Only four goals conceded
Kiel’s keeper delivers incredible first half
9/3/2023 9:34 p.m
Only four goals in one half is a catastrophic handball record for a Bundesliga handball team. HSG Wetzlar experienced 30 very bitter minutes in Kiel. SC Magdeburg celebrates a narrow victory in the top duel of the 3rd match day of the Bundesliga.
Champions League winner SC Magdeburg and defending champion THW Kiel are making their mark on the Handball Bundesliga right from the start of the new season. SC Magdeburg won the top game against SG Flensburg-Handewitt 31:29 (16:13), THW Kiel won 33:22 (15:4) against HSG Wetzlar. Both teams remain undefeated.
THW made everything clear in the first half against Wetzlar. After a tough start, the North Germans only led 1-0 in front of the 9,971 spectators after seven minutes, but then started against the overwhelmed Mittelhessen. Kiel’s keeper Tomas Mrkva had already made 14 saves at half-time, Wetzlar only scored four goals in the first half. By the end of the game, Mrkva had saved 18 balls.
In the long and successful history of the record champions, however, this impressive first half is far from being historically significant: twice (1968 and 1972) THW did not allow a goal in the first half against TuS Wellinghofen. And yet: “Only four goals were allowed in one half – the team from Kiel last managed that in February 1997 in the 32:22 win against TBV Lemgo in the strongest league in the world”, writes the defending champion in his game report.
“Unable to play Bundesliga handball”
Despite the damage limitation, Wetzlar’s coach Frank Carstens was well served in the second half: “I’ll keep it short: In the first half we weren’t able to play Bundesliga handball offensively. The best thing today was the end result, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.” For his part, his opponent Filip Jicha was not entirely enthusiastic: “Tomas dominated the first half. We made nine technical mistakes in the first 30 minutes, which is quite a lot. But Tomas then parried the counter-attacks and played himself into a frenzy. Such a one You don’t see performance that often.”
The Flensburg experienced the first moment of shock in the eighth minute in front of the 6600 spectators in the Magdeburg Arena. After a hard foul by Johannes Golla on Philipp Weber, the referees consulted the video evidence, but left it at a time penalty for the captain of the German national team. At first, neither team could pull away by more than one goal. Felix Claar scored the first two-goal lead in the 26th minute at 11:9 for SCM. At the beginning of the second half, Claar, Omar Ingi Magnusson and Albin Lagergren increased the lead to 19:13 (36th minute) for the hosts. Flensburg only reduced the deficit to two goals (29:31/59.). It wasn’t enough for more.
On Thursday (8.30 p.m./Dyn) the next top duel is on the program with the 109th Schleswig-Holstein derby between Flensburg and Kiel. SC Magdeburg is already challenged on Wednesday (8.30 p.m./dyn) by Füchse Berlin, who are also still undefeated.