Story by Jon Nio

Singapore Sports School, Thursday, July 31, 2008 – Croatia beat Italy 7-4 in their first game of the Pre-Olympic Water Polo Invitational at the Singapore Sports School yesterday.

The match up of the 2007 world champions, Croatia, and the tactical Italians led by their evergreen captain, Alessandro Calcaterra, proved red hot from the first whistle. The first attack resulted from an almost immediate ejection of Alessandro as he stamped his authority in defence. That didn't stop the determined Croatians from their relentless attack and the quarter ended with a double from Zdeslav Vrdoljak and a goal each from Damir Buric and Pavo Markovic for a 4-0 lead. The man-of-the-quarter must be Croatian goalkeeper, Frano Vican as he kept the clean sheet as the Italian threw all they had at him.

Frano was the man again on several occasions as the Italian assault continued in the second quarter. The Italians must have thought that they would finally break the duck when awarded a penalty but Frano denied Alberto Angellini to keep it 4-0. The evenly matched quarter finally saw the talismanic Italian captain, Alessandro Calcaterra, beating Frano at close range after more than 13 minutes into the game.

The Italians, revitalised by the goal, stepped up their defence in the third quarter by forcing the Croatians into taking shots from the perimeter while they slowly crawled back into the game. With Frano now rested, the Italians pulled two goals back within 3 minutes and ended the quarter two goals behind at 3-5.

With only the last quarter left, the Italian mounted a comeback but the trade-off of an offensive strategy was a looser defence and that was immediately exploited by Samir Barac within a minute of play for a 6-3 Croatian lead. Alberto Angellini gave the Italian a glimpse of hope with a shot from long range to make it 4-6 but that wasn't enough as Miho Boskovic ensured a three-goal victory with another to make it 7-4.

Croatia: Frano Vican; Damir Buric (1); Andro Buslje; Zdeslav Vrdoljak (2); Aljosa Kunac; Maro Jokovic; Mile Smodlaka (1); Teo Dogas; Pavo Markovic (1); Samir Barac (1); Igor Hinic; Miho Boskovic (1); Josip Pavic; Niksa Dobud
COACH: Ratko Rudic

Italy: Stefano Tempesti; Valentino Gallo; Leonardo Binchi (1); Fabrizio Buonocore; Luigi di Constanzo (1); Maurizio Felugo; Andrea Mangiante; Alberto Angellini (1); Fabio Bencivenga; Alessandro Calcaterra (1); Leonardo Sottani; Federico Mistrangelo; Fabio Violetti
COACH: Paolo Malara

Referees: Michael Hart and Torsten Bock