“The game was tough, the game was intense. I want to thank the players for fighting today. There were a lot of fears and doubts: our team is new. But today the guys proved that they are worth something. It’s not every day that you get to beat a strong opponent.”– noted on September 16 at the post-match press conference Main coach BGK im. Meshkova Sergey Bebeshko.
Let us remember that in the 2015-2016 season, Vive won the Champions League Cup. Previously, in 2013 and 2015, he became the bronze medalist of the tournament. And the club from the Polish city of Kielce invariably defeated the Brest team in four previous games in the Champions League.
In the current drawing of the main club European trophy, as in last year, by the will of fate, the champion of Belarus and the champion of Poland again ended up in the same group. And, as then, the rivals played their first get-together in Brest. But here final result, to the delight of BGK fans, turned out to be different from September 24 a year earlier. Although the Vive handball players made every effort, wanting to repeat last year's scenario, this time the comeback in the second half did not work out.
At the beginning of the meeting, the teams exchanged goals. The Polish handball players responded to the Meshkovites’ ball with their own. By the fifth minute the scoreboard showed 4:2, but the guests immediately reduced the gap.
Then Ljubo Vukic and Sergej Silovich brought the score to 6:3, after which the head coach of Vive Duyshebaev's talent decided to change the goalkeeper. Instead of Filip Ivic, Slavomir Shmal came onto the court and immediately received a goal from BGK captain Dmitry Nikulenkov. As a result, by the 10th minute the gap had grown to 4 goals – 7:3.
For the next 10 minutes there was a “swing” on the site. The gap in the score ranged from one to two goals. But no matter how hard the Polish champion tried, he could not align the numbers on the scoreboard. The obstacle to this was the active, tenacious, selfless play of the Brest team in defense and the inspired play in goal by Rade Mijatovic. Unlike his Polish colleagues in his role, the BGK goalkeeper played the entire match, giving Sergei Bebeshko no reason to doubt his reliability.
To be fair, it is worth noting that the Polish goalkeepers did not count the crows in the goal, saving their team more than once. They even emerged victorious in seven-meter duels twice: in the first half against Rastko Stojkovic, and at the end of the game against Konstantin Igropulo, who seemed flawless in their performance. But they, of course, did not reach the level of Mijatovic’s play on this Saturday evening.
“I don’t want to offend my goalkeepers, but Mijatovic was very reliable today,”– Talant Duyshebaev noted after the game.
The teams were especially active and effective at the end of the first half. 4 minutes before its end the score was 12:8 in favor of BGK. And the half ended with the score 15:11. That is, the opponents managed to score 6 goals between them, two of which within 10 finishing seconds. The last word in this shootout remained with BGK: Artem Kulak threw in the sound of the siren for the break.
Drawing parallels with last year’s confrontation between these teams, let me remind you that then, on the same Victoria site, BGK also won the first half with a close score – 14:11. But in the end, having miserably failed the second half, we lost 24:29. Therefore, despite the fairly confident play of the Meshkovites in the first half of the fifth confrontation, doubts about the successful completion of the meeting still remained.
At the very beginning of the second half, these doubts only intensified. In 2 minutes the Poles managed to reduce the gap to two goals. However, to the delight of the fans, who almost completely filled the stands and frantically supported their favorites, the Meshkovites returned to the game and responded with two goals of their own.
It seemed that the game had improved again and followed a scenario favorable to the hosts. But in the 36th minute, the referees sent off the right welterweight from Brest Sergei Shilovich for roughness in defense. Moreover, they also appointed a seven-meter player. And then Rade Mijatovic flashed again, preventing star Pole Karol Bielecki from scoring once again from 7 meters.
Perhaps what happened was the key moment of the meeting. The Meshkovites finally believed in their strength, and that evening fortune clearly favored them. Subsequently, they controlled the course of the match, not allowing their opponents to get closer than 2 goals. And this happened only once, when the score became 17:15. The rest of the time the gap ranged from 3 to 5 goals.
The head coach of the guests, Talant Duyshebaev, was, as they say, furious in the second half. He very emotionally expressed his dissatisfaction with both the play of some of his players and the refereeing. For which, in the 50th minute, he received a yellow card.
At the post-match press conference, when the emotions subsided, Duyshebaev admitted that BGK deservedly won. At the same time, he noted that each season is a different story: “It’s too difficult to give any assessments based on one game. Let's wait until the end of the season. And at the end of May we will give all the ratings. So far, BGK has only passed the first exam well. But the main thing is to pass all the exams and achieve the goal of the season.”
