For this 21st matchday of Proligue, Cavigal Nice Handball hosted Sélestat at the Pasteur hall. A match that resulted in a convincing victory for Asier Antonio’s men, 34-23, with an outstanding performance by Gretar Gudjonsson.
The objective is simple tonight for Cavigal: to win against Sélestat in order to erase the painful memories of their last two consecutive defeats. Mission accomplished for Asier Antonio’s team, who gained a boost of confidence ahead of another away match after the Easter weekend.
Oppedisano as captain, Gudjonsson as leader
After the first ten balanced minutes, the Nice team managed to take control of the game. The piercing counterattacks by Jurgen Rooba, and strikes from Axel Oppedisano and Jérémi Pirani rewarded Cavigal’s good pressing (4-2; 7-4; 10-4). On the other hand, Sélestat struggled to create opportunities and lost several balls that the Eagles eagerly exploited.
The players from Alsace also faced a monstrous Gretar Gudjonsson. The Nice goalkeeper made ten saves in the first thirty minutes, allowing his team to pull away from their opponents (14-5). Nicolas Minne, the former Nice player, hit the crossbar from seven meters. At halftime, Asier Antonio’s men returned to the locker room with a commanding advantage of 18-7.
Nice dominance from start to finish
While the first half was one-sided, the second half saw more action from Sélestat, exemplified by Alsatian captain Antoine Gutfreund, who scored six goals in the second half (20-9; 22-13). However, this did not prevent Nice from finding spaces, exploiting them, and using deep balls to Jurgen Rooba charging at full speed past Mehdi Harbaoui. The Sélestat goalkeeper suffered throughout the match (25-13; 28-16).
Cavigal cruised comfortably towards the end of the match. The Alsatians were overwhelmed by the Nice play. Fatigue became apparent, especially after an unlucky mistake: an own goal by Grégoire Plat (Sélestat) a minute before the final whistle (31-20). The referee blew the whistle, marking a resounding victory for Nice, 34-23, against Sélestat.
Post-match reactions
This victory helps to somewhat forget the two bitter defeats against Cherbourg (31-32) and Valence (31-29).
“We were determined to bounce back from those two defeats, to refocus and show that we are a team with ambition. We wanted to show our supporters that we could succeed, and we did that tonight. We are on the right track, and now we must continue throughout this busy month of April for us.” explained Axel Oppedisano, who wore the captain’s armband tonight in the absence of Joan Amigo.
“We are coming out of a confinement that impacted us, as shown by our two recent defeats. We worked hard all week to deliver a good match tonight. I feel that we have regained our commitment and our game.” analyzed coach Asier Antonio, highlighting the speed of play shown by his players today.
For their next match, Cavigal regains the 7th spot in the Proligue rankings and will travel to Sarrebourg next Tuesday.
