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Swiss Champion Kreuzlingen and the runner-up from Horgen delivered an exciting final best-of-five series, which saw very good attendance from fans during the games.
Waterpolo enthusiasts from Switzerland were wondering about the outcome of the decisive final match. Will Kreuzlingen fix the mistakes they showed during games 2 and 4, or will Horgen surprise everyone and win a final match without going to penalty shots?
The match started in favor of the home team from Canton Thurgau. Kreuzlingen took an early lead by 2-0 with a beautiful “Denes Varga” goal after fake in a man-up from Simon Geiser and a goal from Robin Pleyer. Horgen replied with goals from lefthander Hal Goulder and Djordje Manojlovic, but Kreuzlingen could close the first quarter by 3-2 with a goal from Nemanja Silj.
The second and third quarters showed Kreuzlingen being more willing to swim and counter after good defensive work. Youngster Linus Längle, who played for the injured Yves Herzog, scored an important goal.
We were conscious of Horgen’s efficient defensive game, so we took some risk and tried to score in a counterattack, eventually deciding the game.
Milan Petrovic (head coach SC Kreuzlingen)
In particular, center-back Simon Geiser and goalkeeper Darko Aleksic of Kreuzlingen did an excellent job of containing Horgen’s center-forwards.
Horgen fought back with scorer Domonkos Szer (4 goals), but Kreuzlingen entered the last quarter with the result of 10-7.
The last quarter was goalless for four and a half minutes until team captain Robin Pleyer scored the important goal of 11 to 7, which made things very difficult for Horgen.
Late goals from Szer and Elias Mathis corrected the score to 12-10, but it was too late to stop the fireworks over swimming pool Hörnli, which crowned Kreuzlingen Swiss Champion 2024 for the fifth consecutive time.
We are delighted with this season and with having played in the Challenger Cup. After winning the Swiss Cup, we doubled with the Swiss championship.
Milan Petrovic (head coach SC Kreuzlingen)
Three Kreuzlingen players gave their farewell, with foreign player Nemanja Silj leaving for another club and captain Robin Pleyer and Simon Geiser retiring.
We will definitely have a younger team next season, but if we prepare as per plan, we will still be hard to beat. Therefore, we will keep aiming for the highest goals.
Milan Petrovic (head coach SC Kreuzlingen)
