Magdeburg/Cairo – With a smile and applause from his teammates, Antonio Serradilla collected the small trophy for the “Player of the Game” award after SC Magdeburg beat the California Eagles 57:21 (28:14) at the start of the Club World Cup. Normally the Spaniard at SC Magdeburg is there to defend in his own circle. But the USA team gave up so many balls in attack that Serradilla was always able to counter-attack and run to the opponent’s circle and convert.
Serradilla is named “Player of the Match”
With 13 goals from 14 shots, Serradilla also recorded a really good completion rate (93 percent) in the New Capitol Sports Hall in Cairo. However, the Green-Reds’ best thrower in a rather relaxed training session was Lukas Mertens with 16 goals. Matthias Musche, Magnus Saugstrup, Oscar Bergendahl, Michael Damgaard and Daniel Pettersson were completely spared.
The underdog, coached by former Argentina international Gonzalo Carou, was only able to keep up in the opening minutes. So after ten minutes it was only 8:6 for Magdeburg. But then the individual class of SCM became more and more important. After 11:6 (14th) and 15:8 (19th), Tim Zechel took the first ten-goal lead in the 24th minute with 21:11. We went into the break with 28:14. But Bennet Wiegert would have liked to add another goal. Despite the clear lead, the SCM coach took a timeout three seconds before the siren.
Tournament mode requires clear victory
“The format of the tournament is tough. That’s why we have to fight for every goal,” explained Wiegert. In addition to the three group winners, the best runner-up also qualifies for the semi-finals. And with three groups of three, that should be about the goal difference.
Even after the break, every goal from Magdeburg was celebrated as if it were the decisive one. With an offensive defense, they repeatedly forced the opponent to make technical errors and simply lose the ball. Within just five minutes the lead was increased to 33:15. It was Serradilla who scored after 40 minutes to make it 36:16 and thus create a 20-goal cushion.
“We had a very clear mandate that every goal was important. And we implemented the must-do task quite well,” said Mertens, who was responsible for goal number 40 with a quarter of an hour to go. The 30-goal cushion (47:17) went to Isak Persson in the 51st minute, who scored a total of ten goals. And the German champions still didn’t let up. Mertens scored 50:17 (54th) and in the end the clear victory was probably the ticket for the semi-finals. Wiegert: “I am very, very happy that we started the tournament so well.”
