Game reports and analysis

[Roberto]

Pointers to Game Reports etc

Australian team World Championships reports (http://www.canoepolo.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=2410#post2410 ) or to new posts (http://www.canoepolo.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&goto=newpost&threadid=473)

Irish Reports (http://www.canoepolo.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=517)

Tell me if there any other good threads to link to.

Official Games Schedule and Results (http://www.kanupolo-wm2002.de/Spielplan/navigation.htm) Raw game scores only.

(Thread name change, and these links inserted by Admin - RB-Ex-MrPolo)

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I have been to the website and so far seen a few interesting things:

1. Lithuania no show? I always wonder how a country can sign up and then at the last minute no show. It cannot be easy for the organizers to accomodate these things and is messes up the draws.

2. Islamic Rep of Iran. No idea they were even playing polo. That is great and shows polo is going around the world.

3. Other interesting results:

Mens D Ireland 5 Taiwan 6!! Ireland was playing well from the preworlds results. Looks like Taiwan is quite good.

Mens D Italy 7 Iran 2 Iran looks to be no pushover.

Men A Aus 5 Japan 1 Japan looks strong

Anyone there have any other interesting insites?

Later
Rob K

[Roberto]

Thanks, Canada will need the support.

The women are off to a stong start but it will be tough to finish at the top of their pool and the men will have to beat South Africa and Finland and probably need some goal difference to make top two. The U21 are learning and who knows how they will do. We know they are having a blasta and are gelling as a team.
Later
RK

[Martijn]

Where are all the Irish?? pretty.. quiet...

One of the remarking things.. aspecially here on canoepolo.com... is the situation in the Men's pool with Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Taiwan..

Germany - Sweden 12 - 0
Ireland - Taiwan 5 - 6
Sweden - Ireland 2 - 8
Taiwan - Germany 3 - 9

So the only ways that could have Ireland ending up with the first eight are --> Ireland beats Germany .. which probably needs no further comments.. or Sweden beating Taiwan... and according to the results so far.. that's not very likely to happen...
So things aren't very sunny to the Irish boys...
I'll be there tomorrow... checking out there try to beat Germany...

And of course to cheer for the Dutch :D

Grtz,
Martijn

[atbarber]

Score Taiwan 8 Sweden

Taiwan have surprised everyone with their skill but Ireland should have beaten them. Ireland had a slow start and try to capitulate in the second half but it was tough coming back form 4-0 down. Ireland nearly achieved this but a last minute goal from Taiwan made it difficult to come back.

Germany are playing well having beaten Sweden 14-0 and Taiwan 9-3. Ireland will have a tough game against them. this game will be played at 3.45 today so keep your eye ionline and I will post the result and report as soonas I can get online.

[Roberto]

Game 56 Canada W 2 Italy 2
Makes second place in Womens D interesting

Game 64 Iran 6 NZ 4
OK where did the Iranians learn to play polo so well? Have they had any coaching or have they participated in any international tournaments? Very impressive stuff?

Game 74 Germany 8 Ireland 5
Those Irish must have played their hearts out. Must have been a good game. I will look in the Irish forum for the blow by blow.

Later
RK

[RB-Ex-MrPolo]

Posted earlier by Niall - moved into this thread by Admin/RB-Ex-MrPolo.
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Irish under pressure
It looks like we are under pressure now that Taiwan have beaten the swedes. Well I suppose all we have to do is beat Germany with a good goal result and we can do it. Any takers on the odds??
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Well as our reporter on the scene has reported, the Irish mens team have finished 3rd in their group. Just as well no one took the odds when I offered.
Hard luck to the lads. Well done to you all. We can now pin our hopes on the women and U21's.

[Roberto]

Just had a look at the days end scores. Here is what I found interesting:

Game 100 Women Germ 1 Aus 3
This was a big game. See the Aussie games reports

Game 108 Men Aus 4 Brazil 1
Brazil is moving into the upper tier

Game 112 Men Spain 7 Japan 1
Spain continue to do really well

Game 118 Men Aus 5 Poland 1
A good result for Poland

Game 131 Men Iran 3 Finland 6
Finland appear to have rebounded after a bad first round.

[jelle]

Intresting results in groups w and x, of the mens... As RB posted before Australia is out on goal difference: Australia, Germany and Great Britain had the same results in points because Gemany lost from Great Britain; Australia lost from Germany; and Great Britain lost from Australia. Result: Great Britain 1
Gemany 2
Australia 3
Taiwan 4
Insert by RB-Ex-MrPolo - What has happened ? Yesterday (Sunday) the official web-site showed Australian Men beat GB 6-4. Today they have reversed that result, and Jon Bisset's report confirms that.
It doesn't actually make any change to the rankings, but it sure as hell makes a mess of our understanding of the comp. What can we say ? I feel chated.
Of course, there is an outside chance I just made an error in reading the result, but I'm pretty damn sure that is not the case. Martijn was checking some of the result entries, and in this case, did Jelle just take my word for it, or did Jelle check the result on the offical web site ? - Might explain a couple of other places we apparently wrongly entered results and later had to amend them ? Did anyone else notice changes in results posted on the Official Website

In group x the same has hapend, as the games between The Netherlands, France and Italy resultad all in ties. So also in this group the placings'are determent by goal difference. The Dutch scored most goals against Spain, and Italy has beaten the goal difference of France by 1. Result: The Netherlands 1
Italy 2
France 3
Spain 4

[RB-Ex-MrPolo]

Jelle beat me to it. Incredibly tight. Baasically, you could see we have only been able to split the top 6 teams by goal difference.

