Let the games begin!!!

I’m still spinning on the roundabout that was the Champions League off-season this summer. The VELUX EHF FINAL4 had just finished, with HSV surprisingly, yet deservingly, crowned champions and all of us thought of a nice rest away from handball until the new season would begin in earnest.

Who would have thought that the off-season would be every bit as explosive as the season we had just experienced? Perhaps we thought that Ilić moving to Veszprém, or Narcisse and Császár to PSG would be the transfer stories of the summer and then we would settle into a nice period of hibernation while we awaited the qualifying rounds to see who might qualify or even more appetising, who might take part in the wild card play-off.

How wrong we were...

Like a punch drunk boxer I watched as jab after jab came my way of handball stories over the summer. It was akin to car crash drama, that you couldn’t drag yourself away from as I ran to my computer each morning to see what new occurrence was to come our way.

No sooner had FC Barcelona lost the CL final, when they announced the signing of Karabatic (not a huge secret you might say) and then Lazarov from bitter rivals Atlético Madrid. Some might say that Barcelona was already strong, but you’d have to say that these two give them an air of invincibility.

Reeling from the loss of Lazarov, David Davis is announced as the Sporting director of A.M. only to find two days later that the team is dissolved. Disaster! Not so for Davis. He promptly signs for FC Porto and helps them qualify for the CL group stages and then retires. You couldn’t write it. It was fantastic stuff. Melodramatic and thoroughly entertaining.

Sadly though, we lost a great team in Atlético, perennial participants and previous winners of the CL. Notwithstanding the effect on Spanish handball, Talant and his talented team will be sorely missed. However this meant that his entire team was up for redeployment and the image of Mr. Bumble from “Oliver” came to mind, as he sang “Boy for Sale”.

This time it was around Europe as the “orphans” of Atlético looked for new homes. Thankfully the entire team seems to be in situ, with one Aguinagalde in Kielce and Jurkiewicz, finding a place in Płock (home of our first MOTW). More of that anon!

Michelin star “hors d’oeuvres”

Then came the news of Chekovski pulling out of the CL, another jaw dropper, but every cloud has a silver lining and we were presented with 3 knockout matches of high quality instead of a wild card tournament. Of course the Berlin vs Hamburg game was always on the cards, but we were served up some great handball in the form of Montpellier vs Płock and Szeged vs Metalurg. And all of this before a group game has even begun. It was the equivalent of a Michelin star “hors d’oeuvres”.

The perennial Szeged won’t appear having lost to Metalurg, but this gives us a mouth watering prospect of a Macedonian, nay a Skopje derby, in Group C, and former champions Montpellier demise at the hands of Płock gives us a Polish derby in Group B. But great credit has to go to Berlin who almost, almost made it to the group stages ahead of Hamburg with only a solitary goal dividing them at the end.

I’m almost breathless just writing this. It’s been a long and winding road to get us to this point and we haven’t even discussed the plethora of new teams in the VELUX EHF Champions League this season.

Take off to new pastures

And neither shall we, because it’s time to get back in the saddle for MOTW and take off to pastures new. Płock is our destination for the “New Boys” (having missed last season) first match against the “Old Stalwarts” Kiel.

Kiel will welcome Płock to “The Show” and it couldn’t be a tougher opener for the Poles.

Now Kiel may not be the team of the past few years having lost the services of Omeyer, (I’m gonna miss saying Oh my word, Omeyer) Narcisse and Ilić to name but three, but in Jícha and Vujin together with the signing of Sjöstrand they still have a formidable team.

Just look at their start in the Bundesliga, top of the table after 6 matches, all won, and one of those away to the current CL winners.

Płock have signed two great players in my opinion. A current champion, in Marcin Lijewski and Jurkiewicz. These two great Polish players bring great experience and knowhow to the Płock team and when you add into the mix “Magic” Manolo Cadenas, well the just about anything can happen.

Let’s wait and see!

If the summer months are anything to go by we are in for a treat this year. Normally a slow burner, the off-season has been highly explosive, hugely fascinating and worthy of comment.

I expect the season proper to be “electrifying”.

Let the games begin!!!

Further information

Watch the Match of the Week on ehfTV  live on Sunday 17:00 hrs local time