MOL- Pick Szeged – Telekom Veszprém 27:27

 

 

MOL-Pick Szeged: Sego, Alilovic, Nagy – Maqueda 3, Kallman 3, Bodó 4, Sigurmannsson 2, Canellas 4 (2), Henigman, Sunajko, Balogh 4 (3), Gaber 4, Sostaric, Bánhidi, Bombac 2, Zhitnikov 1

 

Telekom Veszprém: Sterbik, Mikler – Ilic 1, Tonnesen 4, Nilsson 4, Nagy 3, Marguc 2, Strlek 5, Terzic, Blagotinsek 1, Nenadic 1, Mahé 2, Ernei, Mackovsek, Szűcs, Lékai 4

 

Penalties: 6/5 and 1/0

Suspensions: 10 min. and 12 min.

 

 

Telekom Veszprém could look for the second leg of the Hungarian championship final with an 11-goal lead. The „Építők” wanted to clinch their 26th Hungarian title, while MOL-Pick Szeged longed for their fourth title. Of course, the teams were greeted with a sold our hall and fantastic atmosphere.

 

The home team started the game but Mikler denied Maqueda on the first try, but could not stop Canellas’ penalty in the 3rd minute at 1:0 score. A minute later Kallman doubled the lead, however Nagy had an answer for it. Coach David Davis called a time out in the 5th minute at 4:1 home lead. His words helped a bit, as after a great attack Blagotinsek scored, then Strlek as well, later Mahé equalized with an empty netter, for 4:4 in the 8th minute. In the 12th minute Bánhidi faulted Mahé, and after reviewing the play, Bánhidi left the game with a red card, at 5:5. With two man down, Szeged could score thanks to Gaber, but Strlek had a quick answer to that. At the end of the 15th minute the score was 8:6 for Szeged after Bombac’s goal. Veszprém was getting closer to Szeged with Tonnesen’s goal in the 18. minute, 8:7, but after this Blagotinsek got his second suspensions and Bodó scpred from that right away. In the upcoming minutes the difference did not grow between the teams, mainly thank to Roland Mikler, their lead even got thinner when Lékai scored in the 22nd minute, 10:9. The scoreboard showed 11:10 in the 25th minute, and after the empty net goal from László Nagy, Coach Pastor called timeout. After this came the goals of Bodó and Nilsson. The teams were head to head in the remainder of the half, then Lékai equalized 2 seconds after the end of the period, 14:14.

 

The second half started with a save by Sego and a goal by Mahé, with which Veszprém took the lead for the first time this game. Gaber equalized, then Kallman took the lead back to the home team in the 34th minute, 16:15. Szeged could expand their lead even further by the 37th minute, so Coach David Davis called a timeout at 18:15 standing. After this, Strlek scored while Sterbik saved Canellas’ penalty. Mikler also saved a clear shot, and Lékai brought up Veszprém to one goal, although Balogh had a quick answer to that. A beautiful goal was scored by Nagy, from Ilic’s pass, who finished a kempa well, in the 43rd minute, 19:18. With Bodó’s goal Szeged was still in the lead, 21:19, and on top of that, Tonnesen was suspended for two minutes. Right in a man down situation Nilsson scored a great goal, and got a home player suspended for two minutes as well. Mackovsek got the same verdict a bit later, and Balogh scored from the penalty coming from that. With 10 minutes left in the game Bodó scored another huge goal, making the difference three, 23:20. Marguc, Gaber and Nilsson scored after this. In the 55th minute Strlek made it 26:24. At the end, Telekom Veszprém secured their 26th Hungarian championship title with a final result of 27:27!

 

 

David Davis: I cannot say much about them game, we came here to win and get the gold. I would like to say thank you, first to Dr. Zoltán Csík, who trusted me. OF course, thanks to the Club, which treated me very nice from the first day I arrived to the here. It was important, because it is impossible to this huge job alone. Thanks to the supporters, who were supporting us, and travelling with us everywhere, they are very loyal and thank you to them. Support us in the good and bad moments. Thanks to the players, because they are the one who did the job. I am so happy because when I arrived their spirit was down, their confidence was down, their physics were down. They woke up, because they believe, and believed in me from the first day. They did the hardest part and did it well. Thanks to Juan Carlos Pastor, because without him, I would not be sitting here and celebrating my first trophy in Hungary as a head coach. Thanks to my family, because they are the one who are suffering. I am always working and travelling, which is hard but they always support me. I am lucky.

 

Máté Lékai: I put this trophy on the high shelf, because this season was a roller coaster. We were so down in the fall; we even had a head coach change. We were in bad condition in every aspect, from where it is very hard to come back, as games come and go and nearly impossible to rebuild yourself. When we got our form back came the international break. We were afraid that this momentum will break but when we played against Barca in February, we could come up with a good form for much surprise. I was hoping that we can defend our Hungarian Cup title but Szeged was better on that game, just as they were in all three games they won. I think that this title was decided in Veszprém, where we could get an advantage that is not real between the teams. Now we are at the top of the rollercoaster, we are happy but still have two games from the season. I hope that we can achieve a good result in Cologne because our goals are obvious. Thanks to our coach and everyone, we managed to climb out of the pit.

 

 

Juan Carlos Pastor: Congratulations to Veszprém for the well deserved championship title. Congratulations to David because he could change the image of Veszprém and gave them value. It is important for a man to possess values, and he does. About the game: we really wanted to win the game. We had the chance to lead with four goals and the boys did everything to climb back. We got beaten hard last game but my team fought nevertheless. Congratulations to my guys because they showed character and pride. Huge thanks to our supporters as well. This final was decided in Veszprém for sure. We have nothing left but to work and get the title back next year. This is not easy because we have to fight against Veszprém, who are a contender in the Champions League as well. We played a good season until 25 April, we won the Hungarian Cup but the loss in Skopje had a bad impression on my team. We improved our game and this is going to be our goal next year as well. We have to get into the statistics to see what was wrong in this month. Congratulations to Veszprém for the win and good luck in the Final4. We will support them from this distance too.

 

Zsolt Balogh: I would like to congratulate Veszprém, they deserved this title. Regardless of us beating them three times, they won the most important one in Veszprém. Today’s encounter was only formality. We fought hard and I am proud that we could stand up after a loss like that.

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös