Water Polo: Spaniards Will Prepare for Barcelona During Budapest 2017
http://www.fina-budapest2017.com/en/news/314/water-polo-spaniards-will-prepare-for-barcelona-during-budapest-2017 Water polo: Spaniards will prepare for Barcelona during Budapest 2017 2017.02.22. 13:24 CET After missing the previous World Championships in Kazan, the Spanish men’s national water polo team will come to Budapest with a new head coach and with some new long-term plans this July. Kazan was a sad historical moment for the team because the Iberians had never missed a World Championships before. Spain collected six World medals so far – gold in 1998 and 2001. Now, they are facing a generational change in order to stand for the next year’s domestic European Championships with the best team as possible. Although Albert Espanol was the top-scorer of the European Championships in Budapest in 2014, the Spanish team finished the tournament only on the seventh place. Prepared by head coach Gabi Hernandez Spaniards played a tie against Croatia during the group-stage and caused unpleasant moments for Serbia and the home team, Hungary, too. However, the international field is very balanced, strong teams can also fall out. Two years ago, Spain was that team. Nevertheless, the Spanish team managed to qualify for the Olympic Games last year (finishing 5th at the 2016 European Championships in Belgrade, then earning the Rio berth at the qualification tournament in Trieste). Once at the Games, they won Group B in Rio de Janeiro ahead of Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and The United States! In a way, this was their bad luck because they had to play against Serbia (4th placed team of Group A) in the quarter-final.
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