Defeat of Šibenik, victory of Dubrovnik
Group F – (Jug Adriatic Insurance)
The Croatian runner-up recorded his second victory at the qualifying tournament in Aix-en-Provence, France. This time, the Italian first league team De Akker from Bologna was defeated, for which, among other things, our defender Kristijan Milaković is playing.
If we exclude the short-lived Italian lead in the first quarter (2:1), everything else passed in favor of the southpaws. After all, already in the second quarter our representative led 6:3, and the difference of three goals remained after the first half of the match, 8:5. During the third quarter, De Akker managed to reduce the deficit to a goal (8:7), but then three Dubrovnik goals followed (Žuvela with an extra player, Cabanas from the counterattack, and Herceg's center) for a convincing lead of 11:7. In addition, towards the end of this section, the Italians were left without two players in the rotation (the third personal for Urbinati and A. Condemi). In the last quarter, they will be without two more (Tringali and Milaković), and thus the path to three new points for Kobešćak's team was wide open. Ludwigsburg.
Group C – (Solaris)
Our Solaris and Greek runner-up Vouliagmeni opened the Eurocup qualifying tournament in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia. The rivals proved to be better, and they basically achieved the triumph in just three minutes of the last quarter.
For three and a half quarters, the match at the open pool in Barcelona was just as open, or even. The Greeks were much more aggressive in defense, which resulted in a higher number of their own players, even 16. That is, twice as many as Solaris, who remained at 8. The composition of the Serbian coach Vujasinović had certain problems in the implementation of attacks with more players. In the end 2-6. On the other hand, Solaris performed very well in both directions. It is true that the Greeks led practically the whole game, but the people of Šibenik would follow them at a pace, equalizing, or not allowing Vouliagmeni to advance to more than a goal advantage.
At the beginning of the last part, Solaris took the lead. First Petković for equal (8:8), and then Pelicarić with 2 meters for the lead (9:8). It was exactly 6 minutes to go. The Greeks seemed to be angered by this, so they scored three consecutive goals in just three minutes, turning the lead to 11:9. After two missed attacks with a player from Šibenik, the opponent forced a penalty from the counterattack, and Almyras converted it into a goal for 12:9. Since it was only a little more than a minute to the end (1.18), it was clear that the first three points would go to Vouliagmeni.
Solaris will play in the 2nd round on Saturday against the Italian first division club Quinto from Genoa. The match will start at 4:30 p.m.
