Mocsai: "Hard to succeed in Szeged"
On Saturday SG Flensburg-handball will meet Pick Szeged for the very first time. The Hungarian runners-up have a number of Hungarian national players in their squad, but also the Bundesliga has one: Tamás Mocsai.
The 32-year-old right back spoke to ehfCL.com about the return to his home country before the first leg Last 16 match in the VELUX EHF Men’s Champions League.
ehfCL.com: Flensburg will visit Szeged for the first time. For you town and club are not unknown. What could you tell your team-mates about your opponents?
Tamás Mocsai: For the last decade Szeged has clearly been the second force within Hungarian men’s club handball, behind Veszprém. The club has a tradition to qualify for the VELUX EHF Champions League, they have great international experience.
Before last season the club carried out a shift to Hungarian players and has now got a young and homogeneous squad. I would like to identify left wing Szabolcs Törő, pivot Szabolcs Zubai and playmaker Mate Lekai as their Hungarian key players.
ehfCL.com: How would you rate your chances to reach the Quarterfinals?
Tamás Mocsai: It will be hard for us to succeed in Szeged. The whole town is very enthusiastic about handball; we will feel that by the atmosphere in the hall. Valladolid lost there by five goals.
We don’t expect any easy tasks in the knockout stage of the VELUX EHF Champions League. However we travel to Hungary with the objective to achieve a good result.
ehfCL.com: Is it an advantage to play the second game at home?
Tamás Mocsai: It is quite general knowledge that it is an advantage to have the spectators in the back in the second game. But in my eyes, the importance is in performing hundred percent power in the two games.
ehfCL.com: Your father is Hungary’s national coach and also coach of Veszprém. Will he be in Szeged on Saturday?
Tamás Mocsai: This time I can not meet my father, because at that time he will be travelling to Barcelona with Veszprém. But it is quite possible that my two sisters from Budapest and Lake Balaton will come to Szeged.
Flensburg’s first leg match, away to Pick Szeged will be broadcast as a free-of-charge live web stream on ehfTV.com.
VELUX EHF Men’s Champions League, Last 16, First leg
Saturday, 26 March 2011, 14:30 hrs (local time)
Pick Szeged (HUN) vs. SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER)
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.
TEXT:
Jan Kirschner