The Olympic champion is alive, although many wrote him off after the group stage... Serbia may not be as powerful as in previous years, but it still has championship DNA - the "dolphins" defeated Greece in a game that will be retold and qualified for the semi-finals.
The hero of Serbia was the captain Nikola Jakšić, who shook the net with a nine-meter projectile from the last shot of the game and just two seconds before the end and knocked down "Helena" - 12:11.
Before that, Angelos Vlahopulos scored with only six seconds to go for 11:11, it looked as if the issue of passengers among the four would be resolved through penalty roulette, but Jakšić did not think so.
It has been known for a long time that Emanuil Zervedas is far from the class of his teammates, but the question is whether a better goalkeeper would have saved Jakšić's shot.
If the captain was the hero of Serbia in the finish, during the match it was the unreal Dušan Mandić, who practically "pulled" his team by himself, and the match ended with five goals - Viktor Rašović shook the net of the Greeks three times, and Strahinja Rašović twice.
On the other side, Dimitrios Skubakis scored three goals.
Tucak "extinguished" the fury
Serbia was not the favorite against Greece, and neither was Croatia in the match against Spain, but the "barracudas" also showed the character of champions...
It seemed that Croatia had bought itself a return ticket from Paris with its defeat in the last round of the group stage against the United States of America, it seemed that it did not have many chances against the mighty Spain...
Nevertheless, the "barracudas" showed why they are great, and why Ivica Tucak is a top expert... Croatian water polo players eliminated Spain 10:8 and qualified for the semi-finals of the Olympic Games.
The duel between the world and European champions brought a much better game from Croatia, practically from the start of the match, so Konstantin Harkov, Loren Fatović, Marko Žuvela and Ante Vukičević led the "barracudas" to 6:2.
Goalkeeper Marko Bijač also shone in those moments, and David Martin's team was completely unrecognizable...
Nevertheless, Spain managed to threaten when Miguel de Toro reduced the score to 9:8, but the phenomenal Kharkov put an end to the match with another goal.
Fatović, Harkov and the great Maro Joković each scored two goals for Croatia, while Bijač made eight saves... On the other side, Alvaro Granados, Alberto Munaris and Bernat Sanauža hit the net twice each.
Unreal Shoma calmed "Setebelo"
The water polo day also brought a super classic between Hungary and Italy, and after a great fight and after five minutes, Žolta Varga's boys celebrated - 12:11, 9:9 after 32 minutes.
The country of water polo is celebrating, first of all, thanks to the hero Vogel Šoma, who in the penalty shootout "took off" the shots of Francesco di Fulvi, Andrea Fondeli and Edoardo di Soma.
When it comes to the scorers, the most effective in the winning team were Kristijan Manherc with five goals and Gergo Zalanki with four. On the other side, Di Fulvio and Gonsalo Ećenike hit the net three times each.
Both the duel of outsiders on paper, but also the most beautiful story of the tournament so far between the United States of America and Australia brought the penalty drama, which was lucky for "Amerima" - 11:10.
Aleks Boven took the match into the top five with a goal for 7:7 half a minute before the end of the match, while the deciding goal from the penalty was the work of Marko Vavić.
All this means that Serbia will play the United States in the semi-finals, as was the case in Beijing 2008, while Croatia and Hungary have scheduled another big derby.
Quarterfinals
Croatia - Spain 10:8
Greece - Serbia 11:12
USA - Australia 7:7 (after five minutes 11:10)
Italy - Hungary 9:9 (after five minutes 12:11)
Semi-final
Croatia - Hungary
Serbia - USA
Bonus video:
