30:30-draw keeps Hamburg’s dream alive

The curtain has been lifted for the 2013/2014 season of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

And the first team to start on Wednesday evening (21 August) was the last team to celebrate in the previous season: defending champions HSV Hamburg.

And they remained all smiles after the wild card qualification encounter against Füchse Berlin.

Courtesy of a goal of right wing Stefan Schröder some seconds before the final whistle, Hamburg equalised to make it 30:30 and are now in a perfect position for the second leg on Friday (23 August, 19:00 hrs, live on ehftv.com).

Top scorers of this thrilling encounter were last season’s VELUX EHF Champions League top scorer Hans Lindberg (Hamburg), Pavel Horak and Konstantin Igropoulo (both Berlin) with six goals each.

But another player had been in the focus although he was not given much time on the court: Füchse goalkeeper Silvio Heinevetter, who extended his contract until 2018.

A match like a rollercoaster ride

In the first half Hamburg forged ahead to a quite comfortable 12:6 lead after only 16 minutes.

But instead of taking full control of the game, they became nervous and lost their high efficiency in attack.

Even a time-out did not stop the downswing, while Berlin were backed and boosted by their fans and started to reduce the gap goal by goal.

Thanks to Peter Stochl's saves (13 overall), Füchse scored a 6:0 series and levelled the match at 12:12 – and they even finished their brilliant 14 minutes until the break with an overall series 12:3, going into half-time with an 18:15 lead.

Three goals of HSV newcomer Kentin Mahe saw the defending champions equalising again at 21:21, but Berlin were not shocked and put another four unanswered goals into the Hamburg goal, forcing HSV to take a timeout at 25:21.

The players understood the words of coach Martin Schwalb and the 'roller coaster' once more changed its direction – at 26:26 the match was levelled again.

Three minutes before the end with the score being at 29:28 in Füchse's favour, Schwalb again put his green card on the officials’ table.

The match was full of tension in the final stages: After Iker Romero had extended the gap to 30:28, Berlin missed several chances to take home the victory, while Hamburg were never giving up – and a double strike of Andreas Nilsson and Stefan Schröder paved the way for the draw.

"We started well, but then lost our pace completely, as Berlin’s goalkeeper clearly improved," said HSV coach Martin Schwalb and added: "In the end we showed a brilliant fighting spirit to equalize with the final whistle. But after this result nothing is decided, as it is only half-time."

Berlin missed their last chance to win as they failed to score with a direct free throw.

"The match was on a high quality level considering that it was the first real game of both teams. We missed several chances and now know that it will be really tough to proceed, but we will give all we can in Hamburg," said Füchse coach Dagur Sigurdsson.

Heinevetter stays in the German capital

Only some hours before the match threw off, Füchse goalkeeper Silvio Heinevetter had ended all speculations about his future.

“I really like to play in Berlin, as we have a big potential in our team, and I want to remain a part of this project,” Heinevetter said after signing a new contract valid until 2018.

His current contract expires after the end of this season – and especially HSV Hamburg wanted to sign the German international, who transferred to Berlin in 2009.

“It is normal that some other clubs show an interest, if a contract expires, but in the end it was a decision of an inner circle, so the decision took some time”, Heinevetter said

“We are proud that Silvio will remain the face of Füchse Berlin, as he is also the face of the German handball,” Füchse President Frank Steffel was quoted on the website of the club.

“To stay in Berlin was a decision of Silvio’s heart and against more money he could earned somewhere else.”

Photos: Eberhard Thonfeld / Fotoagentur Camera 4