Group A — Budapest

BRAZIL 10 GEORGIA 14

Georgia has played Brazil once before and it was a four-goal difference, so tonight’s scoreline was not unexpected. When you go goal for goal for two and a half periods, something has to break and Brazil’s defence was blown open, giving Georgia a debut victory at this level.

Match heroes
Boris Vapenski was the undoubted star with his four goals and the ones that mattered to turn the match. Jovan Saric also scored four and gave Georgia hope for more success as the tournament progresses. For Brazil, it was left to Roberto Freitas to collect the goals — four with three consecutive Brazilian strikes in the first four.

Turning point
After Brazil led the match five times and the scores were tied at every number to eight, the big move came late in the third period when Georgia went three straight for 11-8 at the final break. This became 12-8 in the fourth quarter and the match was sealed. The pop pass to the right-post position for a Sandro Adeishvili score and the two Saric goals helped dim Brazil’s chances.

Stats don’t Lie
Georgia converted six from 10 on extra-man attack, scored 14  from 34 attempts and its goalkeepers combined for 12 saves. Brazil netted five from 11 on extra, took 28 shots and goalkeeper Guilherme Barella also made a magnificent 11 saves.

Bottom line
Georgia, who hosted the FINA World League Super Final last year, deserves to be here and proved that with the victory. Brazil was a shadow of its former self when heroics at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games had the country at its pinnacle. It could be a long road back for Brazil, but as with many teams in Hungary for this tournament, it’s a new experience and two weeks of action could produce memorable moments. Georgia will most certainly fill a top-three spot and Brazil will find it hard to avoid the bottom four.

What they said
Dejan Stanojevic (GEO) — Head Coach
“I am satisfied because we won the game and it likely keeps us to continue the competition after the group stage. Generally, the game was like I expected. The Brazilians have some advantage, for example, they could play outdoor pools all the time. We had only two or three days to practise outdoors. At the end of the game, the individual performances came to surface to be honest and we could finish the game as we wanted. In the second period, I was a bit more secure that we could win it. It is a huge privilege to play here, at the best pool in the world against Montenegro and especially against Hungary. With the next two matches we can prepare for the crossover games.”

Jakhaia Khvicha (GEO) — Athlete
“It was a bit hard as a start for us, because it is the first time for us to play at the World Championships even if we had some experience. The game was really tough, but somehow we managed it. It is very nice place and I hope water polo in the rest of the world will be as popular as in this country.”
Barbaro Diaz (BRA) — Head Coach
“We have a very-very young team, the average age is 24-25 years, so it is good for us to play at a high level. It is a really expensive adventure to travel from our country, so we want to do our best. We try to develop at this sport, that is why it is important for us. We wanted to win, but the improvement is the most important. I love this city, I love this kind of water polo tempo, and it’s really an honour to be here.”
Gustavo Coutinho (BRA) — Athlete
“We are a young team, renewed, so it was a good game for us. Tie to tie, three quarters were amazing for us. We didn’t expect it before, so it was awesome that we could grow this team almost for during the whole game. But that is water polo, you have to fight quarter to quarter and till the end. I think it was a better result than we expected.”

 

MONTENEGRO 8 HUNGARY 12

Hungary pulled up the better team, with the better scoring and all-round play and virtually assured itself of group supremacy — such an amazing thought on day one of men’s competition. The match was 3-3 at the first break, 6-4 favouring Hungary at halftime and 9-6 at the final break, finishing with the four-goal difference.

Match heroes
There were two, but no more so than Hungarian goalkeeper Soma Vogel, whose 11 saves were thunderously adored by the Hungarian fans. With Gergo Zalanki firing with his forceful left arm with three of his team’s six by halftime, his fourth lifted the team to 10-7 and helped achieve the victory. Marko Petkovic was also on song for Montenegro with four goals — three coming in the last four strikes for his team.

Turning point
When 4-3 down midway through the second quarter, Hungary decided to react strongly and six goals in the next 10 minutes turned the match on its head. Hungary was 9-4 ahead and despite a mini resurgence from Montenegro to bring the match within two goals, Hungary made it 3-1 inside the final four minutes for victory.

Stats don’t Lie
Soma Vogel and counterpart Petar Tesanovic (also with 11 saves)  were standouts, However, the extra-man count favoured Hungary with six conversions from 10 attempts compared to Montenegro’s four from 11. Hungary shot 31 times to Montenegro’s 26.

Bottom line
Both teams had shuddering moments, but Hungary was willed on to victory by the tiered banks of fans. Montenegro struggled to find the cage at times and that 13 minutes where nothing seemed to work, proved just as critical as Hungary’s six goals. Montenegro was more free flowing earlier on, but Hungary’s power shooting and even Gergely Burian’s late steal and full-pitch swim to score, showed that Hungary wants to go one better than when it lost to Croatia in 2017 in the same pool.

What they said
Tamas Marcz (HUN) — Head Coach
“It was a match I was expecting. A massive Montenegrin team came face to face. We also saw in the trainings that although they are young, they are physically mature players. They were tough opponents; we had to fight for the victory; we had to change our game plan at some points. Then in the second and third quarters we were able to turn the match for our own benefit; it was good that we had to fight a bit. We should improve our basic game.”

Soma Vogel (HUN) — Goalkeeper and Player of the Match
“We can say that this is how we planned the match. Personally, by the way, I have never won the award for the best player in the national team. It is a special pleasure to remember a person with this award who unfortunately can no longer be with us (Tibor Benedek), but who has played a very big role in my career. And not just in mine, but in many of us. We played with Montenegro several times, we knew that although they had a young team they were capable of coming up with a solid performance. The atmosphere was amazing. When we entered the arena, we were a bit shocked, but it was great to play in that atmosphere.”
Vladimir Gojkovic (MNE) — Head Coach
“The Hungarian team has a lot of fantastic players, and I think that is the key to the result. In the first two quarters we had a lot of chances and our players did extra performance. But after that we did not have enough energy to withstand the pressure. Still, we are satisfied with the game because we have young players and their improvement is very important for us. Everybody thinks that Hungary will be at the top of the group, so we have to focus on our next game with Georgia and fight for the better positions for the next round. I think this championship is the best for our young players to test themselves.”

Bogdan Durdic (MNE)  — Athlete

“Our open game was good, but in the middle period we conceded a couple of goals. In the third period our attacks dropped, we missed some chances, also because it is hard to play in Hungary in this kind of atmosphere. I think we need to grow up. We have two more matches in the group and we need to prepare for the quarter-finals.”



Group Progress Points: Georgia 2, Hungary 2, Brazil 0, Montenegro 0.