Montenegro was close to a surprise against Croatia: Master Fatović saddened the fans in "Morača"

For a long time, it seemed that the Montenegrin water polo players "had" Croatia, that they were close to the World Cup semi-finals, but the surprise was painfully absent - the "sharks" lost 12:11 and will play for fifth to eighth place at the tournament in Podgorica.

"Barracuda" celebrated in the SC "Morača" pool with a brilliant goal by Loren Fatović 2,8 seconds before the end - it was his sixth goal in the derby, fifth in the second half and a shot from which Montenegro had no room to recover despite Dejan Savić's timeout.

Fatović's class has decided the outcome, so our water polo players will play Germany on Saturday, who lost to Spain 22:9 earlier today, as expected.

It will not be a match of particular significance, as our national team has already qualified for the World Cup, but this match, like the last one on Sunday (against the Netherlands or Japan), could be a real opportunity for Montenegro to offer something new...

Montenegro showed its teeth to an objectively better rival tonight, despite Petar Tešanović's problems (he was eliminated before the match) and Vasilije Radović's suspension, but the players that Savić sent to the pool in the quarterfinals did justify their call and showed that they can compete with the big teams.

They couldn't beat it, but the impression is certainly positive - Tešanović's replacement, Lazar Andrić, had 12 saves, he also stopped a penalty, but his superb performance was not crowned in the end.

Montenegro had chances in the last quarter (in the second quarter, they went on a 4:0 run to take a 15:5 lead in two minutes and 3 seconds), because with a 10:8 lead, they missed the chance to go to a probably unattainable plus three.

And it was as if he was the "trigger" - Croatia received a gift that it did not miss.

Fatović reduced the score to 10:9 from the penalty spot, Zvonimir Butić scored for 10:10, and after Montenegro easily squandered its attacks, everything depended on Fatović's move, who masterfully sent the ball behind Andrić's back and signed the "barracudas" turnaround.

Croatia will play Spain in the semi-finals, the other semi-final pairing is Greece and Hungary.

MONTENEGRO - CROATIA 11:12 (1:2, 5:2, 3:4, 2:4)