Game 1 – Serbia 9, Greece 9
Serbia came into Rio as the overwhelming gold medal favorites after winning the 2015 World Championships.
In the first game on Day 1, Serbia had to battle from behind to a 13-13 tie with Hungary, and Monday had to do it again, settling for a come-from-behind 9-9 tie against Greece.
Greece dominated the water in the first half, taking a 4-1 lead after two quarters. Greek goalkeeper Konstantinos Flegkas, playing in his first Olympics, showed no signs of nerves against the water polo powerhouses. Flegkas had four saves in the first half, including three on extra-player shot attempts by Serbia. Serbia was 1-13 on shot attempts in the first half.
After Greece scored a quick goal to extend their lead to four in the opening minute of the third quarter, Serbia started to find their rhythm. They scored four goals in the third, including two within 30 seconds of each other to take the lead to 7-5 heading into the final eight minutes.
Just 55 seconds into the fourth quarter Serbia’s Zivko Gocic put one in the net to draw within a goal, but Greece’s Christodoulos Kolomvos answered 30 seconds later on an extra-player goal to go back up two.
It was two goals by Milan Aleksic and Milos Cuk within a minute of each other that helped Serbia get their first tie with 3:36 remaining, and Nikic Slobodan added a goal of his own with 2:23 remaining to help Serbia take their first lead of the match.
Greek goal scoring machine Ioannis Fountoulis was the key for his team the whole game, and scored his fourth and most important goal of the game on an extra-player shot with 1:47 remaining to tie the game at 9-9. Greece has three chances to retake the lead in the final minute, but couldn’t convert.
Foutoulis led all scorers with four goals. Serbian superstar Filip Filipovic led his team with two goals.
Flegkas has nine saves in goal.
Serbia falls to 0-0-2 in Rio. They’ll try for their first win Wednesday against Brazil at 6:30 p.m. ET. Greece (1-0-1) will play Hungary Wednesday morning at 9:20 a.m. ET.
Men’s water polo coverage continues at 9:20 a.m. with Italy taking on France.