It’s already about the group victory

16 teams are taking part in the Water Polo World Cup in Hungary. Among them are naturally also some underdogs. However, there are also many teams that have hopes of winning the medals. On Tuesday, two of them will meet in a direct duel. In the Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex it will be the duel between Greece and Croatia.

It will probably be a question of winning the group and qualifying directly for the quarter-finals, which will be reached by the first team in each of the four groups. The other teams from Japan and Germany should not pose much of a threat. So the first match should already decide who will secure their place in the sun and who, as runners-up in the group, will have to intervene again in the last 16.

The topic of stress management is also very important in Hungary, because the European Championship will follow this year, where the Croats want to use their home advantage in Split. Nevertheless, the focus will be on the World Championships for the time being. We think that there will be a rather cautious start and therefore we can imagine placing a bet on less than 20.5 goals between Greece and Croatia.

Greece – Statistics & current form

The Greeks are still waiting to hit the big time at one of the important tournaments. There have been silver and bronze medals several times, but the Ethniki have never won a title. It probably won’t be at the World Cup in Hungary either. This year, the Greek team has had some problems. And yet Theodoros Vlachos’ team was still doing well at the Olympic Games in 2021.

After the upheaval, things are still not going well

The Serbian team was only beaten in the final in Tokyo. Once again, it was nothing with a big title. But now the team has a slightly different face. The national team looked anything but good at the World League in April and suffered three defeats against Serbia, Croatia and Hungary.

This brings the total to four defeats from the last five matches. The Greek flagship Olympiakos Piraeus has also stumbled recently at club level. Many national players are active in this club, which did not even make it to the Final Eight in the Champions League. Therefore, we do not think the Greeks are strong enough at the moment to play a decisive role at the World Cup in Hungary.

For this reason, we are mainly looking at the odds for a Croatian victory before the duel between Greece and Croatia. Nevertheless, it must be said that the Ethniki should not be taken lightly. If the Greeks have a good day, they are always capable of making life difficult for the Croatian team.

Predicted line-up of Greece:
Zerdevas, Tzortzatos – Argyropoulos, Kanakis, Dervisis, Foundoulis, Genidounias, Gouvis, Kakarogos, Stapolis, Kataripas, Starikos – Coach: Vlachos

Croatia – Statistics & current form

In water polo, a European Championship is basically worth as much as a World Championship, because the determining teams in this sport all come from the old continent. Therefore, we think it is conceivable that the European Championship, which will start at the end of August in Split, may have a slightly higher significance for the Croatian team than the current World Championship.

Newly formed Croats

The Croats’ last major title came in Hungary, of all places, at the 2017 World Cup, so perhaps that’s a good omen for the Barracudas to go far now too. In any case, Ivica Tucak’s team is the favourite to win the group in the preliminary round. We think that you should therefore be well off predicting a Croatian victory in the opening match between Greece and Croatia.

In the World League, the Croatians were eliminated in the quarter-finals in April. In the end, they finished in sixth place. Overall, Hrvatska has a decent record with five wins from the last seven matches, especially since they lost to the world-class teams from Italy and Hungary. However, there was also only one success against one of the top teams in water polo during this period against Montenegro.

The Croats are also in the midst of a rebuilding process. Coach Ivica Tucak has nominated eight players for the World Cup in Hungary, for whom it is the first major tournament. In water polo, however, Hrvatska has a very large reservoir of strong players, so that this circumstance should be much less important for the Barracudas than for their upcoming opponents from Greece.

Croatia’s likely line-up:
Bijac, Popadic – Krapic, Vrlic, Buric, Zuvela, Fatovic, Bukic, Lazic, Vukicevic, Marinic, Kragic, Basis, Kharkov – Coach: Tucak

Greece – Croatia Direct comparison / H2H-Balance

Since the World League in January 2010, there have been a total of 18 duels between the water polo teams from Greece and Croatia. The direct comparison speaks very clearly in favour of the Barracudas during this period. After victories, the score is 13:5 for the Croats. There were also two draws after four quarters, Croatia won once in overtime, and one victory went to Greece after extra time.

Most recently, the Croats won four games in a row against the Ethniki. Three times at the European Championships and also this year in the European qualification for the World League. However, Hrvatska only narrowly prevailed with 12:11. However, in the end it was not enough for both teams to secure a slot at the Super Finals.

Greece – Croatia Tip

One has to assume that Greece and Croatia will win their other matches against Germany and Japan in this preliminary round. Therefore, the spectators at the Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex can expect a final match for the group victory on Tuesday and thus also for the direct entry into the quarter-finals, which is equivalent to a few days’ break before the play-offs at a World Cup.

So those who excel on the first matchday should have the opportunity to bounce back a little in the coming games. Tendentially, the Barracudas are probably favoured, with both teams having come to Hungary with a squad made up of many newcomers.

This is also due to the fact that the Barracudas have been ahead in the direct duels in most cases and have won four times in a row against the Ethniki recently. We can already imagine that it will be a tight match with not many goals, but in the end we decided to play the betting odds on a Croatian victory between Greece and Croatia.