Kadetten win to push Minsk to Last 16

Five points for three teams from two German speaking countries and another team qualified for the knock-out stage – this was the outcome of the restart of the VELUX EHF Champions League in 2013.

In Group A Flensburg-Handewitt took an expected victory against Partizan Beograd on Thursday and are equal in points now with the two previous leaders Hamburg and Chekhovski Medvedi who tied in their direct duel. In Group D Kadetten Schaffhausen grabbed their last chance to remain in the race of the last 16 by beating Pick Szeged. This result also means that Dinamo Minsk can celebrate the Last 16 ticket what is the biggest success in the club´s history.

Group A:

Chekhovski Medvedi (RUS) – HSV Hamburg (GER) 29:29 (17:13)

Like in the first leg (27:27), the duel of Medvedi and HSV Hamburg finished without a winner. Both teams remain equal in points and Hamburg kept their unbeaten streak against this Russian club alive – as they did not lose a single match against Medvedi in now eight VELUX EHF Champions League encounters.

“It was a match of two completely different halves,” Medvedi coach Vladimir Maximov said and added: “Our national teams players have not been totally fit after the break, so we could not manage to go full speed. So one point is ok.”

HSV coach Martin Schwalb now hopes for even more duels of these rivals: “Maybe we see again at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne. We really enjoy this draw after we caused so many mistakes in the first half. But we deserved the point thanks to our improvement in defence after the break.”

Top scorers of the finally equal match were Timur Dibirov and Sergej Gorbok with seven goals each for Medvedi, Pascal Hens netted in six times for Hamburg.

After the 8:8 the Russian side took the control, scoring five straight goals. Medvedi nearly managed to secure this advance until the halftime whistle – and then even extended the margin to 24:18 in minute 38. But this was the wake-up call for the German outfit: In only 12 minutes they had reduced the backlog to a minimum of only one goal at 25:26 and everything was open again. When goalkeeper Dan Beutler saved a penalty shot and Stefan Schröder scored for the equalizer, Hamburg had chances to turn the match around completely. But with the match on the edge, Medvedi were back on track again. Hens scored the final goal for the deserved draw of two top teams. “It did not look like as we could take a point, so I am satisfied,” HSV wing Stefan Schröder said.

SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) – Partizan Beograd (SRB) 31:23 (17:13)

Partizan were able to keep up for 30 minutes, but when Flensburg goalkeeper Mattias Andersson shut up his shop and the Serbs were unlucky at shooting, their fate was sealed. The bundesliga team had some problems with their opponents in the first half, but when the engines were in regular temperature after the break, they extended the gap easily.

It took Flensburg only ten minutes to forge ahead from 17:13 to 25:17 – and latest then the encounter was decided. After their tough (and successful) German cup match against EHF Cup participant Rhein Neckar Löwen 48 hours ago, Flensburg did not do more than they needed to take the points in the end.

Thanks to this victory they are equal with Hamburg and Medvedi now, and have their final encounter at Medvedi – which might be the decisive one for the group victory.

Mathematically Partizan still can reach the last 16 though the Serbian champions have only two points on their account, but if Montpellier take at least one point against León on Sunday those hopes are shattered for this season.

Group D:

Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) – Pick Szeged (HUN) 36:29 (21:14)

Kadetten Schaffhausen did not only cheat the gallows of an early elimination, but even won the direct encounter against Szeged by a never expected result and the highly close 29:30 defeat in the first leg. By four points the Swiss champions now are equal with the Hungarian runners-up, who did not have a slight of a chance in Schaffhausen, and ahead of Zagreb (three points, but one match less).

Despite a brilliant performance of Frantisek Šulc and his ten goals, Szeged were below all the time, as Kadetten were unstoppable in attack and highly movable in defence. After an equal start, Schaffhausen easily took the dominant role, while Pick had enormous problems in scoring. The consequence was a seven goal lead at the break. In their strongest period, Pick reduced to only 18:22, but then five consecutive goals of the Swiss champions until minute 42 meant an early decision. Even two time-outs of their coach could not stop the downswing of the Hungarian team – as Kadetten sensationally double-figured the result at 31:21 twelve minutes before the end. Cheered by “Hopp, Kadetten” choirs of their spectators, Schaffhausen could decelerate in the final stages without getting endangered anymore.