After beating Germany with a 5-0 run in
the second half of the game, we started our journey to the finals
against Spain. Spain has always been a tough team for us. They are
fast and physical and besides us they are one of the only teams that
drive.
The game started with us going up 2-0
on counter-attacks. But it did not take long for Spain to respond.
Soon after they tied the score and eventually took the lead. The game
was more of a swimming match than anything. The referees weren’t
calling many fouls and neither team was playing for the centers.
In the last minute of the game, with
Spain leading 7-6, we called a Timeout. We ran a play and got the
ball to the center, but as was expected there was no foul called and
the game ended. Our hopes of winning a gold medal were crushed.
Reflecting on our loss we all realize
the opportunity we had but more importantly we know what still lies
ahead. No US team has ever won a medal at World Championships. If we
do end up getting a medal, this will be a first, which is on par with
paving our way to becoming the greatest American team of all time.
Tomorrow we will play Croatia for the
bronze. Croatia has always been a powerhouse and they have two of the
best centers in the world. After our loss last night we realize that
playing as bad as we did we are still on a competitive level with
anyone in the world. If we can play well we are the best team in the
world.
Tonight we will recover and watch a lot
of video. Tomorrow we will wake up, eat with Phelps and the swimmers
as usual, and then prepare to beat the Croatians. Our team matches up
well against Croatia and since Ratko Rudic was our coach we know all
the tricks they might try and pull. Stay tuned for more.
On Thursday, after beating Macedonia
earlier in the week, we had our last game of pool play. We played
against Romania in a noon game to see who would be first in the
bracket.
Just to set the scene, it’s about 98
degrees here every day and at noon it feels over 100. The pool grows
hotter throughout the week while the balls get worse. The game
started slowly, with us missing our first three six on fives. Our
defense stayed strong but we could just not score. After four brutal
periods in the sun, the game was finally over. We had beat Romania
7-5. Romania is a team that we always seem to have problems with–
earlier in the year we lost to them in a friendly match. But this
time we wanted and needed those extra days off that we got by
winning.
Today us, Spain, Croatia and Hungary
have the day off since we qualified first in our brackets. Next we
play the winner of the game between Montenegro and Germany. Both
teams are strong and just a month ago Montenegro was considered to be
the best team in the world. The other bracket games are Spain vs. the
winner of Canada and China; Hungary vs. the winner of Italy and
Serbia; and Croatia vs. the winner of Romania and Australia. It has
turned out that our bracket route to the final four was a lot harder
than Spain and Croatia’s, but in order for us to win the Gold we
will have to beat these teams eventually.
As far as the team is concerned, we are
all getting our rest and preparing for Tuesday night. Bailey has been
sick with a 102 degree fever, and he played that way against Romania.
This time off has been great for his recovery and hopefully he will
get out of the room today! Layne has been having back issues but with
rest and therapy he is already looking livelier. As for the rest of
us, we are getting our massages and taking advantage of the hotel
Spa. Tonight we will see who we play and we will immediately start
preparing for our next game (Germany).
Yesterday was our first game of the
2009 Fina World Championships in Rome. Of course, we started off the
tournament by playing against Italy— the host team. This seems to
happen to us a lot: in Beijing our first game was against China, in
Melbourne we were up first against Australia, and so on.
The day began with the Italian police
knocking on my hotel door at 5 AM telling me I had to go down to the
police station immediately. I refused to go without a valid
explanation and we agreed that I would go by myself later that
morning. When I finally arrived at the station, none of the officers
knew who I was or why I was there. They said the police must have
made a mistake. We stayed and tried to argue but realized it would be
better to just go home and get some rest, although the whole
situation was very suspicious.
As we left to the pool we noticed our
bus driver taking a different route. It usually only takes 20 minutes
even with the Roman traffic, but for some reason this ride ended up
being 45 minutes long!!
When we arrived at the pool we were
guided to the warm-up station, which was a 15 min walk, and began to
warm up for our 9 o’clock game. After the entire U.S. Team was
already in the water, we noticed that not even one Italian player was
there yet. Soon after we were informed that the game would be
delayed by 20 minutes, and then, as if they had known all along, the
Italians started arriving.
Playing at another team’s home, you
always have to be prepared for anything. Some surprises are small but
some are big, but the only thing you can do is stay focused
without getting frustrated. After the Italian National Anthem played, you could feel a tense and exciting vibe in the air. Everyone
was against us chanting ITALIA ITALIA! But this chanting soon ended.
