Mixed results for Romanian teams

Saturday’s Men’s EHF Cup saw wins and losses for Romanian club teams. Dinamo Bucuresti boosted their own quarter-final hopes while ending Aalborg Handball’s with a 28:25 home win in Group A. CSM Bucuresti lost narrowly to Ystads IF in Group D, where Chambery Savoie Handball consolidated their first place with a 26:23 win against Helvetia Anaitasuna.

In Group B, Team Tvis Holstebro had to work hard for their 31:29 away win against the OCI-LIONS.

Group A
Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs Aalborg Handball (DEN) 28:25 (17:12)

Dinamo Bucuresti gave their own chances to proceed in the tournament a considerable boost as they simultaneously ended Aalborg’s quarter-final hopes in Buzau on Saturday afternoon.

From the start, Aalborg had trouble with Dinamo’s line players and the hosts benefited from numerous technical mistakes on the part of the visitors to score counter goals.

Dinamo therefore took an early 15:8 lead, and retained the five-goal distance at half-time.

At the beginning of the second half, Aalborg reduced the deficit to two goals at 18:16, but it did not take the home side long to reestablish a more reassuring lead.

Dinamo enjoyed their biggest advantage at 23:17 before the visitors closed the distance again in the end.

Croatian right back Jakov Vrankovic scored eight goals for Dinamo, while his right back counterpart for Aalborg, Martin Larsen, scored six.

Dinamo are now second on the table with five points, while Aalborg are last with one and no chance to reach the
quarter-finals.

Group B
OCI-LIONS (NED) vs Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN) 29:31 (11:12)

Team Tvis Holstebro earned the two points they needed in order to keep up with Frisch Auf Göppingen and HBC Nantes in the battle for the group’s quarter-final berths.

But the current leaders of the Danish league had to go through a lot of trouble before they finally booked the win in front of 2,037 spectators in Sittard.

The LIONS enjoyed a far better start to create a 4:1 lead after seven minutes. At that point Holstebro coach Patrick Westerholm had already seen enough and called his first time-out, which helped at first.

Through four goals in a row, Holstebro moved ahead 5:4 then 7:5, mainly thanks to Peter Balling. The right back and Danish international scored six of the visitor’s first seven goals, going on to contribute 10 overall.

The home team caught up again however, to be only one goal down at half-time.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, the LIONS were in the driver’s seat and again, the Dutch champions held a three-goal advantage on several occasions.

It was only in the last 10 minutes that Holstebro turned the game once again and created the crucial lead, but it was when right wing Patrick Wiesmach made it 31:28 with one minute and 42 seconds left that the two points were decided.

Centre back Dylan Vossen was the top scorer for the hosts, with seven goals.

Group D
Ystads IF (SWE) vs CSM Bucuresti (ROU) 29:28 (14:14)

Ystad considerably boosted their quarter-final hopes with Saturday’s one-goal win against CSM in Österporthallen. The Swedish side was the better, calmer team in the last 10 minutes of the close match, and it was this control that earned the two crucial points.

The match was close from the start, and even though CSM managed to take an 11:7 lead, it only took Ystad two minutes to catch up. By half-time, the score was even again.

The second half was just as equal, with the teams taking turns at holding a one-goal lead until Lukas Nilsson gave Ystad their first two-goal advantage at 24:22 with nine minutes and 27 seconds left.

From that point the home team never gave the initiative away, and when right back Lukas Sandell made it 29:27 with 20 seconds left, the matter was decided.

“We did not play a perfect match today, and the number of technical mistakes was high, but the fighting spirit in this team is admirable,” Ystad coach Sebastian Seifert told the local newspaper Ystads Allehanda.

11 goals from Spanish right back Javier Humet Gaminde did not help CSM, who may start to worry about their quarter-final chances as they are still on two points after four matches.

Left back Lukas Nilsson scored eight goals for Ystad, who are now on five points in second position.

Chambery Savoie Handball (FRA) vs Helvetia Anaitasuna (ESP) 26:23 (10:9)

A focused first quarter of an hour in the second half was more or less enough for Chambery to defeat Anaitasuna for the second time in a week and stay alone on top of the group.

Anaitasuna’s 5-1 defence caused Chambery some trouble from the start and the visitors were leading most of the first half.

Patient attack combined with aggressive defence seemed to be the recipe that worked against the French favourites, who were only leading 10:9 at half time.

After the break, Chambery increased their attacking pace, and that paid off at once. From being one goal up at half-time, they soon moved five goals ahead to 17:12.

A stellar performance from Radivoje Ristanovic in goal also played a part as the home team increased to 20:13 with 15 minutes left.

In the last 10 minutes, the visitors reduced the difference a bit, but they were never any closer than the three goals they trailed by at the final buzzer.

While Chambery are leading the group with seven points, Anaitasuna are now three points behind Ystads IF and a potential quarter-final berth.