Veszprem bring Motor to silence

MKB-MVM Veszprem have underlined their exceptional role in Group A. Not only the Hungarian champions remained with a clear record after three rounds, but they overcome previously unbeaten team of Motor Zaporozhye in a real storm by an incredible 17 goals difference. Dinamo Minsk were the second easy-going winner on Thursday evening.

Group A:

MKB-MVM Veszprem (HUN) vs. Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) 44:27 (20:13)

Group A leaders MKB-MVM Veszprem took on surprise contenders Motor Zaporozhye, who snatched a point from favourites Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the first round of VELUX EHF Champions League making their visit to Veszprem a real dogfight for the top spot.

Motor started with their usual 5-1 defence, but it did not catch Veszprem off guard: Five of the home side's first six goals came from the line, even their big shooters sought opportunities to break in instead of shooting from the back. The Ukrainians tried to keep pace with Burka and Onufryienko's goals but Veszprem's overwhelming attacks forced Sergei Bebeshko to take his first time-out at 8:4 down.

A couple of vital saves of goalkeeper Richard Stochl, who used to play for Veszprem before, and the goals of the Ukrainian backs brought the visitors back to the game, but after Carlos Ortega's time-out Veszprem changed gear and left the visitors standing with goals from Laszlo Nagy and Carlos Ruesga.

Veszprem's seven goal lead at the break was soon to grow to double figures as the home side tightened their defence and managed to stop the visitors' shooters. Ruesga kept the show going for Veszprem, winger Peter Gulyas and Iman Jamali joined up and it was game over for Motor when only ten minutes passed from the second half.

The 5,000 strong home crowd went crazy as Veszprem kept the tempo high forcing the visitors to technical mistakes. Hungarian goals kept flowing as both teams sent in their reserves. What was expected to be a head-to-head clash turned out to be an easy win for the outstanding Veszprem.

Motor coach Sergei Bebeshko was really shocked by the result: “This was our worst performance of the season and it came against a top class club. Some of our players never played in an atmosphere like this and this left its mark on their performances. We have an important game against Celje next week so I rested some of my players, which resulted in a disastrous loss in the second half.”

On the other hand Veszprem were highly satisfied to top the group still with a clear record: “The Ukrainian’s commanding results in the previous rounds made us wary of the threat they pose but with our fantastic fans we showed our strength,” said goalkeeper Nandor Fazekas.

Laszlo Nagy added: “Our game is all about defence, and it worked very well today. We knew Motor was a great team thus we planned to make a strong start and keep the tempo high.” And coach Carlos Ortega had seen “an excellent game”, and: “I am particularly happy that our attacks were efficient both against closed and open defence formations.”

Best Veszprem scorers were Nagy (7) and Ruesga, Sulic and Gulyas, who each scored six times.

Group C

Dinamo Minsk (BLR) vs. Wacker Thun (SUI) 27:20 (14:8)

For at least 44 hours Dinamo Minsk rank on the second position of Group C after their second victory in the Group Phase. In contrast to their highly close 26:24 against Vardar Skopje in round 2, the Belarusian champions were never endangered by the Swiss champions on Thursday evening. Wacker Thun remain on zero points after three matches and were absolutely chanceless in Minsk.

Finally three Balkan players were the top scorers for the victors: Bosnian Damir Doborac (7 goals), Slovenian Dean Bombach (5) and Croat Ivan Nincevic (4). On Thun side Fabien Studers scored five times too.

The Swiss team lost too many chances to ever be close to Dinamo, which proved their ambitions from the first to the last minutes. Forging ahead to a six goal difference at the break meant more than a pre-decision, in the second half Dinamo easily kept their opponent behind.