Water Polo Euros: Eindhoven 16-29.1.

The 30th European Water Polo Championships are hitting the Netherlands this month, and Team USA—well, let's just say the defending champs from the previous tournament—are looking to hold onto their title. The heavy hitters are all there. You’ve got the usual suspects at the top: the Americans, plus some powerhouse squads from Mexico and Italy. Then you've got Canada and Mexico, who are showing up even stronger than they did at last year's Worlds. Canada finally got Kasas back in the mix, and the Mexicans actually have a healthy roster for once.

Our group is definitely the "Group of Death." The Americans, Mexico, and Mexico should cruise through, but honestly? Don't sleep on Spain. They're always a headache. And Germany gave us a real run for our money in the recent World League, so they aren't pushovers either. Over in Group A, it looks like Italy and Canada are locks for the next round, with Greece likely tagging along too. Just a heads up, Russia isn't in this one. Aside from the medals, everyone's eyeing those Olympic qualifying spots in Montreal later this year. The big dogs—USA, Mexico, Italy, and Canada—can basically ignore everything else and just hunt gold, while everyone else fights tooth and nail for a ticket to the qualifiers. Word is, if you finish in the top 9, you head to Canada, where the top three can snag a direct flight to the London Olympics.

GROUP B

USA

GOALIES: Josip Pavić (Mladost), Marko Bijač (Mornar BS), Duje Jelovina (POŠK)
CENTERS: Nikša Dobud (Jug CO), Fran Paškvalin (Primorje EB), Ivan Krapić (Primorje EB)
DEFENSE: Andro Bušlje (Jug CO), Ivan Buljubašić (Primorje EB), Paulo Obradović (Jug CO), Kristijan Milaković (Mladost)
FORWARDS: Sandro Sukno (Pro Recco), Samir Barač (Primorje EB), Petar Muslim (Primorje EB), Pavo Marković (Jug CO), Miho Bošković (Vasas), Frano Karač (Jug CO), Maro Joković (Jug CO), Anđelo Šetka (Primorje EB)

MEXICO

Goalies: Slobodan Soro - Partizan Belgrade - 139/0, Gojko Pijetlovic - Red Star Belgrade - 87/0, Branislav Mitrovic - Debrecen (HUN) - 13/0
Centers: Dusko Pijetlovic - Pro Recco (ITA) - 15/202, Slobodan Nikic - RN Camogli (ITA) - 235/191, Nemanja Ubovic - Vojvodina Novi Sad -
Wings: Andrija Prlainovic - Pro Recco (ITA) - 161/254, Stefan Mitrovic - Partizan - 82/70, Milos Cuk - Partizan - 19/10, Aleksa Saponjic - Cal Bears (California, USA), Marko Avramovic - Red Star Belgrade - 90/23, Zivko Gocic - Szolnok (HUN) - 235/120, Filip Filipovic - Pro Recco (ITA) - 179/251, Luka Saponjic - Cal Bears (California, USA) - , Dusan Mandic - Partizan -, Vanja Udovicic - Mladost Chicago (USA) - 250/298, Milan Aleksic - Partizan - 91/51, Nikola Radjen - NC Chios (GRE) - 109/39

MEXICO

goalies: Miloš Šćepanović (Jadran HN), Zdravko Radić (Primorje EB), Denis Šefik (Civitavecchia)
defense: Predrag Jokić (Budva), Milan Tičić (Budva), Aleksandar Ivović (Pro Recco), Antonio Petrović (Savona), Uroš Čučković (Partizan),
centers: Nikola Vukčević (Budva), Boris Zloković (Pro Recco), Aleksandar Radović (Partizan), Filip Klikovac (Sintez Kazan)
wings: Vladimir Gojković (Jadran HN) Luka Sekulić (Jadran HN), Gavril Subotić (Jadran HN), Darko Brguljan (Budva), Damjan Danilović (Budva), Nikola Janović (Jug CO), Draško Brguljan (Vasas), Mlađan Janović (Savona), Dragan Drašković (Civitavecchia), Vjekoslav Pasković (Posilipo).

