Stuck aggressively in the second half and was eliminated by host Croatia in the quarter-finals of the European Championship Men’s National Polo,
Although Thodoris Vlachos’ team showed they can look their powerful opponent in the eye in the first half, which ended with them leading 6-5, they stalled in the last two and decisive eight minutes, when they scored just two goals and were known as natural consequence of the defeat with the final 13-8.
Thus, it is Croatia who will face Hungary in the semi-finals of the competition, with our national team paying for their blackout in the second half and the only 1/6 successful attacks they had on the player above.
The match began with the Croatians opening the scoring on their first attack, with Zerdeva saving a penalty which was won by Vrilic, but with Kharkov taking the… rebound, scoring to make it 1-0. Kakaris equalized immediately after his terrific move and Fundoulis gave our National team their first lead in the semi-final, before Fatovic equalized with a shot from 6 meters. Genidounias scored for the first time on the night, before Croatia added the extra man to make it 3-3 after eight minutes.
The second period started with Kalogeropoulos taking advantage of the space given to him by the defense and sending the ball into the net with a long shot to make it 3-4, while the Croatians took advantage again, leveling at 4-4 with Marinic-Kragic. In fact, the hosts took the lead for the first time after going 1-0 up, with a beautiful goal by Vukisevic, before Argiropoulos hit a penalty taken by Nikolaidis, for 5-5. In fact, our national team finished the first half in front with 6-5, thanks to a goal by Papanastasiou after a steal by Genidounias, in the last seconds!
The third eight minutes started with Londar scoring with a beautiful turn, tying the score at 6-6, and then our national team blocked the attack, not being able to score once and thus allowing their opponents to build a 4-0 run thanks to in which they got a “safety difference” (9-6), with Marinic-Krajic as the protagonist, who reached 4 personal goals.
More in a while…
The eight minutes: 3-3, 5-6, 9-6, 13-8
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