Men, Round 2 – Group C: Croatia v Turkey 23-2

Ivica Tucak, head coach, Croatia:
“We knew the game would end up like this. For that very reason we even had a serious training before the match. It just proves that this format of 16 at the Europeans wasn’t thought through well. Twelve teams would be a much more realistic number. We played well. For us, it’s now that the Europeans really begin.”

Marko Macan, player, Croatia:
“Well, this was barely a training for us. In my opinion Europeans Division B would be a better solution for all. We did what we planned to, which is to practice certain things and prepare for the matches to come. Our minds are already fully focused on the match against Greece, which is the most important game in this phase of the Championships. It’s all we think about.”

Sinan Turunc, head coach, Turkey:
“I think this is a good experience for the players because we have a young team that can eventually aspire to win big things, but to compete at the highest level there are many aspects of the game that we need to develop further. Our next game is against Netherlands and I believe that we can perform better.”

Berk Biyik, player, Turkey:
“For us it is already a success to be here and to participate in this championship while playing against teams like Croatia or Serbia. We know our level and to compete with these nations is not easy, but we are very proud to be here with them. We are giving our best and this competition will be very important for our experience. I am 25 years old and so far this the best swimming pool I have ever played in. The environment just great and it is a pleasure to compete in this facility.”

Men, Round 2 – Group A: Germany v Georgia 10-9

Hagen Stamm, head coach, Germany:
“We are born again after this game! It was a hard match. Again we started off poorly, trailed 1-3, 2-4 but managed to fight back.”

Julien Real, captain, Germany:
“It was the most important game for us. Georgia is approximately at the same level as us and the win could be anyone’s in this match. It’s also very important for us to win after that game against Italy. Next we face Hungary who is playing against Italy tonight. I think Italy will win and we’ll play for the second place in our group.”

Revaz Chomakhidze, head coach, Georgia:
“What can we do? My players made a lot of mistakes. It’s too bad we didn’t tie the match at least if not won the game. But I would like to thank my players for their efforts, they really gave their best. I hope we will be working on improving the system so that one day we can play at the top level.”

Men, Round 2 – Group D: Romania v Slovakia 9-5

Dejan Stanojevic, head coach, Romania:
“We were especially preparing for this game, I can’t say we didn’t. We knew it would be a key match for us. We lost the game against them the last time we played. I knew that only the right approach in defence would bring us the win so we stuck by it and controlled the result throughout the game.”

Robert Gergelyfi, player, Romania:
“Firstly, for us it was the most important match of this phase, especially after we got beaten by Serbia. We tried to keep everything we did well in that match, like to be tough in defence, to play good transition and finish the attacks calmly. All the above was what made the difference in the game today.”

Juraj Zatovic, captain, Slovakia:
“We did not play well today and we missed a lot in front of their goal. Romania played very well and put us in a bad position during the game today. I think they deserved to win. Our next game is against Serbia, which is a good team as well. We will try to work hard on our defence and improve it in the next training, so we can have more positive results in the next games.”

Men, Round 2 – Group C: Greece v Netherlands 12-7

Theodoros Vlachos, head coach, Greece:
“This win was really important for us in view of our next encounter with Croatia on Friday – that match will determine position No. 1 in our group. It was a good performance of my team. A game was very tough. Ultimately we have more quality and the final result shows that. We are here to show that we are a good team with good players. Friday’s match is specific as it is important but won’t put anyone out of competition. Having said that we will try to win and gain a better schedule for the second part of the Europeans.”

Ioannis Fountoulis, captain, Greece:
“It was a tough, intense game against a growing team. They fight regardless of the result but we were ready for that. Once we took the lead of four-five we could maintain that towards the end of the match and closed down the game with ease. We now move onto the important match against Croatia on Friday.”

Robin van Galen, head coach, Netherlands:
“It was a difficult game because Greece is one of the best teams in this tournament and they were better than us, that is why they won. We were not strong enough to beat our rival for that we should have given 200%, not 100%. Now we will look for a win against Turkey in our next game, but in the meantime we will not rest in the next 48 hours in order to correct our mistakes in training.”

Men, Round 2 – Group B: Montenegro v Malta 17-5

Vladimir Gojkovic, head coach, Montenegro:
“The difference in quality is evident. We had good and bad moments alike. It’s hard to motivate the team to give their 100% for the whole duration of the match. All in all, we tried to get the best out of this game having in mind the coming ones.”

Drasko Brguljan, captain, Montenegro:
“They are playing much better than they used to. The progress is evident in part due to many top players coming to Malta to take part in their league during the summer. Still, we are a much better team and it was visible. This was important for us as a preparation for the encounter with Spain which will determine the final classification in Group B as well as the path towards to quarter-finals and beyond.”

