Vardar’s chance of making it to the quarter-finals relied in a huge part in their ability to win at home or at least get a decent result. Clearly, they failed this task tonight.
For twenty minutes, you thought that the team from Skopje would be able to upset Veszprém, but that was before Rodrigo Corrales really got into the rhythm of the game.
Backed by their Spanish goalkeeper, Veszprém increased their gap up to ten goals in the second half; Vardar looked as if their offence had no solution.
While the two sides will meet again next Wednesday in Hungary, it looks like Veszprém have moved closer to the quarter-finals already.
PLAY-OFF:
HC Vardar 1961 (MKD) vs Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN) 22:30 (11:15)
- Vardar had the best start and an early three-goal lead; Veszprém remained composed and waited until the 20th minute to really get things going
- within ten minutes, the visitors took things into their hands, turning things around to lead by four at the break
- a twelve-minute period without conceding a goal right after the break helped the Hungarian side open a nine-goal gap that would prove to be decisive
- the best scorer of the game, Andreas Nilsson, netted eight times for Veszprém, while two players scored six for Vardar: Timur Dibirov and Filip Taleski
Rodrigo Corrales, once again…
One might get tired of us talking, week in week out, about Rodrigo Corrales. But the fact is: the Spanish goalkeeper cannot help but deliver stunning performances every week. Tonight, his 14 saves do not tell how precious he was for Veszprém. First, he kept the boat afloat when it was rocking in the first half. Then, not taking a single goal between the 30th and 42nd minute; Corrales gave his team the opportunity to almost book its quarter-final ticket already. And we can bet it is not the last we see of Rodrigo Corrales this season…
My team has been working hard for the last two months, but today we only played in the first 15 minutes, but that is proof that after the changes it is difficult to reach the level needed for such matches in a short period of time. Vardar will continue to work and to progress; the players take their work seriously and I believe that we will reach the required level in time. Nothing is over, we will approach the second match as seriously as possible. I want to thank the fans who cheered us on despite the defeat.
At first David Davis was my coach, and then he helped me a lot at the beginning of my coaching career. I did not expect such a result in Skopje, we know that they play great - especially at home in this atmosphere. The first fifteen minutes were not good for us; we started the game poorly. We changed our defense to a 5-1 and I think it was crucial to why we led at half-time by four goals. We had a lot of help from the goalkeepers Corrales and Cupara; we are satisfied with the victory, but this was only the first half
