Hungary’s payback tour ends up in gold

Game 12, 20.15 – Final: Hungary v Croatia 10-8

Quarters: 2-2, 3-1, 3-2, 2-3

Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Sergey Naumov (RUS)

HUNGARY

Viktor NAGY, Soma VOGEL (GK – not entered) – Daniel ANGYAL 1, Krisztian MANHERCZ 3, Gergo ZALANKI 1, Marton VAMOS 1, Toni NEMET 1, Szilard JANSIK, Gergo KOVACS 1, Denes VARGA, Balazs ERDELYI 1, Zoltan POHL, Bence BATORI 1. Head coach: MARCZ Tamas

CROATIA

Marko BIJAC, Ivan MARCELIC (GK, n. e.) – Marko MACAN, Loren FATOVIC 3, Luka LONCAR, Maro JOKOVIC 2, Ivan BULJUBASIC 1, Ante VUKICEVIC, Andro BUSLJE 1, Lovre MILOS, Josip VRLIC 1, Andelo SETKA, Javier GARCIA. Head coach: Ivica Tucak

Extramen:

HUN: 3 for 8

CRO: 1 for 15

Penalties:

HUN: 0 for 1

CRO: 1 for 2

MVP of the game:

Viktor Nagy (HUN)

The game drew an absolutely capacity crowd to the Mladost pool, even Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic showed up with his son to cheer for the home side.

Hungary opened the game with a two-minute long possession – including a missed man-up –, then killed a Croatian 6 on 5, before Daniel Angyal drew first blood from the centre. Viktor Nagy then saved Loren Fatovic’s penalty, much to the delight of the minor but significantly loud Hungarian fan-group in the stands. Another Croatian man-up gone with the wind but Marko Bijac was also up to the task to deny Denes Varga from the wing and then a defensive mistake left Marko Buslje unmarked 2m from the goal and he opened the home side’s account after 4:15 minutes. 

Krisztian Manhercz replied immediately, though needed two shots in a man-up to make it 2-1. The game quickly turned into a man-up party but the Croats wasted their third and fourth one, the Hungarians also missed theirs before the hosts finally equalised after setting up a nice play with 16 seconds to go (2-2).

The trends didn’t change early on, the Croats wasted another man-up, while Bijac posted another save in a 6 on 5. Then came another action goal, Maro Jokovic’s fine 6m shot found the back of the net to give the lead to the hosts for the first time. Without their first-pick centre-forward (Balazs Harai was sidelined with injury after Friday), the Hungarians struggled in the position-game, their forced outside shots were easy task to Bijac – but whenever they could launch a counter, the threat was there: Krisztian Manhercz managed to gain some advantage to finish one for 3-3.

Their man-up defence worked well in this phase as they kept the Croats on 0 for 6 (another gone without a shot), while Manhercz managed to trick Bijac from the distance to regain the lead (4-3). And the hosts’ pains just grew as after the 7th denied man-up Bence Batori’s shot also slipped in under the goalie’s arm. Viktor Nagy made a save in the dying seconds to leave the hosts 0 for 8 and keeping their in front.

The Hungarians made most of their chances in the first half and even though a missed penatly kicked off the third period – Bijac saved Vamos’ shot – but then Gergo Kovacs surprised Bijac from the distance. Bad news was for the Croats that Viktor Nagy enjoyed his better spells this evening as he delivered one saves after the other. The Magyars even had a chance to go four goals up but missed their man-up after a time-out and that was costly as Maro Jokovic converted a penalty for 4-6, halting the hosts’ scoring draught at 10:26 minutes.

What could have been a turning point was quickly reversed, the Croats missed an assist to set up Fatovic swimming in front and Marton Vamos hit back with a blast for 4-7. The first goal which looked at least easy for the Croats arrived with 1:36 to go in the third when Ivan Buljubasic’s shot found the bottom right corner from 7m. But again, the Magyars reacted well, Toni Nemet netted a quickly played man-up 78 seconds from time before the last break. Not even a time-out helped the Croats, missed their 9th man-up, then Nagy saved Ante Vukicevic’s next attempt as well to maintain the three-goal gap before the final period.

