Five knockout spots still open before one-to-last round
After the first eight rounds of the EHF European League Men group phase, 11 teams have secured their Last 16 spots. With the group phase going into round 9 on Tuesday, seven teams are still in the race for the last five tickets.
I expect a very difficult match. I hope that we will be able to stick with them as long as possible and that it will not be clear-cut from the beginning, as it was in the first game. They overpowered us at home in the first half and it was very bad. Only when they substituted younger players did we have any chance. So it will be very difficult in defence.
Kadetten Schaffhausen are a very complicated team that play very well and have a lot of depth in the rotation. We have to win at home to secure fourth place and not depend on third parties in the last match. Benfiquistas are important in every match. They mean two or three more goals in a match. In the most difficult games, as this one will be, the support is very important for us.
Now we go from match to match, and the biggest question is how we solve this task mentally, but based on the last two weeks I am optimistic. It will be difficult because they use the seven-on-six game very well, it’s hard to play against them.
This is a decisive match against Skjern to avoid fourth place, because the crossover would be very complicated. We have two defeats in a row and the team is particularly hurt and wants to reverse this situation.
After we get the qualification, our goal is to stay best ranked possible. All away games are tough, Balatonfüredi KSE have a very strong defence; in attack we have to play fast but one of the most important aspects is to be great in defence.
We are playing at home and I think we have to be at a high level, given that we have a very important match ahead of us. After a long time we will be complete which is a very good thing for all of us, the rhythm of the matches is very fierce so we need all available players.
Nexe are the top team in our group with seven wins in eight games. We have to travel to Croatia with a very small squad and we know that it will be a very difficult task and tough game. But we will continue to look ahead.
We have one step left to qualify mathematically, we have to take it, and for that we have to go to Dusseldorf thinking about winning. HC Motor are a team that is getting better and they are competing better.
We don’t give away any win, even if we are already qualified for the round of 16. Wins are very important for our self confidence, this is why we want to get the next one tomorrow.
