U.S. men's water polo team to play for fifth place at Shanghai

Four-time Olympian Terry Schroeder, coach of the U.S. men's water polo team, has been providing updates from the world championships in Shanghai. Here's his latest report after Thursday's match:

Another solid effort by our team. This time we did not let Germany jump on us early. Instead, we took a commanding 4-1 lead and played a great first half. We actually went up, 8-4, at the half.

The best part of what was going on in the game for us was our six-on-five play. We scored our first seven six-on-five situations and this was a big part of our early lead.  We were confident, aggressive, and yet we were patient and smart. We worked the ball around very well and made great choices as we broke down the defense.

The Germans made a big charge in the third and fourth quarter as we lost a bit of momentum.  In the end we hung on for an exciting 9-8 victory.

One of the best elements of this game was that we actually had seven different players score for us.  Ryan Bailey led the way with two goals and Peter Varellas, Peter Hudnut, Adam Wright, Brian Alexander, Jeff Powers and Layne Beaubien each scored to secure the win.  Merrill [Moses] played another great game in the cage. It was a good team effort.

U.S. men lose to Hungary, 9-8, at water polo World Championships

U.S. Water Polo Coach Terry Schroeder has been sending reports from the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China. Here's his latest, after the team's loss Tuesday to powerful Hungary.

Hungary vs. the USA turned out to be a great battle that was fought hard down to the very end. After Team USA took a commanding 5-2 lead, Hungary fought back to tie the game, 5-5, and then took the lead. From there the momentum of the game seemed to swing back and forth. We would catch them and tie the game, and had a chance to take the lead, but we never again regained the lead.

The tempo was in our favor. We actually beat them six-on-six. Our defense was playing very strong. We came to played and played one of our best games since the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The underlying story of the game was the six-on-five and five-on-six. They scored five out of 11 and also had a penalty shot and we scored only three out of 11. Often in these big games that is where the games are won and lost, and Tuesday this proved to be our downfall.

In fact, in the fourth quarter we had four six-on-five opportunities. We scored on only once. The Hungarian goalie made a few very nice saves to shut us down. It was tough, and to make matters worse, on two of our power play opportunities Hungary came down and scored on the very next possession to make these in effect two-goal turnarounds.

U.S. men reach quarterfinals at water polo World Championships

U.S. men's water polo Coach Terry Schroeder has been commenting on his team's performance at the World Championships in Shanghai. The top three finishers will qualify for the London Olympics. Here's his take on the team's victory Sunday over Canada.

We came to play. The team was excited to prove that they are ready to play at a high level here in Shanghai. We stressed defense and talked about playing tough man-to-man defense for 30 seconds (the entire shot clock). Our goal was to allow them no more them four goals. 

We came out with great intensity and totally dominated the Canadians in all aspects of the game. At the end of the first period, we were ahead, 5-2, and at the half it was 11-2.  We went on to beat them, 17-4.

It was a game when almost everything we did worked.  Our defense frustrated the Canadians the entire game. They really had trouble doing much of anything. This is a key for us as we now advance to the quarterfinals against Hungary."  

The Hungarians advanced first in their bracket. They had a tough bracket which included Montenegro and Spain. They beat Montenegro, 10-9, in the first game of the tournament and then beat Spain, 12-11, to win their bracket and earn the bye that all first-place finishers in the preliminary rounds earn.

In Beijing, the winners of pool play also received byes. Both teams (U.S. and Hungary) that received byes ended up advancing to the finals. The point is that in a long tournament like this that extra day off is a big advantage. If we look at it this way, Hungary may have the advantage. 

Next up for U.S. men's water polo team: Canada

Terry Schroeder, coach of the U.S. men's water polo team, has been providing updates from Shanghai on his team's progress at the World Championships. A top-three finish would earn the U.S. men a berth at next summer's London Olympics.

Here's his latest update leading up to Sunday's game against Canada, scheduled for 1:50 a.m. Pacific time:

Friday Team USA was able to get some frustrations out with a lopsided 20-3 win over South Africa. It may have been just what the doctor ordered to get us some positive energy going.