Easy Win against Israel Takes Women’s Water Polo Team to Euro Semifinals

As expected, the Hungarian women’s water polo team won convincingly against Israel on Sunday with a score of 22-6, advancing to the semifinals of the European Championship in Funchal.

The Hungarians, who won silver at last year’s World Championship, defeated Olympic champions Spain 9-7 on Monday, Romania 28-3 on Tuesday, and Portugal 28-4 on Thursday in the first round.

They took their three points against Spain with them into the the group stage II, where they lost 5-4 to defending champions the Netherlands in a hard-fought match on Saturday. It was important that they were only one goal behind, because that meant they could not finish third in the three-way tie, and all they needed to advance was three points against Israel.

Sunday’s match got off to a slow start, but ultimately went without surprise. Rita Keszthelyi was the best Hungarian player with four goals.

After the victory over Israel and reaching the semifinals, national team coach Sándor Cseh highlighted the journey that the Hungarian women’s water polo team has taken so far at the continental tournament.

“Obviously, I am satisfied with today’s result, but even more so with the journey we have behind us.

When the draw was made and it became clear that one of the Hungarian, Spanish and Dutch teams would not make it into the top four, it looked like it was going to be a very tough road.

It was, but I am glad that we are in the semifinals again, for the third world-class competition in a row,” he began his assessment in the mixed zone.

As he said, they knew that if they played Sunday’s game with discipline and normally, they would surely win.

Head coach Sándor Cseh. Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

“I always emphasize that we should respect each other so that no one has an unpleasant experience and has to prepare for the next day that way. I think that is what happened. This is not the time to play for our lives, but I think everyone did their job with integrity, helped each other, and enjoyed playing water polo. That was the most important thing for me today.”

The Israeli team held their own in the first quarter and even tied the score at 5-5 at the start of the second, but in the end, the Hungarians won 22-6.

When asked by MTI about the initial difficulties, the coach responded that Israel is not a top team, but they have two or three shooters who were effective at the beginning because the opponent kept pulling the ball until they were ready to shoot.

“It was not so much tactical or defensive mistakes, but quite simply that we did not use our legs, and they shot the ball past the blocks,” explained Sándor Cseh, concluding that the Israelis tired towards the end and the Hungarian team defended much more tightly, which opened up the gap.

Hungary’s next opponent will be Greece, whom they will face on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. Central European Time.

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