Costa del Sol Handball does not give up. That word, in fact, is not in the dictionary of Suso Gallardo’s Malaga “panthers”who lost the first game of the final playoff of the Iberdrola Guerreras League in Elche on Thursday, but who are already thinking of equalizing the series this coming Sunday in Carranque, for the following Wednesday, again in Malaga, finishing the comeback with another victory that would give the malagueñas the league title for the first time in their history.
It won’t be easy because this Atticgo Handball Elche by Joaquín Rocamora is in a spectacular moment and now they have the playoffs in their favor, but with the strength of the fans and the drive of a team that has won 7 finals in less than 3 years, the challenge cannot be ruled out.
The “panthers” had it very close this past Thursday. The game was even and only small details tipped luck in favor of the Elche, thanks to a stratospheric performance in goal by Nicole Morales.
Suso Gallardo, coach from Costa del Sol, assured after the game that it was precisely some details that made the difference. “The balls that did not go in and the connection between Alexandra Do Nascimento and Nuria Andreu did us a lot of damage,” he said. It is clear to him that bygones are bygones and that, whatever it may be, the final will be defined in Malaga. The coach wanted to appeal to the fans, confessing that he hopes that “the public will respond.” Finally, his goal is to be able “to correct those mistakes and try to turn the tie around.”
For his part, Joaquin RocamoraHe congratulated himself on the good run of results from his players in recent games and stressed that the main thing now for them is “to get people back physically.” Regarding the meeting on Sunday in Carranque, she assured: «We are going to return another party of Spanish women’s handball. I expect a very similar game, where the goals shine and the defensive systems dominate a large part of the match.
The second game of the series, in which the Costa del Sol can only win to force the tiebreaker, will be played this Sunday, starting at 6:00 p.m.. A gala atmosphere is expected and that Carranque becomes the “player number 8” that the “panthers” need to balance the play off and extend the final.