August 5 Semifinal Schedule:
Match 25, 14:00, CHINA v NETHERLANDS
Classification 5-8 Semifinal
Match 27, 15:30, SPAIN v HUNGARY
Classification 1-4 Semifinal
Match 26, 18:20, AUSTRALIA v CANADA
Classification 5-8 Semifinal
Match 28, 19:50, RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE v UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Classification 1-4 Semifinal
• Times subject to change

Hungary put paid to Netherlands’ hopes of regaining the Olympic glory from 2008, by controlling the last three quarters and finishing with a flattering 14-11 women’s quarterfinal victory at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre.

This match had sizzle and plenty of drama and the statistics show that Hungary was the worthy winner. Hungary is the only team to beat double Olympic champion United States of America at the Olympic since the Dutch in 2008. That win came  on day two — 10-9.

Netherlands had the most shots; Netherlands had a staggering 10 from 12 conversion rate on extra-man attack. Netherlands nailed six less.

The Dutch had the advantage of four penalty goals while Hungary relied on shooting from the field and its finishing, especially in the final quarter, was exceptional. Hungarian head coach Attila Biro should be proud of his team.

The match was so close in the first half that it was tied at every number to seven and the impasse was broken a second from halftime when Dora Leimeter fired from 10m for 8-7.

The third period was tight defensively and two quick goals midway through gave Hungary the edge. Natasa Rybanska sent one in from the left-post position on extra and Anna Illes gained her third with a low lob. Maud Megens scored a second penalty with two minutes left and Sabrina van der Sloot converted extra on the buzzer to be just one goal adrift. It was the third last-gasp goal of the match.

Simone van der Kraats, who seemed to go missing for a while after scoring three of the first four Netherlands goals — two from the penalty line — to lift her Tokyo 2020 tally to 22, converted extra for the eighth tie of the match — 10-10. Krisztina Garda and Dorottya Szilagyi both made the most of extra-man chances for a two-goal margin at 3:54. At 2:33, Dagmar Genee lobbed the goalkeeper for 12-11 and just inside the minute a Dutch shot smashed against the upright, trapping goalkeeper Alda Magyari’s left fingers, causing her enormous pain. With no spare goalkeeper on the bench, she had to stay in the water and gained immediate attention on the timeout.

Szilagyi drilled the ball from the top for 13-11 at 0:39. Netherlands switched out the goalkeeper and gave a red No 9 cap to Maartje Keuning and the whole team went upfield. The ploy did not work and Hungary gained the ball and decided to hold it until Leimeter threw it into the empty goal with four seconds left and Hungary was into the semifinals. Magyari was crying in delight… as well as pain.

Match 23, 18:20, NETHERLANDS 11 HUNGARY 14
Quarterfinal
Quarters: 3-4, 4-4, 2-2, 2-4
Referees: Nenad Peris (CRO), Alessandro Severo (ITA).
Shots: NED: 11/31. HUN: 14/26.
Extra Man: NED: 4/12. HUN: 10/12.
Pens: NED: 4/4.

MATCH DETAILS

FLASH QUOTES

Attila Biro (HUN) — Head Coach
“Today you saw 12 great individuals delivering their best one by one and by adding them up you got a brilliant win by a team. This is what I did expect to happen in the knockout phase. Here no one was afraid of anything in any situation. If someone committed a mistake, she just put it behind and went on to make the next shot, to go for the next block. Mistake is part of the game, if someone does not commit any, one hasn’t been in the water for sure. That made this team effort possible and that resulted our best performance so far in this tournament. Yes, we beat the US but that was a preliminary match while this was the Olympic quarterfinal. I’m sure this win gives us a huge boost and we can carry on our momentum against Spain.”

Rita Keszthelyi-Nagy (HUN) — Captain
“Ever since I’ve become the captain of this team, I have always wanted to see what happened today. That the team’s performance does not depend on mine. Today I could be one of the players who played her own role in delivering this fantastic win and never had to think of expanding my boundaries. This was the key, everyone contributed to the team’s effort both in the back of the pool and in front. If one had to take a shot, one took it. If a block or a save was badly needed, it came. Or an exclusion foul, sometimes you have to commit it, and everyone was there to commit it if the given situation demanded that. Sometimes, when the stakes are high, you see players getting rid of responsibility. Today no one, again, no one did that for one single moment. We should just go on like this and at least one more win would make sure that we won’t leave Tokyo without a medal.”

