To the 5 remaining people who are still reading after seeing the title of this post welcome! It is the 2011 World Aquatics championships from China and we have an amazing match-up in water polo today. Juggernaut Hungary meets Juggernaut Serbia, the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object (feel free to add your own ‘two great teams going head to head’ cliché here). To put this Serbia-Hungary game into perspective for the North American audience that may or may not be reading; this matchup is like Rocky Balboa vs. Ivan Drago, Red-Sox Yankees, and Celtics Lakers. There is little doubt that these 2 teams are the best in the sport (a quick glance at their respective Wikipedia pages gives us the following count: In the last 10 years Serbia and Hungary have won 25 and 17 medals!) Those statistics are not from bush-league competitions either; they include the World championships, European championships, the water-polo world league and the Olympics. Although Serbia has the edge in overall gold medals and total medals, Hungary boasts an amazing Olympic record (3 straight gold medals). In addition to the medals, Serbia has named the men’s water polo team ‘Serbian team of the year’ for 9 years running. Now that you know the background of this matchup we will get right into the running diary. As I write this I will explain things as best I can to the people out there who have no idea how water polo is played. Why am I writing this? Several reasons: Firstly, I am currently on vacation in Serbia, so this game will be easily available to watch. Second, I really like water polo and this is a great opportunity to practice writing running diaries. Lastly, I wanted to write this for fun and see how it goes (I’m also a huge nationalist).
The basics: 2 teams compete in an Olympic sized swimming pool. Each side fields (pools?) 6 players plus 1 goalie. There are 4 8-minute quarters, and the object of the game is to score goals by putting a ball into the opposing teams net. For the complete set of rules please go here.
10:45am (Serbian time): We begin! Obligatory shots of both teams warming up, and the shots of the coaches. These are a staple of any sports broadcast. The announcer is saying some background stuff about how the teams got here, what a big rivalry this is etc.
10:48 There’s something odd about watching teams huddle up in water.
10:50 We begin! Each quarter starts with a race to the ball (which is placed in the middle of the pool) Hungary is wearing white caps, Serbia blue and Serbia wins the ‘tip’
10:51 Serbia’s first attack goes to waste as they missed a pass and the shot clock (yes, I think its 30 seconds) expired. Back the other way Hungary turns it over.
10:52 Serbia fails to get a shot off again as the Hungarians are applying what I would describe as a half-court press. Both teams are keeping each other far from goal so far.
10:53 Serbia wastes a power play opportunity. Apparently if you are too rough you have to sit out for 20 seconds. What constitutes rough play? I have no clue, it seems like these guys are trying to drown each other every second.
10:54 GOAL Serbia! A pass is floated across goal and the Serbian player (did not catch his name) puts it in. 1-0 Serbia leads.
10:55 An audacious attempt by a Serbian player to lob the ball in from the middle of the pool results in a post, Hungary comes back and scores! 1-1
10:56 The 2 toughest positions to play by far are goalie and ‘center’. As the goalie your job is to always tread water, and the center is the position on offence right in front of goal. The center is subject to felony assaults and is often the best and biggest player on the team. In the mean time, Hungary is given too much space and scores to make it 2-1 Hungary.
10:59 Serbia fails to take advantage of another power-play by hitting the post! The Hungarians that made the trip to China make themselves heard. (one thing that sucks, the pool is so big that you cannot see the crowd). As I type this Serbia blows a one on one with the Hungarian goalie by skying it over the bar. Fuck.
11:01 Huge save by the Serbian goalie, as time expires in the first quarter. Commercial break.
11:03 Hungary wins the race to the ball and immediately scores to make it 3-1. So far they are outplaying the Serbs.
11:04 The announcer is openly questioning Serbia’s left wing defence, apparently its very weak, I cant tell, it is almost impossible to watch and type at the same time. Hungary again! 4-1.
11:05 Serbia rockets a shot off the bar! Fuck that, that makes it 3 shots that have been denied by the frame of the goal as Hungary makes it 5-1 with ease the other way. They are flexing their muscle and this game resembles Captain America fighting before he got the super soldier serum. Time out by the Serbian coach, to his credit he is very calm.
11:08 Serbia fails to score on a power-play again, time to start thinking about bronze.
11:09 Finally! A shot by Vanja Udovicic makes it 5-2 Hungary as the Serbians in the crowd let out a sarcastic cheer.
