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2014 Volvo Cup the review
| | | Monday 10 February 2014, 19:09 | | | Tim Hartog |
http://www.waterpoloworld.com/News/tabid/169/ArticleId/6326/news.aspx
© Sandor Stuber / vlv.huThe international break early February is a focus point for the fitness and form of the national teams. In the middle of the season, with all players fresh from the December and January holidays, it is a great opportunity for coaches to have their players together and maybe mix in some new blood. All over the water polo world tournaments have the international giants testing their strength and see where they stand compared to their rivals.
The Volvo Cup 2014 is one of those tournaments. Last year’s version of the event was won by hosts Hungary after beating all 3 challengers, Romania, Canada and 20& under national junior team. Although coach Tibor Benedek used several less familiar faces, that victory did not come as a surprise. This year it was not going to be so easy. With defending European champion Serbia, the up and coming USA side and Germany, led by ex-Vasas star Moritz Oeler, it would definitely be a hard-fought competition in Szolnok. The highlight of the weekend would without a doubt be the clash with the Serbians of head coach Dejan Savic.
Friday, February 7th – Day 1
On day 1 Serbia and USA got the 2014 Volvo Cup going with an entertaining match featuring plenty of goals. For USA the tournament was not so much about the result. With an average age of not even 21 years old the experience is gold already. Despite the age of the players, coach Udovicic maintains a very attractive and offensive style of play. This leaves his team open to conceding numerous goals, but also allows them to score a very respectable amount themselves. Exactly this is what also happened against Serbia.
A 9-4 first half in favor of the Serbs was outdone by an even bigger 11-7 score in the second half. Together this made for a 20-11 final score and USA could be proud to have managed to score 11 goals against a very strong Serbian side. For Serbia it was a fine start at the tournament and a good warm up for the clash on day 2 with Hungary. Especially Filip Filipovic distinguished himself by hitting a total of 4 goals. Filipovic was followed closely by team mates Dusko Pijetlovic and Strahinja Rasovic, and USA stars Bret Bonanni and Alex Bowen, who all netted 3. With the next World League confrontation against Greece already in mind, coach Tibor Benedek selected a mixture of renowned veterans and young talent for the 3-day tournament. Daniel Angyal (Vasas), David Jansik (Szolnok), Marton Levai (Szolnok), Gabor Kovacs (Eger), Ferenc Salamon (Eger), Marton Toth (Szeged) and Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific Tigers, USA) were all hoping to impress the boss and earn a spot in the final 13-man squad that will head down to Patras after the weekend.
Germany, also in preparation for their next World League clash with Italy, is always a tough nut to crack. The team of ex-Vasas player Moritz Oeler was not expected to leave Szolnok as overall winner, but is definitely capable of surprising the favorites on a good day. And a good day it seemed to be on Friday. Leading 5-7 at half-time the Germans had every chance of giving the home crowd a very soor start of the weekend. Thanks to a 4-goal streak in the 3rd period though, Hungary restored the order and managed to hold the Germans off for the rest of the game. Man of the match on Hungarian side was lefthander Norbert Madaras. His 4 goals played a big part in the comeback of the hosts in the second half of the game.
Photo by Sandor Stuber / vlv.hu
Saturday, February 8th – Day 2
Favorites Hungary and Serbia both did what was expected and emerged victorious on day 1. The giants were facing each other on day 2 for what would most likely be the tournament deciding match.
USA – Germany
Against Germany the offensive mindset helped USA to find the net 12 times, a number that might be good for victory many other games. Unfortunately for USA, the experienced Germans knew exactly how to exploit the space and certainly did not pity their opponent. After the final buzzer captain Moritz Oeler, posting 4 himself, had inspired his team to a big 20 goals. Team USA did took the first lead of the game thanks to youngster Thomas Dustan (16 years old!), but Germany quickly took the initiative and refused to give it up again. Plenty of goals, with a game-high of 11 (5-6) in the final period, did make for a very entertaining match and a perfect warm up for main-act Hungary versus Serbia.
Hungary – Serbia
A lot can be said about the rivalry between these two teams. Both can boast with a fair share of fame and glory over the years. Although the Volvo Cup cannot be compared to the Olympic Games, or to a World or European championship, when Hungary and Serbia meet you simply know there is going to be fireworks. Without starters Filip Filipovic, Dusko Pijetlovic and Andrija Prlainovic – coach Dejan Savic used the confrontation to see how some of the new generation of Serbian players would deal with the pressure. Hungary coach Tibor Benedek rotated the squad as well compared to the game versus Germany. Eger players Ferenc Salamon, Gabor Kovacs, Miklos Gor-Nagy (injured) and Krisztian Bedo were replaced by Daniel Angyal (Vasas), Marton Toth (Szeged) and Szolnok home town players Norbert Hosnyanszky and Marton Vamos.
