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)
For more water polo news, join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Google+