Austria between confidence and respect

It is crunch time for Austria's women's national team in the Women's EHF EURO 2014 Qualification when they face Lithuania on 27 and 29 March.

After two matches have been played, Austria are ranked third in Group 1 with two points. They lost against Denmark 27:42 and then beat Ukraine 34:28.

Lithuania have lost their first two encounters and are currently ranked fourth. The top two ranked teams qualify for the final tournament in Hungary and Croatia in December

However, Austrian head coach Herbert Müller is far from underestimating Lithuania. "Among the teams that were in the last pot, Lithuania are definitely the most difficult team we could get," he says.

"They have huge international experience because their top players have been playing abroad for a long time. Especially their back court players are dangerous, we definitely have to pay attention to them.

"Furthermore that Lithuania's last chance to get back into the fight for the qualification spots which makes them even more dangerous."

To stay in a good position in Group 1, for Austria nothing less than four points both matches count.

"We have to and we want to win both matches," says Müller. "This is a truly important week for us. We know that if we win twice, our position ahead of the remaining two matches in June will be very good.

"So we are confident but at the same time we show the necessary respect ahead of these two decisive EHF EURO qualifiers."