The Croatian goalkeeper sent the Hungarians to the bronze medal match

Olympics, men’s water polo, semi-finals:
Croatia-Hungary 9-8 (3-3, 4-2, 2-2, 0-1)
scorers: Fatovic 5, Bukic 2, Jokovic, Zuvela 1-1, and Jansik, Vámos 2-2, Fekete, Varga, Angyal, Nagy 1-1

Hungary: Soma Vogel – Gergő Zalánki, Dániel Angyal, Szilárd Jansik, Dénes Varga, Krisztián Manhercz, Erik Molnár – substitutions: Márton Vámos, Ádám Nagy, Vince Vigvári, Gergő Fekete, Balázs Hárai

The Croatians brought the ball to the ball and immediately started with a bomb goal, Maro Jokovic shot under the crossbar. The answer came immediately, the captain Jansik sold the fort from the wall. At a disadvantage, Zalánki won the ball beautifully, and from the counterattack, Vámos bombarded the free throw with elemental power.

The left-hander, returning to Ferencváros, scored the ball beautifully, and Fekete completed the jump from the turn. Another Croatian goal was missed, but Loren Fatovic did not miss the next man advantage. One minute before the end of the quarter, Fatovic equalized from action, on the other side, Fekete turned his man in, but he was already too close to the goalkeeper, so he missed the goal. At the end of the Hungarian deficit, Vogel’s save ended the half (3-3).

Almost two minutes of the second half went by without a goal, when Nagy took a five-meter penalty, Marko Bijac, Olympiakos’ world class player, saved the shot of his former teammate Vámos, but in a rare way in water polo, the ball returned to his hands and he made no mistake from close range. After Manhercz won the ball, Hárai “delivered” the pass, but Bijac intercepted the cross pass. During the return swim, Jansik was sent off, and the Croatians were able to shoot five, but the penalty specialist Hungarian goalkeeper could not overcome Fatovic’s mind.

Fatovic and Bijac became our doom

The Hungarian man advantage followed, and the Olympic champion Dénes Varga flashed his classiness, after a few moves, he curled into the net with a delicate drop that looked more like a pass. The Croatian answer came quickly, Fatovic already scored his fourth goal, then Vogel saved a jump shot. Hárai was awarded a counterattack twice in a row, and Marko Zuvela gave the opponent the advantage with a beautiful catch goal. Half a minute before the break, Jansik received his second dismissal, the Croatian captain asked for time, and Fatovic finished the game again (5-7).

The third quarter started with Vogel’s defense, and then a goal that was played to the extreme and sold by Angyal at the last moment, but the Croatians also carried theirs through nicely. Before playing the next Hungarian advantage, Zsolt Varga asked for time, but Bijac blocked first Manhercz’s shot and then Zalánki’s shot. Fekete collected the latter’s rebound and made a five-pointer, but Manhercz shot the penalty.

Jansik brought the team closer with a great catch shot, but on the other side he missed Luka Bukic, who restored the difference with a similar move. In Fór, Jansik scored a five-pointer, but Vámos’ second penalty was also saved by Bijac. The Croatians were able to successfully carry out their last attack in the quarter, Vogel’s feat did not allow the difference to grow further (7-9).

Hope lived to the end

At the beginning of the final quarter, after a double and a single penalty, the Croatians could attack five on four for the three-goal advantage, but the Hungarian block was in place. Time just flew by without a goal, which favored the Croatians, who played every attack until the last second. Zalánki took the lead after an individual move, and Nagy broke the deadlock four and a half minutes before the end (8-9).

In Fór, Nagy tried again, but this time Bijac was the end goal, but the Croatian shots did not find the goal, so the Hungarian team could attack for the third time in a row to equalize. After the discussion, Dénes Varga finally shot, while Bijac saved the shot to the lower right corner as one of the best of the match.

With 1:26 before the end, the Croatians could have taken the lead for the win, but the ball hit the post, 50 seconds remained when they got a chance again, Vogel made a save, but the rebound went far, there was no chance to equalize.