Goals, goals, and yet more goals!

Anna Kochetova is definitely the driving force in the team of Dinamo Volgograd. Every attack goes through her, and using her virtuosity, she often breaks through or slips the ball to the line players.

The 23-year-old right back gave a splendid performance in the Group Matches stage against reigning EHF Champions League winners Viborg, topping the charts with an incredible 17 goals.

Kochetova is looking forward to the match against the Norwegian high-class team Larvik and she aims for more goals in the current season.

ehfCL.com: You lost your debut match in the Main Round against Györi Audi ETO. How do you analyze the loss, and what was missing for the victory?

Anna Kochetova: We missed some time in the end. We let them lead with 2-3 goals. If we’d had 5 extra minutes, we could’ve turned the match.

And of course, we missed two key players – our goalkeeper Anna Sedoykina, and our back player Olga Levina.

Even though Vika Timoshenkova did a great job as Anna’s replacement in goal, we missed Anna, as well as Levina. We’ll also have to replace them in Norway against Larvik.

ehfCL.com: You had a very tight schedule in the Russian league, and now the EHF Champions League has resumed. In addition, many of you played at the EHF EURO 2010 in December. How well prepared are you physically for the upcoming challenges, and what do you believe to be more decisive: being physically on top, or being mentally ready for the next games?

Anna Kochetova: I feel tired and drained and I think the whole team feels the same. Our many victories in the Russian league were only gained by maximum effort, compared to the previous season. But still we have a good physical base to push further.

ehfCL.com: Your next EHF Champions League match will be against Larvik. Where do you see their strengths, and with them forming the core of the Norwegian National Team, have you noticed any weaknesses?

Anna Kochetova: Larvik is the face of the Norwegian national team. It’s a very well known, very strong team with an excellent “team chemistry”. Pivot Heidi Løke, good old Tonje Larsen, and both goalkeepers are extraordinary. But anyway, we will be looking for weaknesses of the Larvik team.  

ehfCL.com: What are Dinamo’s aims for the rest of the season and what are your personal goals?

Anna Kochetova: In Russia, we are going for a hat-trick of titles, and this is the only aim that we have.

Oltchim, Buducnost, and Audi ETO are overall better than our team, but nevertheless our dream is still to reach the semi-final.

Personally I intend to fight for the EHF Champions League top scorer position. I finished third last year and I feel I can do better this season. The game against Viborg HK, when I scored 17 goals, was an ordinary match. It was made more memorable for me because of a shoulder injury that disturbed me a lot in EHF EURO 2010.

Dinamo’s difficult away match of Round 2 at last season’s EHF Champions League semi-finalists Larvik will be broadcast as a free-of-charge live web stream on ehfTV.com.

EHF Women’s Champions League, Main Round Group 2, Round 2
Saturday, 12 February 2011, 17:45 hrs (local time)
Larvik HK (NOR) vs. Dinamo Volgograd (RUS)

ehfTV.com is the official Internet TV platform of the European Handball Federation and offers free live streaming as well as a video on demand service.