Delivering their best performance since the start of the tournament in Singapore, the Greek men’s water polo national team “demolished” Italy and triumphantly booked their ticket to the final four.

Greece’s opponent in Tuesday’s semifinal (22/7, 12:35) will be the winner of the Spain–Montenegro match.

This marks a second triumph for Greek water polo, as just 24 hours earlier, the women’s national team also qualified for the World Championship semifinals — something that happens for the first time in the sport’s history.

The team of Thodoris Vlachos stormed into the quarterfinal against the Squadra Azzurra, taking an early 3-1 lead. Two minutes before the end of the first period, Grata struck Argyropoulos in the face with his knee, leading the referees to eject him with no substitution allowed…

Greece then played with a man advantage for the next four minutes, extending the lead to 9-1 (!) and never really being threatened, advancing to the semifinals with remarkable ease.

The match

From the very first sprint, it was clear in the pool that the Greek players entered the game with fire in their eyes. “I asked the boys for a perfect game, and they delivered,” said Thodoris Vlachos afterward, as he watched his players start off brilliantly, making excellent attacking choices while the defense completely shut down the Italians.

With the score at 3-1, the decisive moment came with the senseless act by Roki Grata, which the Greek team took full advantage of, while Italy seemed completely shaken. With the score at 9-2 (!) by the end of the second period, the semifinal already felt decided, and the only way for the game to turn around would have been a self-destruction.

However, the Greek team remained focused, kept the same rhythm, and the only thing Italy managed was to cut the lead down to five goals, without ever truly threatening us…

Quarter scores: 1-6, 1-3, 5-4, 4-4

Italy (Sandro Campagna): Nicosia, Di Fulvio 2, Damonte 1, Cannella 1, Ferrero, Gianazza, Condemi, Presciutti, Bruni 3, Di Somma 2, Velotto, Baggi Nechi, Caccia 2, Ioki Grata.

Greece (Thodoris Vlachos): Tzortzatos, Genidounias 2, Skoubakis 1, Giouvetzis, Argyropoulos 4, Chalyvopoulos 3, Gillas 1, Kalogeropoulos 2, Alafragkis, Kakaris 2, Nikolaidis 2, Papanikolaou, Andreadis, Pouros 1.