Benedek: It’s been a good few days

Hungary men’s coach Tibor Benedek is satisfied with his team’s three-day training camp in Würzburg which culminated in a 13-8 win over their German counterparts in an unofficial friendly match on Saturday, the press release said.

Tibor Benedek gave us these comments, following the 13-8 victory against Germany this evening:

“I am happy that we won this third training match by five goals, similar to the earlier two games. This means we were balanced until the end and weren’t deep in the game. This is the realistic difference between the two teams, but at the same time, we could have scored more of our many opportunities, so an 8,9 or 10-goal difference would have been realistic as well. The German team didn’t have too many chances but scored their goals or at least a good percentage of them, but, altogether, there was no problem with our attacking play while our defense worked well.

I am very satisfied with the outcome – every player took the match seriously, just as they took the whole tour. It has been a good three days, perfect for our preparation. The team is taking shape, the squad is taking shape, and obviously everyone will be using the coming days to fight for their place in the 13-man squad (for the Trieste tournament). From Wednesday onward we will prepare for the Spanish game at home, which will be a bigger test for us”.

The Hungary squad arrived back in Budapest on Sunday morning and will continue the preparations for the Olympic qualification tournament in Trieste next week.

The full Hungary squad:

Goalkeepers: Nagy Viktor (Szolnoki Dózsa-Közgép), Bisztritsányi Dávid (A-Híd-OSC-Újbuda), Lévai Márton (Debreceni VSE)

Outfield players: Kis Gábor, Vámos Márton, Varga Dániel, Varga Dénes (Szolnoki Dózsa-Közgép), Hárai Balázs, Bedő Krisztián, Zalánki Gergő, Erdélyi Balázs, Hosnyánszky Norbert, Szivós Márton (ZF-Eger), Bátori Bence, Decker Ádám (A-Híd-OSC-Újbuda), Manhercz Krisztián (Contitech-Szeged-Diapolo)

The Trieste tournament groups:

Group A: Hungary, Canada, Russia, France, Romania, Slovakia
Group B: Italy, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Netherlands

The countries already qualified for this year’s Olympic Games in men’s water polo:

Serbia (World League winners in Bergamo)
Croatia (World Cup runners-up in Kazan)
Greece (World Cup bronze medallists in Kazan)
USA (Pan-American Games winner)
Brazil (Olympic hosts)
Montenegro (from the European Championships in Belgrade)
Japan (Ásia’s best team)
Oceania’s best (likely to be Australia)

+ the semi-finalists at the Trieste tournament

The Hungarian team’s schedule at the Trieste tournament:

Sunday April 3rd, 15:10 start: France v Hungary
Monday April 4th, 16:30: Canada v Hungary
Tuesday April 5th, 13:50: Hungary v Romania
Wednesday April 6th, 17:50: Russia v Hungary
Thursday April 7th, 15:10: Hungary v Slovakia
Friday April 8th: Quarter-final
Saturday April 9th: Semi-final
Sunday April 10th: Play-off matches to decide final rankings

Press release – Hungarian Water Polo Federation

Photo: MTI

Copy editor: bm

Source: waterpolo.hu