European debutants close to group phase

European debutants MT Melsungen stand with a very good chance of reaching the third group phase in the history of the Men's EHF Cup.

On Saturday, the team from the German Bundesliga won the first leg against TATRAN Presov as clearly as 31:24 in front of 2,517 spectators on home court in the Rothenbach-Halle in Kassel.

Presov are considerably more experienced than Melsungen, when it comes to European competition, but that did not stop the Bundesliga team from taking a clear lead already in the first half, which they won 17:11, or from winning the match by seven.

“I think we can be content. We have won by seven goals against a very experienced team. We made an inventive performance, and our team showed that it is growing together more and more,” Melsungen coach Michael Roth said, while TATRAN coach Peter David was disappointed with his team.

“We only had 20 minutes in the entire game. We were well prepared, but we did exactly what Melsungen were expecting,” found Peter David.

Füchse Berlin and HBC Nantes have both been in the EHF Cup Finals and even hosted the event, but this year one of the teams will not even make it to the group phase, and the first leg hints that it may be Nantes who will be sent out.

Füchse put themselves in a favourable position through their 23:18 home win Sunday in front of 6,371 spectators in the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin.

After a fairly equal first half, which Füchse won 10:8, the home team managed to increase their lead in the last 30 minutes.

An impressive comeback from injury by Füchse´s Polish playmaker Bartlomiej Jaszka played an important part in the clear home win for the Bundesliga side.

Last season, Hungary had two teams in the group phase, and one of them, Pick Szeged, won the entire tournament.

This year, Hungarian handball may have certain difficulties emulating that triumph, as all the country's three representatives are in more or less difficult positions after the first leg.

Grundfos Tatabanya HC only managed to win 23:22 at home against St. Petersburg HC, Balatonfüredi KSE lost 31:26 in Austria against Alpla HC Hard and Oroshazi FKSE-Linamar are definitely got going to reach the group phase after a 40:20 defeat away to Skjern Handbold, who are heading for their second group phase berth in succession.

“We maintained our rhythm no matter what the digits on the score board said, and that was what pleased me the most,” Skjern coach Ole Nørgaard said.

Two years ago, Team Tvis Holstebro reached the first EHF Cup Finals, and this weekend the Danish team took a step towards the group phase this season, as they won 32:27 at home against current number eight in the Romanian league, Stiinta Municipale Deceman Bacau.

However, Holstebro coach Klavs Bruun Jørgensen was not content. “We started the match a bit badly, and we also got a quite bad start to the second half. I was never nervous for our win, though, and the way the game turned out, a five-goal win was okay,” he said.

Find all the first leg results of the Men's EHF Cup Qualification Round 3 matches here