Manhercz feels the tension of the narrowing of the framework on his colleagues

“Well, I do not know. Here it was a middle start after that, and in Fukuoka it was over immediately,” Krisztián Manhercz said with a laugh, when we asked if the goal he scored in the warm-up match against the Croatians was the latest goal of his career.

Of course, Manó’s goal against the Spaniards rivaled the goal scored against the Croatians, and although we don’t know which was scored later, it is not a question of which was more important, since he reached the World Cup final in Fukuoka, and the latter was only a preparation match. That’s right, in the home of the world champion.

“We are in the middle of the preparation, at this time there are still mistakes that will certainly not happen at the Olympics. It was noticeable to us that it was a long time ago that we last met, and we didn’t even work together for the past few weeks, since those who were interested in the final stage of the BL only joined later. Compared to that, this was fine,” said the classic, who will start the next season again in Hungary, in Ferencváros.

It got off to a scary start, that’s for sure

It is not often that the Hungarian polo team gets hammered as badly as the Croatians did for a quarter and a half. After a quarter and a half, the scoreboard read 1-6, and this unusual situation woke up our players, who quickly followed the opponent.

“Of course, we started badly, but I prefer to focus on the fact that we won the remaining two and a half quarters of the match 11-6 in front of an almost full house, in the home of the world champion,” said Manó with a wide smile. “I think we went into the match a bit sluggish, the concentration was not adequate, the Croatians, driven by their audience, were much sharper, which was the reason for the poor start.”

“However, this is only a preparation match, far-reaching conclusions should not be drawn from it. The only thing I take with me from the match is that it turned out that we are capable of coming back from a serious disadvantage against an excellent team. The five-meter ones? Well, I hope the Croatians have fired their gunpowder, and I’m also glad that it wasn’t Soma Vogel who saved, so he kept his outstanding penalty statistics” – Manhercz referred to the fact that Dániel Szakonyi defended the Hungarian goal – who, by the way, put a five on the crossbar .

“Not only the official match, but also the other matches of the joint training camp were very useful. We played a five-quarter game, there were times when we only exercised man advantages during the two goals, and I can be completely honest, I don’t really remember what the results were. It wasn’t even that important, but that the captain found out where we were, who was in what shape.”

The frame reduction is coming

Every captain dreads the moment when he has to select his team traveling to a big tournament – in other words, he has to tell a few players that unfortunately he has not been included in the traveling squad. This is also true for the Hungarian national team, and Manó does not envy Zsolt Varga.

There are those who are sure of their place in the team (Photo: Waterpolo.hu)

“I’m terribly glad that I don’t have to make these decisions. All I can say is that no matter what the captain decides, I am sure that the strongest possible Hungarian national team will travel to the Olympics. By the way, it is a huge honor to travel not only to the Olympics, but to any major tournament with the Hungarian team. I think it is the top of the list for every Hungarian polo player if he is included in the national team.”

“Just think about it, there are legendary figures of Hungarian polo who could never play at the Olympics. It’s a huge thing for everyone, it adds to the importance of someone being selected for the Olympics, which is held every four years, and beyond dispute, it’s the most important trophy you can win.”

The captain could get answers against the Croatians (Photo: waterpolo.hu)

“It can be felt a little bit that the frame reduction is approaching, at this time it certainly happens that we are a little tougher with each other in the game, but this also just shows what a huge thing it is for a Hungarian polo player to compete in an Olympics.”

“After the narrowing of the framework, a different kind of work follows, tactics and fine-tuning can come. I know that not only me, but all the members of the team are preparing not to travel to Paris as participants, but to win the Olympic championship. It will be terribly difficult, the last week was 1-9. almost any of its ranked teams can win. I can promise that no one will want to win more than us,” he added.