Teams from France, Hungary and Serbia
enjoyed a great weekend since three clubs from each nation made the
eight-finals in the qualification round. Spain and Russia have two teams
apiece, while Greece, Croatia and Montenegro see one of its respective representatives
go through. Among the 16 advancing sides 9 teams arrived from the Champions
League qualifications (one group’s final rankings are pending, so the data
above may change).
Favoured teams all made the cut in
the action-packed weekend, most of them without any headaches. Sides just
having missed the Champions League qualifications all finished atop of their
respective groups: Mladost (CRO), Radnicki (SRB), Szolnok (HUN) and OSC (HUN)
all cruised through the weekend with three wins in as many matches (Mladost
indeed needed only two due to a withdrawal).
French sides did surprisingly well,
especially Tourcoing which finished only 8th in the CHL qualifiers but this
time managed to come out on top in Group A in Barcelona. Here there were some
contradicting decisions by the officials which led to the replay of Tourcoing’s
game against Hungary’s BVSC (due to illness, no second goalkeeper was entered by
the Hungarians on the first occasion, who had won that match). Though a 15-15
draw sent both teams through at the end, here the final ranks are pending as a
Jury d’Appeal will decide once all the evidences are presented.
Among the fallen ones, perhaps Jadran
Split’s failure stands out as the Croatians did well in the recent seasons in
the Champions League but singlegoal defeats against Sabadell (ESP) and Dynamo
(RUS) crashed their chances this time. Spain’s Terrassa, also a Champions
League main rounder recently, seemed to have a realistic shot at the second
place in Group H but at the end they left the pool empty handed, losing all
three matches.
There were dramatic scenes in some
decisive matches: Mediterrani (ESP) came back from 5-8 down in the third to beat
host Savona (ITA) and clinch the second place in Group E. The fourth French
side, Noisy almost made it too but Crvena Zvezda (SRB) got the upper hand at
the end (13-12) in a thrilling encounter in Group C.
Draw for the eight-finals will be
conducted on the occasion of the Champions League tournament in Ostia (ITA) in
mid-December, together with the women’s Euro League draw.
Euro Cup, Qualification Round
Group A (Barcelona) 1. Tourcoing
(FRA) 5, 2. BVSC-Zuglo (HUN) 5, 3. CN Barcelona (ESP) 5, 4. Painonios (GRE) 0
Three-way tie, goal-differences based on results considered: Tourcoing: 27-27,
BVSC: 25-25, Barcelona 22-22 The final rankings of Group A are pending.
Group B (Sabadell) 1. Astralpool
Sabadell (ESP) 9, 2. Dynamo Moscow (RUS) 6, 3. Jadran Split (CRO) 3, 4. Steaua
Bucharest (ROU) 0
Group C (Kranj) 1. OSC Budapest
(HUN) 9, 2. Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 6, 3. CN Noisy-Le-Sec (FRA) 3, 4. Triglav Kranj
(SLO) 0
Group D (Aix-en-Provance) 1. NC
Vouliagmeni (GRE) 9, 2. Pays d’Aix (FRA) 6, 3. SV Ludwigsburg (GER) 3, 4.
Carouge Natation (SUI) 0
Group E (Savona) 1. Radnicki
Kragujevac (SRB) 9, 2. CN Mediterrani (ESP) 6, 3. RN Savona (ITA) 3, 4. OSC
Potsdam (GER) 0
Group F (Zagreb) 1. HAVK Mladost
Zagreb (CRO) 6, 2. Primorac Kotor (MNE) 3, 3. ZF-Eger (HUN) 0. Trieste (ITA)
withdrew.
Group G (Szolnok) 1. Szolnoki
Dozsa (HUN) 9, 2. Team Strasbourg (FRA) 6, 3. Apollon Smyrnis (GRE) 3, 4. CN
Terrassa (ESP) 0
Group H (Belgrade) 1. Sintez
Kazan (RUS) 6, 2. Novi Belgrade (SRB) 3, 3. CSM DiGi Oradea (ROU) 0 The
top two sides advanced to the eight-finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment