The Hungarian men’s water polo team won their second match in the World Cup qualifying tournament in Bucharest, Romania, and with Tuesday’s 15-10 victory over France they advanced directly to Friday’s quarter-finals.
The top six from the tournament will qualify for the eight-team ‘super-final’ in April, in which the German and Dutch teams from Division B have already secured their places.
The Hungarian team started a little tired, that was no surprise as they had just fought a big battle with Spain 19 hours earlier. The French took advantage of this to take a two-goal lead in the opening quarter.
In the second half, the game changed completely, with six unanswered Hungarian goals and goalkeeper Szakonyi saving French shots, including one from the rival’s most talented player, Thomas Vernoux.
In the third half, the game remained the same: the Hungarian defense worked well, while the French were unable to get the ball into Szakonyi’s net for more than a quarter and a half. The Hungarian team could have won the game with a man advantage at 9-3, but the French team came back with three goals in a row. Before the end of the quarter, however, Gergely Burián scored and the team went into the final eight minutes with a reassuring (10-6) lead.
The fourth quarter dragged on, mainly because the coaches tried to take advantage of the newly introduced challenge. It ended 15-10 for the Hungarians.
“The problem at the beginning of the game was that we knew that the French offense was based on Thomas Vernoux, therefore we had to take him out, but at the beginning we were slipping in the back and we did not have the rhythm of the defense.
As soon as we stabilized that, not only Vernoux could not get into position, but we also got into sync: we were able to start turning and that immediately had an effect on the result.
Towards the end of the third quarter we slowed down a bit again, we pushed too hard with some bad solutions against six-on-six and they turned back – but then we managed to consolidate the game again, both in front and in the back,” said the Hungarian team’s head coach Zsolt Varga.
He noted that a four- to five-goal lead after three quarters is by no means a sure win. “It is also clear that we still have a lot to work on, but it is noticeable that we have a rhythm to our game, we have the support of each other at the back, the good effort that radiates positive energy, from which a team can build. The most important thing for this team is for everyone to feel what it is like when we really solve the defense together, when the players help the goalkeepers, in return the goalkeepers give rock solid support from the back (…). We need many, many positive things like that, a shared experience that constantly develops cohesion.”
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Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Kovács Tamás
