Defending World Champions Men’s Water Polo Team Kicks Off with a Win

The Hungarian defending world champion men’s water polo team began their tournament with a confident 15-8 victory against Romania at the World Championships in Doha on Monday.

Zsolt Varga’s team triumphed with a lot of mistakes, but with some good play in places.

Hungary will face Italy on Wednesday, with the winner of that clash expected to progress directly to the quarter-finals as group winners.

Olympic champion Dénes Varga has not yet joined the Hungarian team due to illness, and Zoltán Pohl has been left out of the 15-man squad.

It was a pleasant warm-up game against Romania, who qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2013, after finishing eighth at the European Championships in Croatia. The two teams have met six times at the World Championships, with the Hungarians having a 100 percent record, most recently winning the E.ON Cup at the Császár-Komjádi Sports Swimming Pool in Budapest in December as hosts.

Despite the confident 15-8 victory, the defending champion Hungarian men’s water polo team played with a lot of mistakes in the opening match against their opponents, head coach Zsolt Varga emphasized.

“Indeed, there were plenty of mistakes, but the most important thing in a match like this is that the team started the World Championships. It is significant to build the players into a team and for that you need a stake match,” said the head coach.

Regarding the Italian match, the expert stressed that the two teams had met twice in “different situations” at the European Championships – the team were refreshed for the continental tournament and had beaten their rivals in the group stage, however, lost to them in the bronze medal match – and now the head coach would like to see how this team can perform.

Zsolt Varga revealed that Dénes Varga will join the squad on Tuesday, but will not play in the clash against Italy.

Captain Szilárd Jansik noted that they made a lot of rash decisions at the beginning of the match and did not play the man advantage. “That is because the first game is always a bit more nerve-wracking, but in the second half our defense stabilized and overall I think we can be satisfied,” said the FTC star, who added that he expects a win against the Italians. “It will be much harder, the Italians are fighting for the quota, but I expect us to play better than them. However, we must not make so many mistakes, because they will take advantage of it relentlessly.”

Via MTI; Featured image via MTI/Kovács Tamás