Hungary’s women’s water polo team beat the Greek team 10-9 on Wednesday at the World Championships in Fukuoka, so national captain Attila Biro’s team can play the United States on Friday at 7:30 for fifth place.
In the group stage of the World Cup in Fukuoka, the Hungarians presented themselves against Canada (11-10), and then proved their superiority over Japan (26-21) and New Zealand (23-5). As group winners, they missed out on the first qualifying round, and then on Monday, in the quarter-finals, they lost 12-9 to Spain, the reigning European champions.
Of the four group winners, in addition to the Hungarians, two other national teams failed in the quarter-final match, the defending champions America and Greece, and only the Netherlands succeeded.
Men finished the opposite on this indicator: The Greeks and the Spaniards advanced, and only the Italians were defeated. The latter beat the Serbs in a five-meter duel, but in the other three clashes there was also a nuance in the finish.
This time too, it is not possible to draw far-reaching professional conclusions with regard to organisation, that it is better to have an extra extra day if four days pass between the two performances, or that it is better for the team to stay ‘in the game’. The short conclusion is something like this: The balance of power has been so balanced in both systems that even the top candidate among the eight cannot be certain.
Team Attila Peru’s opponent on Wednesday In the group stage, he defeated the South African team (24-2), the Argentine team (21-2), and finally the Italian team (16-12), then lost to the Australians 9-8 in the quarter-finals.
Before the Hungarians’ match on Wednesday, they had already played three games. for center 11 New Zealand By defeating the Republic of South Africa, 25-6 at the time The ninth place is occupied by the French It was obtained, and despite the score 0-3 in the last quarter, they confidently outperformed the Israelis (11-7). 5-8. to place Seven-time World Cup leader in the first organized match, gold medalist in the previous four tournaments Americans They didn’t give the Canadians a single chance (16-4).
Hungarian show in the first half
The first goal in the match was scored by the Hungarians. Camilla Carver It was effective, and in continuing the performance of the defenses and the goalkeeper played the main role. The Hungarian attack faltered, but the Greeks, who were more agile and passed the ball faster than their opponents, and thus had more chances, could not make much profit either. This was primarily due to Alda Maghiari, who saved five (!) out of six shots in the first quarter, at least three of which could be called feats. (2-1).
Hungarian goalkeeper focus in the second quarter He didn’t give up either, so he’s already made nine saves in the first half. The Hungarians advanced four times – the fourth time Rita from Kestley Through him it was the 700th goal for the national team – the Greeks could not equalize for the fourth time, so the difference in the first half was in our favor by one goal (4-3).
The goal sack broke in the third quarter
And the advantage increased with a Hungarian penalty kick Third quarter At the start, for the first time during the match, there was a two-goal difference between the two sides. Fortunately for us… Unfortunately, we didn’t even look at our misfortune, and the score was level again: the Greeks scored two goals from two haters. It was possible to start “faking advantages” again. And it was achieved with a Garda goal, and the Greeks held on, but in the end, Farago’s lead put them two goals ahead again: the young player scored first, then stopped the Greek attack in the middle, and helped Keszthely break away. And in the third quarter there were two goals more than in the first half (9-7) .
The fourth quarter At first we were able to attack several times for the three in between, but in the end our advantage was reduced to a minimum. In the first half, the defense played a leading role again, and the Greeks had a chance to equalise, but it didn’t work out for them, and the important part of the match was closed with another save from Maghiari, so we won. (10-9)And we can prepare for our final action against the Americans.
With this victory, the women’s national team secured its participation in the 2024 World Championships in Doha, just like the men who played in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Rita Kesthely: We never left each other’s hands
Union captain Attila Biro
“The spirits really needed this painful victory. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game, and we didn’t start from the game we played in the World Cup, when we beat them easily. The World Cup is always a special situation, no matter how many places you have to play.” L. This is the third time in recent years that we have played for fifth place, and I hope we can get it. Even if the game wasn’t perfect, you can build on that, there were great team and individual performances I’ve been waiting for. Obviously I have to start with Alda, who defends very well – I can say if he had defended like that two days ago, we would have played two hours later now. Of course, this goes into sports. The centers also worked very hard, even if they didn’t tolerate their game very much. We opened their defence well and were able to shoot well.”
Rita from Kestley
“It’s not easy standing up after the most important match, the quarter-finals, however Today we finally showed a more beautiful face, although we also know for sure that we are capable of much more. Today we worked mainly as a team in defence, and Alda defended fantastically. I’m very proud of the girls, because we didn’t let go of each other’s hands after losing the quarter-finals, we played together and we played well.”
About the 700th goal: I am very happy to have reached this number, it is certainly a great achievement, but I do not attach much importance to it.
Camilla Carver
“Qualifying for the quarter-finals was more difficult mentally than physically, But it was a tough game as if we were playing in the semi-finals. We fought hard for ourselves, for each other and for the fans, you can’t play fifth without determination, you have to push hard during these days as well. I’m happy we won.”
Women’s Water Polo World Championship:
5-8 for the place:
Hungary-Greece 10-9 (2-1, 2-2, 5-4, 1-2)
USA-Canada 16-4 (5-1, 2-1, 6-1, 3-1)
For ninth place:
France-Israel 11-7 (3-2, 4-1, 4-1, 0-3)
For eleventh place:
New Zealand vs South Africa 25-6 (7-0, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2)
Semi-finals:
Netherlands vs Italy 9–8 (4–2, 2–3, 2–2, 1–1)
Spain vs Australia 12–10 (5–2, 3–4, 2–2, 2–2)
Additional schedule (Friday):
For fifth place:
Hungary – USA 7.30
For seventh place:
Greece-Canada 4.30
For the third place:
Italy-Australia 6.00 am
finals:
Netherlands-Spain 11.00
(Cover photo: Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics)
