Today in Chengdu, the Great Britain men’s canoe polo team returned to the water for The World Games, following their successful match against the People’s Republic of China yesterday.
Great Britain faced last year’s gold medallists, Germany, in today’s opening match. Germany were positioned directly below them in the group standings.
As the first sprint began, GB aimed to gain an early advantage, but a strong German defence successfully blocked a shot from captain Suryan McCutcheon.
With the 60 second shot clock running down, a foul from the Germans kept GB in possession of the ball.
The next attempt at goal rebounded off of the bottom bar, keeping the game at 0-0.
GB kept possession of the ball for the first four minutes of the game before they would have to defend.
Two missed attempts came from Germany before the ball was back in British hands.
The two teams were evenly matched throughout the first half, no goals meant that it was all to play for in the second half.
Half time: Germany 0 – 0 Great Britain
Winning the second sprint, GB began the second half back in possession, with an attempt on goal hitting the post.
Alex Lowthorpe gathered the rebound, sending the ball back to reset play for another attack.
A second throw from Caleb Bowden was blocked by the Germans, giving GB a corner.
A foul causing Kartik McCutcheon to lose his paddle saw Germany’s Tim Riecke awarded a green card.
Playing a man up for the next two minutes, GB remained in possession, several attempts on goal were just off target.
With the Germans now attacking, Lowthorpe scooped up a loose ball, tossing it down to the opposing end for Santanam McCutcheon to capitalise on the fast break.
GB defended well to keep Germany from getting under the goal for an easy shot, forcing them back.
An opportunity came for Lennart Unterfeld, bringing the score level to 1-1 with just under three minutes to go.
Lowthorpe was dealt a green card, putting them a man down with both teams looking for their next goal.
With Germany on the offensive, Leon Max Paul Konrad scored their second goal, putting them 2-1 up with 44 seconds left on the clock.
The last second shot from Lowthorpe was blocked by a paddle, giving Germany the victory.
Full time: Germany 2 – 1 Great Britain
Great Britain’s second match of the day saw them take on Italy in their last match of the preliminary rounds.
Santanam McCutcheon narrowly missed out on winning the first sprint, falling just short of Italian Fabrizio Massa.
The first goal came from Alessandro Schiano di Cola of Italy with the Great British team working hard to defend.
An attempt from Santanam McCutcheon gave another British corner to keep them in possession.
Midway through the first half, a fast break goal from Suryan McCutcheon put GB level with Italy.
The British team managed to run down the shot clock for the Italians who scored just out of the 60 seconds of time, not counting.
Both teams battled under the net for good positions, with another attempt from Santanam going just wide.
A last second fast break put Britain in good contention to pull ahead although the ball rebounded off of the bottom post.
Half time: Great Britain 1 – 1 Italy
Suryan won the second sprint in favour of Great Britain, with Italy missing out on an opportunity for a fast break.
With the British back in possession, a quick toss into Angus Boyle under the net gave him a prime opportunity to score the first goal of the second half.
Now leading, GB were back to defending, blocking the ball with a paddle.
Andrea Bertelloni of Italy scored, proving the competitiveness of the two sides, bringing it level again.
A shot from Fergal McConvey went wide, having a close call with a paddle nearly hitting his face.
Still fighting for another goal, the ball hit the side netting with another corner for GB.
A consecutive corner came as the British team maintained possession going into the third minute.
Bertelloni scored again for Italy with a fast break goal.
Lowthorpe took a quick throw to try to catch the Italian defence off guard but unfortunately was slightly off target.
A long shot attempt shortly followed, being saved by Giuseppe Ruggiero who was also dealt a green card.
Suryan’s penalty shot hit the bottom bar, with another chance given by the referees, his next attempt knocking off the end of the Italian defenders paddle as it was saved.
Great Britain, now a man up, maintained their possession and strong attack.
A number of close shots followed but the score remained 2-3 until Italy scored with just 19 seconds left.
A last ditch attempt from Bowden hit the bottom bar leaving the Italians with the win.
Full time: Great Britain 2 – 4 Italy
Coach Alan Vessey commented on the team’s performance so far:
“It was a good win against China yesterday and we put in a great performance against Germany with small margins being the difference.
“We came up short against Italy in the final group game where things just didn’t click.
The British team will be back in action tomorrow as they face France during the quarterfinals
FRA vs GBR – 8:40 (BST)
If you want to catch the action yourself, the livestream is available here.
Team:
1 – Kartik McCutcheon
2 – Suryan McCutcheon
3 – Caleb Bowden
4 – Alex Lowthorpe
5 – Angus Boyle
6 – Shivan McCutcheon
8 – Fergal McConvey
9 – Santanam McCutcheon