U.S. water polo coach says 100-plus-year gold medal drought will soon be over

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U.S. men’s water polo team has had a longer futility streak than even the lowly Chicago Cubs.

But just as with the lovable Cubbies (who are currently leading the NL in wins), this might also be the year for the U.S. men’s water polo team.

For those scoring at home, the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, while Team USA has won only one gold medal in the Olympics, in 1904. After starting Olympic competition with a win over China, the U.S. squeaked past Italy on Tuesday, 12-11, proving that this group can surely score.

Led by Long Beach’s Tony Azevedo, everything seems to be going exactly like what Coach Terry Schroeder promises in the video above, in which he says that a medal won’t be good enough -- that it’s got to be gold.

Next in the pool against the men’s team is Serbia on Thursday (10:50 a.m. local time; 7:50 p.m. PDT Aug. 13) at the Yingdong Natatorium. This is a revenge match, as the last time the nations squared off, Team USA sank to Serbia by an embarrassing 7-3 in the gold medal match of the 2008 FINA World League Super Final.

-- Tony Pierce