Water Polo: Settebello in free fall, also beaten by Montenegro at the World Championships

“The wound hasn't healed.” The Settebello lost to Montenegro (12-8) in the dismal semifinal for fifth place at the World Championships in Singapore. For coach Sandro Campagna's Azzurri, only one match for seventh place remains, which will be played between the loser of the United States and Croatia. The defeat in the quarterfinals against Greece, especially for the manner in which it occurred (and with Matteo Iocchi Gratta kneeing an opponent underwater ), cut the national team's legs off in their first international match, the one that should have marked a restart after the painful Paris Olympics when the Azzurri were the victims of a glaring refereeing error. Their protests then led to a six-month ban, which only ended last April.

Campaign: "Greece's Wound Still Unhealed"

No excuses, just a lot of work to do: there's room for improvement, says the coach, who doesn't deny having made a mistake against the Greeks, a defeat that still has dire consequences: "It's a wound that still has repercussions, especially given how it came about. We've been working on it these past few days to lift the team up, but I haven't succeeded. I'm sorry." Campagna, analyzing the match against Montenegro, explains: "It was a bad result also because the game slipped away from us just when we were playing quite well. Overall, the performance wasn't bad; we produced, but we lacked shooting, quality, and decisiveness. Finding motivation for these games is harder for everyone. I told the players, especially the younger ones, that they need to learn to chew on something brown, not chocolate, because that's how you grow if you want to achieve great things. There's no doubt that this journey didn't begin under a lucky star, but we have plenty of time to make the right adjustments. I'm not worried; the team is worth more than that; we just need to work and improve in many ways, not just technically and tactically. What did I tell Iocchi Gratta? I'll talk to him alone at the end."

Velotto: "One of the worst tournaments in the Settebello"

Alessandro Velotto, 30, a center, doesn't hide his disappointment: "These are the worst matches to play because you're still carrying the quarterfinals with you. This tournament was truly one of the worst the Settebello has ever played. There was no energy, which is what characterizes us. We have to compete with each other. I'm truly sorry, we apologize, it hurts. We are the ones who make sacrifices, it's difficult even for our followers to watch these matches afterwards. But when you lose the quarterfinals, the tournament is ultimately a failure."

Di Somma: "World Cup failure"

Edoardo di Somma, the 28-year-old Genoese striker, also expressed deep disappointment: "We were less aggressive than them against Greece. The Iocchi Gratta incident was a mistake, but it can happen. It still took our legs off us, but our attitude was flawed from the start. We're disappointed, because we had a good preparation this summer; we didn't expect to get to this point against Greece. It was a disappointing competition, and it hurts. We'll analyze the mistakes we made and see how we can change and improve."