Szolnok tore Crvena Zvezda apart in Belgrade, the 2017 Champions League winning side’s 12-20 away victory almost surely secured the team’s berth in the Euro Cup final. Fellow Hungarian side OSC gained a three-goal advantage against Vouliagmeni at home (10-7), here the Greeks need another miracle to go through, though they already produced some in the previous rounds.
Semi-finals, 1st leg
OSC Budapest (HUN) v NC Vouliagmeni
(GRE) 10-7, Crvena Zvezda (SRB) v Szolnoki Dozsa (HUN) 12-20
Return leg: 10 April
Back in November, OSC beat Vouliagmeni
11-7 in the same pool in the Champions League qualifications (though with
nothing serious at stake, played for the third place). In that match the home
side staged a 3-0 run in the second period to lead 6-2 and maintained that lead
till the end. Now something similar happened: the first period saw the Magyars
take a 4-2 lead, then came another 3-0 rush in the following quarter and OSC
was 7-2 up at halftime.
The game offered a much higher level
– understandably – than the last one, it was a huge physical battle with lots
of swimming, great defending and a series of action goals. The man-down differences
worked extremely well, especially on the Greeks’ side as they killed 13 of
OSC’s 15 extras (including a 6 on 4), however, the Hungarians’ attack worked
well at full strength for three periods as they were still 9-5 up.
In the fourth their shots lacked
precision (they faded in front as time went by: scored 4, 3, 2, 1 goal per
quarter respectively) while the Greek fought hard and they could narrow the
difference to three goals by the end. Luka Lozina finished off a counter for
10-7 0:18 to go, before and after OSC blew away 6 on 5s, the last Greek block
denied them to repeat the very same scoreline from November. Still, OSC earned
a three-goal advantage despite a disastrous 2/16 man-up ratio – while the
Greeks could be happy as at stages a larger defeat was also in the cards.
Vouliagmeni offered some heroic efforts at home against Novi Belgrade (SRB) and
favourite Mladost (CRO) – next Saturday we’ll see if they could do one more
miracle.
The other semi-final in Belgrade
turned into a one-sided contest as Szolnok came up with another devastating
offensive campaign. The Hungarians were producing floods of goals at almost
each match they played in this season – in the Euro Cup they netted 35 in two
matches against Primorac (MNE) in the eight-final and 24 against Radnicki (SRB)
in the quarters. Now they stopped at 20 in Belgrade while they built an 8-goal
lead in three periods.
They set the tone with a 1-4 opening
period, followed by an 11-goal second quarter where Szolnok expanded its lead
to 6-10. Then in the third the visitors blew they young Serbs away – after 7-11
they staged a 1-5 rush, including three hits in the last 1:05 minutes, the last
two coming after missed hosts’ man-ups. In the fourth they did not risk anything,
kept their 8-goal lead till the end. Szolnok’s three Serbian stars did well
against their fellows – scored 7 in total – but this time the Hungarian
team-mates were also in the mood, all but one scored at least one, Norman
Schmolcz had four.
Detailed results, stats,
play-by-play:
http://len.microplustiming.com/leneurocup/indexCL_web.php?cal=1
3 April 2021
Michael Phelps Teaches Swimming
Most of us can swim, but there’s a
difference between dog paddling on vacation and swimming for fitness. If you’re
looking to unlock the low-impact, calorie-burning benefits of swimming, check
out this course from Michael Phelps on This Skills. The 26-time Olympic gold
medalist will cover everything you need to feel confidant and comfortable
swimming laps. You’ll learn all the basic strokes, plus wall kicking, diving
and other techniques, but you’ll also get a glimpse into the mindset of the
most decorated Olympian of all time.
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