Orlen Wisla Plock are well on their way to a second straight EHF Finals.
With a 33:31 victory at Schaffhausen in the first leg of the EHF European League Men quarter-finals on Tuesday, the Polish side underlined their incredible away strength, winning their seventh consecutive match on the road since the start of the group phase. Their only defeat in the last 13 European League matches was at Berlin.
Schaffhausen stood strong, but not strong enough against last season’s semi-finalists, and slipped to their third defeat in a row against Plock. While Wisla counted on a strong and balanced team performance – five of their players scored four or more goals, topped by Lovro Mihic (six strikes) - Kadetten were heavily reliant on Joan Cañellas and Samuel Zehnder, who each scored seven goals.
QUARTER-FINAL, LEG 1
Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) 31:33 (18:19)
- in contrast to their dominant home performance against Sävehof in the Last 16 (32:26), Schaffhausen could not cope with their visitors this time except in the last five minutes, but their last advance was at 10:9
- thanks to Niko Mindegia’s fifth strike after only 26 minutes, Plock opened up their first four-goal advantage at 15:19 – but Kadetten remained on an almost equal level until the break
- re-starting with a movable and anticipating defence and the wider bench, Plock pulled ahead to 27:21 with a 8:3 run up to the 44th minute
- boosted by their fans in the stands, Kadetten did not give up, reducing the arrears to 33:31 with a late 4:0 run - but the hosts ran out of time on the clock
- playing their first quarter-final in an EHF competition since 2010, Schaffhausen lacked the international experience and the individual class - mainly proved by Plock’s back court variety
Spaniards deliver top performances
The Spaniards Niko Mindegia and Joan Canellas were crucial for their clubs on Tuesday, as scorers and masterminds for their teams. Mindegia had a journey through Europe, before he finally arrived at Plock. After leaving Spain (La Rioja), he first joined Canellas’ former club Pick Szeged in 2013, then was coached by Carlos Ortega at Kolding (Denmark), then made it to France (Chambery). In his second season at Plock, he helped steer the Polish side to the EHF Finals 2021 with 54 goals. This season, he was more a playmaker than a shooter – the five goals against Kadetten are his season high-score.
This match was worthy of a quarter-final – for both teams and for the fantastic atmosphere.
