An excellent defensive performance in the second half lifted Khaleej to a 27:24 win against Al-Najma Club, in a fiery clash in the Placement Matches 5–8 at the 2023 IHF Men’s Super Globe.

PLACEMENT MATCHES 5–8
Khaleej Club (KSA) vs Al-Najma Club (BRN) 27:24 (14:10)

A match between Saudi and Bahraini teams is always expected to be fiery and this is exactly what happened in the Dammam Sports Hall when Khaleej Club faced Al-Najma, with two of the best teams in Asia colliding in the Placement Match 5–8 at the 2023 IHF Men’s Super Globe.

Khaleej had already sealed the sixth place in the last edition and they were expecting nothing less this time around, as the battle between the two sides started better for the Saudi team, which took a 6:4 lead after only nine minutes, as their attack looked to be sharper than Al-Najma’s.

Quarterbacked by experienced centre back Petar Nenadic, the top goal scorer of the 2016 IHF Men’s Super Globe, Khaleej continued to control the match, as the Serbian back had two goals and dished four assists, having a direct hand in six of the 14 goals scored by Khaleej in the first half.

On the other hand, goalkeeper Ali Saleh helped Al-Najma stay in the match, with nine saves in the first half, including five in one-on-one situations, three of which came via fast breaks for Khaleej. Therefore, everything was still wide open, with the Saudi side leading by four goals at the break, 14:10, but with Al-Najma still constantly applying pressure and being on the hunt.

The Bahraini side had to rely once again on their top scorer, centre back Mohamed Ahmed, who had previously scored 17 goals so far in this edition of the IHF Men’s Super Globe, to attempt a comeback and after three consecutive failed chances to cut the gap to two goals, they did just that in the 45th minute, 20:18.

This prompted coach Dimitris Dimitroulias to take a time-out for Khaleej, which refreshed his team. In the first attack, Al Najma’s Hasan Nadan was shown a red card for a hard foul against Nenadic and that was the moment when all started to go downhill for the Bahraini side.

Al-Najma missed shot after shot, the turnovers started to pile, as Khaleej went without conceding a single goal for nine minutes and 40 seconds, using a 5:0 run to basically decide the game, as goalkeeper Mohammed Abdul Hussein was on fire. There was no coming back from the 25:18 hole Al-Najma dug themselves into, as Khaleej went on to secure a 27:24 win.

The Saudi side will now play in the Placement Match 5/6 against Al-Ahly, in another fiery clash expected in the Dammam Sports Hall, while Al Najma, which lost their second match in three tries at the 2023 IHF Men’s Super Globe, will face Kuwait SC in the Placement Match 7/8.

hummel Player of the Match: Mujtaba Al Salem (Khaleej Club)