The young water polo team of Montenegro ended the fight for a medal at the World Championship in Kuwait in the quarterfinals.
The U20 selection was defeated by Serbia with a score of 10:9 and now it is waiting for the play-off for placing from 5th to 8th place.
In an exciting match, in which Montenegro had a two-goal advantage (5:3, 6:4, 7:5), the Serbian water polo players scored a semi-final goal two minutes and 19 seconds before the end when Stefan Branković scored in an attack with a player more.
"In the first two and a half quarters, we had both the game and the result, but it was as expected difficult. We didn't use the chances to crown that better game and lead more convincingly, and Serbia is very high-quality and disciplined. That's why they got back into the match. We stayed too early without two players, and we couldn't even count on captain Dušan Matković, so a short bench was also felt. The Serbs took advantage of that, they also took advantage of the chances in the finish, and I congratulate them on reaching the semi-finals," said coach Veljko Uskoković.
Nebojša Vušković was the most effective in the Montenegrin team with four goals, Danilo Radović scored two.
Serbia thus scheduled a duel with Italy (which defeated Japan) in the semi-finals, while the other semi-final pair consists of Croatia and the United States of America.
The Croats were better than Spain (7:6), while Greece triumphed in the duel with the USA (15:12 after five minutes).
The next rival of Montenegro will be Japan.
"There are two more games left and we want to win, no matter who the opponent is. No one has outplayed us here and it remains a pity that we were eliminated in the quarterfinals," Uskoković pointed out.
Bonus video:
