Polish sides take key points; Aalborg, Sporting eye quarter-finals

In group A, Orlen Wisla Plock were the big winners on Wednesday. The Polish side took the points in Bucharest with a 27:26 win against Dinamo Bucuresti, thanks to a last-second game winner from Leon Susnja, and are now in a position to validate their ticket for the next round. Sporting CP, after their 32:29 victory over Fredericia Håndbold Klub, can also hope for a quarter-finals berth.

In group B, things remain open. HC Zagreb must hope for a miracle so they can progress, after losing 30:33 in Aalborg on Wednesday night. The Danish side took the upper hand over HBC Nantes in the race for a direct quarter-finals qualification, after the French club drew 28:28 in Kielce.

• in a game that remained undecided until the last seconds, Plock took important points in Bucharest, with Przemyslaw Krajewski scoring seven times
• Croatian line player Leon Susnja netted the game winner within the last five seconds for the Polish side
• after being led by four, Aalborg turned things around in the second half to beat Zagreb 33:30
• despite a slow start, Sporting turned around a five-goal deficit to beat Fredericia
• Nantes saved a point against Industria Kielce, after they were down by four in the second half before making an unexpected comeback

GROUP A

Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) 26:27 (14:14)

It took exactly 12 minutes for one team to take a two-goal advantage, as both sides played level in the first part of the game. With right back Tomas Piroch on great form again, Plock took the first break and, despite Dinamo coming back on the scoreboard five minutes later, the Polish side kept the upper hand. With Mirko Alilovic strong between the posts, Wisla even increased their advantage to three goals nine minutes before the break. But a wisely taken timeout by Dinamo’s coach David Davis put his team on track and they levelled the match at 14:14 right before half-time. Dinamo started the second half better; pushing every ball, thanks to Yoav Lumbroso’s speed, the hosts made the most of every opportunity and they took their biggest advantage of the game (18:14) four minutes into the half. Plock reacted right away and led by Przemyslaw Krajewski and Dmitry Zhitnikov, turned things around at the start of the last quarter. They first made the score even at the 48th minute, before entering a breathtaking money-time. Within the last minute, Leon Susnja converted Zhitnikov’s assist to allow Plock to take two important points, coming even closer to the play-offs.

Sporting CP (POR) vs Fredericia Handbold Klub (DEN) 32:29 (15:16)

Despite being already eliminated, Fredericia still decided to play for real in Lisbon. Relying on Thorsten Fries’ saves, the Danish side started the game fast, and quickly took a four-goal advantage. Despite Ricardo Costa trying different tactics on Sporting’s bench, the hosts struggled offensively throughout the first half. It was not until the last 10 minutes of the half that the hosts found their rhythm and narrowed the gap thanks to Jan Gurri and Martim Costa. William Andersson made the most of his last fastbreak to put the visitors ahead by one at the break (16:15). After half-time Sporting proved to be much more efficient offensively. Martim Costa found solutions from long-distance, allowing the hosts to take a three-goal lead for the first time. And once they were on top, Sporting did not let their opponents steal the momentum. Between the posts, Mohamed Aly made just enough saves to prevent Fredericia from coming back, while the Costa brothers were key for their team, scoring a combined 13 goals. However, Martin Bisgaard netted 10 times for Fredericia to finish as top scorer — but not stopping Sporting taking the two points.

GROUP B

Aalborg Handbold (DEN) vs Zagreb (CRO) 33:30 (15:17)

Zagreb needed points to keep their play-offs chances alive and started the game with their foot to the pedal. Within eight minutes, the visitors were already up by four (3:7), Filip Glavas having scored three times. Fabian Norsten (15 saves in total) was critical in his team taking back the momentum. Thanks to his nine saves in the first half, the hosts came back within one before the break, but two David Mandic saves of attempts by Miguel Martins attempts helped Zagreb go to the locker room up by two (17:15). The wind blew differently after the break. Zagreb started to struggle to find solutions offensively and the hosts were clinical. A 4:0 run around the 40-minute mark gave Aalborg a 24:22 lead which they never surrendered. With six players scoring four or more goals, the hosts took a maximum advantage of four goals at the 56th minute, and by that time, they had already secured the two points.

Industria Kielce (POL) vs HBC Nantes (FRA) 28:28 (14:12)

Although Nantes took the upper hand from throw-off, the French side never managed to break too far away on the scoreboard in the first half, with Kielce goalkeeper Bekir Cordalija stopping shots by experienced players such as Aymeric Minne and Valero Rivera. Although Nantes had a four-goal (9:5) lead after 17 minutes, that was the last time they held the advantage. Instead, Kielce came back little by little and made the score even at the 22nd minute through Michal Olejniczak. A fastbreak by Dylan Nahi followed by Igor Karacic’s first strike put Kielce 14:12 up at the break. Fifteen minutes of rest did not change anything for Nantes, as the French side kept on making mistakes offensively and allowing Nahi to score on fastbreaks. The French left wing netted eight times in total, including putting Kielce five goals up in the 42nd minute (21:16). But it was all downhill from there for the Polish side, as Nantes mounted a comeback. A couple of saves by Ignacio Biosca started the process, before Ayoub Abdi and Lucas de la Breteche scored twice each to level the match. Abdi made the score even again 10 seconds before the final whistle, and Biosca saved a point by stopping Hassan Kaddah’s last attempt.

Photos © Mihai Neacsu, João Morais, Henrik Hansen