Game for prestige against Buducnost

Budapest Bank-FTC has not seen its best days recently. In the Christmas break they finished only third as hosts at the Sedria-Szabella Cup, in addition, the world class Helga Németh left the squad.

The cup brought a 22-26 defeat against Lokomotiva Zagreb, a win against 30-29 Dunaferr and a 30-37 defeat against Hypo that won the tournament.

Coach Gyula Zsiga was satisfied with the performance of the young players and with the improving form at least:

“I could feel that some of the girls were tired and they were not able to run in the same rhythm for a long time. I was satisfied with the young players who were tried in ‘deep water’. The fact that we had two players in defence against Hypo who were born in 1990 (Zácsik and Mohácsik), is a very positive sign looking at the future.”

During the preparation tournament the news was broken: Helga Németh terminated her contract with the club.

“She came to the decision that she could not continue work in this financial situation. She also had other conflicts, but not with me or the other players of the team. Good news, however, that former player Éva Szarka joined us and she will help me on the bench,” the coach said.

All this is not a good sign before the game against Buducnost T-Mobile. As FTC lost the first game in Podgorica, the Hungarians need to win now and that would still not be enough to reach third place in the group – a draw or a victory in Viborg would also be needed.

Some also question the importance of the Cup Winners’ Cup for the club because of financial issues. The coach comments as follows:

“From an ethical and sports point of view, I believe that the opportunities must be taken. We never even for a second think about playing for defeat. The game against Buducnost will be a game for prestige and I will tell it to the girls as well.

“We made mistakes at the first game and now we want to prove that we could have won that match. We don’t wish to win, we want to win! With this defeat of Viborg, they can even fail to qualify and Buducnost might even make it to the Main Round. I expect a great battle because of this as well. We have smaller injuries, but the two recently operated players, Kata Haris and Lucia Uhrakova can play…"