Did the ball cross the line?
Water Polo: The Croatian water polo team also picked up a quality victory on Tuesday, defeating Spain 8-7 in a game that ended in controversy. Croatia was the better side in the first half and went into the half up 5-3. They built the lead to 7-4 halfway through the third quarter before going cold. Spain went on a 3-0 run to tie the game going into the deciding fourth quarter. The fourth was tense as both sides had chances and the goalies came up big. With 66 seconds remaining, Croatia was awarded a penalty which Sandro Sukno converted and it looked like they would hold on to the win. With two seconds remaining, Spain player got off a shot that went off the goalie and the post and appeared to go in. The Spaniards celebrated and the line judge initially ruled it a goal, only to be overturned by the referee. After replays were shown in the stadium, the Spanish coach ran around the pool to argue with the refs and the Spanish players refused to leave the pool as a protest. The decision was final however and Croatia moved to 2-0, well on their way to a top two finish in their group. Spain has appealed to FINA but it’s likely to be denied. Croatia plays Italy, the highest ranked team in their group, on Thursday. Greece stunned Italy earlier in the day, tying them 8-8. A win for Croatia should see them take 1st in their group.
Croatia was flying high against Serbia on Tuesday
Men’s Handball: After facing Serbia in the European and World Championships, Croatia and Serbia met for the first time at the Olympic Games on Tuesday. Croatia dominated throughout and redeemed themselves for the defeat to Serbia in the semifinals of the European Championship in Belgrade a half year ago with an impressive 31-22 win in London. The Cowboys frustrated Serbia with their physical play and entertained the London crowd with their passing and teamwork. Ja te volim Hrvatska was heard all around the Copper Box stadium in London. Ivan Čupić led the scoring with eight goals and Serbia could not stop big man Igor Vori as he added five. Croatia plays Hungary next on Thursday, with a win clinching a spot in the quarterfinals. Hungary has been hot and cold in their first two games at the Euros. They only lost by two against European champions Denmark, but followed that up by narrowly defeating a weak Korea side thanks to a late run.
Marijana Misković was eliminated on Tuesday
Judo: Tomislav Marijanović and Marijana Misković both lost their opening matches in their weight classes and were eliminated.
“Emotivno ovo doživljavam. Jesam, plakala sam, jer znam koliko sam bila blizu. Meni je ovo zapravo bio meč za medalju , išla bih u četvrtfinale na Južnokorejanku, koju sam redovito pobjeđivala”
~Marijana Misković
Bojan Jovanović in action at the Olympics
Fencing: Bojan Jovanović lost in the round of 64 in the individual foil to Daniel Gomez of Mexico. The match was extremely close and Gomez took the win in overtime.
“Imao sam strašno veliku tremu, nisam mogao spavati od iščekivanja, a inače je to dobra stvar za mene. Sve je to utjecalo na mene i na kraju sam previše taktizirao, izgubio sam borbu koju nisam smio izgubiti.”
~Bojan Jovanović
Marin Čilić goes down to Hewitt in straight sets
Tennis: Tian Yuan and other athletes from the Croatian delegation were in attendance at Wimbledon to watch Marin Čilić take on Leyton Hewitt. The match was delayed by over two hours due to rain. Hewitt ran down everything Čilić hit at him and ultimately Čilić couldn’t break him down and lost the first set. It was more of the same in the second, and the 158th ranked player in the world upset the 13 seed and won 6-4, 7-5. Čilić refuse to shake the head umpire’s hand after the match and shouted “well done, Picka Ti Materina”, furious about a long call that the head ump overruled as well as a few other calls. I’ve seen Čilić play on numerous occasions and I’ve never seen him so visually upset.
As a result of the delay prior to the match, Čilić and Ivan Dodig were unable to play their doubles match which means they will play tomorrow and Čilić will get some extra rest.
Rowing: Mario Vekić was eliminated from the quarterfinals of the singles sculls discipline. He placed 15th and the top 12 advanced.
Sailing: Tonči Stipanović had a disastrous third race of the Men’s Laser competition, finishing 20th and moving from 3rd overall to 8th. He managed to recover in the fourth race, finishing fourth and moving into 5th overall. Luckily for Tonči, each competitor’s worst race is removed at the end of the competition so his medal hopes are still very much alive. Ivan Gaspić finished 5th and 6th in the fifth and sixth races respectively. He is in fourth, one point out of third, with five races to go.
