THW Kiel lost the second duel in the Handball Champions League with Pick Szeged. The Bundesliga club lost to the Hungarian champions 33:36 (17:14) and thus missed out on points with HBC Nantes, third in the table.
The entry into the knockout phase of the “premier class”, for which the first six clubs in Season B qualify, was certain for the “Zebras” before the match on Thursday evening in Varosi Sportcsarnok. Nevertheless, the duel with the Magyars was highly relevant for coach Filip Jicha’s team.
If the Schleswig-Holstein team finished third in the group stage, they would face a supposedly comparatively easy opponent in the round of 16. Now fourth place is shaky again for the North Germans: Szeged is only two points behind in fifth. There are still two games to play.
THW in half one with outstanding cover work
The Kielers showed an excellent performance in the first section. The inner block Patrick Wiencek/Hendrik Pekeler had the tall and beefy pivot Bence Bánhidi well under control. And the circles of Szeged’s middleman Dean Bombač were also properly disturbed. Hungary’s two main players were largely eliminated, which caused frustration among the home side. Kent Robin Tønnesen stretched his arm against Wiencek in the 13th minute and had to be on the bench for two minutes for this hard challenge. With a majority, THW pulled away to 8:5 (14th).
After that, Szegd was able to reduce the goal to one goal (9:10/19.). But the guests kept cool in the heated atmosphere and even pulled away to four goals by half-time. Keeper Tomas Mrkva, who replaced the unlucky Niklas Landin in the middle of the first half and defused some free throws by the Hungarians, was also responsible for this.
The only small blemish from THW’s point of view was the lack of chances in the last minutes before the break, when the Hungarians acted unfocused and erratic in the cover.
Pick Szeged – THW Kiel 36:33 (14:17)
Goals Pick Szeged: Garciandia Alustiza (6), Rosta (5), Sostaric (5), Bombac (4), Frimmel(4/4), Banhidi (3), Mackovsek (3), Szita (3), Christoffersen (2), Tönnesen ( 1)
THW Kiel: Sagosen (7), M. Landin (5/3), Pekeler (4), Bilyk (3), Fraatz (3), Reinkind (3), Weinhold (3), Wiencek (3), Duvnjak (1), Johansson (1)
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Kiel loses the thread after the break
Even after the change of sides, the Jicha team lacked the necessary consistency in attack. Szegd took advantage of Schleswig-Holstein’s phase of weakness and equalized 20:20 (37th). The East Europeans now brought more power to the plate from the back than was the case in the first half. However, Kiel’s cover was also too passive in some situations. And Landin, who was now back between the posts at THW, was no longer a factor for the Bundesliga club.
“Zebras” too hectic in attack
When Bánhidi Szeged took the lead with 29:28 in the 50th minute and Imanol Garciandia even increased it to 30:28 shortly afterwards, the Varosi Sportcsarnok finally turned into a madhouse. Kiel now became hectic in attack at times, threw from bad positions and repeatedly failed at goalkeeper Roland Mikler, who was already 38 years old. Bombač scored four and a half minutes before the end of the game to make it 33:30 for the Hungarians. In addition, Steffen Weinhold had to go to the penalty box for pushing the middleman.
Despite a red card against district colossus Bánhidi, who received the third two-minute penalty (58th), and the associated majority in the last 120 seconds, the Jicha team was no longer able to turn the game around .
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NDR 2 Sports | 02/16/2023 | 11:03 p.m
