The Spanish water polo team met their commitment against Montenegro (11-7), which takes them directly to the quarterfinals of the men’s tournament, in a choral exercise and with an extraordinary soloist: Felipe Perrone (five goals). And it is that the 37-year-old Spanish-Brazilian was today the differential factor in a very complicated match, against a top-level rival and in which Spain did not allow even an advantage for the Balkans.
In addition, the goalkeeper Edu Lorrio, usually a substitute for Unai Aguirre, was also at a higher level, with saves, anticipations and especially in passes in transitions, which were very well used and disrupted Montenegro’s tactical framework.
David Martín’s team did not need Álvaro Granados, surely the best player in the world today, to be at his usual level in attack. Today, the man from Egar only scored one goal, but he dressed as a defender, with three steals that gave his team air.
Spain offered a choral game. He dominated the times of the game. It went 2-0 in the first quarter (Perrone and Granados) and when the Montenegrins tied (2-2), they didn’t even blink. The Spaniards played their tricks on superiority (5/8 at the end) and chewed up a match against a rocky rival, who will play second place in the group against Serbia, in a match of maximum rivalry.
If Lorrio (10/17 in saves) was good, the Balkan goalkeeper, Petar Tesanovic (9/20) was the one who kept his team in the game, especially in the second and third quarters. Spain went ahead 4-2 again in the second set and Montenegro tied (4-4), just until the Perrone factor appeared, which led David Martín’s team to victory.
The Barceloneta player made it 5-4 shortly before the break and made it 6-4 at the start of the third quarter. Another one from ‘Felipao’ gave Spain the 7-5 lead and the game, halfway through the third quarter, was on the verge of breaking up.
Alberto Munárriz did it, again in a play in transition (8-5) and Durdic’s response made it 8-6. At 2:30 to the end of the third quarter, David Martín read the situation very well, he knew that the match could be broken and in a timeout, after a superiority, he designed a play that gave him 9-6 and practically the judgment.
Álvaro Granados gave an assist to Alex Bustos, who tapped for the goal. The reaction of the Montegrins reached 9-7, after a goal from Averka at 7:34 from the end. It was then that Spain showed the charms of a champion team. They didn’t allow anything in defense and hit the mark in attack, with another one from Felipe Perrone and one more from Bernat Sanahuja, who closed the game (11-7).
Spain: Lorrio; Munárriz (1), Granados (1), de Toro (-), Larumbe (-), Famera (1), Perrone (5) -initial team-, Sanahuja (1), Barroso (1), Tahull (-), Mallarach (-) and Bustos (-).
Montenegro: Tesanovic; Macic (-), Averka (1), Duro Radovic (-), Ukropina (1), Spaic (-), Vasilje Radovic () -equipo initial-, Cuckovic (1), Popadic (1), Durdic (2), Perkovic (1) and Matkovic (-).
Referees: Stavridis (GRE) and Dervieux (FRA). No deleted.
Partials: 2-2, 3-2, 4-2 and 2-1.
Incidents: Second match of the World Cup water polo tournament (men), group D
