Only victory will be written: The unconvincing "Sharks" defeated China, the name of the opponent in the round of 16 is awaited

Montenegrin water polo players completed the group stage of the World Championship at a slow pace.

In the third match, after the victory over the Greeks and the defeat against Croatia, they showed the least, but the opponent was also the weakest - they defeated China 13:8 in a duel that did not motivate them in the right way from the first to the 32nd minute.

It started slowly and without any ideas, and continued that way, with Montenegro conceding only five goals to the underdog in the first half and having an unexpected plus three after 16 minutes of play (5:2).

It was quickly clear to coach Dejan Savić that things were not going well, and after only five minutes of play, he called a timeout and criticized the players:

"It doesn't matter what China is, you don't have concentration. Just play," the Serbian expert said, among other things.

That minute of rest didn't change anything, but it was a clear picture of what was being seen both before and after Savić's monologue at the end of the pool.

The rival, however, was limited, Montenegro's victory was not threatened, and the Chinese team's goal was scored twice by Jovan Vujović, Aljoša Mačić, Dušan Banićević and Dmitrij Holod, and once each by Strahinja Gojković, Savo Ćetković, Filip Gardašević, Dušan Matković and Balša Vučković.

Now there are matches in which there can be no mistakes, and Montenegro still does not know the name of its next rival, nor what its path in the knockout phase is.

The epilogue in Group D awaits - the dilemma is whether the "sharks" will advance to the round of 16 in second or third place.

If Croatia defeats Greece, our team will advance to the round of 16 as runners-up, where they would meet Canada. In that case, the eventual quarter-final rival would be Spain or Hungary (whoever wins in a direct duel for the leading position in Group B).

If Helena wins against the Croats by two or more points, our national team would be in third place - that position takes Montenegro to Braga in the round of 16, and then to Italy in the fight for a place in the semifinals.