So I guess my prediction got part of the narrative right–US inexperience may be an issue–but I did not have Montenegrow blow out as one of my potential outcomes. I thought a day of rest would favor the US, but Montenegro is firing on all cylinders after a competitive game yesterday and the US just looks flat.
Edited to add: The US offensive strategy of two so-so passes followed by a shot from 5M+ staight into the goalie is not working. Although just as I finished typing Ohl made it work. He is really impressing me.
8-3 at half but honestly it hasn’t been that close. Ryan Ohl with all the US goals in the first half. Otherwise, the shot selection has been pretty poor for the US. Several of the extra man possessions have felt rushed and twice have directly resulted in a counter attack opportunity for Montenegro.
Something different has to happen on offense for the US. There’s nothing at center, our shooters aren’t beating the MNE keeper and extra man opportunities are being left on the table.
Defensively, too much has been given up at center and on counter attacks. Those are the types of goals allowed that really hurt your ability to win internationally. The US inexperience has shown on some of those counters as late shots and watching have basically been the first pass on the Montenegrin counter because they go right to the goalie.
Lack of a strong center is killing them. That’s not an option for them. (US has two shots from center–by Irving and Stanley.) And unlike their previous games, they have not been able to make up for that with a strong counter and drives to set up alternative opportunities. To be fair, Montenegrin defense has a lot to do with that.
This is a very different game with Hallock and Cupido, but not sure that would mean a different outcome.
And at that point in the game, the US was credited with no assists. They have one now–on the counter goal on a pass from Savelic to Abramson. Your stats on shot placement and location will be interesting here . . . .
A disappointing finish for sure, but Ohl is a real bright spot for the future of US water polo.
My son played with / against many of the players on the current national team and those in the pipeline and has always maintained that Ohl and R Dodd are the two toughest covers he has ever faced, especially given their age.
I was hoping they would play together at this tournament. They should open up the us counter when they eventually do.
Oof, tough to get Croatia in the classification game when the other side is Japan and Georgia. The US has to beat Croatia to finish in the top 6 and qualify for the World Cup Finals.
Yup. But that Spain Croatia game was a good one to watch. Greece Japan, too. Score looks pretty lop-sided, but Japan was up a goal at the half, and outscored Greece in the fourth too. Japan didn’t show up in the third. Hard style of play to keep up for all four quarters.
Did anybody get to see US-Croatia? Scoresheet was pretty bleak for us, so I guess I didn’t miss much. Feed for me is a total fail today. Could not connect to the US game. Now trying to watch Hungary-Greece, which just started, and the feed is working but showing the US-Croatia game starting mid 3rd quarter.
Didn’t watch it… feel like we all knew what the result was gonna be. Against the real powerhouses this squad didn’t have a chance… too young and inexperienced. Hopefully this benefits them down the road.
Pretty sure we missed out on a tournament now that only the top 6 go to? Not a huge deal since it’s 2025 but still that’s one they’d probably rather play and get better at
I was mildly critical of the roster choices heading into this, but Monday morning quarterbacking it now — go check out the list of All-Americans and guys overlooked or not chosen for this roster. Sheesh, I’d say if you just picked the top 15 guys not selected that team might beat the team picked.
I want to preface this by saying I agree with you in general.
However, I wonder if the thinking would be that this roster seemed to be specifically trying to address the roles the team needs to fill and perhaps that doesn’t align with the “best” players on the all-American list. To my mind this roster was looking at lefty (3 lefties because we need to figure that out), center (because we need a consistent backup for hallock) and defender (because we need depth behind woodhead). To a lesser extent, I think the inclusion of Saveljic and Ohl was because it is likely that one or more of our right handed attackers doesn’t come back for '28 and so see who might fill those roles.
All that being said, if you agree that those are the positions of need who would you have invited over those who were rostered?
For one, I wonder if Avakian wasn’t available as I think he is a better center than those selected especially considering his international experience. Likewise, I wonder if there are players you and I are thinking of who had an invite extended that turned it down for whatever reason.
I have no inside knowledge, but my guess is that some combination of players not willing to play and a desire to assess and train some young players led to this roster. I think we’ll see a few of these players again–but probably not so many of them all at once as the stakes get higher closer to 2028.
This may be a minority opinion, but on balance, I like the new rules. The box in front of the goal has created more options for scoring on both 6-5 and even-up. The shorter shot clock–especially the reduction to 15 seconds on a reset–has offenses looking to score quickly. It’s taken some getting used to, but I like the VAR. I think it needs some tweaking and more consistent application, but checking goal/no goal and using the VAR to tag misconduct and violence seemed to work pretty well. I think it could do a lot to reduce the overly physical fouls that escalate into punches if FINA keeps emphasizing it.
There was nothing wrong with the construction of this team. It’s smart to try out some new players mixed in with veterans. This isn’t the only way to qualify for Worlds.
I disagree. While there is nothing wrong with trying new players, there are other avenues to experiment and explore in international water polo. To achieve long-term success, there needs to be a core group of players who compete together for years. That is the proven formula. If you look at other successful water polo teams, you’ll notice their success often starts at the junior level—not necessarily by winning, but by building continuity and chemistry over 4–6 years. Consistently playing together at a high level fosters trust, understanding, and cohesion, which are essential in a team sport like water polo.
In my opinion, sending such a fresh and inexperienced unit like this into the world stage is somewhat pointless!
By focusing on the long-term development of a core group while occasionally integrating fresh talent, teams can strike a balance between innovation and continuity.
Unless the coach knows that some of the current core group are not going to be around in 2028. If that’s the case, it’s time to get some of the players from the junior team some experience in the big time. Does anyone know why Hallock, Bowen, Cupido, and Hooper all took this cycle off? Are any of them moving on? Realistically, no matter who replaced those 4, it’s not likely the USMNT would have been competitive at this tournament.
