The ‘Old Guard’ holds a strong grip on the European Championships berths: in
six duels teams finishing in the lower half of the 2016 edition knocked out the
challengers coming from the qualifications.
The Netherlands set a scoring record with 28 goals against Lithuania with an
11-goal rush in the third period – Jesse Koopman scored 7, the best individual
effort of the day – and Germany and Romania also finished with 20+ goals
while beating Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.
Slovakia thrashed Portugal despite playing away thanks to an 1-8 devastation
in the third period while Georgia didn’t leave it late and put the tie against
Israel on the right track with a 5-0 opening quarter.
The double clash of France and Switzerland in Limoges brought almost
identical scorelines, the host side beat its neighbours 19-1 in the women’s
game and 18-1 in the men’s game in a fine promotion of water polo.
Two battles remained wide open as it was somewhat expected. The two
bottom ranked teams from Belgrade 2016 met the two best sides of the
qualifications and both matches produced great excitements. Malta took a
flying start and went 1-4 up in Belarus in the middle of the second period but
the hosts equalised by netting three goals in 2:02 minutes before the middle
break. The Belorussians rolled on and they led 8-5 – it was a 7-1 rush – with
4:09 to go. However, the Maltese managed to pull two back in the remaining
time (8-7) to have higher hopes for the return leg next Saturday.
The other match followed a similar pattern, favourite Turkey jumped to a 0-3
lead in eight minutes in Ukraine and was still 3-5 up at halftime. The hosts
fought desperately and in the fourth they could go ahead for the first time
but the Turks could save the game into an 8-8 draw at the end.
The second leg is due on 3 March, also for the women.
The draw of the European Water Polo Championships will be held in Barcelona on 7 March,
the live TV show will live streamed on our website from 12.00.
European Water Polo Championships, Men’s Qualification Play-offs, 1st leg
Netherlands v Lithuania 28-7
Portugal v Slovakia 4-16
Belarus v Malta 8-7
Poland v Germany 2-21
Romania v Czech Republic 20-5
Georgia v Israel 12-1
Ukraine v Turkey 8-8
France v Switzerland 18-1