Nagy began the fourth with a save out of this world to deny the 10th man-up for the hosts, then delivered one more in the 11th... He couldn’t have a hand on Fatovic’s lob from a 3 on 2 counter while the Magyars seemed to be running out of gas with 5:45 to go. But Goddess Fortune helped them a bit as Balazs Erdelyi was lucky enough to push in a rebound in a man-up to reset the three-goal cushion at 9-6.

Finally, with 3:38 to go, Fatovic broke the curse to net the first man-up goal from the 12th then the tension ran high when the Croats got a man-up but Javier Garcia punched back, earning him a red card and sending the Hungarian back to the Croatian goal to play a man-up which Gergo Zalanki put away for 10-7 with 2:52 from time. The block denied the Croats in their following 6 on 5 and even though Zalanki’s distant shot went wide the hosts had 1:49 seconds to create a miracle. A time-out helped them, in five seconds Josip Vrlic netted a back-handed shot from the centre and they could have pulled one more back, but guess what happened, Nagy denied Fatovic in a 6 on 5. Then had one more save to secure the Magyars’ win – a pretty well-deserved one indeed.

Tamas Marcz, head coach, Hungary:

“We are happy to take one more step. It’s a small step, we have to assess this success carefully. What I liked how the team developed, we could come up with three cool, collected performances on three consecutive days against top teams, winning the final in the home of an extremely strong team. This is great and boost our confidence but plenty of hard work awaits us as I know we can get even better than this.”

Ivicc Tuck, head coach, Croatia:

“Without doubt, Hungary deserved this win. They were the better side in all aspects of the game. I might have recalled a couple of interesting decisions which would have sent the match into different direction but it’s not the time to do it as the Hungarians did everything better today.”

Viktor Nagy, goalie, Hungary:

“When you are really immersed into the club season you sometimes find hard to maintain your level on a constant high. But once you have a week in the national team, and especially a one like this with a big tournament at the end, then somehow you feel that you have been kicked to another dimension, you find extra motivation, your soul is electrified. And a team can end up like this: everything starts clicking and you can win three pretty tough matches like this. I think we have to stay humble, work hard and maintain our winning mentality. These are the keys of success.”

Javier Garcia, player, Croatia:

“As they say in the US, it was just a bad day in the office. Obviously, we didn’t play well today, Hungary did everything better, man-up, man-down, swimming, moving, they really outplayed us this evening. We learnt a lesson and had to bounce back in the summer.”

Game 11, 18.30 – Bronze medal match: Italy v Spain 7-9

Quarters: 1-3, 2-0, 3-5, 1-1

Referees: Sebastien Dervieux (FRA), Boris Margeta (SLO)

ITALY

Marco DEL LUNGO, Francesco DE MICHELIS (GK) – Francesco DI FULVIO 1, Guillermo MOLINA, Pietro FIGLIOLI 2, Edoardo DI SOMMA, Alessandro VELOTTO, Vincenzo RENZUTO 1, Gonzalo ECHENIQUE 1, Nicholas PRESCIUTTI 1, Michael BODEGAS, Matteo AICARDI 1, Zeno BERTOLI. Head coach: Alessandro Campagna

SPAIN

Eduardo LORRIO, Daniel LOPEZ (GK, n. e.) – Alberto MUNARRIZ 3, Alvaro GRANADOS, Miguel DE TORO, Alberto BARROSO 1, Augusti PERICAS, Sergi CABANAS, Francisco FERNANDEZ, Roger TAHULL 1, Felipe PERRONE 1, Blai MALLARACH 3, Alejandro BUSTOS. Head coach: David Martin

Extramen:

ITA: 3 for 8

ESP: 1 for 7

Penalties:

ITA: 1 for 1

ESP: 2 for 2

MVP of the game:

Blai Mallarach (ESP)

Two great centre-shots kicked off the big battle for the last remaining berth in the Super Final. Matteo Aicardi back-handed shot gave the lead the Italians, then Roger Tahull’s aerial catch-and-go pulled the sides to even. Tahull’s then set up Blai Mallarach for another action goal to make 1-2 – quite an opening. Then the defences and the goalies took over but even if the Italians managed to kill two man-ups, in between Felipe Perrone drove himself in front of the goal and netted a third action goal for Spain.

