HSV and Kiel: perfect finish

The northern rivals marched in the second group phase: after match day four it was already clear that HSV Hamburg and THW Kiel have reached their primary objective, after match day five it was clear that they would finish on the top of their groups (and will not meet each other in the Main Round). On match day six both club finished with clear victories against Eastern European teams. Hamburg won against Zaporozhye 38:23 (20:7), while Kiel have beaten Constanta 38:24 (15:8).

HSV beat Zaporozhye

HSV coach Martin Schwalb was very satisfied with the performance of his team:

“We played on high speed for 60 minutes. This match was fun for us but also for the spectators. It was great that all players scored.”

The top scorers were Kyung Shin Yoon and Hans Lindbergh with seven goals both. Before the start of the match, Group E was already decided: HSV and Chekhov advance to the next group phase, while Zaporozhye qualify for the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Hamburg started furiously by taking a 7:1 lead after only eight minutes. After 30 minutes the Ukrainian champions only scored seven and the match was decided very early as HSV took a 20:7 with them into the lockers. So Schwalb started to change his team and gave the possibility for the second string.

Nevertheless, Zaporozhye were not able to close the gap to less than twelve goals – and so Hamburg finished their first time ever CL adventure unbeaten in the first stage with five victories and one draw at home against Chekhov.

“The speed of the HSV players was far too fast for us,” said Zaporozhye coach, Vyacheslaw Didushenko after the match.

“There is a big difference between the levels of our league and that of the Bundesliga.”

HSV’s Brazilian player, Bruno Souza, was also satisfied:

“We showed all the way that we wanted to win – it was a pleasure to play today.”

Kiel finish with 100% performance

THW Kiel had the same “pleasure” to win on Thursday against Constanta. Kiel were dominating with two strong Swedish players with the same name: goalkeeper Mathias Andersson – who will leave Kiel after this season for Großwalstadt – and backcourt player Kim Andersson – with a big offer from Spanish Ciudad Real – were “the men of the match”.

Goalkeeper Andersson saved 23 shots, while Kim scored eight goals. THW’s coach, Noka Serdarusic gave some time to rest for the top players and let the second string play.

But even as the Romanians were not so strong, it took some time for THW to make a bigger difference in the result after a 5:4 and a 9:8. With seven goals in a row Kiel went into halftime with a 15:8 and the match was decided.

Only in the last ten minutes were Kiel as powerful as before, but the spectators knew that hard weeks are in front of the team, so THW did not play with 100 percent effort. It was still enough to win 38:24.

Kiel won all six of their Group Matches.

“This match was not so important for us as we already qualified as number one from our group,” said Serdarusic. “We focused on our defence, but we received too many goals.”

Eden Hairi, new coach of Constanta, was impressed by their opponents:

“Kiel are the best team in the world. It was a great experience for us to play here – even if we lost.”

THW captain Stefan Lövgren was also impressed:

“I think the atmosphere in the Champions League is much better than two years ago. It’s really fun to play for fans.”