BEIJING — Montenegro stunned Croatia 7-6 in the quarterfinals Wednesday, with Nikola Janovic, Aleksandar Ivovic and Vladimir Gojkovic scoring two goals apiece, sending the mustachioed Croatians home without a medal.

Reigning world champion Croatia came to Beijing as the favorite to claim gold and looked every bit the part to open group play. The team cruised through its first three games, but then had a shocking defeat to the United States.

The loss cost them an automatic spot in the semifinals and left them with a tough matchup against Balkan counterpart Montenegro.

Montenegro, which won the European championship last month, took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and sent the Croatians into panic mode early. They never recovered.

"It's very, very difficult for us," Croatian driver Maro Jokovic said. "We were expecting more. They were better. What can we say? In the crucial moments, when we had to score, we didn't. At the beginning, they made the big gap, and it was hard to get equal with them."

Montenegro advanced to play two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Hungary in the semifinals Friday. The third Balkan country, Serbia, thumped Spain 9-5 and will play the United States in the other semifinal.

The Serbs started slow — they didn't score in the first — but got it going with five goals in the second and were on cruise control the rest of the way. They looked much sharper than two days ago, when they lost to Italy and stirred up questions about whether they threw the match to get an easier draw in the next round.

"No, no, no. We didn't do that," said Serbian center forward Dusko Pijetlovic, who led his team with four goals. "We went into the match against Italy relaxed about winning or losing. That's why we lose."

Serbia and Montenegro played as one country four years ago in Athens and nearly beat Hungary in the gold medal match, but Montenegro split from Serbia in 2006 and the two teams came to Beijing wondering whether the division of talent — the national team pretty much got split down the middle — would affect their medal chances.

It didn't.

Montenegro scored the first three goals against Croatia and was up 5-2 late in the second after the Croats got confused on an exclusion penalty. Vanja Udovicic and Nikola Radjen both swam to the penalty area, giving Montenegro a 6-on-4 advantage and an easy goal.

"We were not on the level we should be for the beginning of the game," Croatian coach Ratko Rudic said. We cannot permit so easy goals because of lack of concentration. If you give the opponent a three-goal advantage, it becomes a different game."

Croatia battled back, though, and cut the lead to 7-6 with 3:28 to play. But goalkeeper Milos Scepanovic blocked two shots in the final 2 minutes to preserve the lead.

Several Croatian players refused to comment after the loss. Their expectations were so high they even decided to grow their mustaches out as a sign of team unity and as an ode to their mustachioed coach. Jokovic said he expected many of them to shave soon — maybe even before playing Spain for fifth place.

"We are going for fifth place now and wishing Montenegro all the best in the semifinals," Jokovic said.

Both semifinals will be rematches from group play. Serbia won a defensive battle against the United States, 4-2, and Hungary and Montenegro tied 10-all.

"We will think about Hungary tomorrow," Montenegro coach Petar Porobic said. "Today, we want to be happy because it is dream for me and I must (stay) on the ground."