Water Polo World Cup: Italy-Hungary 9-8

And they are two. The success against Japan seemed announced, but the challenge against Hungary was a concentration of pitfalls: Settebello passed the exam with a vigorous test, on the third day of the World Cup in Zagreb. “It is a prestigious victory and this makes us happy. At the beginning we had trouble with their entries, then we settled down and with the zone we recovered the score. It’s a pity, however, that little has been achieved compared to what was produced”, comments Sandro Campagna after 9-8 against his eternal rivals, who also rested 24 hours earlier. Qualifying for the Final Six is ​​now a little closer.

EMOTIONS

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In a classic of water polo with an eternal charm, played on good rhythms, there is a constant back and forth in the first two times. Between the second and third half, Bruni takes the chair: an applause hat-trick to overturn the match from -2 to 5-4. The Prato centre-boa also gets along very well as a winger and confirms the enormous progress made in recent years, deserving the mvp award for the second consecutive game. In the fight that gets closer, between some roughness, at the end of the third period the limelight goes to Di Fulvio, for the penalty of 8-6 and for the soft dove of 9-6. But never give up on the Hungarians until the siren, you know, and in fact the match reignited in the last half with goals from Angyal and Burian, both with an extra man. The European vice-champions will enjoy another three numerical superiorities in the series, but the blue defense grits its teeth and foils the dangers. Tomorrow, against hosts Croatia, another complicated match. “We will have to raise the bar further, they are not European champions by chance” underlines Campagna. All matches are broadcast on the FINA/World Aquatics YouTube channel.

ITALY-HUNGARY 9-8
(2-2, 2-2, 5-2, 0-2)
ITALY:Del Lungo, F. Di Fulvio 2 (1 penalty), Damonte 1, Marziali, A.Fondelli 1, Cinnamon, Renzuto, Echenique 1, N. Presciutti, Bruni 3, E. Di Somma 1, Dolce, Massaro. All. Campaign.
HUNGARY:Levai, Angyal 1, K. Manhercz 1, Pohl, Vamos 1, E. Molnar, A. Nagy, Burian 2, Nemet, Fekete, Vismeg 1, Ve. Vigvari 2 (1 penalty), Szakonyi. All. Z. Varga.
REFEREES: Cabanas (Spa) and Zwart (Ola).
NOTE: sup. no. Italy 10 (3 goals), Hungary 14 (3).

Wednesday 8: Italy-Japan 13-7, Croatia-USA 16-14, Hungary-France 10-6.
Thursday 9: Croatia-France 12-7, USA-Japan 13-11.
Friday 10: Italy-Hungary 9-8, USA-France 12-9.
Saturday 11: Croatia-Italy (18.30), Japan-Hungary (20).
Sunday 12: Croatia-Japan (18.30), France-Italy (20).
Monday 13: USA-Hungary (18.30), Japan-France (20).
Tuesday 14th: Italy-USA (18.30), Croatia-Hungary (20).
Classification: Croatia 6 (played 2), Italy 6 (2), USA 6 (3); Hungary 3 (2); Japan 0 (2); France 0 (3).

The formula: at the Final Six in Los Angeles, from 30 June to 2 July, two teams from group A (in addition to the USA) and the top three from group B in Podgorica with Montenegro, Serbia, Greece, Georgia, Australia and Spain.