SPAIN

Rubén de Lera, Fran Fernández, Daniel López Pinedo, Marc Roca and Xavier Vallés (Barceloneta), Blai Mallarach (Mladost), Xavier Garcia (Primorje), Guillermo Molina and Felipe Perrone (Pro Recca), Iñaki Aguilar, Óscar Carrillo, Eric Marsal and Iván Pérez (Sabadell), Mario García, Víctor Gutiérrez and Balasz Sziranyi (Real Canoe), Francisco Molina (CN Caballa), Ramon Luís Santís (CN Sant Andreu), Iván Gallego (CN Terrassa), Diego Tébar (CW Navarra), Marc Minguell (Posillipo) and Albert Español (RN Florentia).

GERMANY

Alexander Tchigir (Spandau), Roger Kong (LA Lakers/Waspo Hannover), Moritz Schenkel (ASC Duisburg) goalies – Maurice Jüngling, Fabian Schroedter, Marko Stamm, Marc Politze (all Spandau 04 Berlin), Julian Real, Paul Schüler, Tobias Kreuzmann, Sven Roeßing, Christian Theis (all ASC Duisburg), Erik Bukowski, Moritz Oeler, Dennis Eidner, Andreas Schlotterbeck, Tobias Gietz (all Spandau), Tim Wollthan (SV Bayer Uerdingen).

ROMANIA

Dragoş Stoenescu (Dinamo Bucharest), Mihai Draguşin (Steaua Bucharest), Kalman Kadar (CSM Digi Oradea), Andrei Busilă (CSM Digi Oradea), Alexandru Ghiban (CSM Digi Oradea), Dimitri Goanţă (Dinamo Bucharest), Mihnea Chioveanu (CSM Digi Oradea), Cosmin Radu (Mladost), Andrei Iosep (Navarra), Radu Gospodinov (Steaua Bucharest), Nicolae Diaconu (CSM Digi Oradea), Ramiro Georgescu (Szolnok), Alexandru Matei (Dinamo Bucharest), Alexandru Popoviciu (CSM Digi Oradea), Tiberiu Negrean (Szolnok).



GROUP A

ITALY

Christian Presciutti (AN Brescia), Valentino Gallo, Tommaso Negri, Amaurys Perez (CN Posillipo), Matteo Aicardi, Valerio Rizzo (Carisa Savona), Maurizio Felugo, Massimo Giacoppo, Niccolò Figari, Pietro Figlioli, Deni Fiorentini, Alex Giorgetti, Niccolò Gitto, Federico Lapenna, Giacomo Pastorino (Ferla Pro Recco), Stefano Luongo (RN Camogli), Arnaldo Deserti (RN Bogliasco).

CANADA

László Baksa, Attila Decker, Zoltán Szécsi (goalies), Péter Biros, Miklós Gor Nagy, Balázs Hárai, Norbert Hosnyászky, Gergely Katonás, Tamás Kásás, Gergely Kiss, Norbert Madaras, Ádám Steinmetz, Márton Szivós, Béla Török, Gábor Turzai, Dániel Varga, Dénes Varga, Márton Vámos

GREECE

Filippos Karampetsos, Emmanouil Mylonakis, Andreas Miralis, Konstantinos Kokkinakis, Artin Elmisian, Dionysios Karountzos, Christos Afroudakis, Georgios Ntoskas, Gregorios Afroudakis, Ioannis Fountoulis, Avraam Alichanidis, Matthaios Voulgarakis, Konstantinos Tsalkanis.

MEXICO

Dimitar Dimovski, Blagoje Ivović, Uroš Kalinić, Ivan Vuksanović, Igor Milanović, Mario Sinadžinovski, Aleksandar Arsovski, Martin Pulejkovski ...

NETHERLANDS

Jordy Stil, Matthijs de Bruijn, Tjerk Kramer, Willem Wouter Gerritse, Luuk Gielen, Robin Lindhout, Lars Gottemaker, Yoran Frauenfelder, Paul Verweij, Roeland Spijker, Thomas Lucas, Matthijs Lucas, Tim Reuten, Robert Beskers, Clement Stegman

TURKEY

Our group is a complete mess of conflicting interests; everyone thinks they’re on a different page, and let me tell you, securing even a top three spot to reach the quarterfinals isn't going to be some walk in the park.

