The “Zebras” are back on track in the Champions League. A week after the surprising defeat in Celje, the German handball record champion THW Kiel celebrated their second win on Thursday against Pick Szeged with a 34:29 (15:14) in the third game of the main round.
The Champions League game in Group B against the Magyars began just as the Bundesliga game at TSV Hannover-Burgdorf had ended four days earlier – with a strong THW goalkeeper Tomas Mrkva. The 33-year-old Czech played a big part in the “Zebras” leading by three goals (10:7) against Szeged after 20 minutes.
However, the team of THW trainer Filip Jicha slacked off in the final phase, especially in defence, and Mrkva wasn’t able to maintain his level either. The result: the Hungarian champions came up. At the break, the hosts were just 15:14 ahead.
Strong Weinhold leads Kiel to victory
After five minutes of the second round, the “Zebras” picked up so much that the guests could no longer follow. From a 16:16 (35th) they made a 24:18 (43rd) – the outstanding back court player Steffen Weinhold provided the first six-goal lead. And when playmaker Domagoj Duvnjak made it 31:24 seven minutes before the final siren with a speed counter-attack, there was a lot to be said for the North Germans being able to celebrate winning the two points a little later.
And that’s how it happened. Despite the blunder at RK Celje, Kiel can still calculate chances of completing the main round as first or second and thus being able to save themselves the round of 16. The top two in each of the two groups of eight will advance directly to the quarter-finals. A guest appearance at Vive Kielce is scheduled for the next match day of the Champions League for the Jicha team. Before that, the Bundesliga home game against HSV Hamburg is scheduled for Sunday (4:05 p.m.).
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NDR 2 Sports | 09/29/2022 | 11:03 p.m
