Men´s EHF Cup: Bacau reach Group Phase as first team

The Romanian team Stiinta Municipal Dedeman Bacau became the first known participant of the new Men´s EHF Cup Group Phase as they beat Israeli´s champions after both legs of the Round 3 55:44 on aggregate score.

Fifteen more teams will follow them during the next weekend. The draw of the Group Phase will take place on Thursday, 6 December (13:00 hrs local time) in Belgrade.
 

Men´s EHF Cup, Round 3, first leg

SATURDAY MATCHES

Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER) vs. HC Meshkov Brest (BLR) 29:17 (13:7)

The winners of the “old” EHF Cup last edition started their campaign in the new competition with a convincing victory against Brest.

“After this result I can be completely satisfied. I asked my team to go full throttle for all 60 minutes and exactly this they did,” the coach of German club Velimir Petković said.

“We missed too many good scoring chances and produced too many technical errors. Our players do not have enough experience and it was too much for this young team. We really missed our core player Nerijus Atajevas after he had been sent off,” Brest coach Miglius Astrauskas stated at the press conference.

RK Cimos Koper (SLO) vs. FC Porto Vitalis (POR) 29:23 (11:12)

The VELUX EHF Champions League last season´s quarter-finalists and this season´s Wild Card tournament participants can forget about the dreadful start. The Portugal´s international goalkeeper Hugo Laurentino recorded nine saves as his team escaped to 5:1, but Koper eventually managed to find the rhythm in the second half and beat the Portuguese champions by six goals.

RK "Borac m:tel" Banja Luka (BIH) vs. TATRAN Prešov (SVK) 25:36 (11:19)

After an impressive performance the Slovakian champions already have one leg in the Group Phase.

Just a week ago Prešov won against Banja Luka in the SEHA league only by seven goals at home and it was hardly expected that the first leg in Bosnia will turn out to be an easy ride for Tatran who controlled the match from the beginning to the end.

Photo: Manojla Zrnić

Naturhouse La Rioja (ESP) vs. RK Vojvodina (SRB) 28:19 (15:10)

Currently the third team of the Spanish Asobal made and important step towards the Group Phase in front of 2,500 spectators in Logroño. The Serbian left wing Marko Ćuruvija was the top scorer of the hosts against his compatriots.

RK Siscia (CRO) vs. RK Maribor Branik 30:29 (12:11)

Ex-Yugoslavian derby is promising a real thriller as Croatian Siscia beat Slovenian Branik only by one goal.

The match of two rivals situated only two hours drive from each other was very tight all the time.

Three minutes before the end the home team reached the biggest gap (29:26), but visitors pulled back before the final buzzer.

Photo: Damir Pintarić

Stiinta Municipal Dedeman Bacau (ROU) vs. Maccabi Srugo Rishon Lezion (ISR) 33:22 (15:8)

Because of the current security issues in Israel both legs of the match had to be played in Romania following the agreement of the two clubs. In their first match broadcast live on ehfTV.com Israeli´s champions could not withstand the opnening pressure of the hosts as they were quickly four goals behind (1:5). Bacau´s lead was never seriously threatened by the visitors and reached the double digits in the closing part of the encounter.

Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER) vs. A.C. Diomidis Argous (GRE) 37:17 (21:8)

The participants of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in 2011 can virtually prepare for the Group Phase after beating the reigning Challenge Cup winners from Greece by 20 goals.

But the goal feast proved costly for Lions as they lost Uwe Gensheimer. The German international tore his Achilles tendon and will be out for six months.

Photo: Sörli Binder

Haslum HK (NOR) vs. Besiktas JK (TUR) 31:20 (19:10)

In the batlle of two title holders Norwegian defence prevailed over the Turkish attack despite the fact the kilograms and centimeters were on the side of the team from Istanbul. The home team built a nine goal lead in the first half mainly thanks to their counter-attacks and seven goals by their speedy left wing Sebastian Barthold.

Eskilstuna Guif (SWE) vs. BM Aragon (ESP) 30:26 (13:14)

The record EHF Cup crowd (1,840) in Eskilstuna witnessed a see saw match as both teams changed the lead over several times.

