lunedì 20 ottobre 2014

Round 3 of the Hungarian national league: Half sized competition due to Champions League

Round 3 of the Hungarian national league was separated in two parts as title favorites Szolnok and OSC were on Champions League duties this weekend.
OSC hosted their qualifying group in Budapest where they took on Oradea (Romania), Kazan (Russia), and Duisburg (Germany). Szolnok travelled to Kragujevac in Serbia to meet hosts Radnicki, Istanbul (Turkey), and Italian side Posillipo.
Their games against FTC and Eger respectively are scheduled for coming Wednesday and especially the clash between Szolnok and Eger is one to look forward to. Another game that could not be played this weekend was the match-up between BVSC and Szentes. Szentes had asked for rescheduling as 6 of their players were struck down with a virus.


With the top 4 teams otherwise occupied, eyes focused on the match between old rivals Honvéd and Vasas. These two teams fought some great battles during the 2000s but have both fallen from grace a little. However, whenever Honvéd and Vasas meet, nostalgic feelings do take over a little bit and there is more at stake than just points. Despite the sentiment between the teams, the final result did not leave much to the imagination. With the Japanese internationals back in the squad, Honvéd booked a solid victory over their “neighbors”. Vasas did go into the half-time break leading 3-4 but quickly went downhill in the 2nd part of the game. Honvéd’s Bence Fülöp personally took his team up and over. By hitting 4 goals in quick succession he turned the game in a blink of an eye.
Vasas could not recover from this blow and only managed 2 goals in the entire 2nd half of the match.
The hosts continued to increase their lead and finally reached a solid 12-6 victory to grab their second win of the season and join Kaposvár and Szeged on 6 points as they also booked a victory this weekend.

Szeged put on a great display for their home crowed as they topped visitors UVSE 16-10.
The hosts were leading 10-3 at halftime already and slowed the game down in the 3rd period.
This allowed UVSE to get more into the game and give Szeged a bit of a fight.
However, a defeat could not be avoided. The final 16-10 result helps Szeged to bounce back from the close loss against Kaposvár last week. Special mention for Slovak center Lukas Seman who topped the goal scorer list with 6 goals from 6 shots and is now leading top goal scorer of the competition.
Kaposvár was motivated to follow up on their victory over Szeged in round 2 and traveled to Budapest to meet KSI. 3 time Olympic champion and Kaposvár goalie Zoltán Szécsi was on fantastic form again saving 16 from the 23 shots fired at his goal. The veteran still looks as good as ever and his saves helped Kaposvár beat KSI 7-10.

Last game of the weekend was between DVSE and PVSK. 
PVSK was still waiting for the first points of after 2 defeats in round 1 and 2.
Despite the return of Károly Czigány, the team from Pécs is struggling for rhythm and could really use a victory to get going. The 1st period looked like it was heading down the same road again as earlier games. Debrecen took the lead and appeared the stronger team.
However, in the 2nd period PVSK came back to make it 3-3 at half time and the visitors continued this good run after the break adding 3 more goals to their count. Going into the final period leading 3-6, the first win of the season was not endangered anymore.

As mentioned earlier, Szolnok and OSC played this weekend to secure a spot for the 3rd round knock-out matches of the Champions League. With Eger qualified automatically for the preliminary group stage through a wild card, we could potentially have 3 Hungarian teams in the final stages of the most prestigious European club tournament. This is a much welcomed sight for the Hungarian water polo fan after the disappointing previous couple of years. However, to establish this unique achievement OSC and Szolnok had to deal with their opponents in the qualifiers first. 
OSC hosted their own group and had the advantage of the home crowd who showed up in great numbers for the games. However, they did not entirely convince yet. The first game against Oradea (Romania) showed the potential of the new team. But the following games against the weaker Kazan and Duisburg respectively, did not come this easy. Still, OSC can take comfort in the fact that even the games where they are not playing their best water polo are won.
Focus can turn back to the domestic competition now as FTC waits on Wednesday in the domestic league 3rd round match up.
Szolnok did not have an easy weekend either. The star packed squad of Sándor Cseh lost their first game against hosts Radnicki and played catch up for the remainder of the weekend.
With 2 clean victories over Possilipo and Istanbul, the favorites still qualified for the next round though. The performance must improve though as a much tougher opponent will wait in the knock out round for which the draw will be tomorrow.

Round 3 results

Home
Visitors
Final Score
BVSC
Szentes
POSTPONED
Szeged
UVSE
16-10
DVSE
PVSK
6-8
Honvéd
Vasas
12-6
KSI
Kaposvár
7-10
Eger
Szolnok
PLAYED ON OCT 22nd
FTC
OSC
PLAYED ON OCT 22nd

League Standings

Team
Games
Win
Draw
Loss
Points
GD
Szolnok
2
2
0
0
6
+19
FTC
2
2
0
0
6
+4
OSC
2
2
0
0
6
+4
Szeged
3
2
0
1
6
+9
Honvéd
3
2
0
1
6
+7
Kaposvár
3
2
0
1
6
-1
Eger
2
1
1
0
4
+5
PVSK
3
1
1
1
4
-2
DVSE
3
1
0
2
3
-2
Vasas
3
1
0
2
3
-16
KSI
3
0
1
2
1
-5
UVSE
3
0
1
2
1
-7
BVSC
2
0
0
2
0
-4
Szentes
2
0
0
2
0
-11

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