A ticket to Cologne for Kiel on Jicha’s birthday

For the eleventh time in their club’s history THW Kiel have qualified for an EHF Champions League semi-final, and for the fifth time (and the fourth in a row) the German side will take part in the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne.

After the 29:31 defeat in Szeged in the first leg of the quarter-final, Kiel, backed by 10,000 fans in Sparkassen-Arena, dominated the 2014 EHF Cup winner in every aspect of their game for the second leg.

A key player in this fine performance was Filip Jicha, who scored eight goals on his 33th birthday gifting himself and his teammates a ticket to Cologne.

VELUX EHF Champions League Quarter-final Leg 2
THW Kiel (GER) vs Pick MOL Szeged (HUN) 31:23 (18:10)
First leg: 29:31. Agg 60:54, THW Kiel qualify for the VELUX EHF FINAL4

Before the game even started one could sense the fiery intensity with which the Kiel players entered the hall for this second leg.

Backed by the impressive support of 10,000 vociferous fans and the comeback of goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, it took the German side exactly six minutes to put their first foot in the VELUX EHF FINAL4 by going up 4:1.

When the score was 6:2 only two minutes later, Szeged coach Juan Carlos Pastor took his first time-out to try and stop this tirade of goals.

But Kiel were unstoppable putting the Szeged boys into a state of shock and nervousness.

Fabulous Palicka rose like Phoenix, while Dean Bombac, the hero of the first leg, was completely taken out of the match by the THW defence.

Even an early goalkeeper change taking Sierra off to bring on Wyszomirski, did not strengthen Pick’s on-court performance.

In contrast: Serbian sniper Marko Vujin and Jicha hit the net repeatedly, at 12:4 both men had already netted four times.


But right after this first eight-goal lead Kiel had some unforced errors to allow Szeged to reduce the gap – but it was never enough to endanger the three-time EHF Champions League winners of losing the tie.

Even at this stage stars like Domagoj Duvnjak and Joan Canellas had not even stepped onto the court yet.

After a decisive 18:10 lead at the break and later putting up a score of 22:13, Kiel lost their rhythm and concentration for a short period.
 
But the Hungarian side had resigned completely, missing three penalty shots, and at this stage they looked like they just wanted this match come to an end.

So when Patrick Wiencek netted for 25:15 the first ten-goal advantage for Kiel was on the score board.

With 25:15, Sunday’s anthem was played again and again in Sparkassenarena: “Viva Colonia” – Kiel were as good as back at the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

The German side went on to win the game by eight goals putting it beyond doubt that they deserve to make the trip to Cologne.

“We knocked at the door of the FINAL4 and really improved after winning the EHF Cup last year, but today we were taught a lesson by Kiel,” said Szeged captain Attila Vadkerti, while his coach Juan Carlos Pastor added: “We are definitely not on Kiel’s level at this point in time.”

Whoever Kiel will face in the VELUX EHF FINAL4 it will be an interesting one as every side has some ex-squad players in their ranks: Wael Jallouz and Goggi Sigurdsson (Barcelona), Tobias Reichmann (Kielce) or Christian Zeitz and Momir Ilic (Veszprem).

“A big shout out must go to our medical staff, it is incredible that Andreas Palicka could play – and he was a genius today,” said manager Thorsten Storm, adding: “And Filip Jicha should have his birthday on every match day.”

“Regardless of the team we will face, it will be tough and we are not the favourites in Cologne – Barcelona carry this weight on their shoulders this season,” said Kiel coach Alfred Gislason.