The Italians responded well in the second, Nicholas Presciutti also pushed one in at equal strength then they denied another Spanish 6 on 5 and Gonzalo Echenique put away their first one, so in 90 seconds they equalised for 3-3. Both teams missed one man-up apiece (Spain was 0 for 4 at this stage), the defences did a tremendous job again so the standing was frozen till half-time.

The Spaniards broke their 10:51 minute-long silence by a free-throw from Alberto Munarriz, while the Italians failed to make their next man-up. And Spain went on, Alberto Barroso converted a penalty (called based on the new regulations, touching the centre’s ball-holding arm from behind). Another Italian 6 on 5 gone, and Mallarch was on target finally in the sixth man-up for 3-6. The Settebello pulled one back, Pietro Figlioli just beat the buzzer from their following extra – their draught lasted for 10:26 minutes –, but Spain’s answer came immediately, Munarriz converted another penalty for 4-7. The Spaniards even had a possession with four shots (rebounds were collected continuously) but none went in and Italy reduced the gap once more when Zeno Bertoli netted an extra. But luck wasn’t their side as Munarriz’s shot somehow sneaked in after touching two hands at least with 29 seconds to go. Still, the Settebello could get closer when Francesco di Fulvio quickly netted a man-up 5.5sec before the last break for 6-8.

Italy changed its goalie for the final period – Spain, interestingly, left Dani Lopez on the bench for this match but Eduardo Lorrio was up to the task – who came up with a couple of great saves but the offense wasn’t on top as they couldn’t score from a man-up at the other end. Minutes were ticking down without stopping so the players were visibly tiring in the swimming contest, while the attacks were losing their sharpness at both ends. With 3:27 to, Alessandro Campagna called for a time-out but Lorrio continued stopping the shots coming from the distance. Finally di Fulvio could get close to the goal and earned a penalty with 1:24 to go and Figlioli didn’t miss it (7-8). Then a man-up arrived, prompting protests from the Spanish bench, but after the time-out the Italians were unable to set up a better shooting position and their forced shot flew wide. Spain called for a calming time-out 20 seconds from time and it paid off as Munarriz sent a blistering 6m shot from a free throw to the bottom left corner with 14 seconds remaining and that sealed Spain’s bronze medal which is equal to a ticket to the Belgrade Super Final. On the other hand, Italy needs to reschedule the start of its Olympic qualification campaign to the World Championships.

David Martin, head coach, Spain:

“We had three very hard days and I’m really proud of my team to clinch the bronze medal. This is what we wanted to achieve, to qualify for the Super Final. This game was a very physical one, as you can expect when you play with Italy but we did our best and managed to win.”

Alessandro Campagna, head coach, Italy:

“It was an interesting experience with the new rules. What is inevitable for us to improve our physical condition. And even though the World League is over for us, at least we will have time to work while the others had to play the Super Final just one week after the Champions League Final Eight.”

Felipe Perrone, captain, Spain:

“We are really happy to win this match. It was a hard game, a hard weekend but it’s great to see the team fighting all through these three days. I think we did a great job here.”

Game 10, 16.45 – For places 5-6^th: Montenegro v Serbia 16-14

Quarters: 5-6, 5-2, 4-2, 2-3

Referees: Nikolaos Boudiramis (GRE), David Gomez (ESP)

MONTENEGRO

Dejan LAZOVIC, Slaven KANDIC (GK – n. e.) – Drasko BRGULJAN, Duro RADOVIC 1, Marko PETKOVIC 2, Bojan BANICEVIC, Vlado POPADIC, Mladan JANOVIC 3, Aleksa UKROPINA 2, Aleksandar IVOVIC 3, Vladan SPAIC 2, Dragan DRASKOVIC 1, Nikola MURISIC 2. Head coach: Vladimir Gojkovic

