BLOG: Will there be a sting in the tale?

This week our match of the week takes us to Velenje to see Gorenje Velenje play against Group C leaders Kielce. It’s a fantastic name for a club in my mind, its name rolls around your tongue, rhythmic with rhyme. I must be brutally frank here and say that this year was the first time I’d heard of them.

Although my background in sport and coaching is handball, my European education started only 5 years ago, when I began to cover the Champions League.

Before that I was limited to VHS (that’s a video tape for all you young guns out there) copies of Bundesliga games from the 70s when hair was long, moustaches were longer and shorts were very, very tight.

So, I went to a source in Slovenia and asked him about this team. It’s a very traditional club in Slovenia that is sponsored by a big industrial company (Gorenje), has won the Slovenian title twice and has been a great learning ground for some of the most famous players playing in CL at present.

Kielce’s Čupić played here, although an injury has ruled him out for this match and beyond. Also Ilić, Kavtičnik and Barcelona’s Rutenka to name but a few. Their handball school is recognised as one of the best in the country and to my mind they are a damn good team. Their nickname is “The Wasps” as they wear yellow and black as their strip.

This match is interesting not that it has any bearing on who will go through to the next round, but because it brings together two 100% records. Kielce are unbeaten in the group and Velenje are unbeaten at home.

It also gives us a chance to watch very differing styles of play. Kielce is a huge team all across the back division, with shooters like Jurecki and Lijewski well able to shoot from ten meters. This is not the case for Velenje. They are more apt to play their way through you, with Bezjak pulling the strings in the centre and breakthrough goals from back court players Dolenec or Cehte.

When I began watching the games of GV, I was interested to watch Dolenec, the right back, but it soon became clear to me that there is a diamond shining in this team for all to see.

His name is Marko Bezjak and he has to be seen to be believed. His centre play is of the highest order and his peripheral vision is incredible. His assists are real assists in that it’s not just a pass of the ball to score a goal, but “the pass” that makes the goal.

And he does it with such regularity that it is a joy to see. He really is the old style “playmaker” but with the footwork and talent to also make him dangerous in “one on one”. And he is a bit of a wasp, always buzzing around looking for the killer pass or the gap.

Watch out as well for Melić on the right wing. This guy can fly. Bajram in the defence. Here’s a guy in the “Roggisch” mould. His job is to stop everyone. And he does. He has a little more subtlety than Roggisch, but not much, but I love to watch him defend. Gaber on the line is also a great player.

Unfortunately for the fans in the “Rdeča Dvorana” (Red Hall), they better suck the juice out of watching these guys play this year because Gaber, Bezjak, Melić and Dolenec will all move to pastures new at the end of the season. In some ways, Velenje is a like a staging post for future stars of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

GV is currently third in the group as their away form has let them down, but at home they are a match for anyone. But are they a match for Kielce? Will there be a sting in this tale? It really is subtlety and speed versus power and pace. It’s not totally fair to say brains versus brawn as Kielce also has a great Slovenian centre player in Zorman.

This will be our third time to watch Kielce “on the road” for MOTW, but, minus Čupić and Štrlek, although Olafsson and Jachlewski have filled their positions well. However Kielce hasn’t started the New Year in CL convincingly. They have scratched out a couple of wins, but which team wouldn’t miss Čupić and Štrlek.

I remember an old Clint Eastwood movie, where, Clint paints the town red and welcomes the baddies with a sign that says “Welcome to Hell”. With the Red Hall rocking can GV grab the opportunity to end the only 100% record still standing in CL and make it hell on earth for Kielce or will the Poles be in handball heaven with an unbeaten record going into the knockout stages.

Further information
Follow the match live on ehfTV.com on Saturday, 23 February, at 16:30 hrs local time.