From the first minutes of the match, the Italians had to play catch up. In the pre-match analysis, experts considered Italy, the 2012 silver medallists as favourites because in addition to this medal in the 'blue squadron's' collection there is another medal of similar merit from the 2012 World Series, and, of course, the title at the Shanghai 2011 World Championships. At the time, Greece's last success dated back to 2005. Ten years ago, Greece took the bronze medal at the FINA World Championships, after which they never reached the later rounds of major world tournaments.
But in Kazan, Greece was given another chance to make itself known to the world sporting community. After the first quarter, Greece had a small lead (1-0), which they were able to hold on to until half time (3-2).
After the halfway point, the teams literally broke through on goal shoot-offs. In the third quarter the competitors gave to the full stands of the Water Polo Arena 8 goals, which the teams shared equally. However, this did not affect the balance of power (7-6).
The Italians succeeded in tying the score only in the final period of the match. Neither team wanted a draw, so the opponents gave fans an interesting ending with plenty of risky attacks, but in regulation time no more goals were recorded.
In the the penalty shootout, the Italians twice failed to score against the Greek goalkeeper, while their own goalkeeper couldn't block a single shot. Greece has reclaimed the World Championships bronze medal after 10 years while Italy has only managed fourth.
FINA Worlds 2015. Water polo.
Men. 3rd place match
Greece vs Italy – 7-7 (1-0, 2-2, 4-4, 0-1) (4-2 – on penalties)
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