By George Gross Jr., CTVOlympics Water Polo Analyst
Start off with a little bit of luck and then add a woman’s touch.
Because of that combination, Canada’s men’s water polo team is, at first glance, sitting pretty heading into the Olympic Qualification tournament in Edmonton starting April 1.
When London, Ontario’s Dr. Margo Mountjoy crossed the Atlantic to the “other” London as one of the FINA’s (the world aquatics governing body) representatives, she had no idea of the integral role she that would play in Canada’s water polo fortunes.
The reason for her trip was to serve as an observer of the Olympic water polo qualification draw. The process is strictly governed by FINA to ensure compliance and fairness.
The 12 countries involved are seeded by their performances in world and regional events and the rankings are displayed on the FINA website prior to the draw. Each of these country’s flags are emblazoned on a small ball. The top two seeds are then placed into a “blind” box. One ball is pulled out and that country is placed in Group A while the remaining ball is automatically placed in Group B. This process is repeated five more times giving each group six teams.
The only step remaining was the need for someone to draw the balls from the box.
“I was just sitting in the room watching the preparations when suddenly I heard my name being requested to step to the front to make the draws,” said Dr. Mountjoy. “No one warned me and I had no idea they would ask me.”
Was she nervous, especially when it came time to deal with the Canadian selection?
“I wasn’t nervous doing the draw,” Dr. Mountjoy reflected. “I was far more concerned with my role as FINA rep, ensuring that the draws were done fairly, completely according to the by-laws and with nothing that wouldn’t stand up to the closest scrutiny.”
Someone who did admit to nervousness was Canadian head coach Dragan Jovanovic, who also witnessed the draw in person.
“You have to beat the teams anyway to make it to the Olympics,” Jovanovic emphasized. “That said, there are different paths you can take depending on the draw you get. I wasn’t concerned about the team being in either Montenegro’s or Spain’s group (Canada ended up with Spain). We couldn’t be in the same group as Germany (drawn out of the box with Canada’s ball in the box).
“However, the next three draws which involved Romania/Brazil in the third round, Greece/Argentina in the fourth round and Holland/Venezuela in the fifth round were of significant interest as they would determine what kind of round robin and quarter-final we would have. Unfortunately, the draws put all three stronger European teams in the other group.”
While this may seem like reverse logic to the casual observer, Jovanovic had an explanation.
“In this draw, no matter how we finish in our group to make the quarter-final game, we will face a very difficult opponent because the stronger teams are in the other group.”
So Canada is in Group B along with Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Turkey. The chance of playing in the crucial quarter-final crossover match is virtually a given. Canada has beaten Brazil the last few times they have met and has easily defeated Argentina and Venezuela.
Not so for the teams in Group A where Montenegro, Germany, Romania, Greece, Holland and Macedonia form a difficult all-European group.
April 6 is the critical day in the week-long qualification tournament. The four quarter-final crossover matches will determine which teams earn the four available slots.
If things go according to form, the draw will allow Canada to finish second in Group B and gain a quarter-final match against the third place finisher in Group A.
The likely candidates for that critical crossover game are Romania, Greece and Holland.
That is where things could get interesting.
Four years ago at the Olympic qualification tournament in Oradea, Romania, the event came down to one game between Canada and the hosts for the final spot at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Canada had lost by 10 goals to the Romanians a week before the qualification but stunned the hosts in a historic match for Canadian water polo and qualified for the Olympics.
The distinct possibility exists for the exact same qualifying scenario to occur, only this time Canada assumes the role of the home team. It will be up to the current Canadian roster to ensure that the result is the same from Canada’s perspective.
The Canadian core of three outstanding, international level stars is back, led by goaltender Robin Randall and power forwards Kevin Graham and Aaron Feltham with Nic Constantin-Bicari playing the role of new star at centre forward.
Although Jovanovic has already trimmed his squad down to 15 players, he has two tough cuts to make prior to the Technical Meeting on the 31st. At that point Jovanovic will have his roster down to the 13-man limit that will open the qualification tournament April 1st against Venezuela.
George Gross Jr. is water polo’s iron man, having played in 170 games, twice representing Canada at the Olympic Games (Montreal 1976 and Los Angeles 1984.) He will serve as CTVOlympics Water Polo analyst in London 2012.