The home team had a splendid start leading 7:0, but after Aragon made it on the scoring chart for the first time they showed a brilliant ten minutes span during which they turned the score from 10:6 to 10:13 with seven unanswered goals.

After the break it was a ten minutes show-time of the home right wing Mathias Zachrisson, who scored five times, which put Guif back in the driving seat and this time for good.

Alex Dujshebaev, the 19 year old son of Atlético Madrid coach Talant, scored his first European goal for his new club after stints in Ciudad Real and Naturhouse La Rioja.

Photo: Gunnar Johansson

Orlen Wisła Płock (POL) vs. Sungul Snezhinsk (RUS) 37:23 (15:10)

Having 14 goal cushion after first leg the long trip beyond the geographical borders of Europe should not be a major issue for Orlen. The Polish runners-up were trailing 0:3 early in the match, but quickly erased the deficit and dominated the match.

Sungul´s 50 year old goalkeeper Pavel Sukosyan also made a start in the visitors´ goal and managed to save the penalty throw on Valentin Ghionea.

“We can be satisfied with the result of the match, however there is a lot to improve in our overall team play. Especially, I did not like the work of our defence, when we allowed their line-players to score eight goals in the opening part of the match,” the Danish coach of Płock Lars Walther said at the press conference.

Photo: Dominik Dziecinny

HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) vs. Alpla HC Hard (AUT) 27:26 (12:14)

The Austrian champions achieved a hopeful result before the second leg at Lake Constance. Surprisingly, the visitors led by Serbian Marko Krsmančić with his seven goals were setting the pace for most of the match.

The home team could rely especially only on the towering 208 cm tall Sergij Burka with eight goals.

“This was by far our best match in this season, however we will need all our fans in the hall for the second match, Zaporozhye are a very strong team, they even managed to win at Flensburg last season,” Alpla coach Markus Burger said for the club´s website.

Photo: Levan Shishinashvili

SUNDAY MATCHES

Permskie Medvedi (RUS) vs. KIF Kolding (DEN) 30:27 (14:12)

After two easy rounds in the qualification against English (GD London) and Montenegrin champions (Lovćen) Kolding met a worthy rival as the new Danish powerhouse suffered the first defeat of their European campaign on the foothills of Ural mountains.

Kolding, which lost the injured playmaker and defence specialist Joachim Boldsen just before their trip to Russia, will have to find the way how to stop Yuriy Orlov in the second leg.

Perm´s left back chipped in 11 goals and increased his season´s tally to 38.

Photo: Sergey Korolev

Elverum Handball Herrer (NOR) vs. RK Sloga (BIH) 34:24 (15:11)

The Bosnian champions from Doboj are close to the exit of the European club competition.

Sloga was beaten by ten goals on the court of Elverum as the goal scoring race between the home left wing Andre Lindboe and Montenegrin left back of Doboj Danijel Vukičević ended at eight goals for each.

Photo: Anita Høiby Gotehus

HBC Nantes (FRA) vs. S.L. Benfica (POR) 29:21 (13:12)

More than 5,000 spectators in the Palais des Sports de Beaulieu in Nantes could celebrate a clear victory of their HBC as they broke a tough resistence of Benfica only in the second half. The Spanish left back stalwart Alberto Entrerrios was the top scorer of the match with eight goals.

Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN) vs. Saint-Raphaël Var Handbal (FRA) 35:19 (17:7)

The dream of Saint-Raphaël about the major European competition is turning into a nightmare.

After their unlucky extra-time defeat in the final of the Wild Card Tournament of the VELUX EHF Champions League against Hamburg, they hoped for the EHF Cup Group Phase.

However in the first leg they were trounced by the Danish side by 16 goals in Holstebro.

The visitors were trailing 1:10, 7:17 at the half-time and 9:25 in the second half. Only then they were able to stop the avalanche of Team Tvis.

Photo: msfoto.dk

Men´s EHF Cup, Round 3, second leg:

Maccabi Srugo Rishon Lezion (ISR) vs. Stiinta Municipal Dedeman Bacau (ROU) 22:22 (12:12)

Despite playing more open match against Romanian hosts Israeli champions were remained too far away from erasing the ten goal deficit from the first leg. Bacau will be seeded in the Pot 2 before the draw in Belgrade.