Heading for Switzerland
TBV reaches the EHF-Cup final
TBV Lemgo recovers the five goal deficit from the first leg and enters due to a 34:26 win richly deserved the final of the EHF-Cup. There Schaffhausen is waiting.
The TBV started the comeback with Martin Galia in goal, joined by Jens Bechtloff, Michael Kraus, Martin Strobel, Holger Glandorf, Florian Kehrmann und Sebastian Preiss in play. On defence Daniel Kubes and Ferenc Ilyés changed with Strobel and Kraus. Marc Amargant scored the 0:1 for the guests, whose guarding was offensively-minded and who wanted to apply pressure to the TBV with that. The 4.861 viewers of the completely sold out Lipperlandhalle were top right from the first second - they already acclaimed the 1:1 of Glandorf frenetically. Surprisingly La Rioja started without Alexander Tioumentsev, who had been best shooter of the Spanish in the first leg.
Like a week ago the TBV defence presented itself well-positioned in the first minutes. Already in the first four attacks of the Spaniards the Swedish referees warned twice of passive play, but La Rioja kept on playing calm in their own pace, equalised 3:3 in the 5th minute, even took the lead with 3:4 (6th) again, but the TBV fought. Within a minute Glandorf and Bechtloff increased to 5:4. Then they even had the chance to pull clear with two goals for the first time: Kraus took his chance consequently from the seven-metre line against Lorger in the guest goal and scored to 6:4 (10th). Kehrmann heightened with a fast-break to 7:4 (10th). The TBV was heading in the right direction.
La Rioja kept up quite well with the TBV. Glandorf was successful with his fourth goal (8:5), but then Preiss had to leave the court for two minutes. Yet, Kubes snitched the ball, eloped and scored to 9:5 (13th). La Rioja still remained calm, shortened in overload to 9:7, but again in the 14th minute the TBV led with 11:7. Afterwards Galia parried brilliantly against the brawny Romero on the circle and on the opposite side Kraus got a seven-metre throw out, which he converted without batting an eye. Thus the 12:7 equalised the deficit from the first leg for the first time. La Rioja passed up a chance to shorten to three goals. Instead, whilst still playing shorthanded Strobel came up with the 13:8. Then in place of Preiß, Svavarsson completed the team. In the 20th minute Strobel scored to 14:9. The advantage fluctuated constantly between the five necessary goals out of the first leg.
Negligence of the TBV team was immediately answered by the Spaniards. Tioumentsev, who was again playing strong, brought his team back to 14:11 (24th), but Kraus countered determinedly with a great individual performance. Swayings continued and therefore Kehrmann scored with 16:11 (26th) the virtual equaliser for the TBV. 26:35 minutes were played, when guest coach Jesus Javier Gonzalez called his time-out. The TBV was in the lead with 17:12. Galia defused the next powerful shot of Romero and then Strobel accurately put the ball into the net over Lorger to 18:12 (29th). La Rioja admittedly kept on fighting, but didn’t seem by no means as confident anymore, especially on defence, than in the beginning. Kraus scored to 19:13 (30th). The TBV was the match-dominating team and Svavarsson netted just before the half time signal to 20:13. The audience saw off their TBV with standing ovations into the dressing room.
The TBV started the second half with unchanged line-up. Svavarsson still stayed at the circle. Strobel scored in the first attack to 21: 13 (32nd). The TBV was highly focused and left no doubt which team would reach the final. At a score of 22:14 a preliminary decision was almost possible, but the shorthanded Spaniards could shorten to 22:15 because of a technical error . The following goal 22:16 (36th) of Tioumentsev brought La Rioja back into the match. However, Holger Glandorf, who already scored his seventh goal to 23:16, was simply unstoppable. Kraus followed with the 24:16 (38th). The TBV team had quickly regained their composure and the audience cheered frenetically for their team. Admittedly Anguinagalde, who was put in the Rioja-goal, was in this phase of the match a solid backing for the guests, but Galia on the other side was in no way inferior.
The strong defence in front of the strong Czech made life visibly difficult for La Rioja. The TBV “only” had to use his chances in the attack consistently. The door to the final was wide open, Kehrmann opened it even a bit further with the 25:16 (41st). A sensational save of Galia against Vigo – La Rioja was playing shorthanded at this point - set the audience on fire – the ball was actually “unsaveable”. Ilyés took advantage of Rioja’s shorthanded situation, too, and scored to 26:16. The TBV was for the first time in the lead with 10 goals and dominated the opponent across-the-board.
Guest coach Gonzalez saw himself forced to call his time-out at a score of 27:17 (44:10 minutes). His team was continuously losing ground and they didn’t seem to have the ability to bring about a rebound of the match. La Rioja subsequently defended even more aggressive, but Strobel fought his way through and scored to 28:17. The preliminary decision was made. Even whilst playing shorthanded, the TBV didn’t decrease their efforts. Kraus scored with a hip-high shot to 29:18 (47th).
La Rioja kept on fighting sedulously, but also the 29:20 (49th) couldn’t give the hoped-for new impetus to the opponents. Kehrmann counterattacked with a great lob shot to 30:20. The scenes were invariably reflected: Galia was performing phenomenally, in attack the TBV kept on exerting enormous pressure and La Rioja couldn’t essentially reduce the arrears. In minute 54 Tamas Mocsai was introduced for the first time in the match, thus Strobel got his well-earned rest. Apart from that Mudrow hadn’t made any additional changes yet. With desperate courage La Rioja once again made head against “the off”. Svavarsson had to leave the court with a 2-minute suspension in the 55th minute, which was provoked by Lopez. However, the TBV intercepted the next ball, even though playing shorthanded they managed to get Kraus into the open, who scored to 33:23. In the 58th minute La Rioja could reach the 33:25, but after the next blocking of the defence the audience got up from their seats already 90 seconds before the end and celebrated the entry into the final. Nevertheless after 59:12 played minutes Volker Mudrow called his time-out, beforehand Amargant had scored 33:26. The hit to 34:26 of Kehrmann, who could shoot completely unhindered, then dispelled last doubts. After 2006 the TBV has anewly reached the final of the EHF-Cup and there will encounter the Suisse team Kadetten Schaffhausen!
Jesus Javier Gonzalez: Today Lemgo was playing very fast and concentrated. Their defence and the goalkeeper were very strong, but Lemgo was also playing well in attack. In contrast to that our performance was very weak today and our 5-1 defence didn’t have the same effect as in the first leg, therefore we lost.
Volker Mudrow : Firstly I want to thank the audience. The terrific support was the decisive factor for today’s success. Martin Galia has blocked excellently, but today everyone was playing well. It would be wrong to single a player out. In attack we used our chances much better than in the first leg, therefore we could win handsomely.