Budapest Journal Day 14: A Once-Predictable Tournament Goes Crazy

Everyone's looking to go to Croatia/Hungary tonight. Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo

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By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor

There’s no other way to say it: the water polo world was turned upside down Thursday night when Croatia—due either to relentless determination OR bad refereeing—shocked Serbia and beat the Olympic, European and World champs 12-11. Not only was it the first loss for Serbia at a major championship in more than three years, it was their first loss to their bitterest rivals in seven.

The world did NOT stop spinning on its axis; today Serbs went out and beat Greece 11-8 in the bronze match in a contest that was never really in doubt. Afterwards, Serbian captain Filip Filipovic stayed and answered questions for almost 30 minutes in the Media Zone (and spoke w/your correspondent; more on that in a later post). Conspicuously absent? Serbian head coach Dejan Savic. According to the Serbian media rep, Savic will speak to the media at the team hotel (if we’re lucky).

23-07-2017: Waterpolo: Servie v Kroatie: Boedapest (L-R) during the waterpolomatch between men Serbia and Croatia at the 17th FINA World Championships 2017 in Budapest, Hungary Photo / Foto: Gertjan Kooij

Croatian Coach Ivica Tucak. Photo Courtesy: Beeldboot.nl\Gertjan Kooij

In case you missed it, Ivica Tucak the Croatian coach, took advantage of the Thursday’s win to call out all the doubters (and there were many of us)—albeit in Croatian (luckily I had access to a translator). There’s no question in my mind that Tucak is one of the true characters in the sport. He’s brash, opinionated and not afraid to speak his mind—which is great!

He also was willing on Tuesday to speak English, where he told me—BEFORE the contest with Serbia—“I think we can beat them.”

And they did, in what FINA’s website cited as “one of the best games maybe in the history of water polo.” Perhaps that’s a bit heavy on the hyperbole; no matter, it was a fantastic contest and set up a compelling match-up with a Hungarian team which is riding a wave of emotion. Of course both teams must hope that the moment is not too large; for Croatia a let down is their biggest foe, while the Hungarians literally have the hopes of a nation on their shoulders.

True Hungarian fans! Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo

Practically everyone I encounter on Margaret Island is wearing some sort of reference to their fandom. Shirts, oil stick, decals, wigs, hats—anything and everything has been pasted with the red, white and green of Hungary. In many ways it’s an impressive testament to this country’s embrace of the sport. However, even their coach, Tamas Marcz has admitted that his teams was not expected to get this far. Plus, it’s hard to bet against a Croatian team that—as one correspondent pointed out—takes advantage of every single mistake. The Hungarians, in particular their animated goalie Victor Nagy, have played spectacularly well. BUT, they’ve had luck as well—just ask the Greek team; in the third period of the semifinal, with Hungary nursing a one-, then two-goal lead they hit the post on four separate possessions.

No matter the outcome, the match tonight at the Alfréd Hajós Swimming Complex promises to be a great moment for the sport (and I’ll leave it to others to decide it’s significance…).

Because of the passion for this game, there is a market—not legal—for tickets. The match is a sell-out, so they only way to get in is to find someone who will resell (not so easily done, as I’m told) OR be a VIP. On the latter issue, rumor has it that the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, will be in attendance. That will be interesting because the venue is relatively small and there’s already a pronounced police presence around the arena. Plus, the VIP area is pretty wide open; all of this will likely ratchet up the excitement even more.

Object of desire?! Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo

From what I can tell, the market for a good seat in the arena is topping out at 150,000 Forint; before anyone thinks that’s a Hamilton-sized mark-up (the face value is 5,000 Forint); the exchange rate is approximately 260 Forint to the dollar, so we’re talking almost $600 dollars.

If you WANT a ticket you’ll have to be resourceful; from what I can tell there’s not a StubHub Hungary, though select private Facebook sites will permission you in if you’re looking to buy.

