Women, Round 5 – Group B: Serbia v Turkey 9-6

Dejan Jovovic, head coach, Serbia:
“It was a game we expected to win. The match played out just as I planned. We did everything we agreed we should, and played well in defence. We did concede some ‘unfortunate’ goals on the other hand. Now we’ll see who are we playing against for the 9th place, Croatia or Italy.”

Jovana Pantovic, player, Serbia:
“We opened the match well, had a couple of counter-attacks. Later on, we slowed down a little bit. Nevertheless, we closed the game the right way.”

Hakan Sahbaz, head coach, Turkey:
“They quickly made quite a wide goal difference and we had lapses in our game that continued throughout the match. We tried our best. I’ m proud of my team. Serbia took positions well in critical moments and scored while we didn’t. Congratulations to the Serbian team.”

Women, Round 5 – Group B: Hungary v Germany 26-1

Attila Biro, head coach, Hungary:
“Here everyone is eagerly waiting for Monday when the real part of the championships begin. Our job is to maintain the inner fire of the players and in order to peak at the most important matches. This game was just another step, we tried to focus on our defence first of all, which we managed to do well. We had a bad phase in the last third of our opening game against Spain, ever since we are improving so I really hope that we will be ready for the big match. There is no wish list, we can beat anyone from the other group but it’s true in the other way round.”

Gabriella Szucs, player, Hungary:
“Today the focus was on our defence. Ever since we lost to Spain in the opening day, we worked hard on improving it, putting it together, holding the right positions, making the right shifts, synchronise all our moves. I think today’s game showed that we are on the right track, even if we played with a weaker rival. All of us are eagerly waiting for the quarter-finals, it doesn’t matter who comes next.”

Anja Skibba, head coach, Germany:
“It was a very good match for Hungary. They needed goals and pushed for scoring more. They play really brilliant water polo. Each game against a team of that level is an experience for us. I am happy each time a problem arises and we manage to solve this and react well. Not all at once but maybe 2 to 3 things at a time. We tried to defend ourselves as much as we can but they still managed to score many goals, maybe too many. They play a very powerful water polo.”

Lynn Krukenberg, player, Germany:
“It was a hard game. They are much tougher than us, they work more. Our heads were in the right place but they just outpowered us physically.”

Women, Round 5 – Group A: Israel v Croatia 7-7

Dimitrios Mavrotas, head coach, Israel:
“For us it was important that not to lose this game. When it counted we managed to come back and controlled the match. We showed lot of energy, played good defence but missed some easy shots in man-ups and counter-attacks. Next is Serbia. It’s going to be tough game. For us it was important not to finish last in our group.”

Dragan Matutinovic, head coach, Croatia:
“The outcome is realistic. We played well, hard, our goalkeeper was excellent. I think she had 12 saves. She was the one keeping us in the game the whole time. All in all, I’m satisfied. Next match against Turkey? We must win and we will. This level of water polo is our reality. They are in a better shape than us physically.”

Petra Bukic, player, Croatia:
“I have nothing to say. We tried and failed. Today just wasn’t our day.”

Dina Lordan, player, Croatia:
“Israel was better. I’m sorry we didn’t win, though we wanted to. Now we’re up against Turkey just as at the last Europeans, for the 15th place. I’m disappointed.”

Women, Round 5 – Group A: France v Italy 3-11

Fabio Conti, head coach, Italy:
“It was just another one of those games we use to practice certain things and as a preparation for the most important match so far which is the quarter-finals on Monday. The intensity of the game was good. We have managed to reach our first objective. We rejuvenated the team for the new Olympic cycle and are now into the second year of the 4-year plan. For us, the objective is always to reach the quarter-finals, the Europeans included. We have to keep working. We are still here regardless of the changes we made. No matter who our opponent will be we have to continue to grow.”

Chiara Tabani, player, Italy:
“It was important to win. That made the legs and hands feel heavy. We want to go all the way, we believe we can. We know we have to start with strong determination right from the beginning, do that extra effort, no matter who we’re playing against.”

Valeria Palmieri, player, Italy:
“It was a tough game. It served as a good preparation for the quarter-finals. To be honest, our minds are already in that game.”

Florian Bruzzo, head coach, France:
“This one was a difficult game against Italy, they played better than us but we are still learning. The next game we’ll probably play against Spain and we’ll do our best.”

Women, Round 5 – Group A: Greece v Netherlands 7-8

Georgios Morfesis, head coach, Greece:
“It was a tough game, nervous and very close. I think my team played the man-downs badly in the 4th quarter which cost us dearly as our rivals could score easy goals. This means that now we have a more difficult path to the semi-finals. We have to wait and see who our opponent in the quarter-finals will be. We also have sit back and reset ourselves mentally.”

Eleftheria Plevritou, player, Greece:
“It was the last game of the group phase against a strong team. We played poorly in defence. We have to practise more that segment of the game and reset our minds. Now we will have a tough opponent in the quarter-finals.”

Arno Havenga, head coach, Netherlands:
“It was an intense game. We played with discipline, made few mistakes and used opportunities to score successfully. We have to stay concentrated, focused as we go forward. Germany is next in line.”

Debby Willemsz, goalkeeper, Netherlands:
“It was a good game for us. We had to win, it was very important for us. Now we have an easy game against Germany. We have to continue this way.”

Women, Round 5 – Group B: Spain v Russia 12-11

Miguel Oca, head coach, Spain:
“I’m very satisfied. We played against a very strong team, we won and are first in our group. We are now turning our attention to the quarter-finals and the match against France.”

Andrei Belofastov, assistant coach, Russia:
“It was a very good game, we were very close. Some mistakes in the defence prevented us from winning the match. It’s OK. We knew we would be playing against Greece in the quarter-finals. We have to improve the level of our man-ups and man-downs. Apart from that, we covered everything else well today.”

Anna Timofeeva, player, Russia:
“It was hard, to face such a strong team playing at home. We tried our best but made some mistakes. Now we have to focus and try to win against Greece.”

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

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