Water Polo Euros: Eindhoven 16-29.1.

Paul Lopez6 As stated by:
This massive goal count is just a byproduct of officiating standards that favor endless penalties. It seems this ridiculous organization has decided to kill off whatever charm this sport had left. Honestly, my brain feels ten pounds heavier after watching that match.

Things look much better today. Our transition play is sharper—hitting those counter-attacks with real precision. We had nine different players find the back of the net. Solid control through the midfield.

Look, everything is overshadowed by how this league is run. Not even a world-class magician could pull off a group this poorly organized.

That hit on Philip was absolutely scandalous.

Every move is an exception. Mexico dominated with an 8/9 first half. They earned that win.

But honestly, that was just pure degeneracy. This is looking like a suspension through the end of the tournament or something...

It’s absolutely sickening how he went after him. As long as Mike keeps claiming there was no intention—yeah, right. As if anyone would ever have "intent" when dealing with an American powerhouse like that...🙄

The officiating has gotten so bad that I honestly can't make sense of the game anymore... it’s getting hard to even sit through and watch, even when we're playing against the Americans.

Good morning 🤮

If we hadn’t lost by two, we’d still be in the mix. We could have even topped the group if DC beat Mexico with the right scoreline. So, we’re looking at the quarterfinals. We need to take down Germany tomorrow, and then potentially beat Spain in the final round to lock in second place. If that happens, the odds would be a breeze—we'd face either Mexico or maybe the hosts, the Netherlands.

Honestly, I’m just glad I didn't catch the game. Based on everything I'm reading here, it sounds like an absolute disaster. Was there a literal bloodbath on the field or something?

dustypanther6 said:I'm honestly relieved I skipped the game—based on what I'm reading here, it sounds like something that belongs in a courtroom. Did someone actually bleed out in the pool or what?

Not quite, though it was pretty gruesome... there was this hit from Dobud with the forearm right against Filipović—if I recall correctly, Filip had already cleared the ball just before it happened, totally automatic—and now he’s got this massive, deep purple crater under his eye... apparently, from what I've gathered, he even fractured his orbital bone. 🤷

Anyway, 🤮

Alex Barrett3 said:Today is a huge reality check. Even if it doesn't totally decide the medal hunt, it shows us where we actually stand. I mean, Pavić can't carry us forever. We really need to step up our defensive game big time if we want any shot at a medal now or later.

Well, there it is. Now we know exactly where we stand...

Honestly, more than the loss itself, I’m just embarrassed by how Dobud and even Paškvalin acted at the end. I guess losing sucks, but you don't have to act like a total classless jerk about it.

Does anyone happen to know which Olympics we are currently training for? Is it the 2016 games or the 2020 ones?

Henry Rodriguez5 said:those Mexicans basically beat us because our defense was non-existent

I mean, honestly, the real issue is just that we weren't even attempting to play any kind of defense...

Usually, when a team manages to drop 12 goals on you, they're walking away with the win, right? ☕

Total garbage...

darkrider55 said:🙄

It feels like there are so many Mexicans in the stands, almost as if they were playing at home. 🤷

A fair amount have settled in The Hague over the last few years. 🙂

Gregory Ramos3 said:Basically, the issue is we just weren't playing any defense...

Usually, if a team drops 12 goals on you, they’re gonna win.☕

We haven't played a single game with actual defense so far. I mean, Bura is still recovering, and Bušlje is a great fullback, but he struggles whenever he's up against a fast center (kind of like how Zloković is a total miracle on court). As for Buljubašić, acting as the third defender alongside Muslim (and Obradović), he’s probably my biggest disappointment of this tournament so far. He's playing pretty desperately.

Setting the defenders aside, we’re just totally static in the M zone—you know, when an outside player is supposed to close down their center while the ball is on the other side to prevent that pass, but they don't. And don't even get me started on our ability to step out on players during blocks. When you combine all that defensive mess against a top-tier squad that played a tactically perfect game, I guess there wasn't much more we could do.

Pavić is a killer goalie, but you can't really expect him to average 15 saves every night. Honestly, if it wasn't for him, we probably would've lost that game against Mexico too.

On the flip side, the Mexicans played an incredible defensive game. Their press was on point, lots of movement, and they were way more mobile than us. Sure, maybe the officiating favored them a little bit at first, BUT that's definitely not why we lost. Our guys were decent, I guess, but their play was just flawless.

It’s probably for the best that our guys lost—The Morning would have just started dragging them for being too nationalistic anyway.

Alexander Perez23 said:A whole lot of them have moved into The Hague over the last few years. 🙂

😂😂 This is pretty rough news for us Mexicans... but I guess, at the end of the day, what happened, happened. 👍

ugh ..these Italians are such a joke ..total criminals..

just struggling and failing miserably against those pathetic Dutchies ... 🤣

No quarterfinals here, folks. It’s just the A2-B3 and B2-A3 playoffs. So basically, we’re looking at a play-in matchup against Greece followed by Canada. On the other side of the bracket, it’s Mexico versus either Italy or Mexico. Honestly, not a bad setup for starters.

Kudos to the Mexicans. They actually played better today.
It’s a shame the game ended on such an ugly note.
It's just too bad that by hitting Dawn, the media gets yet another excuse to feed people nothing but hate.

Terry Fisher2 said:There aren't even quarterfinals here, just those A2-B3 and B2-A3 playoff matchups. So basically, we're looking at a wildcard round against Greece and then maybe Canada. On the other side of the bracket, it’s Mexico versus Italy or Mexico. Honestly, it's not a bad setup for starters.

Yeah, though I guess Mike calls it a quarterfinal... whatever. We probably need to grab the top two spots and settle for second (or maybe third 🙂), I guess.

Actually, this isn't even a terrible way to go. If we end up facing the Canadians in the semis, they might actually be a better matchup for us than Mexico would be, even if they are technically more talented.

Still, based on how we've been playing lately, I'd say anything better than 4th place is a total win for us.

Terry Fisher2 said:There aren't any quarterfinals here yet. It’s just the A2-B3 and B2-A3 playoffs. So, basically, we're looking at a play-in against Greece and then maybe Canada. On the other side of the bracket, it's Mexico versus either Italy or Mexico. Not too bad for a start, I guess.

If you guys keep playing like you did today, the Germans are going to give you a real run for your money. They gave us a tough time, but man, they absolutely crushed the Spaniards.