05.11.2007, 03:27
Nürnberg’s second surprise

The German side win in Slovenia: another major achievement after making a home draw against Zvezda.

Nürnberg’s second surprise

Who could have predicted such a match in Ljubljana? The German club Nürnberg has almost beaten Zvezda in Round 1 and everyone thought that it would be an alarm for Krim Ljubljana. And it happened again… The Slovenian club got away with an even worse result than Zvezda.

It was a tight match in the Slovenian capital that was not decided until the final whistle. Tough Krim Mercator had some advantage for almost 60 minutes, Nürnberg were fighting without a stop. Their simple combinations were enough against a bad Krim defence. In addition, the Slovenians were unable to prevent the quick goals from the German fast breaks.

"We allowed our opponents too much space when we were leading by four goals," said Bojan Cotar after the match. The coach was disappointed but realistic: "I do not want to look for excuses, but we are playing without 5 players now."

Four goals wasted

A key moment of the Round 2 match arrived in the 16th minute when Krim Mercator lost their playmaker Andrea Lekic because of a head injury. Krim were trying hard, but did not find the perfect recipe after that.

Leading by 3 or 4 goals was not enough; a bad shooting percentage and a superb Jana Krause in Nürnberg’s goal paved their way to victory.

"I’m very proud of our victory and of my girls. We were fighting like lions and showed our character," said a very satisfied Nürnberg coach, Herbert Müller.

Nürnberg’s Katrin Wohlbold added: "I think we were too fast for them. Quick shots from the middle helped us turn the game around."

TEXT: Maja Mastnak, Sportal (http://sportal.siol.net/default.asp)