If the U.S. can defeat Hungary on Sunday, it will be the team’s first men’s water polo medal since 2008.
The Americans and Hungarians will face off in the bronze medal game of the Paris Olympics at 4:35 a.m. ET on Sunday. Both teams lost heartbreakers in the semifinals earlier this week to fall to the third-place match. The U.S. lost to two-time defending Olympic gold medalists Serbia, 10-6, in the semis.
Even though they didn’t make the gold medal final, American players said they still have a lot to play for in Paris, and have pride in the success they’ve seen in this year's Games so far.
"That's the only thing you can do,” Alex Obert said. “That's the only thing we're here to do right now is to regroup and take home some hardware and do what we came here to do."
"No matter what, the result in this tournament is better than we've had in a long time, but we're not going to be happy with fourth,” Ben Hallock said.
Hungary is the defending bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics. The Hungarians fell to Croatia, 9-8, in the semifinals to drop to a second straight bronze match.
"We want to win because it's so important for us,” said Hungary coach Zsolt Varga. “We will now have to calm down and relax a little bit and then take the last chance for a medal."
Sunday’s bronze medal match will air on USA Network and can be streamed on NBCOlympics.com.
"We're going to be excited, but first, you got to take a step back and recognize that you lost and take those emotions and be able to put them away in time for the game in two days,” Hallock said. "The guys are great and they're really resilient, as we have been many times… But getting fourth, none of us are going to be happy."