After winning the sprint we immediately
went up 1 - 0 with a shot from Layne Beubien, and from that point on
we were in control. The referees made some terrible calls, majored
our player for nothing, and gave the Italians two questionable
penalties (one blocked by Moses), but in the end we played a superior
game. The Italians even had Vaseline on their bodies, and when we
told the refs they waited two quarters to check them and eventually
told them to wipe it off. (Remember, this should be a game
exclusion).
Now we are in a great position. We play
Macedonia on Wednesday and then Romania on Friday. If we win both
games we will advance first in our bracket. Macedonia has five ex-
Serbian players who are very good, and a Croatian goal keeper— all
very top-notch athletes. We are going to have to swim them and make
them play our game. Which in my opinion most people can’t play.
Stay tuned for more updates on our
games and feel free to email me with any questions or comments.
JUG 3, Mladost 0
The championship is finally over! For
the first time in the history of Croatian water polo (which started
in 1923) we swept the best of five series in three straight games.
And the final game was definitely one to remember.
We stared off up 2- 0 with two goals
from the center. Then over the next two periods we got outscored 4 -
0, making the halftime score 4 - 2. But in the final two quarters we
outscored Mladost 8- 3 to secure a win.
Immediately after the buzzer ended the
last quarter, our coaches, presidents and fans rushed the pool,
jumped in and began celebrating together. Our fans were begging for
us to throw them all of our gear, so all of the practice balls, caps
and robes disappeared into the crowd of five thousand strong.
During the ceremony they gave us two
gold medals and a Championship Cup the size of a small person.
The celebrating continued at a
restaurant where the entire tab was paid for and the whole town was
involved. I think we all got home around five or six in the morning,
completely exhausted but exhilarated at the same time.
Looking back, this really was an
amazing year. We played over 50 games, won the Croatian Cup in
December, the Adriatic league in April and now the Croatian National
Championship in May. Our only loss was at the European Championships
(Final Four), but without two of our starters we still managed to get
there and compete well.
I will be coming back next year and
hopefully our other two starters will also be healthy enough to
return. So then maybe we can add the Final Four to our list of wins!
Anyways, stay tuned for the World
League Competition that starts on June 16th. I will be
training alone in Croatia until my National Teammates arrive next
week. I’m excited to see them all again and to start competing for
the USA.
Good luck to everyone, and email me
with any questions or comments.
Sorry for not getting out a blog before
the Final Four (European Championships) but we were put in a hotel
without an Internet connection three days before the game.
The atmosphere at my first Final Four
was really amazing —- there was a huge screen TV outside of the
stadium for the hoards of people who did not get tickets, and inside
there was a completely packed crowd of screaming fans.
The experience was great but
unfortunately our game was not. We played what was possibly our first
bad game of the year. We started ahead but never put them away and by
the third period we were down by 3.
Watching all the games during the
tournament, I realized what a difference missing two of our players
(Pavo Marcovic and Maro Jokovic) has made. Pro Recco and the other
teams sub six for six, but we on the other hand have only one sub
besides our whole man. I always play all four quarters.
The day after our loss to Pro Recco, we
had the third place game vs Mladost (I know, I can’t believe how
many times we have to play them) and won. Our team prize was 10,000
euro.
Now we move on again to our third game
of the best of five series for the Croatian Championships.
This coming Saturday we will play Mladost (again) at home and
hopefully become champions (we have won the first two games of the
best of five series already).
If we lose, we play game four in Zagreb
on Wednesday and then game five at home on Saturday, June 6th.
Beating a team like Mladost five times in a row (which is what we
have done during this year) is amazing. But each successive game is
that much harder. Mladost will arrive ready to fight, they have
nothing to lose, and unless our team starts strong they will all play
great.
If we lose this game on Saturday,
upsetting them at home again will be nearly impossible and in game
five you never know what will happen. If you can watch, be prepared
for one of the most physical games of the year (last game I got my
tooth broken), and a real test of our abilities.
Last Saturday we had our first game of the
best of five series for the Croatian Championships. Mladost, the
team in the finals with us from Zagreb (the capital of Croatia)
is a very good team and also happen to be the defending champions…
They started off the game with a 3-2 lead and kept it for most of
the first half.
But once we entered the second half it was a much different story.
Both our center (Niksa Dobut) and I each had three goals and we
ended up winning the game 11- 9.
It’s interesting to note that in the history of the Croatian Championship
Finals no team has ever swept the series (by winning three of the
five games in a row). Maybe we can hope to change that.
So now we are on our way to Zagreb tomorrow where we will play the
second game against Mladost. It will be tough since they are the
only team to not have lost even a single game at their home pool
all year. Kind of like the Cleveland Cavs of the NBA, except no
Lebron.
