FRANCE 12 MACEDONIA 9

France defeated Macedonia in Saturday’s second semi-final to advance to the LEN European Nations Trophy final with Montenegro.

France captain Frederic Audon scored four to take his total in the competition to 38 from six games, while Risto Maljkovic and Marko Basic each scored hat-tricks for Macedonia, who will now play Belarus for the Bronze medal.

Yann Clay opened the scoring for France after being teed-up by Audon. Macedonia replied through centre forward Basic, but France counterpart Mickael Bodegas put France ahead once more. Quentin Chipotel extended France’s lead, shooting over the head of Milos Urosevic in the Macedonia goal.

Macedonia hit back, scoring through Maljkovic, before Basic won a penalty at the expense of Yann Vernoux. Marko Micic converted from the five-metre line to pull his side level. France then scored through Romain Blary and Audon to take a two-goal lead.

Audon scored his third to open the second period, before Micic netted his second with an outside shot. Maljkovic replied when Chipotel was sent out but then France won a penalty. Bodegas flicked the ball out of the back of his hand for Jean Baptiste Favry who was fouled in the act of shooting by Vladimir Kreckovic. Audon’s penalty was saved, but he made amends with an exquisite lob to make the lead two once again. Maljkovic replied with his hat-trick as Macedonia reduced the deficit to one at the end of the first half.

Blary scored his second immediately after the interval when Ivan Vuksanovic was excluded, but Macedonia had a chance to pull one back when Arnaud Jablonski fouled Basic, but Micic shot straight at Soufien Riabi in the France goal. Basic then scored from his centre-forward position, before Clay got his second of the game. Vuksanovic was handed his third personal foul and Marc Amardeilh scored his first goal of the game.

Macedonia had the chance to move within two when Yann Vergeade was excluded but Audon expertly stole the ball and raced 25-metres to the other end of the pool before shooting beyond Milos Urosevic for his fourth goal. Macedonia missed another extra-man attempt as the third period drew to a close when Favry was sent out.

Chipotel scored his second from a man-up after Macedonia captain Saso Popovski had been excluded as France opened up a five-goal lead less than two minutes into the final period. Nenad Petrovic pulled one back after Favry received his second personal foul.

Basic claimed his hat-trick on the fast break after France had been handed three man-up opportunities to extend their lead. Favry was given his third exclusion but Macedonia’s man-up failed again and France held on to advance to Sunday’s final with Montenegro.

Result: 12-9 (5-3; 2-3; 4-1; 1-2)

France: 1 Jonathan Moriame, 2 Romain Blary (2 goals), 3 Arnaud Jablonski, 4 Frederic Audon (Capt, 4), 5 Yann Vergeade, 6 Remi Saudadier, 7 Mickael Bodegas (1), 8 Jean Baptiste Favry, 9 Yann Vernoux, 10 Yann Clay (2), 11 Marc Amardeilh (1), 12 Quentin Chipotel (2), 13 Soufien Riabi

Macedonia: 1 Milos Urosevic, 2 Sava Isakovski, 3 Ivan Vuksanovic, 4 Risto Maljkovic (3 goals), 5 Nenad Ivanovski, 6 Saso Popovski (Capt), 7 Marko Micic (2), 8 Vladimir Kreckovic, 9 Nenad Petrovic (1), 10 Marko Basic (3), 11 Radislav Kocovski, 12 Bobi Kuzmanovski, 13 Darko Stosic

BELARUS 1 MONTENEGRO 26

Montenegro served up a sublime exhibition of water polo as they cruised through to the final of the LEN European Nations Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

The tournament favourites stormed to victory over Belarus as they stepped up a gear to clearly state their intentions of returning home with a Gold medal. They made Belarus – a team who beat Great Britain 10-5 in Friday’s quarter-final – look ordinary.

The team from the former Yugoslavia, who beat Belarus 14-5 in their Group A match on Thursday, will come up against either France or Macedonia and look close to unstoppable in their debut in the competition. Belarus will play France or Macedonia for third place and a place at the European qualification tournament for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Montenegro lost on penalties to Serbia – with whom they won the 2005 World Championships in Montreal before becoming an independent country in June 2006 – on the eve of the competition and will surely battle for medals at Olympics and World Championships in future.

Nikola Janovic scored five while Vladimir Gojkovic and Mladan Janovic each scored four. Mladan Janovic moved to third in the tournament scorers’ list with 19, while Gojkovic and Nikola Janovic are one behind on 18.

Montenegro were equally as strong in defence, repelling any threat Belarus could pose with a forthright press. Zdavko Radic earned a first-half shut out before being replaced at half-time by Milos Scepanovic, who conceded once.

Vladimir Basic, the Belarus centre defender, was excluded and Predrag Jokic, a winner in Montreal, opened his account. Gojkovic made it two, before captain Veljko Uskokovic added a fast-break goal. Nikola Janovic then scored before Damjan DaniLovic completed the scoring for the quarter.

Nikola Janovic scored a second from five metres and then completed his hat-trick. Jokic scored his second before Aleksandar Ivovic got in on the act. Drasko Brguljan netted and Jokic got his third of the game. Centre forward Boris Zlokovic opened his account as the half ended 12-0 to Montenegro.

The rout did not stop there. Gojkovic claimed three in the third period, with Montenegro also scoring through Ivovic, Mladan Janovic (two) and Vjekoslav Paskovic. Alexcei Zalugnyi replied with Belarus’ first, scoring from the left wing to end a run of 19 unanswered goals.

Nikola Janovic opened the final period with his fourth goal. DaniLovic scored his second and Ivovic completed his hat-trick, and Mladan Janovic followed suit with his third goal, and his fourth came when Dzmitry Vankevich was sent out. Nikola Janovic grabbed his fifth and Paskovic completed the scoring.

Result: 1-26 (0-5; 0-7; 1-7; 0-7)

Belarus: 1. Mikhail Yazerski, 2 Ivan Kulakov, 3 Aliaksandr Andrayuk, 4 Dzmitry Kulik, 5 Alexcei Zalugnyi (1 goal), 6 Armenaic Elizbaran, 7 Aliaksandr Navumenka, 8 Dzmitry Vankevich (Capt), 9 Siarhei Fralou, 10 Aleksey Kuzmenko, 11 Uladzimir Martyniuk, 12 Vladimir Basic, 13 Kanstantsin Kavaleuski

Montenegro: 1 Zdavko Radic, 2 Drasko Brguljan (1 goal), 3 Vjekoslav Paskovic (2), 4 Damjan DaniLovic (2), 5 Nikola Janovic (5), 6 Milan Ticic, 7 Mladan Janovic (4), 8 Veljko Uskokovic (Capt, 1), 9 Aleksandar Ivovic (3), 10 Boris Zlokovic (1), 11 Vladimir Gojkovic (4), 12 Predrag Jokic (3), 13 Milos Scepanovic