Pavle Kostov and Petar Cupač are in 15th after four races in the 49er competition. Luka Mratović is in 21st after two races in the RS-X competition. Tina Mihelic is in 19th through four races in the Laser Radial discipline. Dan and Marin Lovrović are in 15th in the star competition through six races.
Reminder: All events can be seen live or on replay here:
30-28 victory, awesome! One step closer to Top 4.
Impressive win by our female handball players. took down Russia a few minutes ago.
How is our lovely women’s bball team doing against czezh?
Bottom line is our water polo team needs to play better if they want a medal. Barely squeezing by our last two opponents especially Greece is unacceptable and wont cut it.
@ Ziva
I have watched the game, but during the end, I was a bit slipshod in the details (getting snacks). I wasn’t paying close attention to the shot clock (though I thought I had a general idea). When the Spaniard shot the ball, I thought that the shot clock was depleted, since the main referee called the ball out.
I needed a second look from the highlights.
@ Ziva and Zach
Just saw the other highlights. Yep, there were a lot more seconds left. Hahaha, sorry about that. 🙂
Now there had to be a question whether the ball went past the line.
Mainzfeldski…..you are dead wrong. I have a feeling you did not watch the match. Luckily for you, I did watch it……Spain got the ball back from Croatia with 15-20 seconds left in the match. The shot clock is off at the point.
Not sure what your argument is at this point.
@ Zach
No cable for me, can’t read the link.
Regardless, I haven’t seen a comment that mentions the 14 seconds, but since the coaches, the person writing the article, and the main referee disagreed with the goal (add the fact that the line referee saw the “goal,” yet the main referee has the timer), that adds more support to the goal not being counted.
Someone writing that there was two seconds left does not prove anything. If you’re from the U.S, go here to 2 hours, 34 minutes:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/water-polo/mens-prelims-hun-v-mne-cro-v-esp.html
@Zach
That’s incorrect. Spain shot the ball during the end of the two seconds on the shot clock. The link shows the proof of the major plays and how many seconds were left.
Spain took the ball with 14 seconds left, the shot clock in water polo is 30 seconds
@ Zach
The 8 seconds you’re referring to is the game clock, not the shot clock. Show me how many seconds are left on the shot clock when the shot was taken.
If you’re correct, then the quote from the coach would be null and void.
@Mainzfeldski
I just watched the end of the game again and I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Spain received the ball with 14 seconds left, so the shot clock was off. The “incident” occured with 8 seconds remaining. I’m not saying it did or didn’t cross the line but time was certainly not a factor.
Svaka cast.
Well done to the vaterpolo team on a great win.
Italy will be the true test.
Cilic, your a sore loser.
The Spanish goal should not count. Not even controversial.
What the video does not show is the time remaining to shoot the ball for the Spaniards. When the Spaniard shot the ball at the last second, the time to shoot was already up, and once the Croatian keeper made a slight save (even though it was going past the goal line), the goal was officially denied. Poor luck, Spain.
Link:
http://www.vecernji.hr/sport/vijesti/dupini-slavili-protiv-spanjolske-rudic-nema-govora-golu-clanak-437089 the link:
Raining AGAIN at Wimbledon
It does have to cross all the way.
Tough to tell. That angle is not best to judge if it did go across or not.
For all the homers…..I hope you remember this next time some of you blindly cry that the “world” or the “man” is against Croatia.
The official on the goal line (who had the better view) said it was a goal, but the main official said no.
I’m not sure, but I think it has to cross the whole way. Considering Spain’s reaction to seeing the replay I would assume it should have counted
That water polo goal was close. The computer generated yellow goal line appears to be on the outside of the goal posts? Is it like soccer, where the goal line is between the posts? Does the whole ball have to cross? Very close either way.
Zach,
You are on fire my friend! Great reporting.
I am currently in Dubrovnik, and let me tell you, the handball match vs. Serbia, was awesome. Everyone (Croatians) came off the beach wet to catch this game on a projector in a nearby man-made man cave.
Many things were said.
Everyone left happy!