4th of July World Cup Quick Reflection
This last weekend, 6/30-7/2, the Men’s Water Polo World Cup was hosted by the United States at USC and I was lucky enough to be able to attend all the games all three days. Since it’s a holiday, I had a few minutes to sit down and write, so I thought I’d share some quick reflections from the tournament. This isn’t intensive analysis as much as sharing snippets of ideas and thoughts brought about by the weekend tournament.
First, things I liked:
The USA winning a medal: Setting aside the weirdness of the correctable error and replay (we will get to that), congratulations to the men’s players and staff on their podium finish. There were stretches of excellent play throughout the weekend and the squad showed a lot of resilience and mental fortitude in their games. I hope they continue to progress as everyone ramps up for Paris next year. Good luck to the boys in Fukuoka.
One of the best storylines to follow in this tournament was the play of the Romanian squad. After a tough first day, they played a great game Saturday to beat Serbia and then were competitive with Greece on Sunday. It was great to see a division 2 team compete. Moreover, the Romanian fans were excellent all weekend. I happened to sit with the supporters both Saturday and Sunday. They were great fans and made me a Romanian supporter. I look forward to following the team more internationally.
Congratulations to Spain on winning the gold in really commanding fashion. The captain Perrone and goalie Aguirre were both exceptional, the Spaniards may have the best 1-2 center combo in the world with De Toro and Tahull, and the team plays a style that is fun to watch. This may be Spain’s quadrennial, but we will know next year.
It was great to see the stands full and to see them full of young players especially. I also want to acknowledge the players from all countries for their interactions with the young fans. I didn’t see a single player who wasn’t willing to stop for a picture or to sign a ball or shirt. Those experiences are meaningful to young players and it's great to see the world’s best players fostering the passion in the younger generation.
One last thing and this one is probably specific to me. Watching Denes Varga play is a real treat for his balance and control, but I really enjoyed watching his warmup and how fluidly he moved on his legs with and without the ball in his hand.
And now, some more critical reflections:
I have not seen the official score sheets yet, but I counted 30+ total exclusions in both the medal games. I will never claim to know what World Aquatics wants for the game, but I struggle to see how a game with that many exclusions is a good thing or an enjoyable spectating experience.
Likewise, the backcourt exclusions that start with the player transitioning to offense grabbing and holding the player transitioning to defense while simulating the are being pulled and being rewarded for it are just awful to watch. It is so often the player who is instigating the hold and maintaining the contact that is creating that scenario, but they are rewarded for what should be a contra foul. And like most things, if you reward it you encourage it. So the way the game is being called encourages every player to grab their defender and simulate being fouled in transition because they get an exclusion for it even though they are the instigator and often the one actually committing the foul. As an example in the gold medal game, an Italian player grabbed a Spanish player in transition and earned an exclusion even after throwing an elbow that resulted in the Spanish player coming up clutching their eye and needing attention.
Referee signaling. I will not claim to be an expert on the instructions or emphasis that World Aquatics gives officials, but I do have access to the rule book they put out. My concern here is how many signals the referees use that don’t have any connection to signals in that rule book. For instance, a player was excluded in the back court in transition and the official counted to three on his fingers and then gave the player a finger wag. As a spectator who knows the sport well I don’t have any clue what that means, so I can’t imagine a less knowledgeable spectator understanding.
And while we are talking about the spectators, we need to do a better job educating players and parents about the game. I sat next to several coaches who didn’t even know about the current rules regarding the 2 meter area or live subbing for example. I understand that these rules may not have been fully implemented in age group or high school water polo, but that doesn’t mean we as a community shouldn’t be aware of them. And I will call out World Aquatics and USAWP here as well for not being clear and communicative on new rules and how and when they are implemented.
Alright, let’s get to the big story of the weekend: the protest and correctable error that allowed the USA to replay and medal. First, I will say that I’be gone back and watched several times to make sure I understand what went on and it was indeed a correctable error on the officials part and should have been protested. Any team would have done so. However, I dislike the optics of the situation as it looks like the host team of the USA whined that they lost and got their way and a medal. I was next to some Australian and Spanish fans who expressed this sentiment in some way. And I think that partly comes from how poorly the situation was communicated both in real time and subsequently in explanations after the game. It was very difficult to understand what was going on at the pool and the announcement came very late after the game so that many fans had already left. Furthermore, the video USAWP released with the match recap that attempts to explain the situation doesn’t explain it adequately either. Granted, it is a weird situation and I’m sure a huge headache for the organizers to deal with, but it doesn’t help the optics mentioned earlier when things aren’t clarified properly.
So that’s some of my quick reflections on the World Cup weekend. It was great to have international water polo in my backyard and I agree with Denes Varga that the US should do this more often. Let me know your thoughts on my reflections of the weekend or share your own in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and keep thinking water polo.