The Hungarian women’s water polo team finished the group stage of the Paris Olympics in third place, after winning against Canada and China, but losing to the Dutch and Australians – from the latter by five meters. In the quarter-finals, a difficult task awaited us: the defending champion United States was the opponent of the Hungarian team.
Krisztina Garda scored the Hungarian team’s first goal against the United States in the quarterfinals of the Olympics Photo: Sándor Csudai
After the surprising lead, we started the match well: Hungary took the lead with Krisztina Garda’s goal. The Americans equalized, but at the end of the first quarter, thanks to Dóra Leimeter’s goal, Hungary was in the lead again (2-1).
The Hungarian team did not score a goal for a quarter
The sequel didn’t go so well. The second half did not bring a single Hungarian goal, the Americans were able to turn it around, the United States led 3-2 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Rita Keszthelyi equalized from a turnover after possession. The following minutes were not full of judgments favorable to the Hungarian team: we still defended the single man disadvantage, the double man disadvantage was no longer successful – Mahieu Geraldine scored – and then in the next attack they counterattacked us.
So far, both Attila Mihók and his American colleague, Adam Krikorian, have already received a yellow card.
The Hungarian team also got a man advantage, and Kamilla Faragó equalized, and we entered the last quarter with a 4-4 draw.
In the fourth quarter, Vanda Vályi also scored, but we saw much less from a goal than from an exhibition. Keszthelyi shot a huge crossbar four minutes before the end.
The American team had a double man advantage twice
From the counterattack, the Americans got another double man advantage, and they sold this as well, we couldn’t equalize from a simple goal.
We didn’t get the next man advantage after a successful tackle, and co-captain Sándor Cseh got so upset because of this that he was sent off the Hungarian bench with a red card.
Attila Mihók asked for time in the last minute, and as against the Australians, Alda Magyari also swam up to attack. However, Keszthely’s shot did not find the goal, and that was the end of the match, all Mihók could do was to give his opinion to the referee one last time.
The Americans advanced in a close battle, they will compete against Australia for a place in the finals, the Hungarians are in the 5th-8th place. they can play for place, Greece will be our next opponent.
Olympics, women’s water polo, quarter-finals
Hungary-United States 4-5 (2-1, 0-2, 2-1, 0-1)
More results
Spain-Canada 18-8
Netherlands-Italy 11-8
Australia-Greece 9-6
