Women, Round 4 – Group A: Israel v Greece 2-16

Dimitrios Mavrotas, head coach, Israel:
“It was a game we knew it would be difficult. We are here to gain experience for the next competitions. The girls are young and each experience is a step forward. My congratulations go to the Greek team. They didn’t play so strong, I guess they were saving their energy for the next match which is crucial for them.”

Georgios Morfesis, head coach, Greece:
“It was a match between two teams with different objectives. Still, I can see the improvement in their game, a lot actually. Their coach is doing a good job. I’m proud of, not only him, but also other Greek coaches working around the world like in Canada and Australia. We are now focusing on Holland. We are targeting position No. 1 in Group A and will try our best to achieve that.”

Maria Patra, player, Greece:
“It was a good training for us before the important match against the Netherlands. We want to be first in Group A so this game served as a good preparation.”

Women, Round 4 – Group B: Germany v Turkey 12-9

Anja Skibba, head coach, Germany:
“We are happy to have qualified for the quarter-finals. It was not a good game. However, the team spirit was high, they fought and supported each other. The team didn’t stick to the previously agreed tactics the whole time but it’s OK after all. We have to continue working hard and look for the future. On the other hand it’s better to play bad and win than play beautiful and lose.”

Maren Hinz, player, Germany:
“We had a good defence and didn’t give up until the end. We have qualified for the quarter-finals and it’s also due to the team spirit we have.”

Hakan Sahbaz, head coach, Turkey:
“This was the first game we could play on even terms. We made too many mistakes in defence and the outcome is only reasonable. We must turn our attention to the next game.”

Women, Round 4 – Group A: Italy v Croatia 24-3

Fabio Conti, head coach, Italy:
“It was a good game for us but in reality just a training before the last round of the group stage at this championships. We want to give our best on Friday against France and then wait and see from which position we’ll enter the quarter-finals.”

Dragan Matutinovic, head coach, Croatia:
“Losing by more than 20 goals…. it’s a whole different level of water polo. The key for us is a game against Israel. I’m not promising anything but we want to win. They play well, are excellent swimmers and very fit. We’ll give our best, it would be a great thing for us. We are not as strong physically as we should be.”

Domina Butic, player, Croatia:
“Could we please not talk about this game… The next one against Israel? We have to give our very best. They have improved significantly since 2016. They are doing a good job, working hard with the new coach. The difference isn’t as big anymore. We have to think of something good in order to beat them. We’ll give our best.”

Women, Round 4 – Group A: Netherlands v France 20-4

Arno Havenga, head coach, Netherlands:
“It was a good match. We played well, very concentrated, the team as a whole did a good job. We are now turning onto the decisive match against Greece on Friday.”

Vivian Sevenich, player, Netherlands:
“Good game for us. We played with a lot of discipline. It was a true team effort as it should be. It also served as a good preparation for the last game of the group phase against Greece.”

Florian Bruzzo, head coach, France:
“Today, we were literally destroyed by the other team; they’re taller, stronger and the team has a higher level than us in general. All their players play in a strong league competition, Hungary, Spain and in the best US Universities. The good thing is that we’ll be in next round, so we can work hard to perform better then.”

Women, Round 4 – Group B: Russia v Hungary 7-8

Attila Biro, head coach, Hungary:
“It’s getting better, we managed to apply most of our game plan. We could prevent them from scoring goals from counters and did some good job in man-down defence – I can tell you, keeping this Russian team under 10 goals is not an easy job. Still, there is room for improvement, I wasn’t really satisfied with our man-ups and we could have finished more counters with goals. At this level you must score from the best chances. As everyone else, we are also preparing for the knock-out phase, we’ll see whom we shall play with in this game called ‘Who has the last laugh?’ – we fell back by four squares on the first day (against Spain), now managed to go one step forward.”

Aniko Gyongyossy, player, Hungary:
“We are happy to win this match, the key was our defence which is improving as we are progressing. Of course, we have to peak next Monday, we are very much looking forward to the quarters.”

Andrei Belofastov, assistant coach, Russia:
“We started off badly, were down 2-4. Eight exclusions for Hungary and 2 for us didn’t help either. Later into the game we managed to catch our rhythm. We only scored 4 out of 14 extramen. With that percentage you cannot expect too much, we have to convert more. We simply made too many mistakes in offence and missed too many chances. It just wasn’t our day. The match against Spain will decide how we go on. What’s done is done.”

Women, Round 4 – Group B: Serbia v Spain 2-26

Miki Oca, head coach, Spain:
“After this victory we have to prepare for our next match, which will be harder than our first three games. We will rest tonight and tomorrow we will begin our preparations for the next match. The first place of the group is in play and we face a very strong side, Russia. We have played against them several times this year and every game was tough, so we are prepared to have a challenging match against them. I’m confident that we can win, but we will have to be fully focused.”

Paula Leiton, player, Spain:
“I feel very well, with great confidence, and I showed that in the pool. We used tonight’s game as preparation for the next match against Russia. We know that they will be very tough opponents and we have been preparing for the game for some time now. It’s the first time that I’m competing at home in a big tournament and it gives me extra motivation.”

Dejan Jovovic, head coach, Serbia:
“This outcome is to be expected when playing against a team with high ambitions of finishing as No. 1 in our group. Next they’re facing Russia and goal difference could play a role in the outcome, so they came with full gear. The thing that makes me content is the fact that in the second part of the game we managed to control our attack and showed discipline in play.”

Jelena Vukovic, player, Serbia:
“I thing we managed to keep up as much as we could in the first three quarters while we played with discipline. The final score isn’t that bad. Turkey? We’re going to try and win that game. We still have regrets over the loss to Germany. I hope all this is going to help us learn an important lesson and be an experience for the future.”

Gergely Csurka
LEN Media Manager
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