An incredible goal by Nikola Jaksic, 1.2 seconds before the end of the quarter-final against Serbia, left the Greek men’s water polo team out of the top four at the Paris Olympic Games.

The Greek team, which had equalised six seconds before the end with Vlachopoulos, lost 12-11 to the two-time Olympic gold medalists, ending their quest for another medal after winning silver in Tokyo.

Theodoros Vlachos’s team will now compete for positions 5-8 against Australia, while Serbia will play the USA in the semi-finals.

“This is not the type of game where you can pull away,” said the Greek coach after the match.

“They took the lead with a goal that, in my opinion, shouldn’t have counted. Mandic was two seconds ahead, I think. But these things happen. The game should have gone to penalties. We expected Serbia to play like dogs. They didn’t pressure us too much. Losing to a goal from midfield with three seconds left, when you’ve come back into the game, is heartbreaking. It’s a shame we couldn’t fight for a medal. It doesn’t matter who you face in the quarter-finals. I’m proud of my players. We had solutions and showed passion. Losing this way is a stab in the heart. We will try to give everything to secure the best possible position.”

“We lost to a goal from midfield,” Dinos Genidounias repeatedly said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), moments after the game that shattered the Greek team’s dreams of a second consecutive medal at the top event.

“We’re sorry, and we promise to come back,” was the message from the international winger to the fans who believe in and support the most successful national team in Greece’s Olympic history.

“We lost to a goal from midfield at the end of the game. There isn’t much to say; we didn’t play our best game, but we weren’t bad either. The Serbs were very good today, but we lost to a goal from midfield. Some things are inexplicable. We could have avoided committing a foul in the last phase, but now whatever you say doesn’t matter,” Genidounias told AMNA.

When asked if the team should have chosen a different opponent in the quarter-finals, Genidounias was clear:

“Our team treats all games equally. Serbia finished fourth in the other group, and we finished first. If you’d asked me before the tournament, I’d have said it’s a game we should win and it’s entirely within our reach. We went in as favorites, and in the end, we lost to one player (Mandic) who scored five goals, and we couldn’t find solutions all game, plus a shot from the center. Sometimes tactics go out the window; you have to grit your teeth and make 1-2 stops against such good players.”

The disappointment was more than evident.

“We’re one of the best teams; we’ve known this for four years. If you want us to do well once, we want it a thousand times. This is our job, our life. The Olympics are the biggest stage, and from all the tournaments, we want to go as high as possible here. Unfortunately, today, a goal from midfield cut our dreams short, at least for this Olympics,” Genidounias emphasised, ending with a message to the fans following the national team:

“A big thank you for the support, an apology, and that in the future, I can’t promise any distinctions or gold medals, but I can promise we will come back and try to go as high as possible.”

Key match moments

Papanikolaou was the standout in the opening minutes, excelling both defensively (stopping two attacks from Ubovic) and offensively, scoring the first goal with a difficult turnaround shot. However, he was later bested by Filipovic in an incredible one-on-one.

The Serbs found solutions in attack, thanks in part to the awakening of Strahinja Rasovic (who had not performed well in the tournament so far) and managed to respond to Greece’s goals. The Greek team started with 0/2 on the power play and found themselves trailing for the first time (4-3) at the start of the second quarter, after a goal from Mandic. The contest continued, with Greece finding two goals on the power play (in four attempts in the second period), but Rasovic and Mandic ensured the Serbs ended the half leading 6-5.

Kakaris won two penalties in the first three minutes of the third period, but the Greeks converted only one, with Filipovic saving Vlachopoulos’s shot on the second attempt. More importantly, the Greek defense improved against the power play, with Zerdevas making two crucial saves (another Serbian attack was lost due to a “cheap” error by Strahinja Rasovic).

Filipovic kept the score tied with a series of saves until he was finally beaten by Skoumpakis’s “thunderbolt” (7-6). Mandic equalised with another long shot, but Skoumpakis scored two consecutive goals on the power play, giving Greece a 9-8 lead at the end of the third period (Victor Rasovic had equalised in between).

With the match on a knife-edge, Serbia equalized through Victor Rasovic, Gillas gave Greece the lead again, only for Vicso to respond once more. Mandic’s third long-range goal (his fifth overall) gave Serbia the lead with 2:33 remaining, forcing Greece to chase the game with all players showing signs of nervousness. All except Angelos Vlachopoulos, who took a crucial shot six seconds before the end, during a seven-on-six attack (with Zerdevas advancing), and equalised 11-11.

It seemed the game would be decided by penalties (especially as Serbia had no timeouts left), but in sports, everything can change in a moment. Nikola Jaksic’s desperate attempt from around 10 meters caught Zerdevas off guard, and the ball ended up in the net. The “golden” Olympians, even if they bear little resemblance to the team that triumphed in Rio and Tokyo, are back in the semi-finals (a stage they haven’t missed since 1996, when the country was still called Yugoslavia!). Meanwhile, the “silver” Olympians must settle for the less glamorous matches for positions 5-8.

Quarters: 3-3, 2-3, 4-2, 2-4

Scoring progression: 1-0 Papanikolaou (center-forward), 1-1 Mandic (penalty), 2-1 Vlachopoulos (wing), 2-2 V. Rasovic (power play), 3-2 Fountoulis (penalty), 3-3 Str. Rasovic (wing), 3-4 Mandic (power play), 4-4 Kakaris (power play), 4-5 Str. Rasovic (power play), 5-5 Papanastasiou (power play), 5-6 Mandic (wing), 6-6 Genidounias (penalty), 7-6 Skoumpakis (wing), 7-7 Mandic (wing), 8-7 Skoumpakis (power play), 8-8 V. Rasovic (power play), 9-8 Skoumpakis (power play), 9-9 V. Rasovic (power play), 10-9 Gillas (power play), 10-10 Vicso (power play), 10-11 Mandic (wing), 11-11 Vlachopoulos (wing), 11-12 N. Jaksic (wing).

Greece had 5/11 on the power play, 2/3 penalties, 3 goals from the wing, and 1 from center-forward. Serbia had 6/11 on the power play, 1/1 penalty, and 5 goals from the wing.

Papanikolaou (7:40 before the end) and Ranjelovic (2:21 before the end) were excluded with three penalties.

Referees: Ome (Germany), Franulovic (Croatia)

Line-ups:

Greece (Theodoros Vlachos): Zerdevas, Genidounias 1, Skoumpakis 3, Kalogeropoulos, Fountoulis 1, Papanastasiou 1, Gillas 1, Argyropoulos, Papanikolaou 1, Kakaris 1, Nikolaidis, Vlachopoulos 2, Tzortzatos

Serbia (Uros Stefanovic): Filipovic, Mandic 5, Str. Rasovic 2, Ranjelovic, Cuk, Djedovic, Drasovic, N. Jaksic 1, Vicso 1, Ubovic, P. Jaksic, V. Rasovic 3, Misovic

*With AMNA