After two of three match days nothing is decided in Group A of the 2013 edition of the IHF Super Globe in Doha, Qatar. In today’s (26 August) final encounter the All-Qatari thriller of El-Jaish and Al-Sadd ended with a 22:22 draw. Before the last match day Al-Sadd and Hamburg lead the ranking by three points – and face in the direct duel. El-Jaish tied for the second time in two days after their 29:29 against Hamburg and will face Sydney in their last preliminary match. Both Qatari teams and Hamburg still can proceed to the semi-finals, while in group B Barcelona and Sahel are already confirmed for the next stage.

El-Jaish (QAT) – Al-Sadd (QAT) 22:22 (10:12)

The All-Katari fight for semi-finals was a fierce battle full of fight and adrenaline. The first 20 minutes were imprinted by brilliant goalkeeper performances of Jose Javier Hombrados (Al-Sadd) and Dan Beutler (El-Jaish) – two figures, who remained in the focus until the end.  And when Swedish Beutler was replaced by Mohsain Yaffai his level nearly remained the same.

Al-Sadd was in lead throughout the whole first half after a strong start (4:1) – but El-Jaish managed to catch up, but was not able to take the lead. After some brilliant Hombrados saves Al-Sadd marched ahead to 12:9, but right after the break their domestic opponent had equalized again at 13:13.

And as Al-Sadd missed too many chances in this period the huge number of El-Jaish fans celebrated the first lead of their team in minute 42, when Slim Hedoui hit the net for the 16:15.

From that moment on the match became a real thriller, a fight for every centimeter. The lead changed constantly – and ten minutes before the end, El-Jaish coach Akkeb Kamel send Beutler back between the goal posts at the score of 19:18 for Al-Sadd –and the goalkeeper  started with a highly important save, energizing his team in the crucial stage.

And Kamel’s measure had the right effect on El-Jaish: By a triple strike, finished by Ahmed Elahmar, his team turned the match around to 21:19 in four minutes. But still nothing was decided yet. Al-Sadd equalized again at 21:21 and 22:22 –and El-Jaish had to play the final 90 seconds with a one man disadvantage. Their coach Kamel took his final time-out 33 seconds before the end, but his team missed their last shot against Hombrados. Al-Sadd had the last attack, but finally Beutler saved the point by clearing Hedoui’s shot.

Statements after the match:

Akkeb Kamel, coach El-Jaish: Al-Sadd played a good match, which was really tough for us. We played as well as we could and did everything to win. Now we have less than 24 to recover for the important match against Sydney.

Charafeddine Boumendjel, player El-Jaish: Fortunately we did not lose this game, which was a close and tough clash of two strong teams.

Arrouche Lakhdar, coach Al-Sadd: Our young players did their best in this hard match. We are in the middle of building-up a new team, so mistakes occurred – and mistake are part of development and experience.

Jose Javier Hombrados, player Al-Sadd: Two very good teams wanted to wins this match, which ended by an equal result. Our young team sometimes had problems in defence, but the final result is a good achievement for us. Now we face one of the best teams in the world – a hard task for us.