Men’s semi-finals – Serbia v Croatia 9-7

Dejan Savic, head coach, Serbia:
“It was extremely exhausting. A true battle. Weird in a sense that both teams had an inexplicable lapse in rhythm in the 4th petiod. I think their man-up and our mad-down and our defence decided the match. Now we have to think how to recuperate the best that we can for the final on Saturday.”

Filip Filipovic, captain, Serbia:
“I would like to congratulate my team. It was expected: a physically tough game. Everything we said prior to the game covered it, there were no surprises. The thing we didn’t expect was such rough game but it’s important no one got hurt.”

Ivica Tucak, head coach, Croatia:
“I don’t have anything clever to say. We took this really badly. Our extraman is the main reason we lost the game. We became nervous and fell into the trap of reacting to officiating. It just wasn’t our day. The hands got heavy. We lacked lucidity, nerve, even though we tried. There are a lot of things… I won’t go into details, I’ll refrain from commentaries.”

Andro Buslje, captain, Croatia:
“Unfortunately we didn’t start well, our game wasn’t right. I congratulate Serbia. We are moving onto the bronze game. There is still a medal to be won.”

Men’s semi-finals – Spain v Italy 8-7

David Martin, head coach, Spain:
“I am happy to be part of this, to see this happening in front our fans, we are living a dream. Moments decided the game. Italy is a top team. And now we will play the final against the best team in the world: Serbia.”

Blai Mallarach, player, Spain:
“It was a very close game. We started well and went ahead. Than Italy changed their game, pushed their pressing really hard and went one up by the end of the third quarter. In the fourth we set up the game very well and took the win.”

Alessandro Campagna, head coach, Italy:
“It was a very close game. Good promotion and evolution of water polo. I want to congratulate both teams.”

Pietro Figlioli, player, Italy:
“It was a difficult game. We didn’t have a stunning start like we used to at this championships. The result went up and down. Maybe we expected to go up easier but every game has its’ own story. We didn’t score from extraman, we conceded goals from 6 on 5s, our defence wasn’t working right. The last minute decided everything.”

Men, for places 5-8th – Greece v Russia 12-11

Theodoros Vlachos, head coach, Greece:
“At the end of the day, we won. We started well, at the end were a little bit lucky, it ended how… 12-11? We played better in the first half of the game both in defence and attack. I’m not satisfied but it’s a win. Next is the 5th place match. We will try to close the Europeans with a win.”

Konstantinos Genidounias, player, Greece:
“It was tough. We had to motivate ourselves after the loss in the quarterfinals. We haven’t been playing well at these championships and we wanted to prove and show primarily to ourselves that we are able to and can play well. And we played the first half of the match well, then relaxed a little bit once we were at +4 which allowed them to make a come-back. At the very end we managed to defend well and kept one goal to win.”

Sergey Evstigneev, head coach, Russia:
“It was a very important match for us. We didn’t start off well. In the middle of the game, thanks to determination, will and good defence, we managed to score some goals and come so close. At the end we almost tied the match. It was a good game for the future. Now we go against Hungary. Last time we played at the World Championships, we lost by 8-9 goals and we want to show we can do a lot better.”

Men, for places 5-8th – Hungary v Montenegro 6-7

Vladimir Gojkovic, head coach, Montenegro:
“It’s always nice to beat Hungary. It was difficult for my players to find motivation for this match. I want to congratulate them for that. We could have closed down the game sooner but today our goalie was good as well as the defence. We have one more game to play for the 5th place. We’ll try to motivate ourselves so that we can close the championships with a win.”

Dejan Lazovic, goalkeeper, Montenegro:
“It was a difficult game. We have beaten them before twice so we knew what to expect and what their advantages and disadvantages are. That unfortunate defeat against Croatia still hurts. I want to congratulate my team-mates for having found the strength to come back and play this way. We want to win that last game, either against Greece or Russia.”

Tamas Marcz, head coach, Hungary:
“We tried to change a couple of things in practice and in our approach as I really hated our starts of 0-6, 0-5 (against Italy, Serbia). Something came back today, we began the match well and even if we committed some mistakes again, we kept up with Montenegro whose team is just as strong as the Croats, the Serbs or Italy and unlike us, they were really close to reach the semi-finals. We kept on fighting, came back, even equalised in the fourth and by then I saw that we tired them out a bit, we seemed to have a physical advantage and I was convinced that we would save the game to a draw or could even win it. But their hearts and hands worked well in the decisive moments, they managed to score from their man-up while we couldn’t so their win is fully deserved.”

Gergo Kovacs, player, Hungary:
“We have to use these games to develop, to improve. Again and again, we have to realise that we are missing some tiny little things – but those are making the difference against teams like Montenegro. Some little more concentration in taking positions, targeting shots, making passes – I think the mistakes or the misses came mostly from inexperience. That’s why we have to learn from all these matches, even it’s painful to play in these games, but after today’s loss we cannot say any more that we would have deserved to be in the semi-finals.”

Men, for places 9-10th – Netherlands v Germany 11-12

Head coach Robin van Galen NED:
“We played well the whole tournament except today’s first quarter. I don’t know why. It was a surprise to me. The spirit before the game was good, we wanted to finish 9th but our comeback came too late. We even had a chance equalise with an extraman but we missed. Still our fighting spirit brought us back. All in all our goal was to end up in top 10 and we did. Generally, I’m satisfied.”

Player Miloš Filipovi? NED:
“We went into the game a bit slow. Maybe we overestimated their abilities. When we pulled together, realised that’s it’s all up to us we made it back to -1. I’m satisfied. Our goal to enter top 10 is fulfilled even though we wanted that 9th place. It’s a step forward from Belgrade when we were 12th.”

Hagen Stamm, head coach, Germany:
“We had a really bad group with Italy and Hungary, followed by Greece and crossover games. The 9th place is our maximum at the moment. 4-4 with Hungary was a big surprise. I am happy. We have a very young team, the oldest player is 29. Today we played an exceptional first quarter. I also want to congratulate the Dutch players – they never give up.”

Marin Restovic, player Germany:
“We opened the match well, quickly pulled away for 5-1. We used our chances, played in defence well. Then we became a little bit nervous but it ended well. We are 9th. We have five new players since Belgrade 2016, and we moved up two positions. We have 3 wins, 2 ties and 2 defeats. It’s an experience for us.”

Men, for places 11-12th – Romania v France 10-6

Dejan Stanojevic, head coach, Romania:
“I would like to congratulate my players. They showed character in a game where the result wasn’t of the utmost importance. Congratulations to France team on a fair sporting approach.”

Cosmin Radu, captain, Romania:
“At the end we are 11th. We deserved it. We had the match under control from the beginning to the end. In the third quarter we made a significant goal difference. The 11th position is our reality at the moment. We will be better in two years.”

Nenad Vukanic, head coach, France:
“The better team won today. We gave our best. Cosmin Radu proved to be an insolvable mystery for us. I congratulate them on the victory.”

Ugo Crousillat, captain, France:
“We showed good performance at the beginning of the tournament but then our game went downwards. We have to see why. We have a young team lacking experience maybe that’s the reason. I’m sad now but to be honest and to be positive we have a lot of space to grow. We need to work more in the clubs and our national team. Find out what’s not good and correct it to come back stronger and better.”

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