April 2022

Brescia finishes atop, Ferencvaros, Hannover book last berths, Olympiacos is out  Ferencvaros and Hannover booked the last two available berths in the Day of Thrillers when each  game offered nailbiting finishes – three were decided by a single goal, the other two ended in a  draw. Olympiacos, built for another title-run, will miss the finals for the first time since 2015, a  last-grasp goal by Novi Beograd even denied their win today. Ferencvaros beat Radnicki after  giant struggles and that not only secured their F8 spot but lift them to the second place as Brescia  earned a draw in Barceloneta which also secured the Italians’ top spot in the group. In the clash  of the Germans, Hannover delivered the necessary victory over Spandau in Group B, so they will  return to Belgrade after last year’s appearance in the finals.  Group A: Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v Novi Beograd (SRB) 12-12, FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v  Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) 13-12, Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta (ESP) v AN Brescia (ITA) 12-12,  Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v Jadran Split (CRO) 12-11  Standings: 1. Brescia 30, 2. Ferencvaros 25, 3. Novi Beograd 24, 3. Barceloneta 24, 5. Olympiacos 20,  6. Radnicki 13, 7. Jadran 9, 8. Dinamo 3  Group B: Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) 10-9  Standings: 1. Recco 36, 2. Marseille 33, 3. Jug 30, 4. Hannover 20, 5. OSC 16, 6. Spandau 10, 7.  Steaua 4, 8. Zvezda 4  After a cost-saving season, Olympiacos boosted its line-up once more with quality foreigners (with the  core of Greece’s Olympic silver medallist team already in the house), and their target was definite: to  win the cup again. They reached the finals three times between 2016 and 2019, lifted the trophy in 2018  – but this season something went wrong as they will not go to Belgrade.  They should have needed a miracle after losing to Ferencvaros on Day 12 – but they couldn’t deliver  their part in the afternoon as they were unable to beat Novi Beograd. The Serbs were leading most of  the time, though the Greeks came back in the fourth, even took the lead, but a buzzer-beater one-timer  by Strahinja Rasovic saved the game to a tie after a time-out called 0:01 to go.  This made Ferencvaros’ job easier, they needed a single point against already eliminated Radnicki to  advance. However, they found themselves in the midst of a giant struggle as their rivals got a two-goal  lead early in the second period and could even hold it early in the fourth. But the Magyars fought back  and with a 3-0 run they turned the game, then scored the winner after 12-12.   This not only sent them to the finals but also rocketed them to the second place, thanks to Brescia’s fine  efforts in Barceloneta. The Italians offered another convincing performance, two missed penalties in the  third rocked the Spaniards’ boat and even though they fought hard and managed to level the score with  a double in the last 70 seconds, but they never had a real chance to win this game. A victory would have  put them back to the runner-up position – at the same time, Brescia cemented its top ranks and they can  even lose in Budapest on the last day. Dinamo saved some pride, beating Jadran in an exciting, tight match meant that they would  not finish the season with zero points.  In Group B, Hannover needed a win against fellow German side Spandau to secure a third F8 berth in as  many seasons. Spandau didn’t offer any free meal for its local arch-rival but with a 4-0 run by the hosts  from 4-6 to 8-6 – and a 12:50-minute long silence of the Berliners – put the encounter on the desired  path and Waspo prevailed at the end.  Recaps  Olympiacos v Novi Beograd 12-12  The two sides produced a brilliant battle – too bad that Olympiacos was set to bow out even before the match, as it was hard to see that Ferencvaros would go down twice in its remaining two home  encounters – that was the Greeks’ only chance, besides beating Novi Beograd first, then Dinamo in  Tbilisi.  In fact, they failed to complete the first part of the mission. The Greeks’ game was all but consistent in the season – and that was mirrored in this match too.  They needed almost six minutes to score their first goal, then they managed to add another one in 50 seconds, only to concede two more in 35sec, the second one 3sec from time. Their struggles became  even more visible in the second period when they had no less than six man-ups plus at least two more  clean scoring chances but could only net two goals while the Serbs made most of their chances and led  4-6 at halftime.  Then all of a sudden – or in three minutes, until the middle break lasted – the home side went through a transformation and came back flying. In 1:42 minutes they scored three unanswered goals for 7-6, then  killed a man-down and had a 6 on 5 to double the gap but it was wasted and soon Strahinja Rasovic  equalised from action. Filip Filipovic replied with a fine blast against his fellow Serbs but after a save  Vasilje Martinovic could send the ball home from the wing in a dying extra for 8-8. The Serbs missed  their next one while Georgios Dervisis converted the Greeks’ 6 on 5 – still, there was time for another  equaliser, by Radomir Drasovic, again from a man-up, so the last quarter started from 9-9. It looked inevitable that the outcome would come down to the man-up conversions in the last period as  the defences worked hard and didn’t let any easy goals. The Serbs buried their first two, the Greeks kept  their nerves and replied immediately both times. The first miss came from the visitors at 11-11 and  Konstantinos Genidounias hit the back of the net from the Greeks’ extra, after a time-out,

