After yesterday the women’s water polo team sealed its place in the semifinals, today it was the turn of the men’s team. David Martín’s team beat Montenegro in a disputed match (15-12), becoming the first semi-finalists of the Doha World Cup. His rival will come out of the duel that will face the teams of Italy and Greece tomorrow.
They will be the eighth semifinals for a Spanish team, current World and European champions, who have not been left without sneaking into the top four since the World Cup in Budapest in 2017.
Montenegro was not an easy opponent. Spain already faced him in the European Championship in Croatia last month, putting ‘the red’ in trouble, who would end up becoming European champions. So the Spanish victory was by a margin of two goals. This time there were three that separated Spain and Montenegro in a duel of many goals.
The Spanish team got off to an unstoppable start, building much of their victory with an excellent first quarter (5-2) led by a stellar Felipe Perrone, who scored three goals on his first three shots. David Martín had reserved the Spanish-Brazilian, giving him a rest in the last game of the group stage, and he returned in style, taking the MVP of the game.
Montenegro reacted in the second half. He got his act together and closed the gap with a 1-3 run to get within just one goal of Spain thanks to a great goal from Darko Brgulian’s net. David Martín called a time-out and it was enough for him to react with a goal and two great saves from Edu Lorrio. But Spain committed a penalty and Vlado Popadic took advantage of it to make it 7-6. Roger Tahull responded with a great goal, but seven seconds before halftime Montenegro tightened the score again (8-7).
As at the beginning of the match, the Spanish team came out unstoppable in the third quarter. With an immaculate partial (5-0) in which he left Montenegro with a clean sheet, he managed to regain the advantage. And the distance could have been greater if it were not for the great performance of the Montenegrin goalkeeper, who thwarted several shots from the Spanish. Álvaro Granados closed the victory with a 13-7 score that put them on track to advance to the semi-finals.
But everything was not done. Not at all. Montenegro would sell his skin dearly and gave him a partial score of 2 to 5 that would force Spain to be focused until the final whistle. He gradually closed the gap until he was three goals behind thanks to Marko Mrsic’s goal. But the Spanish team would know how to defend themselves well to resist their advantage and ensure their place in the semifinals, where they will face Italy or Greece. Tomorrow (3:30 p.m.) we will know.
