Eurocup draw - head coaches' statement to vlv
The group for the second qualifying round of the Eurocup was formed on Monday in Zagreb i t. Statement by Dániel Varga, Zoltán Hangay and Márton Szivós to the vlv:
ALL RESULTS OF THE WEEKEND QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENTS
In the sequel, there will be round-robin matches within the group. The first two places advance to the round of 16, where the eight teams "relegated" from the BL will join.
Group A: Brescia, Jug Dubrovnik, Strasbourg, Apollon Smirnisz
Group B: Panionios, Ortigia, BVSC, Vouliagmeni
Group C: Pro Recco, Szolnok, Duisburg, Mladost Zagreb
Group D: Panathinaikos, Szabacs, CN Barcelona, Honvéd
We asked the three head coaches involved in the continuation to evaluate their successful qualifying tournament last weekend in a few sentences before commenting on the draw results.
DÁNIEL VARGA (BVSC-Manna ABC) head coach of vlv:
- It was a great weekend - three days, three wins. This has message value in this strong group. However, we also saw on Friday and Saturday how fragile this team is in certain phases and that if the boys don't show their best face, the performance can drop to such a level that we may have problems even against teams weaker than us. It's good that we experienced both the highest level and when the game was weaker due to an inappropriate mentality. If we use these acquired experiences well, we can expect a great season.
I consider our new group to be quite balanced, I definitely aim to advance, as last weekend we showed how well we can play water polo if we give our best. The difficulty of the matter is that, as these matches come one after the other, we will be well into the autumn season, many matches will affect our form. The team must learn to play well in any condition and win games no matter what. This is one of the most important goals of autumn. If we can achieve this, progressing - even in first place - can be realistic.
ZOLTÁN HANGAY (Szolnoki Dózsa Praktiker) is the head coach of vlv:
- When we traveled out, it was not yet I knew the level of our opponents. I felt that it is possible to advance from this group and we don't have to beat the host Panionios, but the teams of Spandau and Tenerife. Thank God, we managed to defeat all three of our opponents. We turned around from a losing position against the Greeks, it was perhaps the best match of the tournament. It was a great experience for us, and we are trying to move forward armed with this. Such shared experiences forge the team together. I can see now that we are very much together, but for everything to continue successfully, we need to do our best in every match - and of course: believe that we can beat anyone.
It may sound strange, but I am happy that we were drawn in a group with such teams in Monday's draw. I don't know how long this "international trip" will last us, but it's a huge thing that this Szolnok can play with Recco. In this way, the players can experience for themselves what it is like to play against top players representing the international water polo elite.
It could have been an easier group, but I'm happy about it. I am sure that there will be a very good atmosphere at the matches in Szolnok, this is what we wanted to achieve, to be able to play at least three more matches at home - against strong teams.
MÁRTON SZIVÓS (Endo Plus Service-Honvéd) head coach of the vlv:
- It was difficult, if only because of the trip, but in retrospect I think that we confidently moved on. Obviously, I'm glad that we managed to fight our way into the next phase of the international cup competition. This has now been achieved for the third year in a row. We need these competitions both for team building and for the individual development of the players. From the point of view of gaining international experience, this is a huge thing, and if we are already there, then of course we want to gain not only experience, but also points and victories.
I consider our group to be balanced, there is no team that is a clear favorite, but not one that we can be sure of defeating either. Our goal is to get ahead. Of course, the targeted preparation starts now, we start collecting the materials, we seize every opportunity to gather information about the opponents. I'm also talking to Rob Kovács, since OSC played against Szabácc.