The first period of the game looked more like chess than water polo. Both teams were carefully exploring each other and waiting to see which way the wind was blowing. It was Hungary that delivered the first blow after a goalless first 4 minutes. Denes Varga exploited a gap in the Serbian defense and put the 1-0 on the board. Hungary then looked to go into the first break leading, primarily thanks to a few superb saves of goalie Viktor Nagy, but Sava Randelovic equalized for Serbia not long ahead of the buzzer. Opposite the first period, the second period saw a lot more action.
Serbia took the lead straight from the first attack. It was centre forward Nemanja Ubovic who got the better of his guard and beat Viktor Nagy. The home crowd then witnessed in disbelief how their team had plenty of chances to equalize but failed to cash in on 3 consecutive man-up plays. Opponent Serbia had fewer troubles finding the net. 2 exclusions for Hungary ment 2 more goals for Serbia and a 1-4 score. Veteran left hander Norbert Madaras then restored some faith with the Hungarian audience by hitting his team’s second of the game right before half time. Despite Daniel Varga taking the sprint and Hungary being the first to set up offense after half-time, it was Serbia that continued to hurt the hosts. Szolnok players Zivko Gocic and Stefan Mitrovic increased the misery of the home crowd by scoring a goal each. Then trailing by 4, it was Madaras to the rescue again with his second of the game. In the next 90 seconds another 3 goals followed. Dusan Mandic first restored the 4-point gap, before Marton Szivos and Denes Varga could bring Hungary up to 2 goals from Serbia again. Hungary went on to create chances but failed to chalk up. The lack of accuracy in front of goal allowed Milan Aleksic to send his team into the final stage leading 3 with a 5-8 score.
Hungary then had to continue the remainder of the game without center forward Balazs Harai. After already receiving a yellow card for rough play earlier, he was excluded after handing out another illegal blow. Luckily for the Hungarian fans Norbert Madaras still had some powder left in the barrel. 2 more goals of the Pro Recco star kept Hungary in the game and brought Serbia back within reach. With still over 4 minutes left to play only 2 goals separated both sides and the audience prepared for a final assault. Hungary had to engage this assault without Captain Daniel Varga though, who was dismissed after making remarks about the referee’s decisions. The home crowd, who were already fired up after the sent-off of Varga, exploded when Marton Toth reduced the Serbian lead to only 1 goal for the first time since the first half. Stefan Mitrovic seemed immune to the noise and cheers of the Hungarian fans though. He kept his calm and accurately placed the ball out of reach of Viktor Nagy. Denes Varga still avenged his brother by converting on a penalty, but the final siege ran aground 1-goal short at 9-10. Serbia professionally finished the game off and played the ball round for the final possession.
“Our goal is always to win games. But although we failed to do that today, I am satisfied with the performance. Everybody was fighting for it. Serbia took a 3 goal lead but we still managed to nearly get away with a draw in the end. We were still testing new tactics and this game was a perfect opportunity for us to see what works best for us. This is very important experience that we take to Greece.” – Tibor Benedek (source – vlv.hu).
“Of course I expected a very close and exciting match. The game was great. I had never been in Szolnok before and the audience and atmosphere were superb. The team did very well and I am a satisfied coach.” – Dejan Savic (source – vlv.hu).
February, 9th – Day 3
After the victory of Serbia on day 2 only Germany could keep the team of coach Dejan Savic from winning the tournament. It was unlikely for Germany to cause a surprise, but not impossible. For Hungary all that remained was to entertain the fans and make it a worthy finale against USA.
Serbia – Germany
Coach Dejan Savic decided to mix the squad again compared to the thriller against Hungary and replaced Szolnok stars Gocic, Aleksic and Mitrovic by the returning star trio of Filip Filipovic, Dusko Pijetlovic and Andrija Prlainovic. The tournament lasted a day too long for the Germans. Whether it was lack of energy, motivation or something else, they were completely outclassed by Serbia. The 11-4 score represented the balance perfectly. Serbia found the center attack to be most effective route and was freewheeling around the German defence. The Germans were lucky that Serbian center Slobodan Nikic was excluded from the game with a red card early in the 3rd period. It did not cause a turnaround but probably at least spared the Germans an even more embarrassing final score. Without Nikic, Serbia still continued to dominate and expand their lead although at a slower pace. Especially centre forward Dusko Pijetlovic was having a good time, with 6 goals from 6 attempts, and treated the fans on a spectacular backhand goal. The torture finally stopped at 17-5 after Julian Real had scored the only German goal in the second half.
