Big guns still looking for Women's EHF FINAL4 berths

The penultimate weekend of the Women’s EHF Champions League could decide some of the remaining three berths available for the elite club competition’s showpiece event in Budapest, with holders Györ already through after last Saturday’s emphatic win at 2011 champions Larvik.

Buducnost, the 2012 champions, are on the verge of reaching the first Women's EHF FINAL4 and will book their ticket if they avoid defeat against the Hungarian title holders at home.

The Montenegrin side will be through even if they lose, provided that Larvik comes away with something from their visit to Krim Mercator, who can only advance if they beat Larvik and then overwhelm Buducnost by 16 goals or more in the last round, provided that the Montenegrins lose to Györ.

The situation is even more complicated in Group 1, where all four teams are still in the hunt. Thüringer HC will secure an EHF FINAL4 berth if they beat Vardar, while Midtjylland and Sävehof enter a dogfight hoping for a straw of salvation ahead of the final weekend in what has been a gripping main round.

Group 1

Thüringer HC (GER) vs WHC Vardar SCBT (MKD), Saturday 15:00 local time in Nordhausen, live on ehfTV

Macedonian powerhouse Vardar looked to be coasting for a Women's EHF FINAL4 berth but last weekend’s 24:25 defeat at Midtjylland has left them with the unenviable task of having to avoid the same fate at Thüringer HC.

While a win would seal Vardar’s passage to Budapest, a draw would leave Vardar’s progress hanging in the balance while defeat, combined with a Midtjylland win at Sävehof, would take the FYR Macedonia champions’ fate out of their hands in the last round.

Thüringer HC, on the other hand, know that two points would propel them to the eagerly awaited showdown in the Hungarian capital with a match to spare and cap a memorable main round run, after they barely squeezed into the last eight with two wins and four defeats in the group matches.

The German side had a perfect dress rehearsal for the clash with a 25:23 Bundesliga win over traditional rivals Buxtehuder SV, with left back Nadja Nadgornaja firing on all cylinders to score a game-high nine goals.

"Games like this bring the best out of a team and we knew it would be an incredibly tough encounter," Thüringer coach Herbert Muller told the club’s official website after the match.

Vardar’s top players are also looking forward to the clash, notably their French goalkeeper Amandine Leynaud who produced a good performance at Midtjylland despite her team’s defeat.

"Nothing less than a win at Thüringer will do, although we will be up against an excellent team who are a much stronger unit than they were when we beat them 31:25 in the reverse fixture in Skopje," she said.

Russian right wing Ekaterina Kostiukova added: "We know it’s going to be tough because there are no easy opponents in the main round, but I believe that we have it in us to get the job done."  

IK Sävehof (SWE) vs FC Midtjylland (DEN), Sunday 15:00 local time in Partille, live on ehfTV

Although Sävehof are still mathematically in the reckoning for a FINAL4 berth, the Swedish champions need what would almost amount to a miracle in order to qualify.

Having amassed only one point from their opening four games, Savehof need to win both their remaining matches – at home to Midtjylland and away to Vardar in the last round – and hope that their rivals lose their games against group leaders Thüringer HC.

It is an unlikely scenario, but Sävehof have shown a remarkable fighting spirit throughout the season, a trait which saw them reach the main round from a tough preliminary group.

Sävehof warmed up for the Midtjylland clash with a comfortable 35:20 Swedish league win over Onnereds HK as playmaker Jamina Roberts led the charge with a game-high eight goals.

Midtjylland still have a realistic chance of reaching the last four with a win at Sävehof being the first step towards that goal.

The Danish outfit had a more difficult preparation than Sävehof for their Scandinavian derby as they were made to work hard for a 30:28 Danish league win at SonderjyskE, with coach Helle Thomsen resting some of her key players for the crunch clash in Partille.    

Group 2

Larvik (NOR) vs RK Krim Mercator (SLO), Saturday 18:15 local time in Larvik, live on ehfTV

There is little more than pride at stake in this match of former European champions, who are far from their best and have endured forgettable EHF Champions League seasons.

While Larvik have repeatedly flattered to deceive as the chinks in their once impenetrable armour were cruelly exposed by fitter and hungrier rivals in the main round, Krim battled adversity as a crippling financial crisis drove some of their top players to greener pastures.

Krim still have a theoretical chance of reaching the Women's EHF FINAL4 but require nothing less than a fairytale to leapfrog Buducnost Podgorica to a runners-up finish in the group.

The Slovenian title holders first have to beat eliminated Larvik, but that is the easiest task they face.

They must also hope that already qualified Györ beat Buducnost in Podgorica and then achieve the virtually impossible task of brushing aside Buducnost by more than 15 goals to erase the 30:15 defeat by the Montenegrin giants in the reverse fixture and edge them out with a better head-to-head record.

"We have almost no chance at all of reaching the FINAL4 but we will leave it all out there on the court in the last two games," Krim’s Croatian goalkeeper Jelena Grubisic told a news conference in Ljubljana.

Coach Tone Tiselj added: "Larvik are our traditional rivals and we will do our best to be at the highest level, but our recent training sessions have been so depleted I don’t know what to expect in Norway."

Larvik celebrated a rare record of stretching their unbeaten run in the Norwegian league to 15 years with a 46:22 home win over bottom team Flint Tonsberg, but it will have come as scant consolation after they picked up only one point from four games in the Women's EHF Champions League Main Round.  

Buducnost (MNE) vs Györi Audi ETO (HUN), Sunday 19:15 local time in Podgorica, live on ehfTV

Pride, bragging rights and the group’s top spot will be at stake in this clash of the titans as the competition’s last two winners take centre stage in what will be a jam-packed Moraca Hall in the Montenegrin capital.

Although 2012 champions Buducnost theoretically need one more point to reach the EHF FINAL4, they are as good as there unless a possible defeat by holders Györ is followed by an almost inconceivable meltdown in their last game at Krim.

Hence the attacking talent of a star-studded Györ outfit will be up against the defensive steel which has made Buducnost a proverbial nightmare for their main round opponents this season.

The two teams battled out a 23:23 draw in the reverse fixture in Hungary and Sunday’s tussle is also likely to go down to the wire as both teams have hit top form in the main round.

"It will be a rip-roaring contest because the group’s top spot is at stake and there is no doubt that both teams will be really fired-up for this one," Buducnost’s Danish right back Camilla Dalby told daily Pobjeda.

"A win would give us a tremendous confidence boost if we were to meet Gyor again at the FINAL4, but we have to keep working hard. I believe we can go all to the way to the final but the most important thing is to win Sunday’s match," she added.

"I am really surprised that we have virtually booked our berth with two games to spare in the main round and it’s a dream come true for me because this is why I joined Buducnost."

The fixture will be an emotional moment for Györ right back Katarina Bulatovic, who was instrumental in the Montenegrin side’s 2012 triumph when they won their maiden EHF Champions League title with a dramatic win over none other than the Hungarian giants.

Buducnost edged Györ to the silverware on away goals after Bulatovic, Györ’s second-best scorer in this season’s EHF Champions League with 55 goals behind playmaker Anita Görbicz who has 58, netted nine times to send a packed Moraca hall into raptures after the Montenegrins won the match 27:25 to erase the 27:29 first-leg deficit.

This time round, Buducnost’s passionate fans will hope that their team’s ironclad defence can contain Bulatovic.