Hungary is back on top after 21 years, another shootout loss for Spain

Hungary finally made it: halting the longest wait in its history, the hosts managed to claim their 13th European title, 21 years after their last win in Florence 1999. The final couldn’t have been any more thrilling, Spain did its
best to keep up with the hosts, even had a ball to win the game in regular time, but the decision was left to the penalty shootout. And just like in 2018, Spain came up short, they finished silver medallist once more after an
unbeaten run in the championships. The bronze medal match also offered the very best of water polo and this time Montenegro not only caught up with the Croats after being four goals down – like in the prelims when they
lost at the end – but this time they managed to win the game and line up for the victory ceremony again after four years.

13 CRO MARCELIC Ivan Croatia Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Montenegro (white caps) Vs. Croatia (blue caps) Men Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Celebration Montenegro Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Montenegro (white caps) Vs. Croatia (blue caps) Men Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Celebration Montenegro Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Montenegro (white caps) Vs. Croatia (blue caps) Men Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

1 ESP LOPEZ PINEDO Daniel Spain Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) Men Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

10 PERRONE ROCHA Felipe Spain Men Final Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Celebration Hungary Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) Men Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Paolo Barelli, 2 ITA DI FULVIO Francesco Italy LEN Athlete of the Year 2019 Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Men Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

1 ESP LOPEZ PINEDO Daniel Spain Best Goal Keeper Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Men Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

6 RUS KHARKOV Konstantin Russia Top Scorer Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Men Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

10 HUN VARGA Denes Andor Hungary Most Valuable Player Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Men Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HUNGARY HUN Gold Medal, SPAIN ESP Silver Medal, MONTENEGRO MNE Bronze Medal Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Men Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

1 ZERDEVAS Emmanouil GK GRE Greece Final 7th – 8th Place RUS – Russia (white caps) Vs. GRE – Greece (blue caps) Men Budapest 24/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

9 MOURIKIS Konstantinos GRE Greece Final 7th – 8th Place RUS – Russia (white caps) Vs. GRE – Greece (blue caps) Men Budapest 24/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

9 IVOVIC Aleksandar MNE – Montenegro Bronze medal Match MNE – Montenegro (white caps) Vs. CRO – Croatia (blue caps) Men Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Head Coach GOJKOVIC Vladimir MNE – Montenegro Bronze medal Match MNE – Montenegro (white caps) Vs. CRO – Croatia (blue caps) Men Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Venues Gold medal Match HUN – Hungary (white caps) Vs. ESP – Spain (blue caps) Men Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Bronze Medal Team MNE Montenegro Gold medal Match HUN – Hungary (white caps) Vs. ESP – Spain (blue caps) Men Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

SAVIC Dejan coach of Serbia Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena ITALY (white caps) Vs. SERBIA (blue caps) Men Final 5th – 6th place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

2 DI FULVIO Francesco Italy, 12 MITROVIC Stefan Serbia Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena ITALY (white caps) Vs. SERBIA (blue caps) Men Final 5th – 6th place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

1 NAGY Viktor Hungary celebrates Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena HUNGARY (white caps) Vs. SPAIN (blue caps) Men Final 1st – 2nd place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

10 VARGA Denes Andor Hungary celebrates after scoring a goal Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena HUNGARY (white caps) Vs. SPAIN (blue caps) Men Final 1st – 2nd place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

13 VOGEL Soma Hungary reacts after saved a penalty Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena HUNGARY (white caps) Vs. SPAIN (blue caps) Men Final 1st – 2nd place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HUNGARY HUN Gold MEdal SPAIN ESP Silver Medal MONTENEGRO MNT Bronze Medal Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Awards Ceremony Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

13 VOGEL Soma Hungary and 1 NAGY Viktor Hungary celebrate the victory celebrate the victory Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena HUNGARY (white caps) Vs. SPAIN (blue caps) Men Final 1st – 2nd place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