Hungary – USA
Last Wednesday Hungary and USA already met in the much discussed “Innovation Game”. While that game did not lack any attention the final match in the Volvo Cup could be considered one for the statistics only. Without much at stake both teams could enjoy this game without pressure and enjoy the atmosphere. This time it was Marton Szivos, Balazs Harai and Norbert Madaras who drew the short straw and had to sit out. Eger centre back Miklos Gor-Nagy was kept aside again as well to recover from an injury ahead of the World League game versus Greece on Tuesday. The hosts immediately took a big lead and went on expanding it until half time. Without captain John Mann, who was rested because of shoulde pains, Team USA was unable to answer the offensive power of Hungary. Only Bananni managed to counter the 7 Hungarian goals to get his team on the score sheet at least once. After the break USA acclimatized and played more freely. This resulted in 2 consecutive goals before the Varga brothers stepped up and stopped the American uprising. First it was Daniel who opened up the USA defence allowing Marton Toth to score and 2 minutes later Daniel was the end station himself after a magnificent pass by his younger brother Denes. The game never really gained on excitement anymore in the final and fourth period. Bonanni found the net for a second time to make it 9-4 but a final siege on the goal of, a very well performing, Marton Levai stayed out. David Jansik, Norbert Hosnyanszky and Ferenc Salamon further increased the Hungarian gal total to 12 and Bonanni completed his hattrick to make it 5 for USA.
Tournament best player Norbert Madaras. Photo by Sandor Stuber / vlv.hu.
Volvo Cup 2014 conclusion
Each team went into the weekend with different expectations and goals. The inexperienced side of coach Dejan Udovicic may have lost all their games, but it was definitely not a failure. Team USA returns to the States with a bag full of experience and lessons learned towards the FINA World Cup tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan next August. Led by captain Mann and shooters Alex Bowen and Brett Bonanni, the team is full of potential and could become a force to be reckoned in the future if they play their cards right. We will especially keep an eye on the development of the youngest player in the tournament, 16-year old Thomas Dunstan. Germany finished the weekend with mixed feelings. Two good performances against Hungary and USA were quickly forgotten after the punishment by Serbia on the last day of the tournament. To keep sight on qualification for the World League super finals, a positive result against Italy is a must. In order to have a chance on Tuesday, Novoselac Nebojsa will need to motivate his team to a much better performance than the display last Sunday.
With 3 victories and an outstanding final display against Germany, Dejan Savic can look back at a successful performance of his team. Especially on offence the Serbs were very impressive scoring 47 goals in total. The victory against the hosts will be a great confidence boost for the players as they head back to their club teams. Although the European Championship is still 6 months away, Serbia has shown this weekend that they mean business and will come to Budapest to avenge the disappointing result in Barcelona last year. Despite the loss against Serbia, team Hungary definitely showed good form in Szolnok. Including the test match against USA a week ago, the team has played 4 matches in 6 days and will add another one against Greece to make it 5 in 7. For a coach it is always important to have the squad together for a longer time to work on tactics and team spirit. The team is blessed with a lot of talent and deciding a final squad for the EC would be a major head breaker. The road to Budapest 2014 is still long though and Tibor Benedek will have plenty of time to develop the perfect strategy.
“Most important is the match against Greece on Tuesday. We are moving forward although I think we can still improve. The loss against Serbia was disappointing, but a victory in Greece would make that feeling disappear for sure. We keep working on our tactics and the more we are together, the better we get. For now, the next World League match is all we think about.” – Tournament MVP Norbert Madaras (source – vlv.hu).
Text: Kevin Vernooij, Hungary correspondent.
8th Volvo Cup results
February 7
Hungary vs. Germany 12-9, Serbia vs. USA 20-11
February 8
Hungary vs. Serbia 9-10, Germany vs. USA 20-12
February 9
Hungary vs. USA 12-5, Serbia vs. Germany 17-5
Final standings:
1. Serbia 9 pts, Hungary 6, 3. Germany 3, 4. USA 0.
Previous places for Hungary in final standings
2007, Debrecen: 1.
2008, Kecskemet: 1.
2009, Eger: 2.
2010, Hodmezovsssrhely: 1.
2011, Miskolc: 1.
2012: Szekesfehervar: 1.
2013: Kecskemet: 1.
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