FINA PRESS
Game of the two water polo giants was exciting as it was expected and goal scored by Andrija Prlainović 55 seconds before the end resolved the match.
Beginning of the match and the entire first half showed that we have two evenly matched teams. Serbia didn´t have the lead at any moment but the opponent didn´t have a significant advantage. Thanks to a goal scored by Ivan Buljubašić, Ivica Tucak´s team had the minimal advantage at the big break (5:4).
In the third quarter Serbia turned the match and had the lead for the first time. They even had two goal advantage when Stefan Mitrović and Filip Filipović scored for 8:6.
Last period we saw Serbia having three goal advantage (9:6) thanks to Ognjen Stojanović. Croatian team didn´t give up and they had the opportunity to win the match, but they lacked strength at the end.
Dejan Savić, Serbian team coach, said after the victory:
– Interesting game between two rivals. We had oscillations during the entire match. When we had the three goal lead we got relaxed and allowed Croatia to get even and made the game uncertain. Tomorrow we have to play on a high level agaist Kazakhstan to confirm the first place in the group.
Croatian player, Ante Vukićević, told his impressions and pointed space for improvement:
– I would like to Congratulate Serbia. The match was pretty good, they were better at the end. We have to improve our game with the extra player in the field, to shoot better and to score more goals.
