Major issues in preliminary round Group A have been settled: THW Kiel qualified for the final on Sunday night and the Lebanese Al-Sadd team competed in Monday’s first match to secure second place and thus to advance to the bronze final. But still, it was a hard fight to beat Pinheiros.

 

Al-Sadd (LIB) – Esporte Pinheiros (BRA) 29:27 (12:13)

 

They danced on the field and celebrated hand in hand: After a clear opening defeat to Kiel, Al-Sadd from Lebanon claimed two victories over Al-Rayyan and Pinheiros on Monday to secure second place in Group A. However, the Brazilians showed a very strong performance again like they had done when drawing with Al-Rayyan and their expected defeat to Kiel. The defence was well prepared, goalkeeper Maik dos Santos saved brilliantly again, and when they could start their speedy game they ran successful counter-attacks in the first 45 minutes.

Al-Sadd, highly motivated after yesterday night’s victory over Al-Rayyan, tried everything to secure second place and to qualify for the bronze final. But after the first half they had to thank their goalkeeper Jose Manuel Sierra, who avoided an even greater deficit. They could not stop Pinheiros’ counter-attacks and were quickly behind by three goals (10:13). Thanks to two quick goals on minute 30 they reduced the half-time margin to just one goal.

Even in the beginning of the second half Pinheiros was stronger, but minute by minute the Brazilian team lost its power and confidence. Greater international experience and more rotation options helped the Lebanese team find its way back on the path to victory. Pinheiros fought bravely, but the tide turned for Al-Sadd on minute 47, succeeding a 7:2 series from 15:17 to 22:19. Pinheiros’ coach Sergio Hortelan took his time-out to call up his bravely fighting squad’s strength– and they understood what their coach had said, scored three goals and equalised to 22:22.

But this was the last ‘sign of life’ from Pinheiros. Sierra saved some important shots while Al-Sadd performed predominantly in the final stage of the match and decided the game at 27:23, scored by Oscar Perales. Pinheiros fought hard until the final whistle to reduce the margin 27:29 with 45 seconds until the end, but then missed three shots.

Quotes after the match

Rashid Mohamed, coach of Al-Sadd: Pinheiros played well with a great fighting spirit. But the Lebanese-Valladolid cooperation worked even better, especially thanks to coach Juan Carlos Pastor. Although some of the professional players were tired or injured, we managed to achieve the second place in our group.

 

Zoulfikar Daher, player of Al-Sadd: Thanks God for this victory. Third place at the Super Globe was our objective, and we still have it in hand. No matter what team we meet in the bronze final, we will try our very best to come in third.

 

Sergio Hortelan, coach of Pinheiros: Against Kiel yesterday we played better than we did today. Al-Sadd has excellent players and coaches. As we showed our best performance in the final stage we lost the game.

 

Thiagus Santos, player of Pinheiros: We are happy about our performance in this tournament, although we could have won the first and third match.

Photos by Adel Aldelimay