A deafening home crowd in Sydney roared Australia’s Men’s Water Polo team, the Ord Minnett Aussie Sharks, into the semi final of the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals, as they stunned reigning World Champions Spain 23-21 in a penalty shootout.
Locked at 18-18 after a physical four quarters, the match came down to who could hold their nerves. Paris Olympian Matt Byrnes buried the equaliser right on the full-time buzzer, then stepped up again to score the winning penalty and send the Sharks into the history books.
“Amazing obviously it was a thriller here at home in Sydney which was great. The crowd was amazing they helped us get over the line,” Byrnes said.
“It’s been a long grind so to get it to pay off like that in the first game is great. We’re obviously very hungry for a medal we’re not finished here,” he said.
The physicality never let up throughout the match with Marcus Berehulak given stitches above the eye after an elbow, but played on.
Paris Olympian, Berehulak, said he was glad he could be patched up to get back in the water to help the team get the emotional win.
“I got stitched up and I’m glad I came back out there because that win was incredible…nothing like I’ve felt before.
“All credit to them, Spain is a fantastic team but I think we really stayed composed. We had a game plan that we stuck to, and we just kept chipping away.
“Having that crowd, and being able to deliver a performance against the current World Champions – it tops my number one water polo memory of all time,” he said.
Ord Minnett, Aussie Sharks Captain, Nathan Power, echoed Berehalak’s sentiments about the support of the crowd.
“It was an incredible atmosphere – seeing the stands full. There were a lot of people in the crowd who have travelled from all around Australia and mean a lot to each and every one of us… to have them cheering us on was really special.
“Some of the big highlights for me would be that Jacob Mercep absolutely stood up – all those goals he was scoring were so incredibly important in swinging the momentum for us.
“You look at someone like Marcus (Berehulak) who has a bloody eye, has to go off and get treated, comes back taped up like a State of Origin player and stands up and performs, scoring crucial goals at the end.
“Finally, the five boys taking penalties – they’re some of the young boys that really stepped up in a massive, massive moment. It was just incredibly cool to witness,” said Power.
Even after warming down, after greeting fans, the win still hadn’t sunk in for Paris Olympian Angus Lambie.
“I’m in disbelief, I can’t believe it, that game had everything. It was up one end, and then up the other. There were bar outs, there were exclusions, there were turn overs, there were two metre calls and we just stuck it out, we fought through and we got it in the end.
“We owe that (win) to our fans, we’ve never had a tournament like this in Australia and you could just feel that when it was going against us, we were getting lifted up by the fans.
“They were there on our bad plays, and they were there on our good plays. When you score that goal, you want the next one for more celebration,” he said.
The Ord Minnett Aussie Sharks will now wait to see who they meet in Saturday’s Semi Final at 6:30pm, as they will play the winner of the Croatia vs Hungary match currently underway.
Coming up tomorrow the Aussie Stingers will play USA in the women’s semi final at 6:30pm, a Paris Olympic Games repeat and 26 years on from the historic Olympic gold medal match at Sydney 2000.
World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals are live on Kayo Sports, with tickets available at waterpoloaustralia.com.au/events/2026-world-cup-finals-sydney
