VELUX EHF Champions League champions Vive Tauron Kielce began their first IHF Super Globe campaign with a comfortable win against Brazilian side Handebol Taubate, thereby securing a place in the semi-finals at the Qatar Handball Association Hall in Duhail yesterday.
In the semi-finals, Vive Tauron Kielce will meet Paris Saint-Germain Handball. The French team earned their ticket to the next round when they beat Esperance Sportive de Tunis in the second match of the day.
As the VELUX EHF Champions League 2015/16 champions, Polish side Vive Tauron Kielce were expected to open their first ever Super Globe campaign with a victory. The score line at the final whistle did not reflect Kielce’s dominance through the 60 minutes, as they allowed the Brazilian side to keep pace only through the first quarter before they began to create a comfortable lead and maintain control with seemingly little effort.
After five minutes of play the score was level at 3:3, and just after the 10-minute mark Kielce were in front by one at 7:6 when Taubate goalkeeper Maik Santos made a fast-break save against Mateusz Jachlewski. Though Kielce started with most of their top stars on the bench and new Croatian goalkeeper Filip Ivic between the posts, it took little over five more minutes for their dominance to show.
Ivic saved a penalty against Brazil left wing Andre Soares in the 18th that kept the two-goal gap created by Pat Walczak less than a minute before (11:9), and by the 20th when a time-out was called for Taubate, Kielce had pulled in front to 13:9.
In the last 10 minutes of the half Kielce coach Talant Dujshebaev brought in his most formidable squad, with Tobias Reichmann, Krzysztof Lijewski, Mariusz Jurkiewicz, Karol Bielecki, Manuel Strlek and Julen Aguinagalde taking the court, though the Pan American team managed to keep the three-goal score line until the clock passed 25 minutes.
After that the VELUX EHF Champions League 2015/16 champions steamed ahead to hold a decisive six-goal advantage by half-time, but after the break the Polish side ran into some trouble as Taubate recorded a 4:0 run through the opening eight minutes of the period to come within two at 19:21. Coach Dujshebaev appeared relaxed though his team had difficulty against Taubate’s offensive defence, and the European squad seemed unphased as Andre Silva closed the gap to one in the 40th (20:21).
Kielce finally found the goal thanks to Uros Zorman, who added the Polish side’s first of the half just as the clock ticked past the 40-minute mark, and once the drought was broken they increased the gap once more. Dujshebaev rotated through his entire squad during the match, and they showcased the depth in their start list by pulling further in front to lead 29:24 in the 50th.
With five minutes left on the clock the difference stood at five (31:26 to Kielce), but as the full-time whistle approached Taubate managed to close the gap somewhat to finish with a narrower score line of three.
The second match of the day, featuring a second VELUX EHF FINAL4 side, told a very similar story to that of the first. The first period was level most of the way through before the European team pulled ahead to create a difference at the break, which grew by the time the final buzzer sounded.
After five minutes PSG held a narrow lead at 5:4 before Tunis took the lead with a fast break from Anis Mahmoudi while Jesper Nielsen was out on a two-minute suspension (7:6, 10th). The African team added another fast break that put them in front 8:6 as PSG returned to full strength, but a suspension for Marouen Chouiref would cost them as PSG’s Nedim Remili closed the gap to one with a goal off a rebounded penalty (7:8).
As PSG continued to trail by one coach Zvonimir Serdarusic called his first time-out in the 13th (8:9), and his team soon equalised. Thierry Omeyer made a great save that kept the game level, and the European squad wasted no time creating a one-goal advantage to lead 12:11 when new Slovenia keeper Gorazd Skof took Omeyer’s place between the posts.
Luka Karabatic created the first two-goal difference of the game in favour of PSG in the 18th when he scored from his position on the line, but he received a suspension in the next defence that enabled Tunis to decrease the deficit to one at 12:13. The African team levelled in the 21st as PSG seemed to have trouble gelling their defensive system with the new players on their roster (14:14), though as the half progressed the French side just as Kielce had before them.
The French champions opened a more decisive advantage in the last five minutes of the half as Daniel Narcisse took the score to 19:16 on a successful fast break in the 27th. The score line stayed at three at half-time, and in the second period Tunis slowly came back within two as Remili missed a fast-break opportunity when his shot was saved by goalkeeper Marouen Maggaiz.
Despite a third two-minute suspension for Marouen Chouiref, which sent him off court with a red card, Tunis closed the gap to one (27:28) by the time the last quarter of the match began – but when another suspension followed (for Mohamed Ali Bhar) the African team began to lose their footing.
After being behind by just one minutes earlier they fell back to a three-goal deficit when Uwe Gensheimer scored on a penalty in the 46th (30:27) and from there the three-goal distance persisted. Though Maggaiz caused some trouble for PSG’s shooters, making an impressive breakthrough save inside the last seven minutes of the game (33:30 to PSG), he could not do enough for his team to level.  
In the last five minutes PSG were clearly on their way to victory, as Narcisse opened a six-goal advantage at 36:30 in the 57th, and they held on to finish with a lead of seven.


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