Lucky victory for Kiel

Four days before the clash of the titans in the Men’s Champions League against the old rivalFC Barcelona, THW Kiel still isn’t on top level afte rthe EURO break. After being eliminated from the German cup by Gummersbach on Sunday, THW was very lucky to win the top match of Bundesliga at Rhein Neckar Löwen 23:22 (9:11) on Wednesday evening. The German champion was very weak in attack, as Momit Illic and Kim Andersson played far beyond their possibilities. Only Filip Jicha, who had just been awarded German handball player of the year, played effective. But Löwen didn’t show their best performances in a high tension, but low level match, too. Thanks to their goalkeeper Henning Fritz, who saved three penalty shots in the first 18 minutes, Löwen reduced the gap after the 0:4 on home soil. As youngster Uwe Gensheimer started his engines in minute 27 and scored three consecutive goals, Löwen were leading 11:9 at the break.

13.200 spectators in the sold out SAP Arena cheered their team from goal to goal, but even as Olafur Stefansson played a brilliant match, Kiel reduced the gap again, equalized at the score of 15:15 in minute 42 and took the lead six minutes later. Both teams had the chances to decide the match, but both played to hectic and with too many mistakes. As Henning Fritz again saved a penalty shot at the score of 22:21 for Kiel, Löwen hoped to win. But despite the equalizer, THW had the lucky end: Illic hit the back of the net with a penalty shot 30 seconds before the end. After a time out, Löwen coach Ola Lindgren brought his seventh field player, but then his team lost the ball. Sergej Harbok had the last chance by a direct free throw, but his shot was blocked.

“THW was much more clever in the final stage of the match”; “Löwen” goalkeeper Henning Fritz said: “Kiel was beatable today, but we made too many mistakes to be able to beat them.” Top scorers were Gensheimer with eight goals and Jicha with seven goals.