Serbia, favored to win the gold in men’s water polo, picked apart the American defense Saturday to hand the previously undefeated U.S. team an 11–6 loss.
Serbia started scoring 30 seconds into the match and finished the first quarter with a 4–1 lead, which the U.S. cut to 5–3 by halftime.
Serbia outscored the U.S. 3–1 in the third and 3–2 in the fourth—never dominating any single period except the first, but always playing just a little better than the Americans.
“Serbia is one of the best teams in the world right now, U.S. team captain Tony Azevedo told NBC Sports. “They came out strong, we came out strong. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. Unfortunately we let them get some counter-goals that is definitely not part of our game plan.
“We’re not panicking—we’ll digest this, go over what we did wrong and on to Hungary to try to get a better seed. We’ve already locked ourselves for the quarterfinal elimination game. That’s the most important thing.
“We’ve played this team and we made some big mistakes and we’re going to learn from them and we’re going to be ready for Hungary.
Serbia defeated the U.S. in preliminary play during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The U.S. came back to beat them and win gold.
“I think no matter what, the person who wins this Olympic gold is going to lose a game, maybe two, “Azevedo said. “We’re not panicking at all. We’re ready.”