11:10 A soft ejection (the 20 second variety) for a Serbian player results in Hungary working the ball like the Spanish soccer team, resulting in a one on one with the goalie. 6-2. The Serbian coach is livid. The announcer has begun to rationalize about the fact that Serbia already qualified for the Olympics as Filipovic scores to make it 6-3. Lovely lob over the goalie, the announcer gushes how tough it is to score like that.
11:12 Another ejection! (when I say ejection it means power-play for the other team for 20 seconds) and Hungary quickly scores for 7-3. If crap officiating exists in water polo this would be it.
11:14 Ejection for Hungary, Serbia scores on the resulting power-play. Some controversy as to whether or not the ball actually went in, but replays show it did. 7-4 Hungary lead, Serbia’s defence is softer than Andrea Bargnani’s at this point.
11:16 Serbia finally gets a stop then have one of the worst offensive possessions of all time, and Hungary punishes them before I finish typing this 8-4! Shots of the Hungarian fans celebrating (nothing pisses me off more than the opposing fans cheering when my team is losing).
11:20 Serbia score, steal the ball then blow a rarely seen fast-break in water polo, what could have been 8-6 turns into 9-5 for Hungary who score with 10 seconds left in the quarter. But Serbia Responds! Amazing, a shot from distance with 1 second left makes the score a manageable 9-6. My grandpa lets out a yell and scares the shit out of me, very exciting stuff. It is halftime.
11:22 Highlights of the game show the Hungarians scoring at will, if Serbia wants to win its second gold medal of the summer they are really going to have to step it up. There is a 5 minute half-time break, apparently swimming is that easy. I’m just kidding, it really is difficult to play water polo in a shallow pool, I can’t begin to imagine how tough it is in an Olympic one. We can see the whole arena (is that what its called?) and it seems to be at capacity. Second half tips off!
11:27 After a rare defensive stop Serbia blows yet another power play. They are beating themselves at this point.
11:28 Going the other way Hungary scores on a power-play. Props to them, they really came to play. Right now Hungary has outshot Serbia 18-13 and has scored 10 times from those shots. Serbia goes back the other way and hits the bar... Not a happy mood in the living room right now. 10-6 Hungary lead.
11:30 Key moment as a Hungarian player is excluded (meaning he has picked up 3 ejections) meaning he can not come back into the game. A Serbian National team Rookie then scores only his 4th goal of the competition from an impossible angle making it 10-7. Hungary’s goalie is pissed (at himself or his defence I don’t know).
11:32 A beautiful lobbed shot from a tough angle gives Hungary a 4 goal lead again. Anything Serbia has done, these guys have done better.
11:33 Great save by the Hungarian goalie, after Serbia gets the ball back they hit the post again. Bullshit!
11:34 Just under 3 minutes to go in the third, with my limited expertise, If Serbia do not get this to at least down 2 heading into the 4th they will lose.
11:36 The Hungarian players actively try to drown a Serbian player but the referees let them fight it out, a poor counter-attack by Hungary results in a 4 on 2 for Serbia and they did their best to fuck this up too but manage to score.
11:37 a Yellow card! Wow. I had no idea this sport had yellow card, apparently they are given to the coaches, in this case the Hungarian coach got one for bitching about a call. 11-8 Hungary.
11:39 Time-out Hungary. 30 seconds left Serbia trail by 3. The Hungarian coach sees the importance of building the lead and will probably use this time-out to remind his team of that. Huge sequence coming up, and Hungary has a power-play.
11:40 Goal! Hungary wastes no time and scores but Serbia swims down and scores with 3 seconds left! A huge goal to make it 12-9. The initial shot hit the post (wow) but the rebound took an unfortunate bounce for the Hungarians and Serbia capitalized.
11:41 Fight!
11:41 After the goal by Serbia it appeared that a late hit infuriated the Serbian captain who had some words for the opposition. By words I mean a slap to the back of the head, which started a small skirmish. The teams sort it out in the end , as it was interesting watching the refs (who don’t swim but patrol the edge of the pool) try to maintain order being very far from the action.
11:43 Big race to the ball here to start the 4th. Serbia needs goals and they need them fast. Serbia possession. 4th quarter under way.
11:44 Goal! Lets GO! Serbia cuts it to 2 and things are about to get tense here. They finally scored on a power-play 12-10!
11:45 The referee ejects 2 Serbian players, Hungary did not need long to score. 13-10 Fuck you ref!
11:47 Serbia hits the bar again, but this time it results in a spectacular bar-down goal 13-11. That shot was fired with venom.
11:48 Serbia defends a power-play!