Hannover shocks OSC, Recco survives some scares in Belgrade  Hannover came up with an outstanding shooting performance, scored 11 man-up goals to shock  OSC in Budapest and gain a four-point lead in the race for the Final Eight with two rounds to go.  The top three ranked sides carried on, though none of those wins came with the expected ease – especially Recco got into a scary situation but scored the last two goals after 12-12 against  underdog Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade. Earlier in the Serbian capital Novi Beograd beat Jadran in  a Group A match brought forward from Saturday.  Group B: Genesys OSC Budapest (HUN) v Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) 12-17, Crvena Zvezda (SRB) v  Pro Recco (SRB) 12-14, CN Marseille (FRA) v Steaua Bucharest (ROU) 15-10, Jug Adriatic  Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) v Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) 12-9  Standings: 1. Recco 33, 2. Marseille 33, 3. Jug 27, 4. Hannover 17, 5. OSC 13, 6. Spandau 10, 7.  Steaua 4, 8. Zvezda 4  Group A: Novi Beograd (SRB) v Jadran Split (CRO) 14-7  OSC had some better performances in its away encounters: beating Jug in Dubrovnik, winning a bit  miraculously in Berlin, then pushing Recco to a full-force performance for four periods all showed the  Hungarian side’s quality – however, their home record just did not mirror that. Recco, Marseille and Jug  beat them soundly (they lost to Spandau by default due to Covid) – and that scoreline set up an all-or nothing duel with Hannover.   And the Germans stunned them right in the first period with a 1-4 run and the Magyars couldn’t really  recovered from the opening shock. Their defence didn’t click, Hannover’s man-up play looked as easy  as the ABC, they put away 11 extras – so OSC ended up conceding 17 goals at home, the same amount  Recco scored against them in Italy. That had been understandable – this Friday crash means that Waspo now enjoys a four-point advantage and despite facing a couple of tough challenges, against Spandau and  Jug, both at home, they are very much in the driving seat.   The top three ranked sides all won though they had some struggles while bagging three more points.  Recco slowed down once it went 3-7 up in the middle of the seconds period, the youngsters of Crvena  Zvezda smelled blood, staged a 4-0 rush, and twice in the third period they even took the lead. At the  end, the title-holders prevailed, though, as they managed to score the last two goals of the match after  12-12 while not letting any easy scoring chance to their rival in the final 3:18 minutes.  Marseille also had some headaches as Steaua came back to 9-7 after 9-4 but the French kept the control  and rebuilt the gap in the fourth. Jug also had some problems even after netting three connecting goals  to take a 7-5 lead by halftime against Spandau. The Germans came back to 8-8 but ran out of gas and  were unable to add more for ten minutes while the Croats had a 4-0 run during this phase.  In Group A, Novi Beograd beat Jadran once more after the Regional League final on Sunday. The Serbs  netted 14 again while the Croatian side couldn’t keep up with them in the second half this time. Though the visitors led 6-7 early in the third, for the last 14 minutes they became invisible while the  F8 host staged an 8-0 rush to get back to the winning track and cut the difference to three points behind  Brescia, which faces fellow Serbian side Radnicki on Saturday.   Recaps  OSC v Hannover 12-17  OSC started the game in great speed, created four fine chances – missed three of them while Hannover  did nothing special, just waited for the opportunities and made most of them. Rather all. The Germans  put away their first seven (!) man-ups in the first half, while Moritz Schenkel and his defenders  managed to unbalance the Hungarian offence on more and more occasions.  Hannover jumped to a 1-4 lead in eight minutes – and the scoreboard already saw what was coming as it  ‘decided’ not to show anything any longer. The small interruption did not bother the Germans, though  Vince Vigvari kicked off the second period with a smart goal in 12 seconds, but Hannover kept on  scoring from man-ups and after their first action goal the hosts opted for substituting the goalie. Soon  Marton Levai should come back when it stood 3-8 (and the number of saves was 1-6). The Hungarians  climbed back to 5-9 by halftime but their rivals seemed to be very much in control, despite wasting their  last two extras.  Kristof Sziladi’s lob from a dying attack gave some hope for OSC at the beginning of the third and a  killed man-down and a buried penalty brought them back to 7-9. But Darko Brguljan’s 6m shot found  the back of the net, OSC missed its next 6 on 5 badly and their momentum was gone. A 2-shot man-up  play reset Hannover’s 4-goal lead at 7-11 with 2:34 to go, and even though Ferenc Salamon blasted one  from the distance, Fynn Shutze didn’t miss the next 6 on 4. OSC converted its double man-up too, but  their last shot hit the crossbar while Ivan Nagaev’s left-handed pinpoint shot flew to the net from 8m for  9-13, three seconds before the buzzer – and Hannover was on its way to a third consecutive Final 8  appearance.  Erik Csacsovszky pulled one back from the distance, but the Hungarian defence had no solutions to  deny Brugljan who buried another man-up with ease while the Germans brilliantly killed the hosts’ next  6 on 5. Brguljan hit his fourth from action for 10-15 and Schenkel came up with two more saves in  man-downs, then Petar Muslim’s bouncer ended up in the net, again from a man-up. A couple of 6 on 5  were converted, then another one was well saved by Schenkel – as for contrast, the conversion was