Of course, the Vive coach is right. There is still a long season ahead, many games in which each time again and again you have to prove your worth, that you are worth something, as Sergei Bebeshko put it. In the meantime, based on the results of the first league championship game, it can be stated that the renewed BGK, which has lost a number of last year’s leaders this season, is able not only to fight on equal terms with the European handball giants, but also to win.
BGK im. Meshkova (Brest) – “Vive” (Kielce, Poland) 28:25 (15:11)
BGK im. Meshkova: Pesic, Mijatovic; Rutenko (2), Kulak (2), Shkurinsky (5), Poteko, Nikulenkov (5), Stojkovic (3), Shumak, Vukic (2), Prodanovich, Gorak, Razgor, Igropulo (5), Djordic (2), Shilovic (2)
"Vive": Shmal, Ivich; Yurecki (3), A. Duyshebaev (4), Kus (1), Aguinagalde (2), Biletski (3), Jachlewski (1), Strlek (1), Janz (3), Lievski (2), Yurkevich, Zorman , Mamic (1), Bombac (2), Djukic (2)
Story
The idea of creating a professional handball team dates back to the mid-90s of the last century, when a tournament in memory of Anatoly Petrovich Meshkov began to be regularly held in Brest (later these competitions became an analogue of the Belarus Cup among men's teams). The official date of birth of the Brest handball club named after Meshkov is April 9, 2002, when the founders of the newly created public association received a state registration document. The initiative for the appearance of the club initially belonged to the sons of Anatoly Petrovich - Sergei and Alexander, who to this day continue to take an active part in the formation of the team.
The debut of the Meshkov BGK in domestic competitions, where at that time the undisputed leader was SKA Minsk, came at the 11th Belarusian Handball Championship (season 2002/2003). The first year of the Brest club's participation in the national championship led to an unprecedented outcome: the fate of the championship was decided in the third, additional match of the playoff series, in which the BGK handball players lost to the capital's Arkatron-MChS. Nevertheless, the captain of the Brest team, Vladimir Galushko, was named the best player of the championship. The club's top scorer was Eduard Yakovenko (183 goals).
However, already in the next season, there were no equals to BGK named after Meshkov in the Belarusian open spaces (the team lost only once and won 30 victories), which was marked by the first national title won in the history of the club. Individual prizes were awarded to Nikolai Galmak - the best goalkeeper, Maxim Nekhaichik - best defender, Vladimir Galushko is the best player in the back line (he also became the most productive in the Brest team, scoring 148 goals).
In the 2004/2005 season, the Meshkov BGK went through the entire tournament without losing points, achieving a double (in addition to winning the championship, our team won the Belarus Cup). Nikolai Galmak (who changed his last name to Zenko) was again recognized best goalkeeper, Maxim Nekhaychik is a defender, and Mikhail Usachev is a back line player. In addition, special prizes Belarusian Federation handball were awarded to Andrei Mochalov (for consistency in displaying skill) and Vladimir Kostyuchik (for many years of dedication to handball).
A year later, the Brest team accepted congratulations for the third time on winning the “gold” of the championship, during which the Meshkov BGK only once experienced the bitterness of defeat. But they failed to win the National Cup: in the decisive match, the Minsk army team turned out to be more successful. The 2005/2006 season was also marked by the fact that for the first time the second BGK team, composed mainly of young students of Brest handball, took part in the national championship.
Our club managed to win both domestic tournaments - the championship and the national Cup - in the 2006/2007 season, and victories were won in all meetings without exception. The reputation was also supported by the handball players of BGK-2, who took third place, and the players of this team Oleg Ragozin, Konstantin Kurylenko, who are now playing in the main team of BGK, became the main scorers of the championship, scoring 233 and 181 goals, respectively.
In the 2007/2008 season, the Brest Handball Club again repeated the success of the previous year, becoming both champions and winners of the National Cup. And also winning the now traditional tournament dedicated to the memory of Anatoly Petrovich Meshkov. A step back was taken in the 2008/2009 season, when BGK lost the palm of leadership in the national championship to the barely born Dynamo Minsk. In the national championship, the handball players of the Brest club were content with “silver”, but again retained the title of winners of the Belarus Cup. One of best players The left welterweight of the Meshkovites, Konstantin Kurylenko, was recognized in the Belarusian championship.
In the national championship of the country and the RB Cup 2009/2010, the Brest team took second place, and in the next season (2010/2011) BGK won the Cup, the decisive matches for which were held according to the “Final Four” formula. In the Belarusian Championship, the Meshkovites took second place, while Vitaly Cherepenko (goalkeeper), Roman Kolesnev (left corner), Yuri Gromyko (lineman) were recognized as the best in their roles.
