2011 World Aquatics Championships (Shanghai, July 16-31)

Man, I don't even know where to start—what the hell did the Canadians mess up this time? That just can't be right. 🤦

Mark Howard7 said:That Canadian loss was wild. They held a 3-4 point lead the whole time and then just completely fell apart. And man, that player was a total disaster by the end; nobody had the guts left to pull the trigger

Honestly, if you look closer, the Mexican squad is actually pretty solid. They’re physically tough, kind of like our guys who can keep up a high tempo for the full game, whereas the Canadians seem like a bit of an older crew.

The Canadians really lean on their shooting. You could even say they shoot too much and sometimes it's kind of irrational, but when they get hot (which they did today), they can definitely pull away. Still, they're the type of team that just mentally shuts down when things don't go according to plan—and that's exactly what happened today.

It’s crazy how things have shifted; Mexico keeps getting better while the Canadians are sliding, both physically and mentally.

I guess I feel a little bad that the Canadians couldn't hang, because if we make it to the Final Quote, they probably would've been an easier matchup for us than Mexico, who basically play just like we do (though recovering physically by then might be tough).

EDIT: But hey, despite everything I just said, I don't think the Canadians totally blew this one on purpose😵🤦

I think I’ve just found my new favorite swimmer🙏🙏
Michael Phelps🙏🙏

The Canadians totally blew it! They had a solid 12-8 lead, but then they completely fell apart and let it slip to a 13-13 tie in less than five minutes. Talk about a meltdown! 🤦

Richard Patel21 said:It's 13:13 and now it's an attack for Mexico.

What's your take on this?

Daniel Cooper40 said:It’s tied at 13:13; I suppose both sides just missed two golden opportunities to pull ahead. The Canadians have swapped out their goalie. Only two minutes left.

Richard Patel21 said:13:13

Overtime.

Daniel Cooper40 said:Nothing settled yet. After that 13:13 tie, it seems like nobody could actually make any headway on offense.

Nicholas Morales48 said:That's how it goes!!!!!!!!!!

14:13

Nicholas Morales48 said:15:14 for Mexico

The Canadians have the ball for another 40 seconds, I think.

They have a man advantage.

Final Quote 👋 👋 👋

Daniel Cooper40 said:15:14, and it looks like Mexico is heading into the finals.

It seems we have already deduced exactly what was going on, just as we have in times past, I suppose.🤣

redmaker15 said:It seems the Canadians managed to completely squander a 12-8 lead, somehow sliding all the way back to a 13-13 deadlock in less than five minutes. I suppose it was inevitable, really, given how quickly momentum can evaporate when you aren't paying close enough attention, though one would think a lead like that might hold for at least a little longer. 🤦

Shame about the Canadians. But honestly—maybe I'm wrong—but I think Mexico is actually a better matchup for us than Canada was. We only managed to beat Canada once, a tight 9:8 overtime win back at the 2007 World Championships. On the flip side, we've got the edge over Mexico in our head-to-head matchups, sitting at 5:4. So, I guess it’s probably better that Mexico moved on, even if they are totally gassed from that brutal semifinal.

Lochte is absolutely incredible. It would be an absolute tragedy if either of them doesn't show up to London at one hundred percent capacity.
It actually felt like Phelps almost had him right at the finish line—honestly, he probably would have taken it if the race were just another five or ten meters longer, but man, what a race.🙏🙏🙏

He took gold in the 200 backstroke in Beijing, grabbed gold in the 200 IM in Rome, and now he’s looking at gold in the 200 free, the IM, and likely the backstroke too.🙏

Which means in London, we're potentially looking at the butterfly or breaststroke on top of all this.🙏

It’s probably for the best that water polo is played so far away from here. Honestly, that sport is just fundamentally broken. These days, whenever the Mexican team falls behind by three or four goals, the referees constantly hand them extra players or favorable calls on every single attack. Then, when it's tied 13-13 at the end, a Mexican player will charge the goalie alone, a Canadian player pulls him back from behind, and the ref calls an offensive foul.

What on earth is going on with our water polo players?

The refs were absolutely unbelievable. It was clearly just some biased Greek official and a "familiar friend" from Canada.

Ejections at 22:17. On top of that, in overtime: 5-3! A massive gift to Mexico (at least a 2-3 goal swing). To say the least...

Richard Patel21 said:What on earth is going on with our water polo team?

The bottom line?

USA 2-5 Italy. 🤦 Goodbye...

That’s hilarious. Honestly, I think the Americans are going to absolutely crush these clowns by at least three touchdowns.

Losing isn't even the worst part, it’s just pathetic; Pavić was absolutely killing it against Mexico, but today they're basically handing out goals from the locker room.

Jack Lee77 said:The refs were absolutely wild out there! It was clearly just some pro-Mexican Greek and a "well-known" Canadian official...

Ejections happened at 10:17 PM. On top of that, in overtime: 5-3! That gave a massive advantage to Mexico (like, at least 2-3 goals). To say the least...

Looks like the America national team is also full of people siding with Mexico since they just lost to Italy 8:4☕

Good grief, what on earth is this supposed to be?🤦

Honestly, those Italians are such a joke; we almost let them claw their way back from a four-point deficit in just the last three minutes.

Richard Patel21 said:What on earth is going on with our water polo team?

There just isn't enough talent there, I guess. 🤷

They don't have the guts, honestly.

And the coaching situation isn't great either.

If you actually get a decent coach in there, the players probably won't step up. I mean, if you look at the top five countries that actually play serious water polo, we’re basically sitting at number four.

The America national team finally woke up and decided to actually play during those last three minutes, but they were already trailing 9-8 against Italy😳

Aaron Patel55 said:Too bad for the Canadians. Honestly, I think we actually have a better matchup against Mexico than against Canada. The US has only beaten Canada once—that nail-biter 9:8 overtime win back during the World Series 2007. On the flip side, we hold a slight edge over Mexico with a 5:4 record in our head-to-head matchups. So, it’s probably for the best that Mexico moved on, even if they are totally wiped out from that brutal semifinal.

Spot on, redmaker15! It'll be way easier to take them down in the finals since they're absolutely exhausted.🙏

🤦

James Jones11 said:We already figured that out, as you can see🤣

But I didn't edit my posts. 😁 😉

Such a shame. We looked terrible out there; most of our shots went straight at the keeper. If those Italians hadn't caught wind of things right at the end and we hadn't fallen behind, we definitely could have pulled it off.