BY ARMSTRONG VAS
Doha: Surprise package of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship Qatar is a win away from ultimate glory. Yesterday at the packed Lusail Multipurpose Arena, the hosts continued their dream run at the championship to register a fighting 31-29 win over Poland in the semi-final to set up a title clash with France tomorrow at the same venue.
The hosts, who went into the tournament ranked 36, had said at the beginning of the cup that their aim was to reach the last eight. But the team grew in confidence after wins in the group stages and the knockout phase over strong European power houses – Austria, Germany and Poland.
Yesterday’s win was the seventh in the championship out of eight matches, the only loss coming against defending champions Spain in the group stages of the event.
Coach Valero Rivera’s side, which had never made it past the pre-quarter-final stage in previous championship, notched many a first with their maiden entry into the final.
This is the first time an Asian and a non-European country will be contesting a final in a sport which hereto had been dominated by European countries.
The only Asian country to challenge the European domination had been Korea when they made it to the quarter-finals in 2007. Two African sides, Egypt and Tunisia had also made it to the semi-finals in the past.
Coach Rivera’s knew Poland will be a tough opponent in the second half and thus set upon a plan which his boys executed much to his delight. “We had talked about the need for a two or three goal lead at half time,” Rivera, the Spanish born coach of Qatar said.
“We knew that so far in this tournament, Poland had won the second half in all their matches, except against Denmark and Croatia, against whom they drew in the last 30 minutes.
“Therefore, we expected the task to be impossible, if we did not lead by two or three goals at half time, but fortunately we did, and we managed to make it to the end, though Poland played very, very well.” Rivera’s opposite number Michael Biegler appreciated the fighting spirit of his team. “I would like to congratulate my team which played according to the plan, and for fighting until the end.
“I could speak about several mistakes we made, not least in the defence, but first of all, I am happy that we kept fighting to get back into the match.”
While Poland where left ruing their mistakes Qatar made most of them.
The hosts backed up by the capacity crowd of 15,000 started on a hesitant note but clawed back to gain control over the proceedings.
In a match where Poland got five two-minute suspensions while Qatar got two, Poland got the better start, but Qatar changed the tide already during the first half.
Within the first quarter of an hour, Poland had already had three two-minute suspensions, while Qatar had none, but still Poland managed to stay at the lead, their defence being particularly successful at neutralising Qatar’s top scorer so far, Zarko Markovic.
In fact, left back Rafael Capote was the only Qatar player who caused the Polish defence some trouble in that first phase of the match, in which he scored four goals. As half time approached, however, Danijel Saric, who had replaced Goran Stojanovic in the Qatar goal began performing saves, and with seven and a half minutes left of the first half, Qatar could take their first lead 12-11 and went into the half time at 16-13.
Qatar began the second half the same way they ended the first 30 minutes, by increasing their lead.
The hosts got ahead 19-14 and 21-16, before Poland managed to crawl closer.
The Poles never got any closer than being two goals down, though, and two goals were also the difference at the end, then. Capote scored six goals to lead Qatar while Michal Jurecki threw in nine for Poland.
THE PENINSULA