Command structure
| № | Name | Year of birth | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOZHICH Vladimir | 1983 | goalkeeper |
| 21 | CHEREPENKO Vitaly | 1984 | goalkeeper |
| 3 | DZUKIC Milan | 1985 | extreme |
| 7 | KOLESNEV Roman | 1983 | extreme |
| 23 | VUKICH Lubo | 1982 | extreme |
| 24 | BARANOV Maxim | 1988 | extreme |
| 28 | KOSTADINOVIC Milos | 1988 | extreme |
| 31 | TATARIN Yuri | 1985 | extreme |
| 22 | SHUMAK Vyacheslav | 1988 | linear |
| 33 | GONE Alexey | 1990 | linear |
| 99 | GROMYKO Yuri | 1984 | linear |
| 8 | ATAEVAS Neriyus | 1981 | welterweight |
| 10 | MARKOTICH Robert | 1990 | welterweight |
| 15 | SCHEPANOVIC Philip | 1984 | welterweight |
| 18 | PRAKAPENYA Anton | 1988 | welterweight |
| 19 |
The Eurocups return to Brest with the match of the second round of the SEHA League. The Macedonians are always famous for their intransigence, but in front of such a BGK they are not ashamed to lay down their arms even before the battle. Having entered the match even with a semi-reserve squad, the Brest team clearly made it clear that it would certainly not be an easy game. And if you win, then do it efficiently, beautifully and with a huge advantage. Did the Meshkovites succeed?
The SEHA League started last month, and then in the first round the Meshkovites confidently defeated the Bosnian Izvijac (29-33). Metalurg, in turn, beat the eminent Vardar (34-28). Even based on these results, you can understand who is the clear favorite in this confrontation. Plus, the Meshkovites defeated Vardar in recent freight trains with a score of 32-22. As is tradition, having looked at the bookmakers' castlings, it became clear that everyone was expecting an unconditional victory for the hosts with a difference of at least 7 goals. After all, the last match in the championship with Gomel showed how and how much BGK can throw at any opponent.
In the starting minutes of the match, BGK had 6 foreign players at once, only the local shutout guard Ivan Matskevich stood in the goal with a proud step. But the beginning of the match turned out to be crumpled and very equal: after the first five minutes of the game the score was equal - 2-2. But as soon as Matskevich showed miracles on the goal line, the Meshkovites managed to take a 5-3 lead. However, it was felt that the Brest team began to have too many mistakes in their passes and frequent positional errors occurred. The spectators see the mistakes, and the opponent takes advantage of them - as a result, the advantage of the Meshkovites disappeared in just a couple of minutes. Time-out already in the 9th minute. Usually by this time a good dozen goals had been thrown into the opponent's goal by the Brest residents, but then there was such a glitch.
By the way, everyone in the club speaks English; this has certainly never happened before in handball Brest. Having quickly explained how one can and should play without making so many mistakes, BGK helmsman Manolo Cadenas sent the team to correct the situation. Immediately Obranovic produces a masterpiece shot from a decent distance directly into the Macedonians’ goal net: powerful, beautiful and with slight superiority. But by the 14th minute, something went wrong again: Matskevich stopped dragging, and Korsak ran out to save the situation instead. But three minutes later the situation became completely critical when the Macedonians caught their courage, and Shkurinsky, after hitting the ball from the point, polished the crossbar with the ball. Then Korsak saved the situation, because it was after his excellent saves that the Brest team managed to win back, and later even take the lead.
Valentin Kuran entered the game perfectly: playing in the position of point guard, the handball player made a number of useful actions at that period of the game when the Macedonians began to sag. As a result, Metalurg had to sit down the keeper and release another field player, but this did not bring any special dividends. The teams went into the break with a score of 17-15.
The second half was completely dictated by the Meshkovites. The beginning of the end for the Macedonians was Djordzic's cannon throw, which simply finished off the guests. After that, the score began to grow inexorably in favor of BGK: in the 37th minute it was 24-19, and seven minutes later it was 28-23. Matskevich, who spent the first half inexpressively, came out in the second half so charged that he even dragged what was flying near him at a distance of several meters. The team was transformed and became similar to itself, only now of a new model.
Movement around the court, movement in the opponent's penalty area, accuracy and precision of passes - all this is the result of an excellent coaching approach from Spanish specialists. The gap grew inexorably, and in the meantime the Macedonians finally lost their luck. As a result, the Meshkovites managed to throw 41 goals behind Metalurg’s cap, while conceding only 29!