11:48 My thoughts are going to become very staggered if this game gets any more tense.
11:49 Serbia score but the ref pulls the goal back to eject a Hungarian player. That is like waving off an and-1 to give a team 2 free throws. But it turns out okay as Serbia cuts it to 1! 5 minutes left. I am starting to shake.
11:50 TIE GAME!!!! The Hungarian offense has disappeared and Serbia has awoken! Incredible stuff 13-13! 4:30 to go. (Shots of the Serbian bench getting up and swearing/hi-5ing each other brings an irrational joy to my heart)
11:52 Hungary one on one and...POST! Serbia cannot capitalize the other way turning it over. Nerve-wracking stuff, and an ejection for Serbia.
11:53 Wow. Another post for Hungary, Karma is a bitch. But a great block the other way leaves the score level at 13-13.
11:54 2-minutes left, Serbia wins the ball back. I am throwing objectivity out the window right now. Double ejection, both teams down to 6 players for the next 20 seconds.
11:55 The Hungarian goalie takes the ball off the line!!! So close. But Serbia gets the ball back again! 1:30 to go
11:56 FUCK! Another shot saved, the Hungarian goalie is like Patrick Roy right now. Less than a minute to go and now Hungary with a chance...
11:57 The announcer compares the battle in the water to a war as the Serbian goalie does spectacularly to keep out a lobbed shot. Time-out Serbia! *Exhale
11:58 Am I way too excited about this? Maybe. 37 seconds left.
12:00pm OOOHHH! 15 seconds left and Serbia uncharacteristically turn it over, meaning that Hungary will have the last chance to win this game in regulation. Not going to be fun.
12:00 Ball is in play... 10 seconds, 9, 8, annnnd a STEAL! A shot from 30 meters by Serbia is parried away, Overtime in China! The announcer appropriately says “They are defending champions for a reason!” Incredible come back.
12:02 Hungary managed one goal in the 4th quarter, incredible, the Serbian defence in that period was something out of a sports movie. Both squads had 4 chances to win the game at the end but nobody was able to get the clutch goal.
12:04 Talk about a game living up to the pre-match hype.
12:05 2 additional periods of 3 minutes each, Serbia wins the first sprint and forces an ejection. Patrick Roy with another save, and Hungary swim the other way.
12:06 Hungary miss, neither team has scored in 5 minutes. Serbia score! But its through an offensive foul, no goal. 13-13. Hungary comes back and misses again, they are without a goal for 10 minutes right now.
12:08 Filipovic! Serbia lead for the first time since 1-0. Emotional moment as Filipovic tries to rally the troops.
12:09 Aleksic of Serbia picks up his third ejection and is out, followed by a Hungarian scramble to score which results in a miss and then in the dying seconds a Hungarian player picks up his third. Massive exclusions. End of the first extra time period.
12:12 If Serbia win this sprint they will have a power-play to open the last period of this incredible game.
12:13 Hungary braves on and wins the sprint nullifying the potential Serbian power-play. They then earn a power play of their own and score. Their first goal in over 11 minutes ties the game at 14 apiece.
12:15 the Serbian coach blows a casket and is shown a yellow card. Serbia can’t score again and here comes Hungary, 1:30 to go.
12:16 CROSSBAR HUNGARY! It really is amazing, I thing the count is 6-4 Serbia in terms of times hitting the frame of the goal. Time out. I almost dropped my lap top, this is not good for the heart.
12:17 Stefan Mitrovic with 44 seconds left puts Serbia up 15-14!!!! COME ON!
12:18 Ejection! Hungary with a power-play to try and force penalties...
12:18 Fuck this is tense...
12:19 10 seconds...
12:19 5 seconds!
12:20 2 Seconds a shot by Hungary!
12:20 No way! SAVEEEEEED!
Huge heart and determination shown by the team as yelling erupts around the neighbourhood. I can not possibly rationalize what just happened, but Serbia moves on to the finals. I have to go sit down. Hopefully you enjoyed this, it might be a while before I do another one.
Not bad Daki! As Serbian, and a guy who knows a lot about water-polo, I think you explained this fantastic sport very well. Just enough information to get someone interested in water-polo, and at the same time not too many information, so nobody gets confused. Of course, the most difficult rules are the ones regarding an ejection. You really need to watch water-polo for a while to get a feeling of whether the ejection is justified or not.
ReplyDeleteThank you, the comment is greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteWell written! I was on the edge of my seat too! Do another running diary for the finals!
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