13 VOGEL Soma Hungary, 3 MANHERCZ Krisztian Peter Hungary, 1 NAGY Viktor Hungary, 10 VARGA Denes Andor Hungary celebrate the victory Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena HUNGARY (white caps) Vs. SPAIN (blue caps) Men Final 1st – 2nd place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HUNGARY HUN players celebrate Gold MEdal Budapest 26/01/2020 Duna Arena Awards Ceremony Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Men’s final: Hungary v Spain 9-9, penalties: 5-4. Bronze medal: Montenegro v Croatia 10-9. For places 5-6th: Italy v Serbia 7-8. For places 7-8th: Russia v Greece 9-11.

Final rankings: 1. Hungary, 2. Spain, 3. Montenegro, 4. Croatia, 5. Serbia, 6. Italy, 7. Greece, 8. Russia, 9. Germany, 10. Georgia, 11. Romania, 12. Turkey, 13. France, 14. Slovakia, 15. Netherlands, 16. Malta

Individual awards
Best goalkeeper: Dani Lopez (Spain)
Top scorer: Konstantin Kharkov (Russia) with 21 goals
Most Valuable Player: Denes Varga (Hungary)

Hungary extended its lead in the overall medal ranks by claiming its 13th title. It came after 21 years for the ruling nation of water polo, the first in the new millennium. After three lost home finals (2014 Europeans, 2017 Worlds, 2018 World League) they finally made it, though by a fingernail, or rather one plus one saves, as Viktor Nagy delivered a crucial catch in the last seconds and then his substitute Some Vogel did the only stop in the shootout to send the sell-out crowd of 5,300 to the seventh heaven.

Spain took a brilliant start, jumped to a 3-1 lead, Dani Lopez delivered great saves while denying three man-downs and the offense worked well too. They could even have taken a three-goal lead but the Hungarians killed their man-up.

Then the other goalie Viktor Nagy also arrived to the game turning the second period into a perfect performance for the Magyars. Their man-up started clicking while they shut out the Spaniards for the entire quarter to take over the lead with a 3-0 rush – and as a confidence-booster Nagy pushed Alvaro Granados’ penalty to the crossbar in the dying seconds.

Still, Spain left the miseries behind, Blai Mallarach’s brilliant 6m shot found the back of the net to halt their scoreless phase of 11:01 minutes and from this point, it became a neck-to-neck battle. Marton Vamos put away a 6 on 5 but Marc Larumbe’s brilliant lob put the Spanish back to even again. However, Hungary replied with an action goal too, Krisztian Manhercz’s blast hit the net for 6-5 and after a series of great saves and blocks Hungary earned a man-up to double its lead but they couldn’t set up a fine shooting angle under time pressure.

And Spain came back again and again in the fourth. It was amazing to see that they had the patience and grit to net three man-ups in the 19th and 20th second of the respective possessions, the last one – which brought back them to 9-9 – was even checked on the VAR but the referees decided that it came just before the buzzer. On the other end Denes Varga netted a great one from a man-up, Manhercz hit his second too (faith compensated the Magyars after an unlucky man-down goal after a rebound, here they were fortunate after a weak assist). Balazs Harai struggled to score goals from the center in the whole tournament but now he managed to deliver one with a brilliant back-handed shot, that put the Magyars ahead for the third time in this period for 9-8 but Alberto Munarriz netted the buzzer-beater with 1:35 remaining.

Block denied Vamos in action, then Munarriz sent the ball over the bar from the center and only 40 seconds were left. Mallarach then made a steal 12 seconds from time, it was a 2 on 1 but his speed was fading so he had to take
the shot from 6m, still, Viktor Nagy needed his best to deny him in the very last second. Just like in the prelims, the game ended in a draw (11-11 then, 9-9 now).

