Hungary’s Attila Biro Saw a Weakness in the US Women’s Team—and Exploited It
James Spence Boyce (@polo_blog) Tweeted: “Wow! Who saw that coming?” in commenting on the US Women’s Water Polo team’s 10-9 loss to Hungary in Group B play Tuesday at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center.
Actually, Atilla Biro, the Hungarian coach, did.
[On The Record with Atilla Biró, Hungary Head Women’s Water Polo Coach]
A month ago, Biro brought his extended team to California for a series of friendlies against the dominant Americans. It was not exactly a ritual slaughter BUT there were predictable results; the U.S. won all the matches going away.
Only one match was competitive—the first. Looking back there’s no indications that the Hungarians were crafting the plan that led to the American’s first loss in Olympic competition since The Netherlands beat them at the 2008 Beijing Games final. Biro, in his wisdom, was perhaps selling the world on one thing (the U.S. cannot lose) but telling his players another: We can beat this team.
And beat them the Hungarians did—at the Olympics, no less—after 15-straight losses.
They executed their plan to perfection and—looking at the score sheet b/c I have yet to see the match (lots to say about Peacock, a streaming service that only streams things if you have a cable account)—what stands out most is that Adam Krikorian’s team had a two-goal lead entering the fourth period and lost it. That has NEVER happened at a major tournament during the Krikorian era.
Clearly, the Hungarian women believed they could prevail—despite all the propaganda (put out by people like me) that the American women were invincible. They outscored their opponent 4-1 in the final period, including the tying and winning goals.
This does NOT change my mind that the U.S. will win gold in Tokyo. I believe that this is a “teachable moment” for Krikorian, who NEVER takes anything for granted. That’s why he compares favorably to the great Denes Kemeny, head coach of Hungary’s three-time Olympic champions). But, he’s got a lot to work to do before the knockout round—and there’s now a chance the favored Americans do NOT finish at the top of their group.
First of course they have to hold off Russia on Friday, a team which has to be emboldened by the loss AND furiously studying tape of the Hungary vs. USA match.
And—I have to mention this—in a match that Krikorian in his post-game remarks said was “super physical” who do you think would have been a better fit: Jordan Raney or Stephania Haralabidis? Having said that, Paige Hauschild, who is super physical herself, played all of five minutes. Maddie Musselman played 31—and hit on only three of her nine attempts.
With Ivica Tucak. Can you see WHY I wear a hat?! Photo: www.wasserballecke.de
But, what’s REALLY exciting is that Australia beat Croatia 11-8. In truth, I have mixed feeling about Croatia losing; I’ve met Ivica Tucak; that guy is amazing and I ALWAYS root for people I like. But, you gotta feel good about Elvis Fatovic—a former Croatian star whose son is in his first Olympics for their home country—sticking it to the Croats.
[On The Record with Ivica Tucak, Coach for Croatia’s National Men’s Water Polo Team]
I’m a bit selfish here; I picked Australia to advance over Montenegro (okay, I’m wrong about the Montenegrins getting too old!) because I thought with Aaron Younger, Richard Campbell, George Ford and Joe Kayes they’d be good enough to advance.
Except I missed that Kayes is not in Tokyo; he decided to stay in his native New Zealand and wait out COVID-19. Russell McKinnon wrote a glowing story in January about how great Kayes was AND how lucky Australia was that he’d play for them in the 2020 Olympics… but that didn’t happen.
If you believe that the Yugoslavian style of polo remains dominant in this Olympics (and we’ve had more than two decades of this), then Kayes was arguably one of the most valuable players in the Olympic pool. If you’ve ever seen this guy, he’s incredibly big (and it’s not just because I’m short); a dominant set who has played for some of the best professional teams in the world.
So, to lose him must have been a HUGE blow to Fatovic as well as Australia’s hopes. BUT, they found a way to win against the silver medalist at Rio, with Goran Tomasevic taking Kayes’ place (well, not really but he’s trying).
Joe Kayes. Photo: Water Polo Australia
Finally, I saw an appraisal about how effective the Japanese style is against the Yugoslavian school of polo. The theory (yes, it’s ONLY a theory until proven right) is that the nimble, counterattacking approach employed by Yoji Omoto is an antidote to the set-intensive approach that most polo-playing nations employ.
[On The Record With Yoji Omoto, Head Coach for the Japanese Men’s Water Polo Team]
Sure, it LOOKS good when the Japanese get steals and one-on-none attacks against their opponents. But how many times did that happen in their loss to the U.S. in the opening match? (I saw only one) In truth, they got FOUR penalty conversions (30% of their scoring) courtesy of the referees (and I’m sure U.S. Head Coach Dejan Udovicic was furious about some of those calls). And, to say they were pushing around Hungary—a gold medal contender—in the subsequent game is a fantasy; losing by five is NOT a close match.
They will beat South Africa—which has an astounding -58 goal differential in three matches—but that will be the host team’s highlight, because the U.S. booked its ticket to the knockout round with their tournament opening win.
And you gotta feel good about that! I certainly do.