Viborg: still lot to play for

Though last Saturday’s 28-32 home defeat against Russian champions, Chehovskie Medvedie, the Danish Viborg HK are almost out of race for the first two positions in Group E. Head coach, Søren Hildebrand, still feels that his team has a lot at stake in the group. His team still have a chance to reach their original goal, finishing third and qualifying for the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Eurohandball.com talks to Hildebrand on the half way in the first group stage.

Eurohandball.com: What do you think of your team’s performances so far?

Søren Hildebrand: In general I think it was okay so far. We had no chance at all in our first match away against HSV Hamburg (35-26 for HSV, ed.), but I don’t think that anyone really believed that we had a chance there. We played a fine match at home against Zaporozhye (29-23 for Viborg, ed.) and in our last match I think that we also did quite well against Medvedi. In my opinion it was actually quite a small difference between us that led to this four-goal defeat at the end

However, we still have a fine chance to finish third, while the two top positions and the main round would be extremely difficult to reach now. This would undoubtedly need an away win of at least five goals against Medvedi.

Eurohandball.com: So the away match against ZTR Zaporozhye on 11 November will be the key match for you?

Søren Hildebrand: Definitely. I think we have a good chance to finish third in front of Zaporozhye, though you should never say never. Zaporozhye is a really difficult place to play, but I’m optimistic.

Eurohandball.com: In this case you reach your main goal and you will even finish above your seeding – as you were only seeded fourth?

Søren Hildebrand: Yes, that is correct. We will be happy to reach that goal, but of course we will still try to get one of the two top positions and we will certainly go hundred percent for the win in all our three remaining group matches.

Eurohandball.com: You are CL debutants. What did you learn so far?

Søren Hildebrand. First of all, I think we learned that it requires a somewhat larger squad than ours to do well in the Champions League and to hang on in the national league at the same time. In that respect, it was a serious handicap for us that our strong Swedish playmaker, Lukas Karlsson, suffered a seriously injured in our first group match against Hamburg. Furthermore, it has been a tough job to make an almost new team work together under so much pressure.

Eurohandball.com: This break in the Champions League seems to come at the right time for you…

Søren Hildebrand: Yes, it does. We have a very important league match against Nordsjælland Håndbold this weekend, but after that we have a break with international friendlies. We can use that break to get some of the players fit. Then we will be absolutely ready for our last three group matches, which we are really looking forward to.