Frisch Auf Göppingen looking to take major step towards quarter-finals
German team Frisch Auf Göppingen will have one eye on the quarter-finals of the Men’s EHF Cup when hosting Cocks Wednesday evening in Germany. However, the back-to-back winners of the competition, cannot ensure their qualification through to the last eight just yet.
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Göppingen are top of Group A with six points after three matches
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Cocks are last, without points
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The two teams meet for the second time within five days after the German side travelled to Finland and won 31:20 last Saturday
Group C
Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER) vs Cocks (FIN) Wednesday 28 February, 20:00 local time, live on ehfTV.com
With three straight wins already, Frisch Auf Göppingen already have their eyes set on the quarter-final of the Men’s EHF Cup.
In case of another win against Cocks, at the EWS Arena on Wednesday night, the ruling back-to-back winners of the tournament can take a major step towards the next stage, but they will still not be able to feel completely sure, as even eight points may not be enough.
Theoretically, Croatian team RK Nexe and Slovenian side RD Koper may also still reach eight points, and in that case, the internal results among these three teams will decide the positions.
Göppingen have their fate in the own hands, however, which is more than can be said about their opponents Wednesday night.
Still on zero points, Cocks are virtually out of the race for the quarter-finals. The Finnish champions can still reach six points if they win the rest of their matches, but even if this should suffice for the second place, it would probably not be enough for a quarter-final berth.
At the moment, everything indicates that SC Magdeburg, who are hosting the Men’s EHF Cup Finals, will finish either on top of Group A or at least as one of the three best second-placed teams and due to their hosting of the finals weekend, Magdeburg would proceed directly to the last four, and then the poorest second-placed team will be out – if this were to happen, six points are not likely to be enough.
After defeating Cocks 31:20 in Finland on Saturday (24 February), Göppingen go into the home tie huge favourites to take another win.
TEXT: Peter Bruun/amc
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