After a Tough Match, Men’s Water Polo Team Loses against Greece

Hungary’s men’s water polo team lost 10-8 to Greece in the Group B opener match of the European Championships in Croatia on Thursday.

This time, the world champion Hungarian team is largely made up of young talent, while their rivals have brought their best to the Croatian capital, hence it was no surprise that they beat Hungary for the first time in the history of the European Championships.

The European Championships silver medalist Hungary will face Georgia on Saturday and Italy on Monday in the group stage.

Head coach Zsolt Varga left Zsombor Szeghalmi and Vince Varga out of the 15-man squad for the opening game. The match started with the rival goalkeeper’s saves and Greek goal-kicks, with Tátrai scoring the first goal.

The last eight minutes started with goal-scoring defenses on both sides, before Greece took the lead back. With just over a minute and a half to go, a Greek penalty settled the match. The final score was set by Fekete’s goal in the last minute.

Head coach Zsolt Varga was proud of his players even after losing their group match 10-8 to Greece.

He thanked the Hungarian fans for their support and for the good atmosphere in Zagreb. “What was important was that we were able to keep up with the Greeks all the way. We were missing something to turn the match around because we had the chances, but I am proud of the effort, the fight, the blocks, and the saves,” the coach assessed. Varga noted that the Hungarian team’s performance was “absolutely forward-looking,”

the team is on the right track and if they continue to improve match by match, step by step, they will be able to win serious clashes.

“The match against Georgia is a priority, our goal now must be to produce a good result against them, and against the big teams we will go into the water with…,” emphasized the head coach, referring to Saturday’s clash against Georgia.

Goalkeeper Márk Bányai stressed that the team had managed to show the fighting spirit that Zsolt Varga had asked for, and that he felt the team was a bit unlucky because of the goals from the block and the penalties.

The world champions and Olympic qualifiers will next take to the pool in Group B of the European Championships on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Via MTI, Featured image via MTI/Illyés Tibor