PREVIEW: So far, Team Tvis Holstebro are the only team in the Last 16 of the Cup Winners’ Cup. The remaining 15 teams are to be named this weekend
The last chance to join Holstebro
Ardesen GSK came away from Denmark with a quite satisfactory result last Sunday.
The Turkish team lost 30:26 against Team Esbjerg, and at home in the M.Y.O. Kapali Erdogan University, and they are seen to have a good chance of closing this four-goal deficit.
However, that is not going to happen, promises Esbjerg coach Lars Frederiksen ahead of the return match Sunday afternoon.
“I firmly believe in my team. We still have a really, really good chance.
“Ardesen are not a bad team, but still I think we should be considerably better,” Lars Frederiksen told the local newspaper JydskeVestkysten.
On the weekend of 12 and 13 September, SERCODAK Dalfsen finished third in their Champions League qualification group in Drammen, Norway.
This was obviously not enough to qualify for the Champions League group matches, but it gave the Dutch champions the right to enter the Cup Winners’ Cup in Round 3, where their opponents are Vistal Gdynia from Poland.
At first sight, Dalfsen coach Peter Portengen was rather content with that draw, but this may have changed after the first leg.
On home court, Dalfsen were defeated 21:20, and this obviously puts the Dutch champions under huge pressure before their trip to Poland, where the second leg is taking place Sunday afternoon, with Gdynia having a great chance of clinching a Last 16 berth.
WHC Radnicki Kragujevac finished fourth in the same Champions League qualification group Dalfsen were in.
Having already eliminated Italian Jomi Salerno clearly in Round 2, the Serbian champions are now ready for SC Municipal Craiova.
The two teams meet in a double Saturday and Sunday in the Sala Polivalenta Craiova.
Another team which came up short in qualification for the Women's EHF Champions league, Glassverket, coasted in their opening leg (43:14) against ZORK Jagodina and are as good in qualified for the Last 16 - they travel to Serbia for the second leg on Saturday.
Two further ties are being decided as double headers this weekend.
ÉRD HC, who reached the semi-final of the EHF Cup last season, are up against ZRK Umag from Croatia, who are exactly where they finished last season – in Round 3 of the Cup Winners’ Cup.
The Erd Arena will be the venue for the two meetings between these two teams in a double header on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
Russian Zvezda Zvenigorod are travelling to the Spanish town Pontevedra in their attempt to reach the Last 16.
Here, the Champions League winners from 2008 will face Mecalia Atletico Guardes in the first leg Saturday night and the return match Sunday evening.
For a full list of all the weekend's fixtures click here.
TEXT:
Peter Bruun / bc