GROUP H: FH Hafnarfjordur (ISL) vs. VfL Gummersbach (GER) 21:40 (12:19)
The return of Icelandic handball legend to his home country was a clear statement: Coached by Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson, VfL Gummersbach took a clear win at Hafnarfjordur and remain on top of their group with the optimum of four points. The one-sided encounter was imprinted by two strong goalkeepers – Daniel Andresson (Valur) stopped 15 shots while for Dominik Kuzmanovic raked up 13 saves. Gummersbach’s youngster Miro Schluroff scored 10 goals. For the German side, it was the first time to score 40 or more goals in an international match since 11 February 2012, when they had beaten Arendal from Norway 40:27 in the Last 16 of the Cup Winners’ Cup on their way to the final. It took a while until the VfL engine was running, but from the 14:8 score, they had taken over the control of the game. From the 24:14 on, the margin was double-figured constantly. Among three others, Gummersbach’s Icelander Elliði Viðarsson scored four times, Birgi Birgisson was Valur’s top scorer with five goals.
It was an amazing teamwork! Today, playing in front of our fans, we gave everything during the 60 minutes, we knew it was the only way to beat this team. It is very important to start with two victories, but we will look forward and continue to work hard. I’m happy with my performance but happier for the team's victory.
There was no aspect of the game in which we felt comfortable. We did not find any solution in attack against a very high and pressing defence. They caused us a lot of damage there. The few solutions we found; we missed very easy shots from six meters. It was obvious from the first minute that we were not in the game. We did not start the game well and from then on we lost control of the game.
Unhappy with the final draw, we need the experience to know how to win these games. The European League is a very short competition, so getting only one point at home feels like not enough.
Congratulations to the home team for a great fight, but also to us for a great comeback. The character of our team was shown in the second half, not as much in the first one, we need to fix that.
