Duel of the disappointed

Füchse Berlin and HCM Constanta will face off for honour and third position in the second edition of the EHF Cup Finals on Sunday.

EHF Cup Finals, 3/4 Placement match:
Füchse Berlin (GER) vs. HCM Constanta (ROU)
13:00 hrs. local time in Berlin live on ehfTV

Heads were low on both sides, the expectations had been higher before their respective semi-finals, but now Füchse Berlin and HCM Constanta will meet for the third position of the EHF Cup Finals in Max-Schmeling-Halle on Sunday.

“We are deeply disappointed that we cannot grant the final to our fans. But I hope that our players can motivate themselves to finish this tournament with a victory,” says Füchse coach Dagur Sigurdsson prior to the placement match on Sunday.

But his Constanta counterpart, Macedonian born Zvonko Shundovski, shares the same hopes: “We have to recover quickly from the defeat against Montpellier and stand up again to be victorious.”

While Berlin were defeated 22:24 by Pick Szeged, Constanta lost 32:36 against Montpellier.

Both sides are the only ones of the four EHF Cup Final participants, to have met aleady in the current season of the EHF Cup: Constanta tied at home in the group phase and were defeated by Füchse in Berlin.

“But to have one single match against them might be different, although we know that Füchse will get the support from the stands,” Shundovski admitted.

Last season, when the first EHF Cup Finals had been played at Nantes, Danish side Team Tvis Holstebro took third place by defeating 2012 defending champions Frisch Auf Göppingen from Germany.

Constanta player Laurentiu Toma hopes for a signal of intent from his team: “We came here to win, and after losing the semi against Montpellier, we hope to win on the second day.”

In contrast to Constanta, Füchse had already been part of a major final tournament in this playing system, the 2012 VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne. But in this competition they lost both matches within 24 hours, first against eventual champions THW Kiel, and then the placement match against AG Kobenhavn.