This year’s final of the Hungarian Cup started with two semi-finals on Saturday between MKB Veszprém and Csurgó and Pick Szeged–Balassagyarmat. Csurgó, third-placed in the Hungarian Championship kept the pace until the 35. minute (19-15). Afterwards Veszprém switched to higher gear and won comfortably (35-27). In the second match Pick Szeged played against 2. division amateurs Balassagyarmat, who played a tight first half (19-13). In the second half however Pick’s dominance was clearly shown and they easily won the match (41-23).
On Sunday Csurgó won the bronze medal match without any difficulty (35-21). The final, the second biggest match in European handball, Hungarian ’el clásico’ was between Szeged and Veszprém. Szeged started the match nervously in front of a jam-packed crowd in Pécs. Veszprém quickly gained a two-goal lead, but Szeged’s defence soon became tighter and Buday’s goal in the 10th minute meant they were leading by 1 goal (4-3). Goals came quiclky from Nagy, Ancsin and Zubai (7-5 to Pick). Mikler performed some great saves and Szeged’s wall was working efficiently so Veszprém’s coach Ortega had no choice but to take his time-out in the 15th minute. By the 19th minute Veszprém took the lead back (9-8). Szeged had trouble fighting Veszprém’s open defence and they were unable to score even from double power play. Jamali’s goal in the 27th minute meant a 3-goal lead for Veszprém (14-11). Laluska superbly substituted for Nagy, Szeged’s play completeley fell apart, they missed in crucial situations, gave away balls, which resulted in a 5-goal lead for Veszprém after the first half (17-12).
The second half was no different then the first’s end. Veszprém scored from penalties, Fazekas produced many saves and the difference just kept getting bigger (21-14). Szeged also had problems with defence, their attacks posed little danger for Fazekas. Szeged could only keep the difference from penalties (25-17). Veszprém’s Iranian left–back Iman Jamali played brilliantly and scored six goals by the 48th minute. Goals from Sulc and Pribanic meant that Szeged were able to come a bit closer (28-23). The spectators could enjoy spectacular shooting techniques from Császár and Frantisek Sulc but the last 10 minutes passed without much excitement as Veszprém kept a permanent 6-8 goal lead.
Unlike the matches in the past few years the 2013 final was not a thriller with a tight result. The fate of the macth was decided in the final five minutes of the first half when Pick Szeged couldn’t equalize. The biggest difference between the two teams was Veszprém’s bench with many class players. Sulc who recently came back from injury couldn’t yet perform at his usual level and Szeged’s substitue players were unable to play a decisive role. Veszprém won their 5th consecutive Cup and can start preparing for crucial CL quarterfinal against Kiel.
MKB Veszprém-Pick Szeged 36:30 (17:12)
Best scorers: Jamali (6), Iváncsik-Sulic (5) / Ancsin-Sulc (5), Prodanovic-Larholm (4)
Text: Gábor Várkonyi, Péter Butty
Photo: www.kezilabda.hu