SERBIA

Branislav MITROVIC, Dimitr RISTICEVIC, (GK) – Dusan MANDIC 1, Nikola DEDOVIC 1, Sava RANDELOVIC, Milos CUK 1, Dusko PIJETLOVIC 4, Dorde LAZIC, Milan ALEKSIC, Nikola JAKSIC 1, Filip FILIPOVIC 3, Ognjen STOJANOVIC, Strahinja RASOVIC 3. Head coach: Dejan Savic

Extramen:

MNE: 6 for 11

SRB: 4 for 11

Penalties:

MNE: 2 for 2

SRB: 3 for 3

MVP of the game:

Mladan Janovic (MNE)

Just like the game for the 7^th place, this was also ended up in a scoring festival. While in the games where is a lot at stake – quarter-finals, semis or in the medal round, the traditional ‘meeting point’ for these two sides – there is hard marking, enormous physical battle and players need to offer outstanding efforts to score a single goal, here the motivation was not the same in defending. And that gave way for the heavy guns as both sides feature a handful of scoring machines.

They used the opportunity so the encounter reminded a classic showdown from the Wild West, load-and-shoot all the way. Earlier some clash produced 11 goals altogether, now the Serbs led 5-6 after eight minutes. However, the Montenegrins was a bit more focused and turned the game by halftime when they were 10-8 up (in the past opponents could barely reach double digits against the Serbs in any game – not it was 10 at halftime already). 

The Olympic champs tried to find some more motivation but they lacked the edge and only towards the end of the game managed to get close to their ‘brothers’ by netting four connecting goals. With 1:32 to go it was 15-14 (from 15-10) but the Montenegrins earned a penalty in their next possession and Alexandar Ivovic didn’t miss from the line to secure a fine win for Montenegro.

Serbia lost two in three days, something highly unusual considering the fact that they were unbeaten from mid-July 2014 till the summer of 2016 during 34 matches at the majors. As the host, they will play in the Super Final in June but definitely need to recalibrate their team as the first worrying signs have now become visible which usually mark the starting decline of great water polo dynasties.

Game 9, 15.00 – For places 7-8^th: Russia v Greece 14-15

Quarters: 3-3, 4-5, 2-4, 5-3

Referees: Sinisa Matijasevic (MNE), Gyorgy Kun (HUN)

RUSSIA

Vitaly STATSENKO, Petr FEDOTOV (GK, n. e.) – Ivan SUCHKOV, Ivan VASILEV, Nikita DEREVIANKIN 1, Ivan KOPTSEV, Daniil MERKULOV 2, Ivan NAGAEV 3, Igor BYCHKOV 2, Dmitrii KHOLOD 3, Sergey LISUNOV, Roman SHEPELEV 3. Head coach: Sergey Evstigneev

GREECE

Konstantinos FLEGKAS, Emmanouil ZERDEVAS (GK, n. e.) – Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS 4, Dimitrios SKOUMPAKIS, Marios KAPOTSIS, Ioannis FOUNTOULIS 2, Alexandros PAPANASTASIOU, Georgios DERVISIS 1, Stylianos ARGYROPOULOS, Konstantinos MOURIKIS 2, Christodoulos KOLOMVOS, Alexandros GOUNAS 2, Angelos VLACHOPOULOS 4. Head coach: Theodoros Vlachos

Extramen:

RUS: 5 for 9

GRE: 4 for 11

Penalties:

RUS: 1 for 1

GRE: 3 for 3

MVP of the game:

Angelos Vlachopoulos (GRE)

It was an entertaining match which was rather a scoring festival as on the last day – with nothing more than the pride at stake – the concentration level of the defences somewhat dropped. The game was balanced until the middle of the third when the Greek could expand the gap to three goals at 9-12 and from that point it was a chasing game. The Russians tried hard but Greece could maintain the 2-3 goal lead till the finish. With 2:41 to go they missed their extra and with 1:25 remaining on the clock the Russians managed to come as close as a single goal at 13-14. Greece had another man-up, it seemed a bit shaky as the shot-clock was ticking down, the Russians risked, two players left their positions to launch a counter but Georgios Dervisis remained cool and just beat the buzzer while sending the ball home for 13-15. Though one more Russian goal followed in the remaining time but it came 4 seconds from time, so Greece gained its first win here while the Russians had to return home with three defeats in the finals.