The players of the Hungarian women’s water polo team were preparing for lunch at their accommodation, the three-star Quintessa Hotel, which, like many venues in Fukuoka, wore world championship water polo robes. World Cup mascots greet you at the front desk, and World Cup volunteers have been given a special spot at the entrance, where you can bump into them around town. The captain of the national team, Attila Biro, and the girls are already at home at the hotel, although the World Cup has just begun – on Monday the quarter-final match against Spain will be the first truly important test of strength.
– The matches against Canada, Japan and New Zealand were not the most important, only the victories were important in those matches – Attila Peru looked at our question about the group stage, whose team was probably sweating more against the previously mentioned national teams. – I’m glad that even by focusing on week two we managed to win the relatively easier matches in week one while sometimes playing a little weaker and sometimes better.
In our video, Attila Biro answers the following questions:
• How were the preparations against Spain?
• What is important that we lost to the Spaniards in the European Championship last year and two years ago in the Olympics?
• What progress do you expect from the Hungarian national team?
In the match against the Spaniards, they will have to put in their best Fukuoka performance to date if the team is to achieve its goal, which is to fight for medals in the World Cup. We may have bad memories of the Spanish national team, which defeated Attila Peru 15-11 in the European quarter-finals last year, and 8-6 here in Japan, in the Tokyo Olympics semi-finals two years ago.
– They did not have any influence on the current match, different teams took part in the Olympics and the European Championship last year, but the Spaniards presented the same entire squad, – the captain noted. “I’ve tried guys along the way, and I’ve tried many young guys.” They were really better at the Olympics two years ago, they beat the then Hungarian team, that’s a fact. I am sure they will not have such an easy time against us now as they have in recent years.
Better two goals against America than fifteen against South Africa
Although the Hungarian national team rested as the group winners, since they did not have to play to reach the quarter-finals, the days did not pass idly by. The program saw two goals against the reigning Olympic and World Cup champions, the United States and the Netherlands, who defeated Spain in the group.
Attila Biro explained that the preparations went much better than if we played the Round of 16 against South Africa. – Instead, we managed to play training matches with the USA and the Netherlands, which were worth a hundred times more than if there was a 16-15-goal round. You can’t see any special excitement for the girls, this won’t be our first quarter-final, and we haven’t won one yet.
But what needs to be improved in order to qualify for the semi-finals?
Attila Peru declared a “defence”. – We belong to the leading group in terms of goalscoring, we are attractive up front, but we must be aggressive in the back line, and I also expect a good performance in goalkeeping.
Water World Cup Women’s Water Polo Quarter-finals Monday (Hungary time):
United States – Italy 8:00 am
Netherlands-Canada 9.30 am
Greece and Australia 11.00.0000
Hungary – Spain at 12.30 pm
Cover photo: Attila Biro believes the team is not nervous ahead of the all-important quarter-finals (Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák)
