Both sides started quickly and after two minutes played, the teams had scored twice. Afterwards, however, coach Bennet Wiegert’s seven gained an advantage, pulling away with a 5-1 run to 7-3 (10th).
The Egyptians’ time-out that followed could not disturb the rhythm: Magdeburg scored three more goals before goalkeeper Matej Mandic had to reach behind him for the next time. In the 17th minute, Sebastian Barthold scored to make it 12-4. As the playing time progressed, the speed decreased somewhat, but little changed in the feature film.
A shock moment in the 26th minute caused excitement: After a foul, Gisli Kristjansson went down hard and had to be treated on the shoulder afterwards. Al Ahly’s number 77, Ali Maged, then saw the red card.
In the second half, Felix Claar opened the scoring with the 20-11. At the same time, Mandic’s saves ensured that the hosts continued to find it difficult to put the ball in the goal. In the 34th minute, Omar Ingi Magnusson established the first ten-goal lead (22-12), which was then safely brought to the finish.
Bennet Wiegert: “We are very happy to be able to finish the tournament in third place. This allowed us to process the disappointment about the lost semi-final against Veszprém a bit. What could be better than a victory?! We didn’t raise any questions right from the start, we did our jobs and can now go home with a good feeling.”
Christian O’Sullivan: “We just push the tube. That’s our game. We wanted to show our best side and we do that by playing handball very seriously.”
Referees: Harvard Kleven/ Lars Jorum (NOR)
Attendance: 800
Score: 4-2 (5th), 7-4 (10th), 11-4 (15th), 13-6 (20th), 16-9 (25th), 19-11 (30th) – 22-12 (35th), 24-13 (40th), 26-16 (45th), 29-18 (50th), 30-19 (55th), 32-23 (60th)
SC Magdeburg: Hernandez, Mandic (12 saves); Claar 3, Zechel 2, Kristjansson 2, Pettersson, Magnusson 5, Hornke, Jonsson 3, Weber 6, Lagergren, Mertens, Saugstrup 7, O’Sullivan, Barthold 4, Bergendahl
Al Ahly: Homayed (2 saves), Ibrahim (8 saves); Sherif 3, Ramadan 1, Ehab 3, Hesham 4, Hany 4, Sami 2, El Masry, Kasparek 1, Azab, Lashien 1, Magdy 1, Saifeldeen 2, Maged 1, Hassan 2
