World Championships: U.S. Men’s Water Polo Tops Singapore to Win Group
The U.S. men’s water polo team beat Singapore, 26-6, on Wednesday to win Group C on the final day of group play at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
The U.S. had already clinched the group with Canada pushing Brazil to a shootout before Brazil won, 19-18. The win lets the United States bypass the crossover round straight into Sunday’s quarterfinals.
It’ll be joined there by Italy, which polished off Group A via a 28-4 decision over South Africa; Group B winner Spain, which topped Hungary, 10-9, in a head-to-head battle for that spot; and Croatia, a 10-9 winner over Greece on Wednesday.
The U.S. took care of Singapore with 18 goals in the second half. Adrian Weinberg and Bernado Herzer stopped three shots each. Max Irving was outstanding again with four goals on five shots. Ryder Dodd paired four goals with three assists, and Hannes Daube (two goas, three assists) and Marko Vavic (three goals, two assists) contributed five points apiece.
Spain and Hungary was a stellar battle befitting the group title. Hungary led 8-5 after three, but Alvaro Granados scored three times in the fourth quarter, including the winner with 3:09 left, to lead Spain. Unai Aguirre’s 13 save of the game came with 13 seconds left to preserve the full three points.
Granados shot 4-for-10 with two assists. Biel Gomila scored three times.
Vince Vigvari and Daniel Angyal scored twice each for Hungary. Kristof Csoma stopped nine shots.
Croatia’s 10-9 win over Greece wasn’t that dramatic, but it did trail 4-1 after a quarter and needed four defensive stops after Loren Fatovic put them up 10-8 with 4:09 to play. Fatovic scored three times and dished three assists. Marko Bijac stopped 14 shots.
Efstathios Kalogeropoulos and Ioannis Alafragkis scored twice each for Greece, which finishes third in the group.
Despite all that, Brazil and Canada authored arguably the best game of the day. Lucas Andrade tied the game at 11 with 12 seconds left in regulation. The first four shooters for each team converted their penalty shootout attempts before each missed in the fifth. Three rounds of makes followed before Brazil’s Joao Pedro Serra stopped Reuel Mark D’Souza in the ninth round. That allowed Gustavo Couthino to pot his second of the shootout for the win.
Andrade would finish with 10 goals, eight of them in regulation, on just 14 shots. Coutinho scored three times. Serra was outstanding with 19 saves.
D’Souza led Canada with four goals, and Jeremie Cote and Leo Hachem added three each. Milan Radenovic stopped 12 shots.
Japan has a win to show for its tournament, with Yusuke Inaba putting them ahead for good in a 12-11 win over Australia. Inaba scored twice, albeit on nine shots. Toi Suzuki had two goals and five assists. Nathan Power led Australia with five goals.
Italy routed South Africa, 28-4, behind four goals and four assists from Francesco Cassia and Filippo Ferrero. Luca Damonte, Francesco Condemi and Mario Del Basso each shot 3-for-3 on the day.
Serbia handled Romania, 19-9. Sava Randjevolic scored four times. Hat tricks came from Djordje Lazic and Nikola Jaksic.
Lazar Andric stepped into goal and stopped 13 shots as Serbia bested China, 13-8. Aljosa Macic was one of four players with two goals, shooting 2-for-2 with two assists.
Friday’s crossover round will feature four matches, with winners to the quarters and losers to the 9-12 classification. Serbia takes on Japan, Hungary gets Romania, Greece squares off with Brazil and the nightcap is Canada vs. Montenegro.
