(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Cuban-born Rafael Capote's eight goals helped hosts Qatar pull off a dramatic 26-24 win over former champions Germany yesterday and earned them their first-ever place in the semi-final of the Men's World Handball Championship.
At the Losail Multipurpose Hall yesterday, the hosts became the first country from Asia to reach the last-four stage of any world championship.
The win kick-started wild celebrations among players and the crowd, which included the Emir, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
With the win over Germany, the Asian Games gold medallists and Asian champions maintained their dream run in the current world championship, having lost just one out of their seven matches so far - the only loss coming against Spain in the group stage of the championship.
In previous championships, Qatar has not been able to make it past the pre-quarter-final stage and will take on Poland, who beat Croatia 24-22 yesterday, in the semi-final tomorrow.
In the other semi-final on the same day, Olympic and European champions France will take on defending champions Spain. The final is on February 1 at Lusail Multipurpose Hall.
Qatar's Spanish coach Valero Rivera, who took the coaching reigns in 2013 soon after guiding his home nation to a world championship is Barcelona, expressed delight with his team's performance.
"We played our best handball. The Germans played very well too. I'm happy for the team, for the association, for the country. This country deserves to be the first team from Asia to play in the semi-finals of the competition," Rivera said.
Yesterday's clash, the first between the two nations at any international competition, saw both the teams miss a number of close chances in the initial stages of the match.
Qatar overcame their initial jitters by taking the lead, while Germany missed many chances in the first-half which proved to be their undoing in the end.
Zarko Markovic, now the tournament's top-scorer with 55 goals, scored six goals while Borja Vidal netted four to help the hosts into the last four.
After six minutes, Qatar took the lead but the Germans equalised almost instantly. From then on, Qatar started to concentrate on their sharp shooting and increased their lead after a couple of penalties.
In the middle of the first-half, the Qataris had a four-goal advantage with Markovic and Capote keeping up the offensive pressure. At this stage Steffen Weinhold was instrumental in Germany's scoring efforts.
The pace of the game increased in the last third of the opening half with Qatar concentrating on widening their lead. The Germans fought back but Qatar always seemed to maintain a five-goal lead and went into the halftime break 18-14 ahead.
In the second half, the teams continued exchanging fast breaks and quality goals.
Labouring back, Germany managed to narrow the gap to one. It clearly appeared as though the German squad was reignited after the break.
Yet the Qataris stood their ground and overcame the formidable German barrier in the end.
Qatari goalkeeper Danijel Saric excelled between the posts making 10 saves, including two penalties to win the Man-of the Match award.
Saric said his team-mates raised the level of their game in the second half which made
a huge difference to the end result.
"We are very happy and satisfied. The first-half was extraordinary and in the second half we gave everything to achieve this great victory. Playing in the semi-finals is the best thing that happened in our career. We deserve to be there, so does the whole country of Qatar," Saric said.
He hopes that the team will be able to continue the consistent run at the event in the next match.
"Now, we are getting ready for the semis. It's all continuing," he said.
German coach Dagur Sigurdsson said his team didn't have the best of starts and also gave credit to Qatari 'keeper Saric.
"It was a tough game. We didn't have a good beginning yet we didn't give up and put a lot of pressure on Qatar in the
second-half. The Qatar goalkeeper was simply excellent. We are disappointed."
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