The U.S, men’s water polo team, which won silver in Beijing, will not take home any hardware from London, as the unbeaten Croatian team defeated the U.S. 8–2 Wednesday.
The U.S. team played well, blocking shots and drawing fouls to create power plays, but the Croatian team did everything excellently. The bigger, stronger Croatians set up a wall at four meters which the U.S. could only rarely penetrate. When they did get shots off, Croatian keeper Josip Pavic stopped almost all of them.
The Croatians gave up a lot of power plays—three Croatian players were ejected for too many fouls—but the U.S. couldn’t convert. The U.S. could learn a lot from the Croatian power play; the Croats converted six of eleven.
On defense the U.S. let the Croatians set up three or four meters out; from that range, they U.S. defenders didn’t have much time for blocks and saves.
The end of the third period exemplified U.S. fortunes. Croatia had a power play and the U.S., having scored two and finally feeling they had a chance, killed all but one second of the shot clock. In that final second Miho Boskovic scored. The U.S. team’s best effort was not enough.
Croatia got another goal with four seconds left, but the U.S. men pressed for a miracle equalizer before the buzzer. Jeff Powers’ long desperation shot was illegally blocked, giving the U.S. a penalty shot.
U.S. captain Tony Azevedo made the shot a skip shot which went under Pavic’s right arm and into the corner—but the goal was disallowed as Azevedo crossed the shooting line. The message: you just can’t win, and even hoping is hopeless.
The Croatians shut down the match in the final period, scoring only one goal and keeping the Americans out of range. The U.S. squad will play in one of the placement matches, for fifth to tenth; Croatia will advance to the medal rounds.
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
