Montreal – A dry patch in the third quarter cost the Canadian men’s side dearly against the Americans, who went on to win their match for 5th place 14-11 on Saturday, at the Super Final of the Water Polo World League, presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Canadian side got off to a good start in the first quarter, jumping out to a 2-0 lead behind goals by Constantine Kudaba of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Alec Taschereau of Ottawa and then went up 3-1 after Scott Robinson of Calgary scored. Their neighbours from the south would manage to equalize after 8 minutes, however, making the score 3-3.
The Americans were the first to get on the board after the break. The Canadians replied with a Justin Boyd of Beaconsfield, Quebec, marker, but the United States countered to retake the lead. Team Canada would get even by halftime, though, making the score 5-5 at the break thanks to another goal by Robinson.
The Americans would dominate the third quarter, taking a quick 6-5 lead before moving comfortably out in front 9-6. Only Repentigny-native Nicolas Constantin-Bicari found the back of the net for the Canadians in the period.
In the last stanza, the eventual winners managed to keep their opponents at a safe distance, keeping leads of 11-6 and 13-7. The Canadian contingent attempted one final push that brought the score back to 13-10, but it was too little, too late. Constantin-Bicari and Boyd both scored twice, while Zacchary Kappos also scored.
Alex Beslin satisfied
“From what I saw, my team was really tired, especially with the effort they put in last game. I think it’s the biggest reason why we made mistakes today,” explained national coach Alex Beslin, who was making reference to the come-from-behind victory over the Brazilians on Friday, where the team came back from four goals down to win 14-13.
Besides that win, the Canadians also won 10-8 versus the Australians in their last contest of the prelims, where they also fell to the Americans 12-9 and the Hungarians 10-3. They lost again in the quarter-finals, falling to the Serbians 16-11.
“Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with our tourney. I thought we did a lot of things right, and there were certain objectives attained. The players followed my game-plan, so I’m happy,” Beslin concluded.
For a second World League Super Final in a row, the Serbs took home top honours by defeating the Hungarians. After winning by a score of 12-7 last year, the bronze medalists at the London Games took down the world champions this time around, winning 10-6 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the bronze medal would go to the Montenegrins, who beat the Australians 12-9.
Absent from the last Super Final and the 2012 Olympic Games, the Canadians finished 11th at the 2013 FINA World Championships, just under a year ago in Barcelona.
As for the Americans, they finished 4th in the Super Final in 2013, 8th in London and 9th in Barcelona.
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Source : Pascale Beaudoin
Communications
Water Polo Canada
Téléphone : 613-748-5682 poste 328
Télécopieur : 613-748-5777
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