Flags everywhere! Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo

I ran into a couple of folks on Margaret Island who were looking to buy tickets—they asked that they not be photographed with their signs (who knows how scalpers are treated); one prospective buyer said he was willing to pay 50,000 Florint—or 10 x face value—for a ticket.

I did happen to speak yesterday with a fan and her family at the Hungarian women’s match (where Hungary won 10-8 over Italy to place fifth). Kodaly Mady said it was her first time ever at a water polo match.

The most impressive part of her story was that she, her husband and their two children cut short their vacation in Balaton—about an hour and a half from Budapest—to support their team. They don’t have a ticket for tonight so they’ll do what thousands of Hungarians will: watch the match on TV.

Unfortunately, there appears to be no American venue to watch it live BUT the new Olympic Channel currently has a replay of the U.S. Women’s win over Spain, so perhaps they’ll post a replay of the men’s final.

Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo

By the way, the U.S. women WON! For more on that check out my recap (and please note the stunning pictures by Gertjan Kooij).

Finally, your correspondent DOES try to get into the local scene; I took the opportunity to be photographed with Lili, one of the two mascots of the 2017 FINA Aquatics Championships. Please note that her male counterpart Lali is nowhere to be seen at the Hajós pool. Perhaps he’ll be able to scalp a ticket for tonight’s match.

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Brownish

6 years ago

Good morning Michael, our currency is Forint (Hungarian Forint, HUF, or Ft in Hungary).
Otherwise, you could’ve bought ticket from 200,000-450,000 Ft for the final, too 🙂

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Michael Randazzo

6 years ago

Reply to Brownish

Good morning: Were the prices that high for last night’s match? The people I spoke to mentioned a high of 200,000 Forint (and I realize now I typed “Florint” as in “Florins”!).

BTW, I’m not advocating inflated prices for sporting events—far from it!—I just thought it was an interesting measure of an event’s popularity. As they say, money—or in this case Forints—talk!

Are you surprised by the outcome last night? Is this a cup half full (the future is bright!) or half empty (another missed title) moment for Hungarian water polo?

M. Randazzo

Brownish

6 years ago

Reply to Michael Randazzo

Yes, they were. It was the price of the high popularity, for sure.
No, I wasn’t, I had seen their match against Serbia, the Croatians were very good there, too and they had more difficult matches throughout the Worlds than us.
Back to the luck, mostly the better is lucky, isn’t it? Viktor was perfect there so they had to throw the ball closer to the corners but hit the post. BTW the post is as close as missing as to a goal 🙂
About the final, that 1st quarter…, but I think the glass is more than half full at the moment, for both Hungarian women’s and men’s water polo.

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Michael Randazzo

6 years ago

Reply to Brownish

Thanks for ALL your comments. I have a few thoughts, if I may:
– Your coach, who is a true gentleman, was spot on about experience. The Croatians knew what to expect and seized on the moment (I checked to be sure; they scored on first possession and four of eight possessions in 1st).
– Luck was a huge factor earlier for Hungary but not last night. The Croatians had a game plan and worked it to perfection. In their quotes (and I’ll get those up later today) they reference that they knew Hungary would come back—and when they did Garcia finished them off.
– as I mentioned, a journalist at the tournament (fantastic Italian writer) pointed out how effective Croatia was at taking advantage of mistakes. The WHOLE GAME was about those calculations. Look at the exclusion situation w/Garcia. He drew his second with FIVE MINUTES left in the 2nd period. Gutsy move by Tucak to keep him in BUT he knew that third exclusion is not coming for a star like Garcia.
– I thought the vibe around your team / the fans were fantastic. BUT, what was it like in 2014? Is it possible that there was a similar pronouncement that Hungarian WP was on the rise? I believe in the “glass half full” approach, but it would be interesting to hear what the response was after that tournament.

Thank you again for all your considerate comments; they were VERY much appreciated.

M. Randazzo