The Spanish water polo team has fallen (8-6) against Italy in the semifinals of the Doha World Cup. David Martín’s team spent more than ten minutes without scoring, between the second and third quarters, something for which his team paid dearly. Now, Spain will have to settle for playing the bronze medal match against France, which lost against Croatia in the second semifinal.
It was a very tactical match, in which the two goalkeepers, Unai Aguirre and Francisco Di Fulvio, especially stood out. Martín’s team suffered in attack and had to take cover in defense.
In the first quarter, which ended with a 1-1 partial, Larumbe scored and Condemi tied. Velotto then scored, but Munárriz balanced the match again. From then on, Spain got stuck in attack and Italy grew, increasing their scoring tally with two more goals before halftime, to make it 4-2 with which they went into the break.
When action resumed, Bruni scored the fifth for the Italians, as soon as the third quarter began, and Condemi would add one more score to his account to increase the lead to 6-2.
After ten minutes without scoring, Spain woke up from its lethargy and was just one point behind its rival (6-5), but with four minutes left, Di Fulvio made it 7-5. Spain did not give up and scored the sixth through Alex Bustos, to put pressure on the Italians. However, a late penalty, converted by Fondelli, established the final score.
At the end of the match, captain Felipe Perrone said that Spain has to “raise its head” to go “for the bronze” in the consolation match. “Italy played a great game and we didn’t play well,” commented the Spanish-Brazilian player. “We have been close to coming back and we have fought, but sometimes it happens. We have to improve and go for bronze,” he concluded.