Karl Izzo, head coach, Malta:
“The final result is better than the one after our first match here. We made less mistakes while playing against a world-class team. I am happy as we managed to do some good things.”

Men, Round 2 – Group D: Russia v Serbia 9-11

Dejan Savic, head coach, Serbia:
“It was a tough game as we expected. Counter attacks were flying on both sides. We scored a lot of goals that way. What’s important is that we won and are now turning onto the following match against Slovakia.”

Stefan Mitrovic, player, Serbia:
“We knew it was going to be tough physically as always whenever facing Russia. It’s a strong team that improves year after year. We played well in defence but failed to finish attacks with calm. That’s all normal at this phase of the tournament, there’s no need to rush things, victory is what counts. It may look easy but it wasn’t easy for our centre-backs to cope with their centre-forwards. Huge thanks to all supporters who came to cheer for us in this early stage of the Championships.”

Milos Cuk, player, Serbia:
“It was difficult, we still haven’t reached the top form. They swam well, during the first two quarters there was a lot counter attacks on both sides. Then halfway through the third quarter we managed to pull our game together and brought the match to a close. Our game is still rising. Next up is Slovakia while we’re slowly turning our attention towards the quarterfinals.”

Sergey Evstigneev, head coach, Russia:
“We played against a very good team and the game was pretty close. Unfortunately, we missed two great chances at the beginning, but after we played well and the result could have been different. But again, unfortunately we missed a couple of chances in the third quarter and those mistakes were costly for us and we ended up losing.”

Dimitri Kholod, player, Russia:
“We played against the best team in the world. We tried our best, but we made two or three mistakes that you can’t make against a team like this. We got close but it wasn’t enough. We still have to get better in some aspects, like in our defence. We will try to do better in the next game.”

Men, Round 2 – Group A: Hungary v Italy 5-12

Head coach Alessandro Campagna, Italy:
“We started off well, I don’t think ever before have we had such an opening against them. They did have a comeback but we controlled the match to the end. Result speaks for itself but it’s only the second match and we still have a long way to go.”

Valentino Gallo, player, Italy:
“It was a nice match. They are an excellent team. We started with the right approach and before we even recognised it we had a 6-0 lead at halftime. I’m sure it affected their confidence. Then we didn’t score for four and half minutes, we just weren’t playing the game right. At this point the head coach called for a time-out and told us that the game wasn’t over. From that moment it went on as how we started the game from the beginning. All in all, a good match for us. We now move onto the last match of the group phase.”

Tamas Marcz, head coach, Hungary:
“We set up a game plan, talked through how we had to begin the game – then we did something totally different. Our approach wasn’t good, how we player our first two man-up was not understandable either, we have to take a deeper look why this mental lapse happened. Soon after that we started playing on the expected level, came back to the match, we had a series of great chances to cut back our deficit to two but missed all and once the difference started growing we tried to find to score in individual ways not as a team. We have to learn from this, this is not the end of the European Championships, we’ll move to a more challenging half of the draw but we need to go on. Just have to cut the errors both in offence and in defence in order to achieve better results.”

Krisztian Manhercz, player, Hungary:
“We screw the start of the match, didn’t respond well to Italy’s aggressive style even though we were expecting that. Then we began playing well, we had several chances to go back to 5-7 which might have resulted a different finish to the match. But they scored first in that situation and after we were just chasing them but didn’t have a real chance to catch them up any more.”

Men, Round 2 – Group B: Spain v France 7-4
David Martin, head coach, Spain:
“It was a difficult game. They are a good team. The work done by the new head coach is showing results. They played really well against Montenegro. With two victories in our bag we’re moving onto the next match which will decide position No. 1 in Group B.”

Alberto Munarriz, player, Spain:
“We were happy after the first win as it’s always important to get into rhythm of the tournament. We had a great start today, went quickly to 5-0 or 4-0 I’m not sure. We also played good defence. France is a good team, it seems that they are working hard. On Friday we have a very important match, which will decide the top position in our group and the way forward in the second week of the Europeans.”

Nenand Vukanic, head coach, France:
“The match against Malta will be very important as we need to win it to qualify to the next round. We have been trying to improve in each of our matches in the group stage and we have showed our level and how much we have progressed. Every practice and every game is important so that we can get closer to the level of the best teams. In my opinion there are a lot of teams that are competing to win the title, but Montenegro and Spain are definitely among the favourites to win the gold medal.”

Fonte Gergely Csurka
LEN Media Manager
Site https://www2.len.eu/

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