Water polo, Setterosa beaten by Holland: with Greece for the European podium

The feat fails, but Setterosa doesn’t disappoint. Against the reigning champion and Olympic bronze medalist Netherlands, in the European semi-final in Madeira, this time it is the attack that betrays. It ends 8-4 and coach Carlo Silipo sums up the match perfectly: “Our opponents deserved it, we put a lot of heart into it and defended well, but we produced little going forward”. In the other match, Hungary takes revenge in the 2025 World Cup final against Greece: regulation time ended 8-8, the penalty shootout was decided by Golopencza’s saves, launched between the posts in place of starter Neszmely, and it ended at 12-11. For Italy, so far, the only stop had come against the Greeks (15-10) who we will meet again on Thursday at 6.15pm to chase the medal (the final for the title at 8.15pm).

uphill

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The Dutch start was brilliant, from 3-0 to 5-1 in the 13th minute with Aarts’ prowess in goal, in an extremely physically demanding match. Both often try the double center solution, Setterosa has little aim, but makes up for it when Condorelli also comes to the fore between the posts. We get to 5-3 thanks to Bettini (among the best on the pitch), but it’s just an illusion because Hicks and Keuning in numerical superiority bring us back to -4 again. Last minutes without emotions. Therefore, on Thursday, again with RaiSport’s live broadcast, we will find Greece again, just as it was for the Settebello in the European Championship in Belgrade, hoping for a different epilogue. With Silipo we entered the top four three consecutive times: in 2022, in Split, we achieved bronze. In Portugal, the Dutch team’s only defeat came on the last day of the second phase, Sunday, but it was a sweet knockout: Spain won only on penalties (16-13 after 13-13 in regulation time) and so the champions retained their lead in the group. The most successful national teams on the continent faced each other: for the Netherlands six gold medals, four silvers and three bronzes; for Italy five golds, two silvers and three bronzes. The teams of Silipo and Doudesis had met in a friendly during the collegiate match at the federal center in Ostia, on 19-22 January, with a victory each.

HOLLAND: Aarts, Hicks 2, Van Der Kraats, Schaap, Keuning 1, Bosveld 1, B. Rogge, De Vries, Joustra 2 (1 pen.), L. Rogge, Moolhuijzen 1, Ten Broek 1, Van Den Dobbelsteen, Gorter. All. Doudesis. ITALY: Condorelli, C. Tabani, Leone, Gant, L. Cergol, Giustini, Bianconi, Marletta, Ranalli 1, A. Cocchiere, Bettini 2, Santapaola, Papi, Meggiato. 1. All. Silipo. REFEREES: Bouchez (Fra) and Gerasimov (GBR). NOTES: top number Netherlands 9 (4 goals), Italy 8 (2). Exit 3 rows Ten Broek 4th half.