Australia grabs final quarterfinal spot in water polo

London, England – Led by three goals from Rhys Howden and nine saves by Joel Dennerley, Australia nabbed the final quarterfinal spot in the men's water polo tournament with a 13-8 victory over Greece.

The two countries were squaring off with the eighth spot in the knockout round on the line. Greece needed at least a tie to advance, but trailed by three at halftime and couldn't pull off a rally.

Richie Campbell, Jamie Beadsworth and Billy Miller all scored twice for Australia, whose coach John Fox said the players had a long meeting on Sunday to prepare for this game.

"I said look, this is what we need to do to win this game. We went through situations and we were very critical of each other; even we, the coaches, were criticized," said Fox. "We accounted for every single goal we've let in this tournament. It was a painful process, but it's paid off today as the players said it should never happen again."

Greece received three goals from Theodoros Chatzitheodorou.

USA, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary had already advanced, while Kazakhstan, Romania and Great Britain had no chance of qualifying.

The U.S. still had a good matchup in front of it on Monday against Hungary, which won their matchup at the 2008 Beijing Games in the final. The Americans were unable to get some revenge, falling 11-6.

The United States, which finished fourth in Group B due to a minus-one goal differential, will play Croatia -- the winner of Group A with a perfect 5-0 record -- in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday. Group B winner Serbia opens against Australia.

Also, Spain will tangle with Montenegro, while Italy begins the knockout phase versus Hungary.