The week following this next game we will be preparing for the Final
Four (which is the European Championship). This final consists of
two games starting on Friday (one on Friday and one on Saturday).
It will take place in Rijeka, which is a city in northern Croatia
and about eight hours from us here in Dubrovnik. We have already
begun preparation, but having one more win before entering the finals
would definitely be positive for us.
On a lifestyle note, the weather has started heating up, so after
our last game, I took a boat to one of the thousand plus Croatian
Islands and spent the day swimming and chasing fish. As much as
I miss the California waves there is something to say about the
Adriatic Sea and the ability to cliff jump and always see the bottom
from above no matter how high up you are. Also, NO SHARKS!
Well, stay tuned for news from our next game and I will be writing
another blog post before the Final Four.
Tony
I have been to three Olympics and played
in countless finals and big games, but I have never seen an atmosphere
like the one at our game against the Serbian club team Partizan
on Wednesday night here in Dubrovnik. It was our quarterfinal Champions
League game and one of the most important moments of the season.
The gates to the pool opened hours before the game and the stands
were immediately filled with thousands of screaming fans clothed
in Croatian flags and chanting our club’s theme song. I found myself
hiding out in our gym just to get my mind focused before the game
began.
After about 30 minutes of stretching in the
gym, I finally ventured out to jump in the pool.
The initial group of screaming fans had been joined by another 4,000,
raising the noise level considerably. I proceeded to warm-up but
my adrenaline was already so high that I just wanted to start playing.
During lineup, I happened to look over while the Serbian players
were introduced. Our fans were pelting them with lighters and coins
while screaming every known obscenity.
As I observed the looks of rage on our fan’s faces I knew that for
them this game was more than just a Champions League game. Serbia
and Croatia have a continuing rivalry since the Balkan Wars ended
slightly over ten years ago. Sporting events between the two countries
continue to have very nationalistic undertones.
Play started with a quick goal from Serbia but we responded immediately
with a 6 on 5 goal from myself. Throughout the game we were constantly
leading by two or three, but we knew that since we had to win by
three, the previously undefeated Serbians would not go down easily.
Every time we scored a goal the speakers blasted our team anthem
and the crowd went wild. Every time the Serbians scored there was
a general silence followed by loud booing.
With three minutes left in the fourth quarter and us ahead by two,
I broke free on a one on nobody. A Serbian player was close on my
tail, but I stopped at three and shot cross cage low. JUG 10, Partizan
7. The game ended with another goal from our two- meter man, making
the final score 11-7.
The seven thousand fans were satisfied by our win but continued
to scream and create a scene.
JUG will now join KOTOR (Montenegro), PRO RECCO (Italy), and MLADOST
(Croatia) in the Final Four in Rijeka, Croatia. Our first game will
be against the two time reigning champions, Pro Recco, and the winner
will go on the play the other game winner.
The tournament will be one of the toughest yet, but I can guarantee
that we will be prepared. And of course we’ll have the undying support
of our seven thousand screaming supporters and all our other fans
back home.
Hello everyone. I have decided to start blogging weekly so that all of you back home can keep up with the championship
season here in Europe. I will be writing to tell you about what’s
going on in our league, my personal experiences in the games and
other details about life in Europe.
Well, I have been here in Dubrovnik, Croatia for the last six months.
The city is absolutely incredible— we live next to an old castle
on the Adriatic Sea. Our team consists of the entire starting lineup
of the Croatian Olympic team and me. We were just presented the
trophy for winning the first Adriatic League (which is all A1 teams
in Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia). We won by one point!
Our team is now playing in the semi finals of playoffs for the Croatian
League and the quarterfinals for Champions League. For those of
you who follow European soccer, the champions league is pretty much
the same for both sports. We drew Partisan Belgrade for our first
game and they are considered to be the top team alongside us.
This was definitely an unlucky draw but if we want to win we have
to beat them sometime so I guess now we just have to get it out
of the way! We already played our first game against them last week
in Belgrade and lost by two in front of an extremely hostile crowd
of 5 thousand crazed fans.
Now, next Wednesday, we have a chance to play them again and win.
If we beat them by more than two points we will move to the next
round. The game will be at our home pool, where the crowd will be
even more out of control and the entire stadium will be overflowing.
Also, coming up on Friday we have the second game of the Croatian
semi finals. If we win, we will go on to the Best of Five series
finals.
Stay tuned and please write me with any questions or comments. Hope
everyone is doing well with polo back home.