Coupe de France: C’Chartres Métropole Handball beats Dunkirk on the gong and goes to the quarter-finals! [en vidéo le but de la victoire]

The Coupe de France is definitely doing well at C’Chartres MHB! Semi-finalists of the last two editions, the Eurelian team qualified for the quarter-finals on Tuesday 15 November by eliminating Dunkirk.

In front of their own crowd, the Eurelian team won 34-33 thanks to a goal by Kolakovic just a few seconds from the siren, while the northerners had just made up for an outlay of four units (33-29 to 33-33).

C’Chartres Métropole HB aims for the quarterfinals in the Coupe de France

The Chartrains will play their place in the semifinals in early February after the international break. Before then, they will find their daily Starligue with the welcome of Paris SG, the defending champions and co-leaders, from this Friday 18 November.

The scenario of the game

Chartres then had to wait until the last moments to validate his ticket after having a big scare. In this attack-oriented game, it was not for lack that he had been ahead for most of the game and had counted up to five goals early. But every time the Euréliens appeared to have escaped, the eye-catching Dunkirk picked up (4-1 then 5-5, 15-10 then 16-14, 19-15 at halftime then 20-20). This yoyo physiognomy continued until the end with a last return of the northerners on 33-33 right at the end of the game thanks to a 4-0.

The gesture of the game

A powerful shot from 9 meters, from support, came bouncing under Samir Bellahcene’s crossbar to enter the cage. With the scoreboard indicating a handful of seconds to play, Aleksa Kolakovic took it upon herself to send Chartres to the quarterfinals of the Coupe de France. It took courage for the midfielder to try his luck again just a minute after an attempted home run, his only miss of the match. After this 34-33 goal, Dunkirk still had time to take a timeout. But, in vain as experienced Kornel Nagy’s shot from the center of the field shattered on the CCMHB wall.

man of the match

Aleksa Kolakovic could deserve this title thanks to his winning goal. Even goalkeeper Julien Meyer, who justified his recent call-up to France with a new high-ranking performance (18 saves at 37.5%). But the most important actor of the evening on the side of the CCMHB was the right winger Svetlin Dimitrov. In a match where his team often took the ball, the Bulgarian showed remarkable efficiency. Sometimes in a very closed corner. Always with various shots. He finished with a brilliant 8/9 while his left-wing alter ego Vanja Ilic finished with an 8/13. On the Dunkirk side, pivot Benjamin Afgour was poison (6/7) and goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene made an excellent comeback in the second period (10 saves at 41.6%)

Franck Thebault