Article waterpoloworld.com – 01/03/14
Spain and France were the first to join the already qualified teams for the upcoming 2014 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary out of the qualification play-offs on Saturday. Spain, playing without stars such as Guillermo Molina, Marc Minguell, lefthander Xavi Garcia and top scorer Albert Español, rolled past Ukraine at home in Mataro 25-6 followed by France who defeated Malta 6-20, both after having won their respective first leg games with clear margins earlier. Although the French side was more or less regarded qualified after a clear leg 1 victory the confirmation on Saturday means they will return to Europe’s main international stage after a 13-year absence when, indeed, the 2001 European Championships were held in Budapest as well. The anticipated tense finish of the series between Turkey and Georgia got close as expected. Turkey rallied back on home soil in Istanbul coming back from a 8-4 loss in leg 1 to beat the visitors 11-8 at home. Just a single goal seperated the two sides of forcing a finish with a penalty shootout. But it was not to be as Georgia hung on and survived with a 15-16 aggregate to ensure their participation at the 2014 European champs. A historic one as the team was seeking its first major competition to qualify for and got their reward on Saturday.
European Championships 2014 – Play-offs men’s qualification
Fixtures leg 2
Saturday, 1 Mach 2014
Spain* vs. Ukraine 25-6 (4-0, 9-1, 6-2, 6-3) – in Mataro, Spain
Spain scorers: Alberto Munarriz 5, Alberto Barroso 3, Victor Gutierrez 3, Francisco Fernandez 3, Miguel de Toro 3, Ruben de Lera 2, Alejandro Bustos 2, Vicente Matoso 2, Balazs Sziranyi, Pere Estrany.
Ukraine scorers: Volodymyr Syntyk 2, Yevgen Obedisnkyy 2, Tymur Shylin, Volodymyr Voitenko.
Malta vs. France* 6-20 (1-6, 2-2, 3-6, 0-6) – in Gzira, Malta
Malta scorers: Steve Camilleri 2, Niki Lanzon, Jerome Gabarretta, Matthew Zammit, Jordan Camilleri.
France scorers: Michael Bodegas 5, Romain Blary 3, Alexandre Camarasa 3, Thibaut Simon 2, Manuel Laversanne 2, Mehdi Marzouki 2, Enzo Khasz, Mathieu Peisson, Loris Jeleff.
Turkey vs. Georgia* 11-8 – in Istanbul, Turkey
Turkey scorers:
Georgia scorers:
18.00 Croatia vs. Slovakia – in Dubrovnik, Croatia
19:00 Great Britain vs. Romania – in Sunderland, Great Britain
Sunday, 2 March 2014
14:00 Russia vs. Netherlands – in Moscow, Russia
*qualified for Budapest 2014.
Men’s 2014 European Championships (14-27 July) qualified teams:
– Hungary (host nation)
– Serbia
– Montenegro
– Italy
– Germany
– Greece
– Spain
– France
– Georgia
Pictured: Goalie Iñaki Aguilar was one of the veterans called up for Spain’s leg 2 game by new head coach Gabriel Hernandez.
The European Championships draw will be held on Sunday 9 March in Budapest. Tune in to Waterpoloworld for live results.
Fixtures leg 1 results
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Romania vs. Great Britain 18-7 (3-2, 4-2, 6-2, 5-1) – in Bucharest, Romania
Romania scorers: Nicolai Diaconu (pictured) 6, Daniel Teohari 3, Alexandru Matei 2, Cosmin Radu 2, Andrei Cretu, Alexandru Ghiban, Andrei Busila, Ramiro Georgescu, Tiberiu Negrean.
Great Britain: Joe O’ Regan 4, Ciaran James 2, Jack Waller.
Ukraine vs. Spain 5-17 (1-3, 2-5, 2-5, 0-4) – in Dneprodzerzhinsk, Ukraine
Ukraine scorers: Maksym Ratkov 3, Tymur Shylyn, Yevgen Obedinskyy.
Spain scorers: Albert Español 4, Xavi Garcia 3, Fran Fernandez 3, Marc Minguell 3, Alberto Munarriz, Alberto Barroso, Guillermo Molina, Victor Gutierrez.
Slovakia vs. Croatia 8-16 (2-5, 2-4, 1-4, 3-3) – in Novaky, Slovakia
Slovakia scorers: Jozef Hrosik 2, Tomas Bruder 2, Martin Famera, Lukas Durik, Tomas Bielik, Michal Kratochvil.
Croatia scorers: Maro Jokovic 4, Kristijan Milakovic 3, Andelo Setka 3, Luka Loncar 2, Paulo Obradovic 2, Petar Muslim, Niksa Dobud.
Georgia vs. Turkey 8-4 (3-1, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1) – in Tbilisi, Georgia
Georgia scorers: Marko Jelaca 3, Damir Tsrepulia 2, Marko Elez, Zurab Rurua.
Turkey scorers: Cemil Özbakis 3, Arslan Sutalo.
France vs. Malta 20-8 (4-3, 6-2, 7-2, 3-1) – in Montpellier, France
France scorers: Alexandre Camarasa 5, Rémi Saudadier 3, Enzo Khasz 3, Mehdi Marzouki 3, Arnaud Jablonski 2, Romain Blary 2, Thibault Simon, Loris Jeleff.
Malta scorers: Steven Camilleri 4, Niki Lanzon, Matthew Zammit, Clint Mercieca, Dino Zammit.
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Netherlands vs. Russia 9-11 (3-1, 1-3, 3-4, 2-3) – in Utrecht, Netherlands
Netherlands scorers: Robin Lindhout 3, Lars Gottemaker 2, Roeland Spijker 2, Willem-Wouter Gerritse, Joep van den Bersselaar.
Russia scorers: Roman Shepelev 3, Artem Odintsov 2, Dmitry Kholod 2, Alexey Ryzhiv-Alenichev, Ivan Nagaev, Konstantin Stepanyuk, Artem Ashaev.
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