Difficult situation for Dinamo

Russian Dinamo Volgograd missed their chance to advance to the Main Round last weekend. If just one point had been gained against Montenegrin Budućnost, they could have qualified for the next phase of the EHF Champions League. Unfortunately, they lost at home.

The Russians will face on Sunday title-holder Viborg in Denmark to decide about the free spot for the Main Round. In away games they've not been too successful, and Kochetova & co even struggled against the weaker IK Sävehof, only securing victory in the dying minutes.

Against the reigning champion Viborg HK they have an 8-goal advantage, as they won the first duel 41:33.

Despite a recent clear victory in the Russian championship, coach Victor Ryabykh faces selection headaches:

"Unfortunately, we've suffered some injuries before this crucial game in Denmark."

"Tatiana Khmyrova has back problems." - continued Ryabykh.

The 20-year-old left-back has not trained this week and was missing for Dinamo's league game as well.

In this game, Volgograd were able to rest some of its key players and the coaching staff saw the game as a good psychological preparation prior to the crucial clash against the reigning champion.

Ryabykh is also concerned about one of his best players:

"Anna Kochetova is not fully fit, and she's still concerned about the pain in her shoulder."

The classy right-back had to play with the injury last weekend and, as could be seen in her performance, she missed several clear-cut chances. Besides Kochetova and Khmyrova, also middle back Elena Ilyukhina is struggling with a foot injury.

"In general, it's a difficult situation at the moment, but I hope that, for Sunday, everyone will be fit enough and show enough fighting spirit to help the team to advance to the best 8 in Europe." - said the Dinamo coach, optimistically.

The EHF Women's Champions League game of Group A, Viborg HK (DEN) vs. Dinamo Volgograd (RUS) on Sunday 21 November 2010 at 14:25 hrs (local time), will be broadcast live on our free-of-charge web stream on ehfTV.com.