Hungary’s women’s basketball team has reached the World Cup’s last eight for the first time in 40 years after beating Japan 84–63 in Berlin, extending a remarkable comeback at their first World Cup since 1998. Hungary, ranked 19th in the world, defeated 10th-ranked Japan on Tuesday to secure their best tournament result since 1986, when the team finished eighth.
The game itself was a clear victory, with the Hungarian team never giving up the lead throughout the match. Hungary led 20–12 after the opening quarter before Japan fought back to within three points at half-time. The team then opened the second half with an 8–0 run and never relinquished control, pulling away to a 21-point victory.
Réka Lelik produced the standout performance with 23 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, while Virág Takács-Kiss added 17. Coach Péter Völgyi said Hungary became much more effective when playing ‘calmly and patiently’, while Lelik praised the collective response whenever Japan threatened a comeback. ‘Come at us, America!’ she added when asked about the quarter-final.
The reward is about as difficult as a basketball game could be. Hungary will face defending champions the United States on Thursday at 11:30am local time in Berlin. The Americans have won the past four World Cups and enter the quarter-finals riding a 33-game winning streak in the competition. They opened this tournament by defeating China 94–61 and later routed Czechia 105–64.
There has already been one significant warning that the seemingly unbeatable Americans can be dragged into trouble. Italy held the team to just 55 points in a 55–52 defeat, the United States’ lowest World Cup scoring total since the introduction of the three-point line in 1984. The Americans shot only 29 per cent from the field and 8.3 per cent from three-point range, with Italy still having a chance to force overtime in the closing seconds.
That game offers at least part of the blueprint for Hungary. FIBA identifies the frontcourt pairing of EuroLeague Women MVP Dorka Juhász and captain Takács-Kiss, the so-called ‘Twin Towers’, as Hungary’s clearest potential advantage, particularly on the defensive glass, while Hungary have also shot slightly better from three-point range than the Americans during the tournament. Lelik’s form gives the team another outside scoring option if the US defence collapses around the Hungarian centres.
The biggest danger is turnovers. Hungary have averaged 21.5 per game, an invitation the Americans’ athletic guards and wings are equipped to punish, while the US bench is averaging 46.7 points per game compared with Hungary’s 23.3. For the upset to become conceivable, Hungary will need to slow the game, protect possession, dominate enough defensive rebounds to deny second chances, and reproduce the disciplined defence Italy used so successfully.
Anything short of near-perfect execution is unlikely to be enough. But after recovering from a 99–53 opening defeat to France to win three consecutive games—the country’s first such World Cup streak since 1957—Hungary arrive at the supposedly unwinnable quarter-final with little left to lose.
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