Handball Bundesliga
Foxes with their first defeat – Kiel’s handball players breathe a sigh of relief
Kiel’s players celebrate after the home win against Füchse Berlin. photo
© Frank Molter/dpa
Handball record champion THW Kiel maintains its chance for the title and inflicts its first defeat of the season in the Bundesliga on league leaders Füchse Berlin. Pekeler’s all-round strike works.
The Füchse Berlin suffered a defeat against record champions THW Kiel for the first time this season Handball Bundesliga conceded and now have to worry about their lead in the table.
The capital city lost to the defending champions 26:30 (10:14) and could be pushed out of the top position by SC Magdeburg that evening. “We didn’t find the gaps and were very flawed in our forward play,” said Füchse coach Jaron Siewert.
For the people of Kiel, a few days after the debacle in the Champions League and the verbal all-round blow from pivot Hendrik Pekeler, it was an important mood-brightener that should temper the mood on the fjord a little more. The best throwers, with nine goals each, were Domagoj Duvnjak for the THW and Mathias Gidsel for the Füchse. “He is extremely important. He radiates the THW DNA,” praised THW trainer Filip Jicha Duvnjak.
Despite a few setbacks and the weakest start to the Bundesliga in 21 years, the THW myth is still holding together. With the win against the Füchse, the North Germans maintained their chances of winning the title. Kiel already has more negative points than at the end of last season, but there are still 21 match days left.
Kiel shows a different face
10,285 handball fans in the sold-out Kiel Arena experienced an emotional top game – and a nervous start for both teams, who lost a lot of easy balls. The THW noticed in front of national coach Alfred Gislason that he wanted to quickly forget the premier class disgrace against Aalborg. Every duel won was celebrated frenetically. “Any spectator could see that we were there and aggressive from the first second. Our defense was outstanding. Overall, I’m overjoyed,” analyzed Duvnjak.
The fact that the home team initially despaired of the outstanding Füchse keeper Dejan Milosavljev had no effect on the result. The guests made an unusually large number of mistakes. Kiel defended passionately. “You can see today that we show a different face. We work hard in defense and we have good solutions up front,” said THW circle player Patrick Wiencek about the four-goal lead at the break.
You can rely on Bellahcene
The intensity level remained high in the second half. Now the technical errors increased in the Kiel game and the initially secure defense increasingly revealed gaps. In the 42nd minute the guests reduced the lead to 19:20. When the game threatened to tip over, the Kiel team could rely on goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene.
After the Foxes’ performance improved, a handball thriller developed at eye level. However, Berlin’s veteran Hans Lindberg showed unusual weaknesses from the seven-meter point and missed twice. In a hectic final phase, the balance of power no longer shifted. Kiel managed its lead and can breathe a little easier in the midst of the sporting crisis.