Spain will play a semi-final again, the fifth in a row in one of the three major tournaments, by painfully defeating Montenegro (7-6) in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Budapest. The great performance of goalkeeper Unai Aguirre and a great defense lead David Martín's men to play on Friday (9:00 p.m.) against Croatia, who defeated Serbia (12-14), a place in the final on Sunday. It will be the eighth semifinal of a World Cup for Spain, in search of a gold that has resisted for 21 years (Fukuoka 2001).
The Spanish team found themselves with a stony Balkan defense, but knew how to take advantage of the first superiority by moving the ball well, to the three corners, to score the 1-0 Martin Famera patting from the buoy. The advantage grew in the following attack with a missile that Alberto Munárriz hit from the central position. A 2-0 in 2m25s that was replicated in another cross attack from Popadic (2-1).
To prevent Montenegro from growing, Unai Aguirre appeared, taking out a pair of hands with poisoned shots. The Barceloneta goalkeeper put into practice his ritual of shouting and gestures to intimidate the rival. His two stops prevented the Balkans from equalizing at the end of the first quarter.
The second round started with Banicevic making it 2-2, achieved with good ball circulation, taking advantage of Bernat Sanahuja's superiority due to exclusion. The tie was quickly replicated in a cross from Granados to make it 3-2, and a subsequent stop by Aguirre at the base of the post to consolidate the advantage.
David Martín's timeout shook the positions, giving entry to Blai Mallarach, who drilled with his left foot in a low shot that made it 4-2, although Matkovic hooked Montenegro again in the following attack (4-3).
As soon as Unai Aguirre avoided the 4-4 by patting the buoy, Spain had a penalty that Roger Tahull took, but goalkeeper Lazovic stopped Munárriz. Even so, the team managed to go to rest with 2 thanks to the goal, 2 seconds from the buzzer, by Tahull tapping a hanging from the left by Perrone.
After going through changing rooms, Sergi Cabanas put the maximum income, a 3 (6-3) that Durdic soon cut back with two goals in a row (6-5) against which Aguirre could do nothing. Spain was able to go into the fourth quarter with 2 with a penalty forced by Perrone, but in a controversial action Bernat Sanahuja was unable to take the shot because Durdic touched the ball to him in the water when he lowered his arm to set up the shot. The referees turned a blind eye, did not review the video, and had to go with the slightest advantage to play the last 8 minutes.
The last quarter started with great equality, tougher defenses and more errors. Every action would be decisive. That was when Aguirre grew again, as happened in the match against Italy, when he kept a clean sheet in the last round. On this occasion, the Barcelona goalkeeper stopped two shots, from Matkovic and Vucurovic, who were avoiding the Balkan approach. In attack, Mallarach made it 7-5 with 4:05 to go. The semifinal was in the pocket.
The only thing left was to defend well and secure the result, although for that he had to suffer: Averka closed the gap (7-6) with 1m35s to go taking advantage of Famera's exclusion, Perrone crashed the last Spanish attack on the post with 50s to go, and in the last Balkan attack, Matkovic had the equalizer in his hand, but the ball also hit the post with 34 seconds remaining.
Spain survived with skill and got into its fifth consecutive semifinal between World Cups (2), Europeans (2) and Games (1). Not bad was David Martín directing Spain: six major tournaments since 2017, and five semifinals. The road to gold continues.
Spain: Unai Aguirre, Munárriz (1), Granados (1), Sanahuja, De Toro, Larumbe, Famena (1), Cabanas (1), Tahull (1), Perrone, Mallarach (2), Bustos, Lorrio (ps) .
Montenegro: Lazovic, Mrsic, Vucurovic, Averka (1), Cuckovic, Popadic (1), Radovic, Durdic (2), Perkovic, Banicevic (1), Matkovic (1), Petkovic, Tesanovic (ps).
Quarters: 2-1, 5-3, 6-5, 7-6.
