Greece has snatched victory from the Australia men’s water polo team with less than five seconds remaining in their knockout quarterfinal at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia on Tuesday night.
Greece levelled the scores at 7-all with the game all but over before outscoring the Aussie Sharks 5-4 in the penalty shootout to send the Greeks into a semi final showdown with Olympic champions Croatia and relegate Australia to the playoffs for fifth to eighth.
Australia will play Montenegro for the second time in the tournament on Thursday at 3.30pm local time (8.30pm Perth time)
It was a cruel blow for the gallant Australians who had come back from a goal down at three quarter time to twice hit the lead, the second time with just 38 seconds left in the match. The Sharks were aiming to become the first Australian men’s team to reach the semis at world championship or Olympic Games level since 1998.
The emotions were raw for Australia’s AJ Roach after the game, the driver searching for answers, even after having contributed three goals in one of many wonderful performances by the Australians.
“I don’t really know what to say at the moment,” Roach said.
“It was a penalty shootout and it’s so cruel to end the game when I think we deserved to win.
“There’s still too many little mistakes and that’s what cost us. I made one and that’s one goal and that’s what drew the game. It hurts.”
Roach said the Sharks were still a team to be reckoned with and believed they had shown enough in an unlucky draw with Montenegro, a controversial one goal loss to tournament favourites Serbia and tonight’s Greek tragedy, to suggest they can be a medal threat at the Olympic Games in Rio next year.
“We can play with all the teams now, it’s obvious,” Roach said.
“We deserved to win three games this tournament. Okay, we didn’t win but I feel really confident in the team. It’s hard to say now when we’ve just lost but I still feel really confident in the team and what we’re doing.
“We don’t have the most talented players in the world but we work hard for each other and it’s obvious we can be one of the best.”
Greece opened the scoring in a tight first period, making the most of a rare extraman opportunity seven minutes into proceedings. Trailing by the solitary goal, Australian head coach Elvis Fatovic called a timeout with 21 seconds left to play in the quarter but the Sharks couldn’t capitalise and trailed by a goal at the first break.
It took just 34 seconds of the second stanza for Australia’s leading scorer in the tournament, WAIS athlete Aaron Younger, to get the Aussie Sharks on the board with an extraman shot that was deflected past the hapless Greek goalie.
The next two goals in the game came in extraman, for Greece first, then for the Sharks, with AJ Roach nailing his shot from the right wing to bring it back level at 2-all. A minute later Younger had his second from outside and Australia led for the first time in the match.
With five seconds left in the half, Greece had the opportunity to square the game up but missed a penalty shot that cannoned into the upright to see Australia lead 3-2 at the game’s midway point.
Australia’s Joel Swift (WAIS) scored a brilliant centre forward goal from a deft Richie Campbell pass after just 27 seconds of the third, but that effort was immediately cancelled out by a Greek tap in on extraman. It took another four and a half minutes for Greece to score again and level the scores but only another 60 seconds for the Europeans to convert yet another extraman chance to retake the lead, 5-4,heading into the final intermission.
Australia had a number of possessions and chances throughout the fourth quarter but it took a late exclusion at centre forward for the Sharks to capitalise on their extraman opportunity, with Roach making no mistake from a Younger rebound which had cannoned off the bar.
Younger was at it 50 seconds later firing cross cage from six metres and Australia was back in the lead but the Greeks refused to yield, scoring with 67 seconds left on the clock, again in extraman.
Then, with 38 seconds left, Roach delivered a perfect cross cage pass to defender Nathan Power, who was in as a second centre forward, to tap in for what looked like the most important goal of his career.
Australia was up by a goal but Greece immediately called a timeout and with 11 seconds remaining in the game, Australian skipper Rhys Howden was ejected for a seemingly inconsequential foul and Greece scored from the resultant extraman, as the clock ticked to four seconds.
In the shootout, Australia’s Younger had his first up attempt saved, leaving Swift, Roach, Howden and Jarrod Gilchrist in a must score situation as all five of the Greek sharpshooters found the back of the net despite the best efforts of Sharks’ goalkeeper James Stanton-French. The Sharks quartet all obliged but it wasn’t enough.
While Younger missed the penalty shot, his contribution to the Australian effort in this game, and indeed throughout the tournament so far, has been immeasurable and his performance should not be punctuated by one high-pressure miss.
-WaterPoloAus
