From left: Qatar players Kamalaldin Mallash, Goran Stojanovic, Hadi Hamdoon and Rafael Capote celebrate their win over Germany in the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship quarter-final at the Lusail Multipurpose Arena yesterday. PICTURE: Mamdouh
By Yash Mudgal/Doha
Hosts Qatar continued their impressive show in the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship as they marched into the semi-finals and in the process qualified for the Rio Olympics, yesterday.
At Lusail Multipurpose Hall, the Asian Games champions overcame a fighting Germany 26-24 to book their maiden entry into the World Championship last four.
With the victory the hosts became the only Asian country to make it to the last four stage of the world championship and will take on the Poland, who defeated Croatia 24-22, tomorrow.
Qatar coach Valero Rivera was ecstatic with the performance of his boys.
“Qatar deserves to be the first team from Asia to play in the semi-finals of the competition. I am very happy with the victory as we have played our best handball in the championship. The Germans played very well too. I’m happy for the team, for the federation and for the country,” he said.
Qatar rode on the brilliance of Rafael Capote (8 goals), Zarko Markovic (6 goals) and Borja Vidal (4 goals) coupled with the brilliance of goalkeepers Danijel Saric and Goran Stojanovic, to script their best-ever performance at the world stage.
Rivera’s team performed convincingly against former champions Germany throughout the match to emerge deserving winners. The hosts made their intentions clear from the outset by playing a fast and fluent game.
“It was a tough game. We didn’t have a good beginning yet we didn’t give up and put a lot of pressure on Qatar in the second half. The Qatar goalkeeper was simply excellent. We are disappointed,” German coach Dagur Sigurdsson said.
A partisan crowd of about 11,500 roared Qatar to victory with former HSV Hamburg player Zarko Markovic scoring his 50th goal in the championship for the home side.
Both teams started the game in an electric atmosphere. Qatar, encouraged by incredibly colourful and vociferous support, were eager to open the score but the Germans found the net first in the second minute of the match.
The German team clearly wanted to increase the score and they were active in laying a siege around the Qatari goal. However, the Qataris broke the German siege and equalised in the fourth minute.
The game looked very tight as both teams exchanged their extremely meticulous attacking efforts. The Qatari keeper Saric was particularly good at repelling German shots.
After six minutes, Qatar took the lead but the Germans equalised almost instantly. From there onwards Qatar started to concentrate on their sharp shooting and after equalising, increased their lead after a couple of subsequent penalties.
Midway through the first half, the Qataris had a four-goal advantage with Markovic and Capote keeping up the offensive pressure. Weinhold was instrumental in Germany’s scoring efforts.
The pace of the game increased in the last third of the opening half with Qatar concentrating on widening their lead. Even as the Germans fought back, Qatar’s lead was hardly ever less than five goals.
In the second half, teams continued exchanging fast breaks and quality goals. Labouring back, Germany managed to narrow the gap to one. It clearly appeared as though the German squad was rejuvenated during the break.
By the end of it all, however, the Qataris stood their ground and overcame the formidable German barrier. The win sparked jubilant scenes among a packed and excited crowd as the hosts kept alive the dream of a home victory at the championships.
German captain Uwe Gensheimer, who was the top scorer with five goals for his team, also lauded Qatar’s efforts as he said: “Qatar deserved to win today. I am disappointed we didn’t play to the best of our abilities at the highest level. We couldn’t manage to take a confident lead.”
Qatar goalkeeper Saric, who had two superb stops at crucial moments, was delighted with his team’s victory.
“We are very happy and satisfied. The first half was extraordinary and in the second half we gave everything to achieve this great victory. Playing in the semi-finals is the best thing that happened in our career. We deserve to be there, so does the whole country of Qatar.”
South Korea is the only other Asian team to have reached the quarter-finals stage and that was in 1997.
POLAND CLINCH SEMI-FINAL SPOT
Poland edged past Croatia 24-22 in another thriller at Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiya Arena to reach the semi-final.
Croatia, bronze medallists at the last world championship, showed good defensive work in the first 15 minutes of the game. That was enough for an early 4-2 lead, despite the fact that the most efficient Croatian star in the backline Domagoj Duvnjak (0/4 in the first 30 minutes) couldn’t find the rhythm as in his previous match against Brazil.
However, Polish coach Michael Biegler found a way to solve his players’ lack of attacking ideas in time-out and they made an impressive 5-1 comeback led by right back Andrzej Rojewski.
The Polish boys marched to a 9-6 lead in the 22nd minute, when Croatian coach Slavko Goluza brought in young left back Ivan Sliskovic. He took advantage of his chance and brought a new dose of energy to his teammates in the offensive actions.
Croatia levelled 10-10 two minutes before the buzzer, but the finish was controlled by the Wisla Plock duo Kamil Syprzak and Mariusz Jurkiewicz, who put Poland two goals up at 12-10.
Croatian stars Domagoj Duvnjak, Igor Vori and others, took the half time advice of coach Slavko Goluza seriously, providing a furious ten-minute action in the beginning of second half. Duvnjak netted four goals in a row to conclude a 6-1 series of his team, which put Croatia three goals ahead – 16-13.
The guy who pulled out Poland from the crisis was left back Piotr Chrapkowski with two goals. After he scored the 18-18 equaliser in the 49th minute, Kamil Syprzak brought the lead to the ‘Eagles’.
Syprzak gave Poland the lead at 23-22 three minutes from time, before goalkeeper Slawomir Szmal saved two shots by Duvnjak and Manuel Strlek.
Mariusz Jurkiewicz (top-scorer with six goals) scored the last one to ensure that Poland reached the Worlds semis for the first time since 2009.
“All the people saw a really close game between two strong teams who knew each other very well. We didn’t play with the necessary speed in attack in the first half, but our solution was to play with two line players,” Poland coach Michael Biegler said.
“In the half-time break, we agreed to change our defence and to play faster in attack. While our focus was not at the necessary level at the start of the second half – we were down three, four goals – but the team learned how to cope with pressure. We need time to understand what we just did,” he added.
The top-scorers for Croatia were Marko Kopljar and Duvnjak with five goals each.
