Throw in another vital factor and the
result spelt doom for the Dutch — Hungarian goalkeeper Flora Bolonyai
made 15 saves compared with Ilse van der Meijden’s six.

The
statistics keep coming. On the crucial extra-man-attack situations,
Hungary converted five from eight and Netherlands two from nine.

While
Hungary was hell bent on settling the result early, the Dutch were
tentative and lacked punch. Why? When it came to the crunch at 9-4 down
with just a quarter remaining, head coach Mauro Maugeri from Italy, must
have found the light switch that shed light on the horrific situation.

Netherlands fired in three consecutive goals for 10-7, conceivably a chance of forcing the match to a draw… possibly.

The
Dutch looked like the team of old with positive direction and two goals
on extra. However, the dream died when Kata Menczinger scored on the
deep left at 1:41. Both teams went to a timeout and that something
unusual happened when van der Meijden decided she did not like being in
goal and went to halfway to foul an opponent. Dora Antal said “thank
you”, loaded the cannon and shot the ball down the pool into goal for
11-7 at 0:11.

In that 7-1 dash to the halftime drinks, Hungarian Rita
Keszthelyi did her team proud, as she has all championship, with four
goals to lift her tally to 16.
The one down point for Hungary, plus a
plus for the Dutch, was the defence and almost shut-out, smothering
defence of centre forward Barbara Bujka. She had hoped for some majors
against her but Netherlands was determined that her threat would be
nullified. Now, if only they did that to Keszthelyi!

More statistics? Sure! Hungary became the first nation to win 50 World Championship matches. Who’s second? Ironically, Netherlands with 46! The previous six meetings between the pair were decided by a one-goal margin or ended in a draw, so this was a quantum shift by comparison.

Match 35: 20:15, Quarterfinal, NETHERLANDS 7 HUNGARY 10
Quarters: 1-5, 0-2, 3-2, 3-1
Referees: German Moller (ARG), Manol Taylan (TUR).
Extra Man: NED: 2/9. HUN: 4/8.
Pens: Nil

Teams:
NETHERLANDS: Ilse van der Meijden, Yasemin Smit (1), Marloes Nijhuis, Biurakn Hakhverdian (1), Sabrina van der Sloot (1), Nomi Stomphorst (1), Iefke van Belkum (1), Vivian Sevenich, Carolina Slagter, Dagmar Genee, Lieke Klaassen (2), Leonie van der Molen, Anne Heinis. Head Coach: Mauro Maugeri.
HUNGARY: Flora Bolonyai, Anna Illes, Dora Antal (2), Dora Kisteleki (1), Gabriella Szucs (1), Orsolya Takacs, Ibolya Miskolczi (1), Rita Keszthelyi (4), Ildiko Toth, Barbara Bujka (1), Krisztina Garda, Kata Menczinger (1), Orsolya Kaso. Head Coach: Andras Meresz.

FLASH QUOTES:

Gabriella Szucs (HUN):
“We started very strong, we played a great
defence and a faster attack, trying different movements and tactics.
Although the Netherlands got closer in the second half, we always had
the game under control. For the next game both USA and Spain are very
difficult teams, Spain is playing at home and the USA is the current
Olympic champion.”
Barbara Bujka (HUN):
“We did everything perfect
at the beginning, and at the end maybe we were a bit tired, but it was
never in discussion that we were going to win the game. We have to win
the next game no matter who is the rival.”
Andras Meresz (HUN Head Coach):
“We had an excellent start, we did everything perfect with a very strong defence and fast attack.
In
the second half they used many counter-attacks that let them get
closer, but we controlled the game all the time. We are a very young
team and we have played five important championships in the last few
years, always qualifying among the top five. Being among the final four
is very important for us.”
Vivian Sevenich (NED):
“Things went
down too fast in the first quarter, we made many mistakes, but we kept
fighting and fighting. The gap of the first quarter was too big, and we
reacted too late.”
Sabrina van der Sloot (NED):
“Had we played
from the beginning as in the last quarter, the final result would have
been different. We know them very well, we’ve played several times
against each other, and we could have achieved a better result.”
Mauro Maugeri (NED Head Coach):
“We
reacted too late, we scored first but then we didn’t score more in the
first quarter. We knew Hungary was strong, they shot well and played
better. We should improve our performance. We expected a more balanced
game, but we reacted too late.”