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2012 FINA World League: Day 2 Complete, Croatia Wins Group B

Day 2 of the 2012 FINA World League is over and Croatia has already clinched the No. 1 seed in Group B, and the best game of the day was when Italy defeated Kazakhstan in a shoot out. Defending world champions Italy is 2-0, but neither win was pretty as they have struggled.

In their latest game against Kazakhstan, the Italians fell behind 3-1 after the first period, 8-4 at halftime and even trailed 9-4 early in the third quarter. Trailing by five goals is when Italy made their move as they outscored Kazakhstan 6-1 the rest of the way to tie the game at 10 and go to a shoot out.

Trailing 10-8, Italy scored a pair of power play goals with 1:17 left and then 41 seconds left to send the game into a shootout. In the shootout period, Italy made their first three attempts while Kazakhstan missed their three chances, and then the game was over.

Croatia won their group as they edged out Spain 8-7. The first half looked like Croatia was going to easily get past Spain as they led 5-2 at the half.

Both teams struggled on their power play chances with Spain going 4-for-11 and Croatia converting on only 1-of-5. Spain cut the lead to one with 93 seconds left in the game, and they had one final shot by center forward Ivan Perez had a good look at the goal, but Croatia's goalie Frano Vican made the game winning save.

Standings after Day 2:

Group A Group B
United States (2-0) Croatia (2-0)
Italy (2-0) Spain (1-1)
China (0-2) Australia (1-1)
Kazakhstan (0-2) Brazil (0-2)

Up for grabs is still the top seed in Group A where the United States takes on Italy, as is the No. 3 seed between China and Kazakhstan.

Prelims, Day 3, June 14

Croatia vs Brazil 14:10 (4:10 a.m. EST)
Italy vs United States 15:30 (5:30 a.m. EST)
Australia vs Spain 16:50 (6:50 a.m. EST)
China vs Kazakhstan 18:15 (7:15 a.m. EST)

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