Team USA rival Serbia in the fight for the final of the Olympic Games
Serbia will play the USA in the semi-finals of the Olympic tournament on Friday.
The selection led by Dejan Udovicic defeated Australia in the quarter-finals after playing five-pointers 11:10 (1:3, 2:2, 2:0, 2:2, 4:3) and joined Serbia, which earlier today she defeated Greece.
In the first quarter, Australia led 1:0 and 2:1. In the eighth minute, the exclusion without the right of substitution was awarded to the American Johnny Hooper. During the four-minute interval during which they had more players, the Australians made a 3:1 run and took a 5:2 lead. They were well on their way to reaching the Olympic semi-finals for the first time after a series of surprises in the group stage. But after that their attack stopped. The Americans went on a 4:0 run to take a 6:5 lead (26th minute). "Kangaroos" were without a goal for almost 19 minutes, and then they scored two in two consecutive attacks (both times the scorer was Pavilard) and went to 7:6 minute and 53 seconds before the end. Former Partizan player Alex Bowen equalized with the player more 32 seconds before the end of time. Australia failed to shoot in their last attack.
USA goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg made two saves in the penalty shootout, and Australia goalkeeper Nick Porter saved one shot and the Americans went to the semi-finals.
Serbia and USA last met this winter at the World Cup in Doha. In the decisive duel for first place in the group, Serbia defeated the Americans with a two-goal difference (14:12), who were without center Ben Hallok for most of the second half. One of the USA's best players was sent off in the middle of the third quarter for an unsportsmanlike foul.
The semi-final will be another duel between the current Serbian coach Uroš Stevanović and Dejan Udovići, who led our national team from 2006 to 2012.
By the way, the match between the USA and Australia was also a Serbian coaching duel, because the assistant of Australian coach Tim Hamill is Vedran Ćirković, a former Belgrade water polo player.
When it comes to the other quarter-finals in Paris, world champion Croatia defeated European champion Spain 10:8, the only team that recorded five victories in the group stage. The key was the first half in which Croatia had a four-goal lead (6:2). Thus, none of the group winners (Greece and Spain) made it to the top four teams.
In the last match of the day, Italy and Hungary meet
Men's Olympic tournament in Paris, quarter-finals
Greece - Serbia 11:12
Italy – Hungary
USA - Australia 11:10 (7:7)
Croatia - Spain 10:8