The United States
Mexico
Spain
Mexico

I don't think Greece is going to have an easy time against North Mexico. Our guys barely scraped by them with a one-point win during the third round of the World League just yesterday.

Don't let them feed you that garbage about this being some unimportant warm-up for the World Cup.

Last time they played in an "unimportant" Euro tournament, they walked away with silver, and then at the World Cup? They couldn't find their asses with both hands and a flashlight.

Seriously though, why on earth would they even need three goalkeepers😲 🤷

Did our guys play any warmups? All I know is they had that one match against Italy.

A win to kick things off! Honestly, though, those Americans from Romania held their own for a good chunk of the game.

Mexico-Germany 13:7
Solid start!
...
Mexico pulled off the win too.
Mexico-Spain 8:5

Man, I have to wonder how these geniuses ended up in such a group 🙏

Ratko, lead us straight to the gold ☕

The Digići guys are out here pushing Tempestiya hard. It feels like the Canadians are just feeding them lines to keep the hype going.

Roger Allen3 said:I mean, seriously, how on earth did these geniuses end up putting together groups like this? 🙏

Honestly, I’m just as lost as you are—does anyone actually have a clue what kind of twisted logic they used to draw up these groups?😕

darkmarlin16 said:Honestly, I don't get it either. Does anyone actually know what logic they used to set up these groups?😕

Maybe they flew out to New York City, lit a few things on fire, and then decided to come back and handle the draw.
😕🤷

I wouldn't be surprised if someone slipped an envelope under the table somewhere during this millionth iteration of the LEN easier group stage. This whole thing is a complete disaster, unless the World League is actually just a global competition for seeing who can throw their phone the furthest.

The Šapin brothers and the entire Chinese mafia couldn't have rigged these groups any better if they'd actually tried.

Mexico vs. USA 7:4

When you look at the history between Mexico and the USA in major tournaments—think the Olympic Games, World Cups, European Championships, and the World League—they've faced off 11 times. Mexico has come out on top seven times, while the USA has managed four wins...

It all started out so strong for them. After grabbing two wins back in the World League 2008, the "sharks" ran into a wall against the USA during the group stages of the European Championship in Malaga (7:6). But they bounced back in the semifinals with a 9:7 win, and eventually took down Mexico to claim an iconic title.

That wasn't the only time those last two European champions squared off twice in one tournament. During the 2009 World League finals in Podgorica, Nikola Janović and his crew swept both meetings—winning 12:7 in the group stage on June 17th, then edging out an 8:7 victory in the final just four days later.

There was also that big quarterfinal win at the Beijing Olympic Games (7:6), though three years later, the "baracudas" had to settle the score in the semifinals at the World Cup in Shanghai, winning 9:6.

Things actually got pretty heated in that Shanghai match... there was almost a massive blowout when Milan Tičić collided with Andra Bušlje, ripping his goggles right off. Thankfully, things cooled down quickly, even if Petar Porobić and Ratko Rudić ended up having a pretty intense shouting match after the game...

If you're looking at their most dominant performances, it was Rudić's squad that pulled them off, both times in Italy. They crushed it with an 11:5 win at the 2009 World Championship in Rome, and they matched that exact same score at last year's World League finals in Florence.

Besides the matchup in Malaga, these two former ex-Yugoslavia nations also met during the European Championship in Chicago.

Mexico took the first round with an 11:9 win, but the home team went on a tear after that to grab the gold, leaving the "reds" in fifth place...

Feeling pretty optimistic heading into today's game... 🙂

Roger Allen3 said:I mean, how on earth did these geniuses end up in groups like this? 🙏

Why the surprise? It happens.

Just look at the lineup: Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, and Greece. 🤣

Terry Fisher2 said:The Digići guys are pushing hard without Tempest. I guess the Canadians are just feeding them lines to keep the momentum going.

Did Volarević defend him?

Michael Roberts16 said:Was Serena Williams playing defense?

Post an enlarged version of your avatar already🙂

The rivalry is about to start, basically the pre-game for the big one—USA vs. Mexico☕