Clean sweep after three matches: European Champions League winner THW Kiel performed brilliantly against Al-Rayyan from Qatar and is looking forward to a great final.

THW Kiel (GER) – Al-Rayyah (QAT) 41:30 (19:15)

In front of Germany’s female ambassador in Qatar, THW Kiel outclassed Al-Rayyan in a dominant and impressive way. It was the third victory in the third match for the German side at their first-ever Super Globe appearance. Yet, THW did not feel awake in the opening phase to fall behind 1:5 before coach Alfred Gislason took an early time-out to wake his team up. They caught up to 6:7 and equalised to 9:9 to go into the lead (13:12). At this early stage of the match already Al-Rayyan’s tired players offered little resistance. The margin was just four goals at half-time but it took just 13 minutes in the second half to increase the margin to 10 with the score at 30:20.

Kiel showed some impressive combinations and scored some spectacular goals. Even the Qatari spectators applauded those actions. Recruited professional players from Croatia and Slovenia could not change anything for Al-Rayyan, although Marko Kopljar scored six goals to become the top scorer of his team. THW’s Serb Momir Illic netted nine goals.

Now Kiel is looking forward to the final. The opponent will be established in tonight’s very last match of Group B, Ciudad Real vs. Al-Sadd from Qatar. Al-Rayyan finishes last in Group A and will face Australia’s Southern Stars in the placement match (7/8) on Wednesday.

Quotes after the match:

Alfred Gislason, coach of Kiel: We had a weak start but then improved in both attack and defence. So many players on the bench allowed a lot of rotation that proved advantageous. We have reached our objective of winning all three matches and making through to the final.

Marcus Ahlm, player of Kiel: The most important thing is that we have qualified for the final. We really enjoy this tournament because we recognise that the Qatari fans like the European way of playing handball.

Ahmed Batty, head of Al-Rayyan delegation: In the first 15 minutes we played well then our players became tired. I think our local players benefit a lot from their play with the recruited professionals from Europe.

Mirko Allilovic, player of Al-Rayyan: I play in Doha for the second time after having reached the 2010 final with Al-Sadd. I think we have been unlucky this time, and against Kiel we were too tired but we lost against the best team of the world.

Photos by Adel Aldelimay