Unai Aguirre: "My shouts help my teammates to grow in the game"

Bogdan Durdic rose above the surface and cocked his arm by stretching his shoulder into hyperflexion before firing the projectile.

There were 20 seconds left in the match between Spain and Montenegro this Wednesday, in the quarterfinals of the Water Polo World Cup, in Budapest.

If the shot went in, the score became 7-7 and forced overtime.

But the ball hit Unai Aguirre's hand before going off the post.

A loud cry rose from the water to the tops of the chestnut trees that surround the pool on Isla Margarita.

Unmistakable hallmark of Aguirre, the goalkeeper's celebrations have generated controversy.

"The rival stings if he wants to!", Says he, who is not afraid of vengeful pitchers wounded in his self-esteem.

“I celebrate the save because I have avoided a goal, not because I want to bite anyone.

Just as goals are celebrated, saves are celebrated.

Not only do I need it.

The team needs it too.

My teammates have told me that it gives them confidence when you stop it and shout, because you help them go on the counterattack and grow in the game”.

Durdic endured Aguirre's outpouring after a psychological as well as physical duel.

It was the thirteenth stop for the boy who, at 19 years old, has inherited the position left by Daniel López Pinedo after the Tokyo Games.

"The World Cup is a great challenge for me and for the team," he says, with the calm of intrepid youngsters.

Do not hesitate.

In his hands lies much of the fate of the team that represents Spain's last hope of winning a medal in the World Swimming Championships.

This afternoon (7:30 p.m., aquatics.eurovisionsports.tv) the Croatia of Lazic, Vrlic, Marinic and Zuvela, a veritable artillery battalion, will face each other in the second semi-final.

The first will face Greece and Italy at 16:00

”Water polo is comparable to handball”, says the coach, David Martín.

“The balls are constantly reaching the goal.

If you have a good goalkeeper, you have won a lot”.

David Martín recalls that unlike other team sports, where the role of goalkeepers in attack is secondary, in water polo they play a major role as throwers of counterattacks.

“We've had the best goalkeeper in the world for a long time, at the passer level,” he observes.

“Dani Pinedo was like a

.

Something unusual for the ability he had to put the ball in the hand of a player in motion at 25 meters.

Unai is a very good passer, but in this, Dani's level is unmatched: where there was no pass he found it.

That he is not going to change our way of playing.

At the same time, Unai must be told not to risk so much.

Because his great virtue is his ambition.

He is the typical young man that you have to constantly brake.

If it were up to him he would be training 24 hours a day receiving kicks.

He's intuitive, he's aggressive, and he's a water polo nut.

Despite his youth, he already wants to be the best goalkeeper in the world.

He already wants it all!”.

"In water polo, the goalkeeper has to choose the pass very well," warns Aguirre.

“If a counterattack partner leaves very alone, you have to give him the pass.

At the start is where we are strongest.

It is what characterizes Spain.

The start to the counterattack, the arrival, the two meters... Have a very high pace of play.

That's where Spain is the best.

That is why goalkeepers are required to pass well.

I was born with it and I work on it by gaining strength and shoulder mobility in the gym, practicing it in training, taking risks and failing a lot.

The pass is one of the things I have to improve, but I'm on the right track”.

Limit: 10 goals against

The Spanish team is famous for building floating castles around its goalkeeper, the starting point for continuous outings to harass the rival.

“Tactically we try to make our goalkeeper feel comfortable with the shots he is going to receive”, observes the coach;

“That he has knowledge of where we want to be shot.

When you play against rivals of such a level, they will sometimes plug you.

But if defensively you are very weak, if they score 14 goals it is very difficult for you to score 15 later. Since the change in the regulations [which makes attacks more dynamic and promotes penalties] we have to leave rivals with less than 9-10 goals because we have the capacity to put more.

The statistics say so and it does not usually fail”.

"My father was a soccer goalkeeper," recalls Unai Aguirre, who despite his Basque name is Catalan without being able to prove ascendants other than those from Granada and Valencia.

"And I was also a soccer goalkeeper... until I got into a swimming pool."

This afternoon at the pool in Budapest you will see Lazic, Vrlic, Marinic and Zuvela eager to celebrate each stop with a shout.

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