Cheered and praised by their spectators, African champions Zamalek have caused the biggest sensation by now in the IHF Super Globe 2012: The Egyptians beat El-Jaish, qualified already for the semifinal after their second win – and eliminated the team from Qatar. Thanks to this result, Atletico Madrid – with four points like Zamalek – have made their way to the semifinal before the direct duel of those unbeaten teams on Wednesday. Top scorers were Zlatko Horvat with seven goals for El-Jaish. Zaky and Sanad scored six goals each for Zamalek.

 

El-Jaish (QAT) – Zamalek (EGY) 24:27 (12:12)

They fell on the floor, thanked Allah for this support – and then celebrated with their spectators: Like in 2011 Zamalek from Egypt have reached the semifinal of the IHF Super Globe, and like in 2011 Al-Rayyan, the Qatar wild card team have missed the knock-out stage.

Mostafa Hendawi was the tower of power for the Egyptians before the break in this second straight Arabic duel in Doha. The Egypt goalkeeper was the base for the strong Zamalek performance, which El-Jaish did not have expected in this way. Cheered by hundreds of spectators the African club champions were the better team before the break, and El-Jaish had to be lucky with the draw (12:12) after 30 minutes.

On the other hand the Qataris could count on their transfers from Europe like goalkeeper Darko Stanic, but especially wing player Zlatko Horvat, their first half top scorer, or Yure Dolenec. While El-Jaish was individually better, Zamalek impressed by a strong team performance – and remained on a high level after the break: Thanks to a double strike they got away to 14:12, but had the hot breath of their Qatari hunters constantly in their necks. Led by Nikola Manojlovic El-Jaish strengthened their defence, but Zamalek still found ways to score.

And still El-Jaish was not on their highest performing level. Coach Ivica Obrvan was forced to take his time-out 13 minutes before the end, when Zamalek extended the gap to three goals for the first time at 21:18 and were close to clinch their semifinal spot.

In the final stages, when El-Jaish had reduced from four goals to only 22:23, the duel became a combative battle with tough defence actions on both sides, knowing the high significance of this encounter. With Stanic returning to his starting performing battle, the Qatari team improved, but was not able to equalize, as Zamalek tried everything to run down the clock.

In the final minute, the Egyptian fans went crazy: First Mohamed Abd El had scored the 26:24, then El-Jaish caused a miss pass. 30 seconds before the end Mohamed Ibrahim made the sensation come true, hitting the net for the final score of 27:24. While El-Jaish remain with zero points and already missed the semifinal, Zamalek like in 2011 are among the top four teams of the IHF Super Globe.

 

Statements after the match:

Ivica Obrvan, coach El-Jaish: I am angry with this match, as Zamalek was physically stronger and tactically better than our team. Our problem again was that those foreign players do not play together in one team. There’s nothing more to say.

Hassan Mabrouk, player El-Jaish: I have to congratulate Zamalek for a great match, especially goalkeeper Karim Hendawi, who showed a great performance.

Tarek Lofti, coach Zamalek: I am absolutely proud of my team and how my team won this match. We were eager to win and we showed a great passion. And we made our fans really happy.

Karim Hendawi, player Zamalek: We really can be proud and our fans can be proud of us. We have not finished, we want to give all we can in the upcoming matches.