Tenerife Echeyde Endures but Reaches the Nordic League Final

The Tenerife team had to battle hard to narrowly defeat White Sharks Hannover in a match marked by toughness and expulsions. Tomorrow, Saturday, they will face Turkish side Galatasaray for the title.

After Thursday’s comfortable victory over Berlin, Tenerife Echeyde aimed to gift themselves a spot in the Nordic League final at home for Canary Islands Day. To achieve this, they had to overcome White Sharks Hannover in a spirited Acidalio Lorenzo pool.

Facing another German opponent, Coach Albert Español’s pupils learned from the previous day’s poor start. The “chicharreros” began focused and took the lead with powerful shots from Kike Ramírez and Ashworth Molthen, making it 0-2.

The Germans responded promptly with a precise shot from Molnar, catching local goalkeeper Iván Prunell off guard (1-2). The match began to intensify, with expulsions raining down, making Hannover feel more comfortable, eventually equalizing through Janke during a power play.

Earlier, Iván Prunell donned the superhero cape to save a penalty. With the scoreboard tied and the local attack stalled, Luis Araya broke the deadlock from the penalty spot (1-3). A breath of fresh air in a period where the visitors managed to inflict damage with long-range shots, leveling the score by the first break (3-3).

Echeyde needed improvement, but the match turned into an exchange of goals and blows. In this boxing match, when Luis Araya scored from a penalty and during a power play, the “white sharks” responded with a double from Rotermund from central positions.

With the scoreboard at 5-5, the Acidalio boys’ efficiency dropped, getting lost in the opponent’s excessive toughness. Offensive drought for Echeyde, while Hannover capitalized with Schutze and Molnar during power plays.

The visitors took their first lead (7-5), gradually taking control of the match. The Tenerife team needed to wake up, even missing a penalty. Things weren’t going well, but then captain Nacho Gutiérrez appeared to finish a well-rehearsed play during a timeout after an expulsion. A chalkboard action that narrowed the gap by halftime (7-6).

Earlier, a White Sharks player was permanently expelled with a red card for aggression… and it wouldn’t be the only one.

The match was heating up both in the water and in the stands, but in the third quarter, it intensified to the point of three red cards and a total of 14 expulsions in a single quarter. Water polo was absent, but Echeyde managed to survive the “war,” equalizing with a penalty by Ashworth Molthen (7-7).

Previously, a key moment occurred when White Sharks Hannover’s starting goalkeeper, Spittank, was expelled for hitting Álex Andión, who also received a red card without much explanation. The Germans were left without a goalkeeper, and one of their players had to take the position, as they hadn’t called up another for this role. A significant problem for the visitors, who, however, resisted effectively in offense.

The game continued, and after several minutes trailing, Echeyde regained the lead with Luis Araya not missing from the penalty spot (7-8). The toughness persisted, and local center-forward Diego Mercado was also expelled for an off-the-ball hit. Expulsions kept coming, and the benches had fewer and fewer players.

Fatigue set in, but in the final seconds, everything was activated with Rotermund punishing and Iker González responding with a scrappy goal, enduring hits from all sides (8-9). Only eight minutes remained in this “war” to reach the Nordic League Final Eight final.

In the last eight minutes, both teams improved their effectiveness, with Luis Araya as the MVP, scoring three long-range shots, one of them a beautiful spin shot that allowed his team to open a small gap (10-12), despite the Germans not giving up, led by Rotermund and Schutze, and without a goalkeeper. It was commendable.

With four minutes on the clock, everything could go either way, but Echeyde took risks, went on the attack, and found gaps, scoring through Marc Salvador and twice with Ashworth Molthen’s left hand, responding to the opponents’ goal (Rotermund).