Thus, for the second time in a row, the European title was decided in a shootout. Spain lost at home to the Serbs two years ago in Barcelona, but they avenged that here in the quarters, so they had something great to rely
on and entered the same five players who had been successful against the title-holders. But among the Hungarians, there were seven players from Champions League-winner Ferencvaros which had four successful shootouts in a row in the last one and a half years (and that landed them the Super Cup and the Champions League trophy among others).

This had an effect on the outcome: the Magyars converted all five shots, while head coach Tamas Marcz – who eventually became the fourth Hungarian in history to win European gold both as a player and as head coach
– sent the substitute goalie Soma Vogel to the pool for the last two rounds. And the hero of his club’s shootouts did it again: stopped the last shot of Alvaro Granados – the young Spanish enjoyed a great tournament but today
he was 1/6 in the game, including a missed penalty. Though he had scored the winner against Serbia but this time his miss, rather Vogel’s save, made 5,300 people roaring while the roof of the Arena almost meltdown.

The Magyars celebrated wildly, they finally overcame their demons and after three lost finals at home, they clinched this title (quite a difference: in the summer of 2018 they just produced their second-worst performance at the Europeans, finishing 8th). At the other end, the Spanish had to settle for their third loss in as many years after falling to the Serbs in Barcelona 2018, to the Italians in Gwangju 2019 and now to the Hungarians.

The bronze went to Montenegro after an incredible game. Just as the final, which copied somewhat the pattern seen in the prelims, this match recalled the great scenes from the second round when the Croats led 10-5 before the last break but the Montenegrins came back to 10-10, however, Croatia netted the winner. Then. Now it was almost the same, but only almost – the end was different.

This time Croatia rallied to a 3-7 lead by halftime and held on for 4-8 deep into the third period too. Few would have guessed that they saw the penultimate Croatian goal with 13:16 minutes remaining (something similar
happened to the Dutch in the women’s bronze game one day earlier). But the Montenegrins never gave in this Europeans, and their veterans, Aleksandar Ivovic and Drasko Brguljan netted great action goals to close the gap to 7-8 just before the last break.

After a longer battle, Loren Fatovic sent the ball home from a 6 on 4 (breaking a silence of 8:36 minutes) which might have been a calmer for his team as they led 7-9 with 5:40 to go. But Stefan Pjesivac pushed the ball in right from the next man-up, and after Dejan Lazovic made another save in a man-down, the Montenegrins could set up Vladan Spaic who netted the equalizer 1:36 from time. And just 35 seconds later they had it: Aleksandar Ivovic, who was just a shadow of his real self in most of the games, stepped up and blasted in his trademark 6m shot – it was his 5th of the evening.

Croatia got one last chance, a 6 on 5 with 45 seconds on the clock but Lazovic stopped Jokovic’s shot too and the Montenegrins started celebrating as if they had won the title. In fact, having four rookies on board, it was a
tremendous feat from this team – en route they beat the 2019 world champion Italians and the 2017 world champion Croatians to earn this very well-deserved medal.

Italy couldn’t change its fortunes against the Serbs (never beat them at the Europeans in 80 years) as the former title-holders pushed the historical head-to-head to 16-0 with a narrow win, to save some pride.

Greece came seventh ahead of Russia – these two teams, plus Montenegro and Croatia earned the right to take part in the Olympic Qualification Tournament (besides the host Netherlands). However, if countries from the
other continents refuse to take part (which happened before London and Rio as well), further European teams will be invited based on the rankings from 9 through 12-13th. Though according to the latest news, South Africa will take the African berth this time, and that would mean that unlike before, not the top four but only the top three teams can go to Tokyo.

For more details, detailed statistics, play-by-play descriptions, and video clips of each goal visit:
http://wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, images courtesy of Deepbluemedia

If it’s Budapest, then it’s Spain!

