ATHENS - Tony Azevedo's last-second winning goal against Croatia is proof for coach Ratko Rudic that his U.S. water polo team is coming of age at the Olympics.
After leading by three goals for most of the second and third quarters, the Americans faced splitting the competition points when Croatian driver Nikola Frankovic tied the score 6-6 with 26 seconds remaining.
Rudic called a timeout with eight seconds left, and goalkeeper Brandon Brooks came out to pass to three-time Olympian Wolf Wigo, who faked three times in front of the cage before unloading to an unmarked Azevedo on the left side.
"I wanted that ball," said Azevedo, who squeezed the clincher between Croatian goalkeeper Frano Vican and his right post just before the buzzer sounded. "A shooter never has doubts once the ball leaves the hand. I saw we had two seconds when I got the ball, so I didn't have time. I had to shoot - the bounce was on our side."
Azevedo lunged backward in the water, pumping his arms, and the U.S. team rushed to the side of the pool to celebrate.
Rudic, who guided the former Yugoslavia to back-to-back Olympic final wins over the United States in 1984 and '88 and then coached the Italian gold medalists at Barcelona in '92, called the tight result character-building.
"It's the first time we won in the last seconds - after 50 years of losing in the last minute, we win," he said. "That's a good change. We need these things for the players to grow in the tournament."
"We knew exactly what we were going to do. We knew Azevedo would shoot," he said.
Rudic was hired as coach in 2001 and said he started with almost nothing. He implemented one of the toughest training programs in sports - and it's paying off.
"We had only two Olympians, but we worked hard," he said. "I worked with all of these players every day. We have excellent condition, and now confidence we can win in these situations."
