U18 World Cup: We sent the Italians to the floor already in the first half of the semi-final!
Thanks to the overwhelming first half performance, the Hungarian national team beat Italy 18-15 in Buenos In the semi-finals of the U18 Boys World Championship in Aires. Balázs Korényi's team scored 7-7 times in the first two quarters, and based on this they were able to distribute their advantage throughout, so they will be able to jump into the water in hopes of defending their title against the Serbs.
The rollercoaster against the Greeks was ended with a last-minute goal in the quarter-finals of the U18 Boys' World Cup, so the Hungarian national team was already in the semi-finals at dawn on Tuesday, Hungarian time. Balázs Korényi's students clashed with Italy, still unbeaten in the tournament, in the top four, and the bet was who could face the Serbs in the final.
The match started full of action, Balogh Botond doubled from the man advantage and from five meters in the first 64 seconds, and during that time the Italians also sold a five. Viktor Paján scored the first action goal, and Tamás Tátrai scored from the wall into the Italian goal. The opponent took advantage of a chance twice in a row (a double for the second time), Mór Benedek was also effective between the two, and then you went up with another penalty. We used the advantages well (just like a round ago), Tátrai and András Tóth both scored one goal, i.e. we scattered seven in the first quarter!
Bence Haverkampf also got involved in the goal production in the second act, and they were unable to stop Balogh, but up front they also had accurate finishes. What's more, they were able to turn around with a sold ball after a middle start and clawed their way back to minus two, but with the man advantage hits of Maxim Cseh and Márton Zeman, we settled the lines right away. The former even sent a penalty instead, we led by five for the first time, and the Italians became more and more frustrated. Especially when Zalán Nagy bombed one from the end of the world, and Balogh's fierce snap landed behind the goal line even according to VAR, this time we didn't score by less than seven.
The they scored the first goal of the second half, to which Haverkampf answered with a sumptuous drop, and although the speed of attack dropped a little after that, we were mostly in the mud at the back. However, they still erased two goals from their deficit, so something had to be figured out for the fourth stage.
Nagy found the way from the wrong-hand side, bending nicely, but two came from the by the Italian team, then another when there were still more than four minutes left. From that, we asked for time, while the referees took a video, and then after a long, long look, they made the decision: put the clock back to 3:45 and a Hungarian penalty! Tóth nailed it, but the Italians scored almost immediately, i.e. there was not much change. On the other hand, it mattered a lot that as soon as we entered the last two minutes, Benedek also took advantage of a man advantage. Then there was another VAR review, after which one of the Italians received a red card, but this had no real effect on this match: the Hungarian national team ran down the clock, won 18-15 thanks to the carpet bombing in the first half, and there will be in the final, where he can get back at the Serbians for the group round defeat!
Final result, U18 World Championship
Semifinal
Italy-Hungary 15-18 (4-7, 4-7, 3-1, 4-3)
Hungarian goals: Balogh 4, Benedek, Cseh, Haverkampf, Nagy, Tátrai, Tóth 2-2, Paján, Zeman 1-1.