Nobody has fonder memories of Budapest than the members of the Spanish women water polo team. They won their first-ever European title in the Hungarian capital 2014 and now they clinched their second here,
between the two they were silver medallist at the 2017 World Championships. In the final, they staged a great second half and a 5-0 rush to turn the game against Russia and bag the gold medal. The bronze went to
Hungary, the host team came from 5-8 down and also had a 5-0 run while not conceded a single goal in the last 14 minutes of the match.

1 HUN GANGL Edina Hungary Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

5 NED WOLVES Iris Netherlands, 10 HUN GYONGYOSSY Aniko Hungary Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

6 HUN PARKES Rebecca Grace Hungary Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

6 HUN PARKES Rebecca Grace Hungary, 8 HUN KESZTHELYI-NAGY Rita Hungary Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

3 RUS PROKOFYEVA Ekaterina Russia Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Spain (white caps) Vs. Russia (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

4 ESP ORTIZ MUNOZ Beatriz Spain Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Final Spain (white caps) Vs. Russia (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

8 RUS SIMANOVICH Anastasia Russia, 3 ESP ESPAR LLAQUET Anna Spain Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Spain (white caps) Vs. Russia (blue caps) Women Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Celebration Spain Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Spain (white caps) Vs. Russia (blue caps) Women Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Celebration Spain Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Spain (white caps) Vs. Russia (blue caps) Women Final XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Paolo Barelli, Laura Ester ESP LEN Award 2019 Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Laura Ester ESP LEN Award 2019 Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

USTIUKHINA Anna Russia Best Goalkeeper Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KESZTHELYI-NAGY Rita Hungary Top Scorer Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Gianni Lonzi Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

13 HORVATHOVA K. (C) GK SVK Slovakia Final 7th – 8th FRA – France (white caps) Vs. SVK – Slovakia (blue caps) Women Budapest 24/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

12 DAULE Audrey FRA France Final 7th – 8th FRA – France (white caps) Vs. SVK – Slovakia (blue caps) Women Budapest 24/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Head Coach BIRO Attila HUN – Hungary Bronze medal Match Final 3rd – 4th HUN – Hungary (white caps) Vs. NED – Netherlands (blue caps) Women Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Spain ESP celebration ESP – Spain (white caps) Vs. RUS Russia (blue caps) Women Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Silver Medal Team RUS Russia Podium Ceremonies Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Team ESP Spain Gold Medal Podium Ceremonies Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

4 GRE ELEFTHERIADOU Nikoleta Greece, 5 ITA QUEIROLO Elisa Italy Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena GREECE (white caps) Vs. ITALY (blue caps) Women Final 5th/6th place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

8 ITA BIANCONI Roberta Italy Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena GREECE (white caps) Vs. ITALY (blue caps) Women Final 5th/6th place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

OCA Miguel coach of Spain and players celebrate the victory Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena SPAIN (white caps) Vs. RUSSIA (blue caps) Women Final 1st – 2nd place XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HUNGARY HUN Bronze Medal Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

SPAIN ESP Gold Medal RUSSIA RUS Silver Medal HUNGARY HUN Bronze Medal Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

SPAIN ESP Gold Medal RUSSIA RUS Silver Medal HUNGARY HUN Bronze MEdal Budapest 25/01/2020 Duna Arena Women Medal Ceremony XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Women’s final: Spain v Russia 13-12. Bronze medal: Hungary v Netherlands 10-8. For places 5-6th: Greece v Italy 5-7. For places 7-8th: France v Slovakia 17-8
Final rankings: 1. Spain, 2. Russia, 3. Hungary, 4. Netherlands, 5. Italy, 6. Greece, 7. France, 8. Slovakia, 9. Israel, 10. Croatia, 11. Germany, 12. Serbia

Individual awards
Best goalkeeper: Anna Karnaukh (Russia)
Top scorer: Rita Keszthelyi (Hungary) with 28 goals
Most Valuable Player: Beatriz Ortiz (Spain)

Spain sat back to the European throne after six years and this was is no way surprising. The team played back-to-back World Championships finals in 2017 and 2019, and even though they suffered a shocking semi-final defeat against the Greeks two years ago in their home, Barcelona, this time they came up with a balanced performance and finished atop once more in Budapest.

