German derby ends in draw

World class handball, high tension, 72 goals and a draw: this was the balance of Wednesday’s top match in the German Bundesliga. In fact, the draw will be more valuable for Kiel.

Within six days HSV Hamburg played against both Champions League finalists. After beating Ciudad Real 32:26 (one goal short from reaching the final), Hamburg played a 36:36 (19:19) draw against THW Kiel. With one less played match than Flensburg (50:8 points) Kiel are number two (49:7), while Hamburg remain third (47:11). The title race in Germany is still open before the last five rounds.

The top match in Hamburg was marked by two tough defences (despite the 72 goals) and again a sold our Color Line Arena with 13.115 spectators. And similarly to the match against Ciudad Real, Hamburg had the chance to win again in the very last seconds, but Ivan Ursic missed a great chance right before the final whistle. But in the end the draw was well-deserved.

Both teams started with enormous speed: in the first five minutes the ball hit the net nine times (5:4). Kiel took the lead at 13:12 for the first time with two consecutive goals they tried to defeat Hamburg very early. And after changing goalkeeper from Thierry Omeyer to Matias Andersson, THW were on the run (even as their captain Stefan Lövgren had to leave the court for a while because of an injury).

HSV fought hard, although the team of Martin Schwalb could not play with their best players again due to injuries. At halftime it was again equal, 19:19.

“The first 20 minutes were really breath-taking, absolutely impressive, handball on the highest level, even as both defences had problems,” said HSV coach Schwalb after the match.

Also second halftime was full-speed handball – but due to a lot of injury-breaks on both sides it wasn’t a fluent match anymore. In addition, the HSV defense sometimes played a little bit too hard – six suspensions and nine seven meter throws for Kiel as a result.

These seven meters were ideal for Filip Jicha to score altogether eleven goals (seven from the line).

“In the last matches we had enormous problems with our seven meters. So I told Filip to throw them as noboby else wanted to do this job,” said THW coach Noka Serdarusic afterwards.

And with these easy goals Kiel were in front with three goals for the first time in the match at 34:31 seven minutes before the end.

But this was not enough: within two minutes and three consecutives goals by winger Hans Lindbergh HSV equalised again.

A tense final stage started. 20 seconds to play at the score of 36:36, Hamburg in ball possession – but no goal.

“We’re a little bit depressed, as we had again the last attack and did not score. But despite this fact: a great compliment to my team. These were 60 minutes full of fight and tension,” said HSV coach Martin Schwalb.

German World champion Pascal Hens shared his opinion:

“We never gave up, even as we were three goals behind. We had the chance to win, but in the end the draw is deserved.”

Kiel coach Noka Serdarusic was not only happy with one point, but also with the atmosphere in the Arena:

“This crowd was like at a World championship final. It was great for the spectators, it was a tense match and it was pure stress for the coaches. We were in the lead, but we gave the lead away.”

The best scorers were Hans Lindbergh (six goals for Hamburg) and Jicha (eleven for Kiel). But also HSV keeper Per Sandström, who substituted Johannes Bitter after few minutes, had a good match with 19 saves.