Compared to last season, the team’s play has changed so much that you don’t have time to be surprised by the positive results. Plus, it’s also encouraging that Manolo Cadenas is actively leading young people to the core, fully trusting them. With such resources and a coaching hand, BGK has a wonderful future, but there is still the Champions League ahead, in which the Meshkovites should certainly create a sensation. BGK will play its next home match against Slovakian Tatran.
Manolo CADENAS, head coach of BGK im. Meshkova:
- Last season I followed the SEHA League matches in Argentina. I am glad that I am now in Brest as a coach and participant in the tournament. Naturally, as a head coach, I wanted to make a successful debut in the SEHA League. We took the game seriously. However, the first half remained with Metalurg. In the second half the situation changed. I note that this is a new experience for me. Metalurg is a famous name in handball. It doesn’t matter who is in it and who is in charge. I took this match very seriously and I am glad that we achieved a positive result.
Test matches during pre-season training and one match of the Belarusian championship cannot be any guideline or objective indicator of our game for us. Therefore, this match is the first serious official game. We could try ourselves and our strengths against an opponent at the Champions League level. I am pleased that I involved all the players I considered necessary to include. The tournament path is long. We need to distribute the workload evenly among 25 players in order to complete the assigned tasks in all tournaments. So I’m happy with this match, happy with how it turned out. This game became one of the stages of preparation for the Champions League.
Simon RAZGOR, left corner of BGK im. Meshkova:
- The opponent showed very good performance before the break good game. We were well prepared for the match, but in the first half there was a sense of nervousness in our actions. Made stupid mistakes. This game was my first as a captain - the main captain and his first deputy did not play today. I'm very glad that we won. The most important thing is that we still have three points.
And again into battle, they only dream of peace... In the opening round of the group round of the Champions League, Meshkov BGK defeated the strong and unyielding Swedish Kristianstad on the road - 32:30, starting the tournament on a positive note. And this Saturday a new test awaits: on the site of the Brest Sports Palace "Victoria" the "Meshkovites" will take another test - their opponents are the current winner of the Champions League, the French "Montpellier".
You lie, you won’t pass: the Meshkov BGK loudly declaredabout your ambitions.
Having created a powerful children’s and youth school at the club and clearly built an institute for interaction between players of all ages in the team, BGK took up and literally in a couple of seasons also promoted the children’s league “Zubr Kap”, which has already become the main children’s and youth start in Belarus, including themselves teams from all regions of the country. At BGK they take things seriously, think strategically, and move towards the goal step by step. They wanted to make Brest the handball capital of the country - they did it. They set a goal to win the Champions League - they go towards it. However, the most global task is to improve the overall handball level of Belarus, bringing it to its previous heights, when half of the players in the USSR national team were from our region. And it, too, is gradually being resolved.
Nowadays, BGK has, perhaps, the most interesting, strong and professional team in the entire existence of the club. And the match with Kristianstad confirmed the validity of the loud ambitions of the Meshkovites already this season. Yes, while there is no ideal interaction in all lines, the carriages of team play have not yet firmly settled on their rails, they are only getting used to each other, handball players are just learning the new game thinking that the coaching staff led by the Spaniard Manolo Cadenas instills in them, but it is visible to the naked eye the main thing is that the team has become more dynamic, livelier and more modern. And the young blood of our own students, who are already fueling the squad, creates the length of the bench necessary for the top level, allowing the entire match to be played at the same pace, without slumps and significant losses. In general, the start, despite some rough edges, was a success! The recognition of Sandro Obranovic as the best playmaker of the tour, and the goal of Alexander Shkurinsky after a fantastic parachute pass from Darko Djukic as the best goal of the start of the Champions League is an excellent confirmation of this. For once in game sports Belarus has a team for which it is not only not embarrassing, but whose prospects are breathtaking; even now no one would call BGK’s victory over Barcelona a sensation. And that says a lot. The season will definitely not be boring.
SCOREBOARD
Champions League. First tour
Group "A". 12.09. "Rhein Leuven" (Germany) - "Barcelona" (Spain) - 35:34. 15.09. Montpellier (France) - Vardar (Macedonia) - 24:27, Veszprem (Hungary) - Vive (Poland) - 29:27, Kristianstad (Sweden) - BGK im. Meshkova- 30:32.
Upcoming matches. 22.09. “Vardar” - “Kristianstad”, “Vive” - “Rhein Leuven”, “Barcelona” - “Veszprem”, BGK im. Meshkova- Montpellier.