With the Olympic berths already secured by both sides, the final was tense but not really nervous – as a consequence, the first half already offered a scoring festival. The action-packed opening period saw seven goals, the Russians took a 3-4 lead but the Spaniards geared up for the second and went in front while the teams netted one goal after the other. Nine more came in these eight minutes so by halftime the teams produced the amount which is usual during an entire match (8-8).

The real twists arrived in the third as Ekaterina Prokofyeva netted a 6 on 5 while the Spanish offense had been frozen for a while. Maria Bersneva added one more five minutes later for 8-10 and the next Spanish 6 on 5 was almost denied but with some luck the ball was recollected by Maica Garcia who broke the Spanish silence, lasting for 8:10 minutes. And in just 35 seconds Anna Espar scored an action goal – thus the last period also started from
equal (10-10).

One more lucky goal signed that Spain was really on the rise, this time the other Espar sister Clara could put away the rebound in a man-up. Russia had an extra to equalize but it was missed and soon Garcia delivered her trademark action goal from the center with 4:14 remaining. Olga Gorbunova, who was just one goal shy of tying Rita Keszthelyi’s feat of 28 goals as the top scorer, was blocked in the following 6 on 5 – on the contrary, Paula Leiton’s powered one more in for Spain from the 2m line in a man-up for 13-10. It was a 5-0 rush from Spain and that decided the title. The Russian ‘freeze’ took 9:30 minutes, even though they pulled two back in the remaining time but the second came 22 seconds before the end, Spain kept the ball and launched great celebrations at the end.

The bronze medal match also offered some extraordinary scenes as the title-holder Dutch team seemed to be in absolute control, they looked more powerful and more efficient. Even though Hungary jumped to a 3-1 lead but
the Dutch replies with four connecting goals in 2:31 minutes and went 3-5 up after eight minutes.

The battle was great but the Dutch defense worked properly, killed three Hungarian man-ups in the second and even though a penalty brought the hosts a bit closer, a double in 53 seconds gave the Netherlands a 4-7 lead.
With some luck, Hungary pulled one back 18 seconds before the middle break but Iris Wolves’ fine goal from the center reset the three-goal gap at 5-8 early in the third.

Nothing really predicted what would come next – but it happened. Rebecca Parkes also netted one from the center for 6-8 and then the Hungarian defence began to click in a way rarely seen in women’s water polo. Even
though the Dutch put them under enormous pressure, a hand somehow always blocked the incoming roads, mostly goalie Edina Gangl. And the Magyars started rolling in front, netted two action goals in 48 seconds to go
even, then the stands erupted when Dora Leimeter put the ball away from a man-up with 5 seconds left in the third to take a 9-8 lead.

The fourth was a giant battle between the Dutch offense and the Hungarian defensive lines and the hands were still there, once top scorer Rita Keszthelyi blocked a close-range shot on the goal line. They killed three man-ups in a row, then earned one with 2:10 minutes from time and Anna Illes sent a great bouncing shot to the top left corner in the last second of the possession with 1:50 remaining. The Dutch tried everything but it remained 10-8 – however unbelievable it was the Magyars had a 5-0 rush in the second half and shut out the title-holder side for 14:25 minutes.

It also meant that the Hungarians managed to halt their bad run in the bronze medal matches (lost the previous three in Rio 2016, Barcelona 2018 and Gwangju 2019) – and maintained the Magyars’ traditions to clinch double medals at the home championships (2001, 2014) and in the January editions (2012, 2016) since the men’s team will stand on the podium on Sunday as one of the finalists.

For more details, detailed statistics, play-by-play descriptions and video clips of each goal, visit:
http://wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, images courtesy of Deepbluemedia