27.02.2014, 02:38
Midtjylland on the brink of elimination, but still with hope

INTERVIEW: Anything but a home win against Vardar Sunday will make it extremely hard for FC Midtjylland to fulfill their dream of the Women's EHF FINAL4

Midtjylland on the brink of elimination, but still with hope

FC Midtjylland have the work cut out for them when they receive WHC Vardar SCBT in the Ikast Brande Arena Sunday evening.

A win against the group table leaders will almost be a must for the Danish champions, if their dreams of qualifying for the Women's EHF FINAL4 should still be realistic.

To narrow away defeats in succession, against Thüringer HC and Vardar, have left the Danish team with just two points after three matches and put them under pressure in Group 1 of the main round, of which the second half is starting this weekend.

In Midtjylland they are of course well aware of the situation.

“We have not played particularly well lately, and that has cost us some points in the Champions League also. Here we have lost some points at the end of the matches, and this means that we do not have as many points at this stage, as we had hoped when the main round started,” Trine Ostergaard, right winger by FC Midtjylland, told ehfCL.com.

“Of course, Vardar will be an extremely big challenge, as they have a very strong team. However, we actually did very well when we met them down there, and we only lost narrowly (24:23) at the end, so I definitely think we have a good chance against them at home,” the 22-year-old Danish international added.

Teamwork should get the win

Narrow defeats after having been leading a long part of the way has been the curse for FC Midtjylland in their away games in the main round.
Against Thüringer HC they lost 26:24 after having been in the lead for large parts of the match, and the same pattern applied more or less to their latest away match which resulted in a 24:23 defeat to Vardar who will be their opponent again Sunday.

“We will probably need a win in order to go on dreaming of Budapest which is our goal, and of course we still believe that we will reach the FINAL4. If you do not believe in that, you should not even be allowed to play these matches.

“I think the fact that we play more like a team than Vardar do, gives us a good chance. We are good as playing as a team, while they depend more on their players' individual skills. That may be an advantage for us, but still they have so many good individual players that you never know which one of them may decide a match,” Trine Ostergaard said.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / br