Photo: BetaPhoto/Branislav Božić
What a match to end the first day of the European Water Polo Championship and how lucky for the hosts. Serbia won the game that seemed lost after 32 minutes after penalty shootout.
Uroš Stevanović’s team eventually defeated the Netherlands 18:16 after a five-pointer, although everyone in the “Belgrade Arena” was convinced that the home nation had been defeated after the last shot by “Lalas”.
Kas te Rile scored the goal for Serbia at the end of the match for 14:13, followed by silence in the stands and celebrations from the Dutch, but after a VAR review, the referees determined that the shot had arrived too late and that time had expired.
photo: Printscreen
The penalty shootout began, and Serbia was flawless there, until Milan Glušac pulled a penalty for Bilal Gbadamasi.
Serbia’s victory, but also only two points instead of the planned three in the group that will later cross paths with the one Montenegro is in. And, with the new system, every point is very important, because from the next main phase only the two best teams will secure a place in the semi-finals.
The most efficient player in the winning team was Dušan Mandić from Kotor with six goals, while on the other side, Te Rila scored five times.
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