Al Sadd’s Berkous Messaoud (top) rises to go past El Jaish’s Mohamed Shebib (left) during their IHF Super Globe preliminary round match at Al Gharafa Indoor Hall here yesterday. Right: Al Rayyan’s Bassel Moussa Alrayes looks to score against Etoile Sportive du Sahel during their IHF Super Globe preliminary round match at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday. PICTURES: Anas Khalid
Barcelona and Etoile Sportive du Sahel breezed into the semifinals of the International Handball Federation (IHF) 2013 Super Globe tournament here at the Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday.
In the Group B encounters, Barcelona defeated Brazilian club Taubate 32-18, while Tunisian Sahel defeated Asian champions and Qatar’s Al Rayyan 30-23 to register their second victory in as many matches.
With this victory, Sahel became the first Tunisian club to enter semi-finals of the tournament, a competition that involves the champion clubs of continental confederations.
Delighted Sahel coach Sami Saidi said, “We are very happy with our performance here and now we have a great challenge ahead in FC Barcelona tomorrow.”
Al Rayyan coach Iljia Puljevic rued the chances his side missed to score. “We played a good match against a strong team. It was a pity that we missed so many free chances including five penalties. At one point of time we were 20-22, but we missed a crucial counter-attack there. We lost the match and a chance to enter semi-final,” Puljevic said after the match.
Later yesterday, Group A saw an all-Qatari thriller in which El Jaish put up another inspired performance to play out a 22-22 draw with hosts and last year’s semi-finalist Al Sadd. It was a secondconsecutive draw for Jaish after they drew European champions HSV Hamburg 29-29 in their first group encounter on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, HSV Hamburg easily defeated Sydney University 35-15 to register its first victory in the competition. The semi-finalist from the group will be decided today when Sadd takes on the German club and Jaish faces off with the Australian outfit. It is a three-way tie between Sadd, Jaish and Hamburg for the two semi-final spots from the group.
Barcelona put up a tactical display against the Pan-American champions, who looked overtly defensive at various points in the match. After finding it difficult to break through the Brazilian side in the first half, the Catalans preferred to use the flanks in the second half and open up crucial gaps.
“We had not been concentrating enough in the first half. But we really improved after the break and played more aggressive, especially in attack. We will also take our last group match against Sahel very seriously, as all matches are important for us in this stage of the season. We will not give rest to any of our players, except Jesper Noddesbo, who is injured,” Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual said.
Barcelona player Viren Morros added: “In the first half we lacked concentration, but after the break our defence was brilliant. To be successful in the match against Sahel tomorrow, we will have to be as effective as we were in the second half today. We will have to avoid mistakes we made before the break.”
Taubate coach Marcus Oliveira admitted they were outfoxed by Barca’s game in the second half. “We had a good first-half, but we missed some good opportunities to score. After the break we could not follow Barcelona and made too many mistakes, as Barcelona’s rhythm was too fast for us,” Oliviera said.
Both Rayyan and Taubate are out of the contention but the group winner will be decided today, when Sahel faces Barcelona in the last group encounter.
