungarians in the semifinals in Athens.

Nevertheless, the World Cup will be a very interesting story for the Russians. Big money found water polo in their country right luring all of their well known star players to Russia. (Foreign aces in Moscow, Volgograd and Tchechov are now the matter of the future.) This means that the Sbornaia, possessing the greatest center-forward of present days, Revaz Tchomakidze, could train together in the whole season which is a real advantage in this sport.

And the outcome? Well, it will not be easy to tell which trick the Russians will opt on in the heat of the battles and it is also equally impossible to predict how effective these tricks will be. But there is one thing that will be for certain: the games featuring the Russians will surely be the most entertaining!

Serbia & Montenegro

After a very long wait, victory came in 2005 when they won a title they had chased after since 1991. Since the break up of the former Yugoslavia, the Plavis grabbed two European gold medals (2001, 2003) but the two big ones weighing the most eluded them for a while. With some exceptions, the Hungarians stood between them and the first place. We can hardly find any major events where these two giants did not clash, but in the most matches, Denes Kemeny’s boys always held the upper hand.

In the 1997 European Championship, they lost to Hungary in the final. In the semifinal of the 1998 World Championship, they lost to the Spain. In the semifinal of the 2000 Olympic Games, again they lost to Hungary. In the final of the 2001 World Championships again they lost to Spain. In the semifinal of the 2002 World Cup they lost to Hungary. In the semifinals of the 2003 World Championship they lost to Italy. In the final of the 2004 Games, they lost to Hungary in an unforgettable showdown holding the lead almost throughout the entire game but in the last quarter they broke down. Altogether, the painful collection of those losses was only eased by the two European triumphs mentioned above.

Based on the performance of the scoring machine, Aleksandar Sapic and aces like Danilo Ikodinovic and Vlado Vujasinovic, the Serbs have a really great team which plays extremely effectively. Their defensive wall is cemented by their huge goalie, Denis Sefik, their attacks are based on their tremendous shooting power. What they lacked in the previous years they had in 2005, when Sapic, Ikodinovic and Vujasinovic harmonized in such a way to lead the Serbs towards abolishing the reign of Hungary at their showdown in Montreal. Victory in Montreal was headed with the triumph in the World League Super Final held in Belgrade. After these victories, Petar Porobic – in his first year as head coach replacing Nenand Manojlovic – was in seventh heaven.

Additionally, the last year offered another theme to emphasize: Serbia and Montenegro not only swept all titles in the seniors’ field but they managed to win everything amongst the youngsters as their juniors marched to the top of the podium at the World Championship in Argentina and their youth team conquered the European Championship in Bulgaria. The young guns have won the gold medals of the junior events for almost half a decade but the many talented players cannot enter to the senior team immediately because it is already composed of many great players. However, one should be green with envy watching Petar Porobic selecting his squad from a collection great young players. Whomever he picks, the team coming to Budapest will be among the No. 1 gold-chasers.

Host Nation - Hungary

This is the 10th season for the national team under Denes Kemeny and the Hungarians don't show the signs of weakening. Though the key players are also older with a decade the gold medals grabbed in the past might make them feel younger than their actual age which is around 30 for the most of them.

They invested a huge amount of energy and suffered enough to reach the top, however the second Olympic triumph in Athens proved they are still motivated to be No. 1. They are not short of fuel since the older ones don't want to be ousted from this great company while more and more young guns want to have a shot among the best ones so there is a huge competition in each year to become a member of the team.

During the years the youngsters won their duel against an older champion so fresh blood was guaranteed before each important competition. Those who played before could be XXX by the youths' new energy, while the rookies could easily reach the 'necessary temperature' in the heated battles by watching the everlasting fire in the eyes of the great champions.

This is the Hungarian national team which won two Olympic gold, a World Championship-title, two European Championships, a FINA Cup, two World Leagues and was first in the European Nations' League and this enormous collection is also containing many silver and bronze medals (latter ones sign even this team cannot win everything - however they triumphed more times than any other of their opponents).

In 2005 they were only runner-ups twice (in the Montreal Championships and in the Super Final of the World League in Belgrade), but it is obvious they are still one of the main contender for the first place of this World Cup. They have an extra motivation and that is to win in front of the home crowd, which they were unable to do five years before in the European Championships. This is a rare occasion to show their enthusiastic fans their unique skills in a major event held in the Margaret Island so one thing is sure: they will do the utmost until the very last second to finish on the top of the podium.

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Lambros10
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