Men’s Water Polo Team Wins against Croatia with an Excellent Performance

The Hungarian men’s water polo team defeated the European champion Croatia 12-10 in the second round of the group stage of the Olympic qualifying tournament in the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

Nine Hungarian players were among the scorers. Coach Zsolt Varga’s side is now almost certain to top their group and qualify directly for next Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

The last time the two teams met was in the World Cup qualifier in Zagreb, where the Hungarians won 13-10, led by Gergő Zalánki, who scored seven goals. In the final of last year’s European Championship in Split, the hosts triumphed 10-9, while in the quarter-finals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Hungarian team won 15-11 with a great performance. The Croatians have won the last two clashes at the World Championships, winning 8-6 in the 2017 Margaret Island final, and 10-7 in the 2019 bronze medal match in Gwangju.

For Wednesday’s clash, Varga made one change from the squad that won against Japan, replacing Vendel Vigvári with Erik Molnár, and Vince Vigvári was the other absentee.

The first Hungarian attack ended successfully, with Zalánki scoring a wonderful goal from an action. The Croatians did not get a shot from their first lead, but this gave the Hungarians the advantage. The Croatians could not manage their second and third goals, the latter blocked by captain Szilárd Jansik, while at the other end, Márton Vámos’ bomb was untouchable. The rivals had already scored their fourth goal of the game to put their name on the scoreboard half a minute before the first break. However, there was still time for a Hungarian goal before the hooter, as Toni Német fired into the net from the center.

The first half of the second quarter went scoreless – Croatia could not cope with the Hungarian defense – and then Dániel Angyal broke the stalemate from close range, Croatia’s captain Ivica Tucak called for a time-out, but even that did not help, his players  attempted to score another goal, which was blocked by Zalánki. Croatia’s long scoreless drought was broken by Russian left-back Konstantin Kharkov, but the end of the quarter ended with a Hungarian goal, with Ádám Nagy firing a powerful shot into the top left corner with three seconds left on the clock.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Dániel Angyal was fouled before the comeback. Varga called for a time-out in the hopes of taking a three-goal lead, but Jansik scored with a great move over the head of one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Marko Bijac. The Croatians replied almost immediately, but at the other end, Dénes Varga made no mistakes in the game. Half a minute before the hooter, the Hungarian goal came again, Gergő Fekete’s ball bouncing into the net.

The final eight minutes started with a Hungarian lead and a goal by Zoltán Pohl, then Jansik took a shot and Vámos scored the rebound (10-6). This was the end of the game, the Croatians tried to score, but with one minute to go, Zalánki closed everything down.

After a turnover, the rivals came back to within one goal, but Zalánki scored a third goal to set the final score (12-10).

The Hungarians will close the group stage on Friday with a “foreseeable win” against Argentina, who replaced Brazil shortly before the World Cup.

Via MTI, Featured image via Facebook/waterpolo.hu