Oberhausen Day 3 - First Decisions

The first match of Friday was the game between the ladies of Colombia and the
ladies of Turkey. Both teams were unbeaten thus far. The match saw two equal
teams pitted against each other. While no team was able to gain the upper hand
in the first half, the second half saw a slight advantage for Turkey. With one
third of the half gone it was Turkeys Number 8 Deniz Enginler, who scored the
first goal. Colombia answered with continuous attacks on the Turkish basket,
however to no avail. Deniz Enginlers goal proofed to be the winning one for this
match.

The 12th game of the tournament saw the lady’s teams of neighboring Norway
and Sweden take the pool. Norway as well as Sweden were looking for their
first victory. After 15 minutes real playing time, a goalless first half came to a
close. It was Norway, which started better into the second half and thus took
the lead on a goal scored by Number 11 Ylva Lyssand with 13:52 minutes left to
play. Norway continued to dominate this match and Norway`s number 1 Andrea
Lintorp and number 9 Ranghild Skare scored goals number 2 and 3. The first
Swedish goal scored by Number 6 Caroline Janrik came too late with only 2:34
minutes left to play to turn the game.

The match between Denmark and Turkey saw the two of the three unbeaten
teams of Group A clashing against each other. Turkey, which came of a tie with
Colombia the day earlier, needed the victory more urgent then Denmark, which
beat Finland in their opener 4:1. From the beginning Turkey left no doubt that
they wanted to win this game. The first goal came after 2:30 minutes into the
first half by Number 2 Samet Ayberk Sayin. After Turkeys number 7 Kerem
Demir scored the second goal, Denmark was able take control of the match.

The Danish efforts to close the scoring gaps, were rudely disrupted by Turkeys
Number 12 Berkan Mert Sürücüoglu, who extended the Turkish lead to 3:0. With
half time just seconds away Samet Ayberk Sayin and Berkan Mert Sürücüoglu
put the game away for Turkey with the goals number 4 and 5. Denmark tried to
come back into the game after the break and was able to keep the game open
for the first 10 minutes. It was, however, again Turkey, which scored. Ahmet
Baha Bayrakci, Turkeys number 13 and Kerem Demir applied the finishing
touch, making the final score 7:0.

Colombia, having tied Turkey the day before and Finland were the next teams
to go deep. In order to keep their tournaments hopes alive both teams needed
a victory. Colombia made it clear from the beginning, that they did not travel
over 9.000 km for nothing. With two and a half minutes into the game, Number
99 Juan Laverde put the ball into the basket: 1-0 Colombia. Another minute and
a half later, Daniel Gonzalez, Columbias numer 98, made it 2-0. Colombia
continued to dominate the game finally beating Finland 28:0. 


The goals for Colombia were scored as follows:

Number 99 Juan Laverde: 1-0, 6-0, 8-0, 9-0, 13-0, 15-0
Number 98 Daniel Gonzalez: 2-0, 11-0, 22-0
Number 65 Nicolas Fonseca: 3-0
Number 21 Juan Acosta: 4-0, 7-0, 10-0, 16-0, 24-0
Number 23 Alejandro Marin: 12-0
Number 2 Tomas Galeano: 14-0, 23-0
Number 9 Bryan Parra: 17-0, 25-0
Number 88 Anderson Gomez: 26-0
Number 3 Manuel Sandoval: 27-0
Number 19 David Ramires: 28-0

At 1 pm in Oberhausen, it was time for the ladies to take center stage again:
Colombia v Norway. The Colombians, obviously being motivated by the
performance of their male counterparts in the previous game, took control of
the match in the first half, pressing heavily against the Norwegian basket. It
took however until deep into the second half for the Norwegian defense to
finally break: Valentina Lopez, Number 5 sunk the 1-0. But rest a sure, Norway
was not going to give in and came back: Number 10 Susanne Edvardsen scored
the tying goal with only 3:33 minutes left to play. The audience at the pool saw
another high-level match between two equal teams. Colombia´s Number 15
Margarita Garcia took her heart and the ball in both hands and put away the
second goal for Colombia. Norway tried everything with the game clock ticking
down, but was not able to come back and tie again. It was Colombia, which
came away with victory in one of the best games played at this tournament thus
far.