Greta Gurisatti (HUN) — Goal Scorer
“I told after the China game that we had to go through perhaps those lows in order to bounce back to the level we just hit today. This was a TEAM effort, with capitals. Everyone gave its best and I think this was a very well-deserved victory. We held on in the most crucial moments, never crashed under pressure when they came back to 10-10 after 10-7, and this is something we can be proud of and can give us a big boost. We played a couple of semi-finals against Spain, we are aware that most of them went their way though we won the very last one in the World League quite comfortably. In two days, it’s going to be a different story, but we shall be ready for the challenge.”

Arno Havenga (NED) — Head Coach
"We managed to get to tie again and again, but we weren't strong enough in the end. We weren't convincing enough with our attack.We're disappointed. First of all with the result, but if you look at our tournament, we’ve played a lot better man-up. Today it didn't work, so this is one part where we lost the game.”

QUARTERFINAL: AUSTRALIA- RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE — 8-9

Russian Olympic Committee completed the jigsaw by slipping into the semifinal at the expense of Australia 9-8 in the fourth women’s quarterfinal at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre on Tuesday night.

ROC was 8-4 ahead two minutes from the final break and then Australia narrowed it to 8-6 at the final break. ROC went to 9-6 with the Aussie Stingers finishing with the last two goals and not offering enough firepower to force the penalty shootout.

ROC was the team with the momentum early and it was enough to carry it into the semifinal. Australia’s lack of international competition has been showing this tournament and sadly for the team, its best matches are probably to come in the classification round 5-8.

Australia held a 2-1 lead in the first quarter and was looking good until ROC claimed three goals in three attacks and had the first-break advantage by two.

The second quarter was even at two, the Aussie Stingers coming back to one down twice. The third period was fully in ROC’s court with two more goals for a commanding 8-4 lead. ROC looked like a team heading to the medal semifinals even at this stage. Australia dragged one back through Matilda Kearns off the far post and then ROC took a timeout and the subsequent shot went wide. The Stingers went on the attack and the ball moved until a few seconds to go and Bronte Halligan blasted in from the left-hand-catch position for 8-6 down and three seconds left. ROC’s long shot on the restart went to the right.

Both teams tried hard to get ejections in the first three minutes of the final period before ROC went to a timeout. The break worked and Alena Serzhantova gained what would be the winning goal and 9-6, her second of the match. Elle Armit scored her second goal off extra-man attack at 4:15 and it was back in the match. Stingers goalkeeper Gabi Palm lifted the team spirits further when she blocked a Nadezhda Glyzina penalty attempt at 3:49. Glyzina had earlier converted the 5-3 goal on penalty and finished with three.

The penalty call incensed Australian head coach Predrag Mihailovic and he was red-carded. The Stingers had several excellent opportunities but they were squandered or saved by Anna Karnaukh, who finished with a magnificent 13 saves.

On the last Aussie attack, Halligan scored her second from the top, but at 16 seconds, it was too late. ROC was through.

Besides Karnaukh, Anastasia Simanovic was instrumental in the win with the first and eighth goals.

Match 22, 19:50, AUSTRALIA 8 RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE 9
Quarterfinal
Quarters: 2-4, 2-2, 2-2, 2-1
Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Xevi Buch (ESP).
Shots: AUS: 8/32. ROC: 9/22.
Extra Man: AUS: 3/7. ROC: 3/6.
Pens: ROC: 1/2.

MATCH DETAILS

FLASH QUOTES

Andrei Belofastov (ROC) — Assistant Coach
“The best game of the tournament. Australia is one of the best teams here. It’s very difficult to play Australia. Tactically and movement on defence — it was the key today.. That and our goalkeeper (Anna) Karnaukh.”

Ekaterina Prokofyeva (ROC) — Captain
"The most important thing was our emotions and how we approached the game. I don't think it was about physical strength, but about psychology, and we just dominated on that today. It was also key how we worked as a team, like one mechanism. Not only in defence but also in attack. The entire team were united in every moment."

Predrag Mihailovic (AUS) — Head Coach
"It was a hard game, a tough game with a lot of physicality. My girls gave their best. I'm proud of them, but we made mistakes, which is part of the sport. We haven’t played an official game before coming to these Olympics (due to Covid-19). We haven't had this atmosphere, this tension, and we have had to learn this through the games. It’s not an excuse and I can’t criticise anyone (for not being able to play games before) because it just wasn’t a possibility. The team can perform better, but in these circumstances they gave their best."