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Defending champions FC Barcelona defeated Sydney University HC to march into the semifinals of the IHF Super Globe 2014 at the newly-built Qatar Handball Sports Complex yesterday. |
In the first game on Day 2 of the annual handball event between continental club champions, the Sydney sudents stood up to Barcelona’s pressure in the first half, but finally had to accept defeat. The Catalans were a class of their own as they won with a healthy 34-18 margin.
The Sydney students, who are here for the third consecutive year at the Super Globe as Oceania champions, player a good opening half during which they kept breathing down Barcelona's neck.
They even scored a triple strike to finish the half (12-15), but lost steam thereafter and failed to
register their maiden win in the tournament.
Seven-times EHF Champions League winners Barcelona, who were playing the first game of the day having starred in the final game on the opening day, didn't look in their elements, perhaps because of less receovery time. Only right wing Joan Saubich was in brilliant shape, as the rest of his team faced enormous problems to get through Sydney’s defence.
“Our objective was to reach the semi-finals and with today’s win we are already there.
“Now we have still one more game to play to learn our final ranking in the group. For us it is difficult to play that early as we are used to play around six or seven hours later on in Europe,” Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual said.
The pre-tournament favourites side took more than 40 minutes to break the resistance of the Sydney students as Michael Alcaraz displayed some superb skill at the goalpost to defy the Barcelona attack.
When Pascual switched to first-choice players Nikola Karabatic, Danijel Saric and Siarhei Rutenka in the second half, the Aussies found themseleves laking in power against the constantly rotating Spanish side.
“We did exceptionally well both in defence and attack, playing against one of the top clubs in the world, plus our goalkeeper made a lot of terrific saves. We showed what we are capable of if we train properly. We hardly train 2-3 times in a week, while Barcelona players practice twice a day,” Sydney University's German-born coach Philipp Enders said.
Talking about his side’s poor show in the second half, Enders said: “The reason Barcelona outscored us in the second half was because our opponents proved far superior in terms of fitness and speed.
“And of course, they used their first-choice players after the break and for us it was very difficult to confront players like Karabatic.”
Karabatic, Kiril Lazarov, Gudjo Sigurdsson scored five goals each for the winners, while Renato Rui with six goals was the top-scorer for the Sydney team.
Barca star Joan Saubich lauded the efforts of Sydney team. “Sydney played a nice game, especially in the first half they were fantastic. Surely the game was harder than we expected it to be. Overall I am satisfied with my team’s performance,” Saubich said.
Sydney goalkeeper Alcaraz, who blcoked 10 shots, also sounded optimistic. “It was a very good match for us. I feel so proud with our performance today. I would like to thank my coach for his support and hope to play better in our next match.”