The audience was sure, the suspense of the Colombia v Norway match couldn´t
be toped. Little did they know, what the next two lady’s teams from Turkey and
Germany had in store for them. The Turkish adopted speed as their
predominant strategy, a strategy which had worked successfully for the
Germans the day before. When speed did not work, the Turks pinned the
Germans to their own goal for most of the second half. However, neither team
was able to capitalize on the very few mistakes made by the other. The final
score was thus 0-0, despite having not seen a single basket scored, the
audience was pampered with yet another high class underwaterrugby game.
Bothe teams of the next match, Sweden and the Czech Republic were looking
for their first victory of the tournament. It became obvious early in the game,
that it was going to be the team from Northern Europe which would take away
the win. Sweden beat the Czech Republic 23:0. Keeping in mind, that the Czech
players are among the youngest at this tournament, their team will be one to
reckon with in upcoming events.

The goals for Sweden are as follows:

Number 5 Anton Sagström: 1-0, 14 -0, 16-0
Number 12 Simon Olsson: 2-0
Number 99 Filip Eriksson: 3-0, 7-0, 11-0
Number 14 Robert Sjöberg: 4-0, 19-0, 21-0
Number 6 Adam Widing: 5-0, 13-0
Number 1 Odd Holmberg: 6-0, 8-0
Number 2 Felix Akenäs: 9-0,18-0
Number 7 Lowe Magnusson: 10-0, 15-0
Number 10 Samuel Garheden: 12-0
Number 89 Anton Lindström: 17-0
Number 11 Rasmus Olsson: 20-0
Number 13 Hugo Hempel: 22-0
Number 98 Filip de Rooy: 23-0

In the men´s Group B Norway and Germany were bound to meet for the clash
of the titans. In order to win Group B Germany needed a victory due to the
differences in scored goals, while Norway would have taken the first place with
a tie. From the beginning the Germans underlined that next to the North Sea the
local pool in Oberhausen should also be considered the “Mare Germanicum”.
Germany started to attack the Norwegian goal right after the game was kicked
off. The German attacks however brought no results. Norway defend the
basket vigorously. Deep in the first half, it was Germany´s Team Captain
Number 20 Philip Kreißig taking matters in his own hands and put away the first
goal of the match. A goal which should have given more confidence to the
German game, but didn´t. It was Philip Kreißig again, who sunk the ball for a 2-
0 lead with 4:59 left in the first half. This goal did, what the first goal wouldn’t:
Give stability and confidence to the German game. After half time, the Germans
dominated their opponent. Number 33 Max Kieth extended the German lead to
3-0. The final goal of the game belonged to no one else but Captain Philip
Kreißig: Germany beat Norway 4-0 and secured victory in Group B.
Victory in Group A was to be decided crosswise: Turkey needed a high victory
against Finland or hope for the Danes to at least tie Colombia in the game to
follow. Turkey, knowing what was expected of them started early: Just 30
seconds were played when Sedat Bulut Cam, Number 4, scored the go-ahead
goal. Turkey dominated the game with the second goal coming a minute later
scored by Number 10 Emrecan Argan. It the end it was: Turkey 20 Finland 0.

The goals for Turkey:

Number 4 Sedat Bulut Cam: 1-0, 12-0, 20-0
Number 10 Emrecan Argan: 2-0, 10-0, 17-0
Number 12 Berkan Mert Sürücüoglu: 3-0, 7-0, 14-0, 16-0, 18-0
Number 6 Emre Hasan Kara: 4-0, 6-0, 9-0, 15-0
Number 7 Kerem Demir: 5-0
Number 11 Görkem Özsoy: 8-0, 13-0
Number 2 Samet Ayberk Sayin: 11-0, 19-0

Despite the high victory, the Turkish faith lay in the hands of the Danes.
Unfortunately, Colombia was unwilling to play along. Free throws and minor
roughing’s dominated the early part of the first half. Obviously both teams
wanted to win. It was Colombia which gained the upper hand pinning the Danish
team to their basket. Colombia´s Number 21 Juan Acosta´s 1-0 released his
team. Right before half time Number 99 Juan Laverde extended the lead to 2-0.
Both teams substituted at half and put in fresh players in order to extend or
narrow the lead. With Number 65 Nicolas Fonseca scoring the 3-0 and Number
23 Alejandro Marin sinking in the final 4-0, it was Columbia, which not only won
the game but also secured the number 1 spot in Group A.

The final standing in the men´s groups:

Gruppe A (final)

Gruppe B (final)

The final standing in the lady’s group will be decided tomorrow morning by the
two remaining first round games between Germany v Colombia and Turkey v
Sweden.

The preliminary standing:

Gruppe C (preliminary)

Fotos: D. Rockenbach / VDST