The Men's CL resumes with Round 4, which can be decisive for some teams already. It will also be the last chance for secret CL candidates, Zagreb, for example...
To be or not to be…
Zagreb are going to FYR Macedonia on Saturday to play against Vardar in the fourth round of Group C. To stay in the game for one of the first two places of the group, Zagreb have to win their game this weekend.
Zagreb will find out the answer for Hamlet’s question (“To be or not to be“) after the match in Skopje on Sunday. In case Zagreb defeat Vardar, the Croatians are still “in the game“, but if they lose, the CL is over for the promising team of Lino Cervar. There are lots of possible calculations how Zagreb can pass to the Main Round, but all of them have a common denominator: two points from Skopje.
Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb started this CL season with great reinforcements and with great expectations also. However, one point from three matches is too few for their ambitious plans. If the Croatians win in Skopje all these bad results will be forgotten and the team will gain a lot of self-confidence.
In last match of the Croatian championship, Zagreb defeated Split Koteks by 44:30. The best scorer was Lazarov with 8 goals. The important players are back form injuries and also the optimism is back.
More good news for the Zagreb fans: Niksa Kaleb recovers from his recent injury. Igor Vori is also training with the team from Monday and he will be ready for Saturday’s match.
Optimistic and determined
Vori, the pivot of Zagreb told us about the “Skopje mission“: “Our task is to reach the Main Round at least. So everything less than that is not acceptable. We are in a pretty tough situation now but that doesn't mean that we won't succeed, because we will. We are ready for the Main Round and we will reach there.”
Right winger, Mirza Dzomba is also optimistic: “We will win in Skopje for sure and go through. I don't even want to think about third place and Cup Winners’ Cup. I believe we will win all three matches left and we will reach the CL main round.”
TEXT:
Ivan Ambros