I will say this U.S. men’s team is one to at least be proud of. We don’t execute all that well but the fight has been there and I can’t wait to see them get a bronze 
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The women’s team has fallen apart late in the last two games. Bizarre for a team with the veteran leadership they have.
I think there’s a lot to be said about the roster, and how it was used. I saw it during the Spain loss, and couldn’t unsee it after that: there was a clear division between the veterans and the new comers. That’s squarely on Krikorian, which is why he needs to be gone after this.
I won’t pick apart individual players, but there were a couple (specifically one) who are total liabilities on defense, and they haven’t improved. Maybe that’s another reason there needs to be a change at the top.
Overall, this didn’t look like the cohesive and “together” group like in Olympics past. I think you salvage a couple newbies from this team (Neushul and Ausmus), and start over with the rest.
Unfortunate loss. Q4 was another disappointment. Last second goal was interesting with Neushal attempting to get to shooter from 4, not that she would have gotten there in time. The half time press conference with the seniors of the team had me thinking how many will move on, if not all. This has been an incredible run by that specific group, such dominance. Thank you for the years, the hours of commitment. Watching you and your predecessors has been an incredible journey.
Congratulations Spain, yes the best team this Olympics
Completely agree with the idea here, I am not sure trying to “fix” the National League is the best course of action moving forward.
One thing that USA Water Polo does have control over is public outreach/education on the game. Water polo is not as popular as it can can/should be because there is such high learning barrier for normal viewers.
Water polo refs have one the toughest officiating jobs in the world mainly for these two reasons:
- 1:7 ratio regarding ref to player, one of the worst ratios if not the worst in all of sports
- more than half of the players body is underwater
I know USA Water Polo does not control how the world plays the game but what if…
- refs having microphones like Rugby officials, explaining and talking during the game.
- categorizing calls like in basketball, for example, no matter if you took 3 steps without dribbling or 20 steps, the category for the foul is Traveling
- this helps take some ambiguity away and the inconsistency between refs
- adding a third ref to make the pool smaller for the officials
- perhaps adding a ref in the pool??
- hockey refs skate. soccer, rugby, basketball, football refs all run and are arguably “on the field”. the closest comparison to water polo refs is baseball umpires who barely move. water polo refs only walk half the pool
I have spread this message to my water polo community and I know this brings mixed feelings, some people think this is just part of the game that we all love and not to change it. Other’s point out that the logistics of adding a third ref is too messy and I understand all those points.
I guess my point is, “If nothing changes, nothing changes”
What an overreaction! USAWNT team was one of the four co-favorites in this Olympics (make it five with Australia), yet the only one with a huge target on their backs. I am sure that in the last three years, Hungary, Spain, Netherlands and Australia have been thinking that their path to potential Olympic gold would be through USA.
We need an elite center and a strong lefty in 2028. As for the newbies, I would argue that Roemer, J. Flynn, and Sekulic (in addition to already mentioned Ausmus and Neushul) should stay in the mix.
Roemer is a very smart player who will only get better if she sticks around. Jenna is a fantastic shooter and this is one area where we are not necessarily the strongest in the world, especially if Maddie decides to retire. Sekulic is only 21. If we have stronger centers in four years- great, but I am not completely sure about it yet.
I do not know about “a clear division between the veterans and the new comers” but if there has been one , it is as much on the veterans as on Adam.
If Adam wants to continue, USA should keep him. A time for a full rebuild would be after LA 2028 if we do not win Gold there.
P.S. It is extremely hard to stay on top for so long. There is a reason why no team has ever won more than three Golds in a row.
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Tough loss for the women today. Hard to watch them give up a 7-3 halftime lead and get outscored 5-1 in the 4th. Watching Vand Der Sloot score her 6th goal of the game on a 7/6 with a second left was especially painful. She was interviewed after the game and said that she was suprised that they left her so open at the end. I was thinking the same thing.
I thought that we would struggle at center, but getting virtually no production today is unacceptable. I do agree with El_Torpedo13 in that we have several players who are liabilites on defense and they were exposed again today. We play very good team defense, but there were too many individual breakdowns in this Olympics.
Nevertheless, it was a great run and as wpolo93 said, there is a reason why no water polo team has won more than three Golds in a row.
I am not sure where the US goes from here. A lot wil be based upon whether Steffens, Musselman, Fattal, Johnson, and, of course, Krikorian come back. If they don’t, those are some huge shoes to fill and I just do not see that sort of talent in our current pipeline. Whatever the case, it is obvious that there is now much more parity in women’s international water polo from here on forward.
Not sure the ratio of officials to players is so different in water polo. And to the extent it is, water polo officials have the advantage of elevation above the field of play for a much better visibility, and of being able to walk faster than the best players can swim, unlike any sport where referees are running or skating.
Re: your suggestions.