The finals are going to be nail biting.

And Spain and Taiwan have closed in on the leaders too, both contributing to the final result. (ThoughTaiwan did no favours for regional neighbours Australia in their last game !!)

Down in the U21 basement, there is another very interesting result. Again, Spain plays a major part against 3 "big name" teams. Only this time they did not make any difference. They lost every game by the same close score, 2-3, to France, Britain and Germany. And whilst it didn't come down to goal difference to split those 3, it was very close. Germany progress with a draw against France, and a one goal win over GB. GB have that one loss, plus a one goal win over France. So France ends with one draw, and a one goal loss. Pretty damn close.

Oops, I goofed. Actual FRance U21 beat GB Under 21, 2-1. So France progress and GB miss out. Still shows how close it is.

In the other group ot was two Netherlands and Italy almost neck and neck. both beat Ireland 6 - 1, and beat Taiwan by similar scores (9-3, 7-3). And in the match between them it was a low scoring tight result - Netherlands 2, Italy 1.

So here we have 5 top teams ver y equal. The same 5 European teams that are in the top 6 of the Mens. The notable absence is Australia, who basically can't afford to send an Under 21 team across the world (we feel we lose players too often after a tour, because of the expense - or maybe cos they get a taste for travelling ?)

And again, Spain is closing the gap, with those 3 one goal defeats.

Belgium, Brazil, Tiawan, Japan, Finland, Poland are not too far behind.

You have to say the men's side of canoe polo is looking very, very competitive now!

[RB-Ex-MrPolo]

In the women's comp, it has certainly been close so far between 4 of the same top 5 European nations, and Australia. Germany, GB, France and Netherlands, with only Italy not matching the performance of their Men and Under 21 teams. And Netherlands chances, despite going so close against Australia and giving Germany a good match, had their chances ruined by the ridiculous seeding. One of Germany, Australia and Netherlands was going to have to suffer that fate, of finishing no better than 9th. (Go sign that petition to change the draw system (http://www.canoepolo.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515) right now !)

It seems obvious Japan has closed the gap. But it's not yet proven. They got their 4th place finish last time courtesy of the crazy draw system, which gave them the best seeding this time round. Still, the only chance to prove themselves against the top 5 teams resulted in a 2 - 7 loss to Australia. They have a lot still to prove over the next 2 games. And if they fall short of the mark, the ICF polo committee has a lot to answer for with it's crazy draw/seeding, seeing Netherlands finishing in 9th, probably Great Britain in 5th, while Japan has again had a cake wake into the top 4 !!:mad: :mad:

(Go sign that petition to change the draw system (http://www.canoepolo.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515) right now !)

[RB-Ex-MrPolo]

They are on the podium for all 4 classes - Gold in U21 Men, U21 Women and Women.

Only slip was to 3rdplace in th eMens competition.

The medal presentations should certainly please the home crowd. (how big were the crowds)

Interestingly, the other 8 podium spots are shared by 7 different countries. Pretty good for the sport.

Ntherlands took 2nd in the Under21 Men, and at the time of writing are playing nithe Men's Final. So certainly they can feel pleased too, I think realising their potential more than in previous championships (or is my memeory faulty ? - I must work on a decent archive system!)

The other medals are shared by GB (Colur yet to be determined) inthe Mens, FRance an dAustralia n the women, Italy in the U21 Men, and nice to see Poland on th epodium in th eu21 Women, ahead of traditional powerhouse nations GB and France.

[RB-Ex-MrPolo]

The Women's Final was played between France and Germany and refereed by
Carolyn Cochrane. The game started slowly with the Germans converting 2
goals early from steady attack. The French were looking shaky and the
writing was on the wall for a walk over, however the French girls regrouped
and put in a great long shot to take the half time score to 2-1. The
second half, was a lot more of an even game with the French having more and
more attack. Both goalies had plenty of work to do with some great shots by
both teams. In the dying minutes of the game things began to hot up. The
French captain, pinned on the base line with no passing option put in a very
lucky shot to draw the game with a few minutes to go. With 10 seconds left
on the clock, the Germans gained possession and had a fast break. The long
ball went but was it was almost too long. Landing only centimetres from the
line it was 2 Germans and 2 French chasing the ball to the line. The German
girl got to the ball first and passed it back to another before being
tackled. The next German girl was tackled again before a lucky pass landed
in the lap of a following German player who put a double hander in the net
with 1 second left on the clock. The French were understandably devastated
by their unlucky defeat and the Germans typically arrogant with their win.

In closing, the competition was very close and all games by the top 5
countries (Germany, GB, France, Netherlands and Australia) could now go
either way. Australia can be very proud of their result at this
international level. This World Championship has proved that women's polo is
definitely on the way up in Europe and it is going to be increasingly
difficult for Australia to compete on the world stage without increasing
exposure to the game at the elite level.