BEIJING — A long winless streak against a troublesome foe is officially over — and so is the United States’ medal drought in men’s water polo.
With goalkeeper Merrill Moses doing a credible imitation of the Great Wall of China, and three players scoring two or more goals, the U.S. defeated and frustrated Serbia 10-5 on Friday night to earn a place in Sunday’s gold-medal game.
It was the first time the U.S. men have beaten Serbia in at least “six or seven” years, according to coach Terry Schroeder — certainly, it’s been long enough that no one had any record of the last time it happened — and it means the U.S. will play the sport’s traditional power, Hungary — winner of the past two gold medals and eight overall — in the gold-medal match at Yingdong Natatorium.
Whatever the outcome, the U.S. team will win its first medal since 1988, when Schroeder was captain of a team that won silver.
“It feels incredible,” said Moses. “Words can’t even explain what’s going on right now.”
It’s something the U.S. team believed it could do, even if few others might have.
“That’s what we came here for,” said Jeff Powers, who had the final, clinching U.S. goal with 2:25 remaining. “That’s what we’ve told people we can do. And it’s great validation knowing that we can play for a gold now and show everyone that the USA is not a joke in water polo.”
The U.S. has never won a water polo gold — unless you count the 1904 tournament, when the top three finishers were from U.S. athletic clubs. It won silvers in 1984 and 1988, played for a bronze in 1992, and then fell on hard times.
Those are now over, which Tony Azevedo — one of just two U.S. players appearing in his third Olympic tournament — can truly appreciate.
“For us to come together like we are today is amazing,” said Azevedo, who led the U.S. offense Friday with three goals. “I couldn’t be happier — not for myself, not for anyone else, but (for) our whole entire team. Every single one of us is out there fighting for each other.”
Moses was spectacular almost from the start. He had two tough saves early and kept going from there, with six stops in the final quarter alone to keep Serbia off the board. The U.S. had started the fourth leading just 7-5, but as it turned it, that would have been enough.
“Starting the fourth quarter,” said Azevedo, “never in any of our minds did we think it was going to end like it did. We came out as hard as we could, our defense was great, but our goalkeeper was amazing.”
Said Moses, “I wasn’t going to let them score. I think they were very frustrated.”
Certainly afterward, they were very unhappy. Center forward Dusko Pijetlovic called it “the worst game we have ever played. …. This is horrible, this is a horrible day.”
Moses had a lot to do with that.
“Merrill was phenomenal; he was outstanding,” said Powers. “He was probably the X factor right there tonight, shutting down everything. It was awesome to watch.”
“He was on,” said Schroeder. “It seemed like with every block he got more confident, and for him to shut those guys down the way he did in that fourth quarter was just awesome to witness.”
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