–Refs with microphones. I don’t know if FINA refs wear radios, but NCAA refs too. You could have the referees announcing some calls, but there are SO MANY whistles in water polo that this would significantly disrupt/delay play. You could have them explain calls after VAR review, as happens in most sports.
–categorizing calls. They already do this. There are ordinary fouls, exclusion fouls, and penalty fouls. There are hand signals for each kind of foul in each category.
–third ref. This would hard–a lot of moving bodies on a narrow pool deck. And to do any good, you’d need to add one on each side of the pool. What you could do is require goal judges for every match, and delegate some referee responsibilities to them. They are better positioned to judge goal/no goal, 2 meter, and perhaps even fouls at center, which would free up referee attention to focus on the perimeter.
–Ref in the pool. I see no advantage to this. A ref in the pool would see very little of the game, and they’d need to be world class athletes to swim heads up for 32 minutes. A set of underwater cameras with offiicials at the desk monitoring them might help with some calls.
–Remember that the VAR review is brand new, and I think has been very helpful in the limited calls we see reviewed–goal/no goal; brutality; clock errors. There may be ways to use it more regularly,
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It is probably fair to say that our main competitors on the women’s side had better centers in Paris. With Aria Fisher (she in only 25!) things probably would have been very different. Can one say that Tara and Jovanna played below their potential? I do not know…
I only woke up for the fourth quarter, but that was a good quarter for the US. Down 2 goals, they tied it and won in the shoot out. Hungary hit the goal frame twice trying to finesse around Weinberg, and he came up with a save, while the US hit 4 straight. against Vogel.
6 v 5 was still a big struggle but they converted them when it mattered.
Weinberg was insane this game. So locked in
Huge congrats to the USA men’s team. Looking back to where we were in 2016 to now it is pretty amazing, all their hard work paid off.
Now time for gold in 2028!
I think it’s more than unfair to blame young players in their first Olympics for the US women’s failure to medal? Are they playing with the poise and cohesion of veterans in their third or fourth Olympics? Of course not. The US women’s team run since water polo was added to the Olympics was incredible. It wasn’t going to last forever, and it’s been clear for several years that the Spain and Hungary and other were catching up. (I have to admit the Aussies suprised me.) If Kirkorian chooses to retire, he should leave with our gratitude and his head high. Nobody has had a better run in international women’s water polo, and he’s set a standard it’s unlikely anyone will match. If he chooses to stay, it will be interesting to watch this team in a new era of competitive balance.
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Huge win and medal for the men!! I’m sure most of the players will stick around for LA 2028 because of this.
Congratulations team USA! As mentioned before, the best defensive team in this Olympics, and it showed today. Sooo improved over Tokyo. Nothing more can be said about Weinberg other than Team MVP in my opinion. CDodd Q1 goal made the highlight reel. Cupido on both ends of pool was stellar. Hooper winning most all sprints this Olympics gave USA that many more possessions. Mr. Clutch Bowen when you most need a goal to swing momentum. A complete Team effort, including coaching, which delivered beyond expectations.
Amazing game and result. Weinberg won the last two for them. Who would think two 5M blocks vs the legend Denis Varga. Will be interesting to see what happens with coaches contracts for next run to LA.
Serbia, what an amazing three peat. Nobody had this winning this thing. The PP was amazing at > 60% as was defensive blocking and all around team game. Kudos to them.
The USA women had a tough draw and remain among the top in the world. Obviously AK should be extended or considered for the men’s team if he’s looking for another challenge.
Huge gutsy performance by the USA men whose defense was (again) phenomenal. Bowen called it a culmination. The players get the credit – the majority of whom stuck around for yet another cycle and played in EUR for years. Weinberg was incredible. But the two and three-time ‘seniors’ exuded physical confidence that was inspirational in all but a couple of games. Every team in the tourney had letdown games. After a deflated performance v Serbia, this was a huge determined bounceback (and another elite game by Weinberg).
Congratulations to the men’s team!! They played better water polo than Hungary the entire game. Weinberg is the MVP of the team and the difference in athleticism and technique really showed during the shootout vs the Hungarian goalie.
Watching them celebrate with each other and Dejans reaction really shows the work put in. I know I thought they could go all the way but huge accomplishment and what a way to put the US back on the water polo map!
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A very good result for USAMNT. Beating a good Hungary in the 3rd place game should be a serious step toward, hopefully, Gold in LA. Weinbeg is a very talented goalie. I hope he sticks around and plays in Europe for the next 3-4 years. The core of this team is fully capable to go even higher… Just please fix that damn 6 on 5 
And Serbs… What a playoff run when nobody believed in them! I am very happy for Milos Cuk, who missed 2021 Olympics. And for older Jaksic and Mandic after all their difficulties with management at Novi Beograd in 2023…
Can we give Dejan profs now?
His fingerprints were all over this win.
He got our players on teams across Europe. Those placements allowed them all to advance in skills and confidence. He took the risk of playing Weinberg. Only Dejan could have gotten Obert out of retirement.