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Ystads already beat Kristaindstad home early in the season (by two goals). Kristianstad lost goal keeper Beutler and two defense specialist since. Captain Jepson and one of the key back players Olsson are questionable. YIF have the upper hand in that respect, with the only potential problem for them being middle back Ibsen's absence. Bt the fact he didn't play the first game and his team won means he is not the key player. Especially if lineman Bager does great, and he should. I think Ystads' goal keepers are better too - Dahl just joined IFK and I don't think he is working well with the defense that is without two key players. Details

These opponents played their last seven matches over this margin, two of which exactly at 53 points. One of such duels was their first this season, but in very strange circumstances. Skuru's goalie had 21 saves, and Savehof's weren't far behind with 17. Those definitely above-average performances by both sides, but they still had an over at this margin, why? Because both teams run a high paced game and fired a total of 109 shots in their previous duel this season. I don't expect any less today, nor do I expect another 20+ saves by Skurus' goalies, primarily because Savehof are angry after almost ending their winning series. A duel much closer to 60 goals in total seems a much more realistic proposition and something these teams are familiar with, as three of their past seven duels ended at 58 goals in total. Details

Team94 have not come out with the final list, while Fivers, on the other hand, revealed something very important. Bilyk and Pilipovic, who are key players at the Austrian national team (for players born in '94) will play at that club, whole Gonzalez and two others born in 96' will play for the national team. Barnbach's Gesslbauer and Krems' Sier and Toman are to play for Team 94 as well but they were never top choice for coach Mourschek. Even if Bilyk and Pilipovic were the only players missing, the visitors would have been at least 50% weaker. Like this, without their substitutes, I don't see a way for them to stand up to Barnbach who need points more than ever. Home team us full of well-experienced, physically powerful players (especially back players) and I think Team 94 really have nothing to do here, just like they had nothing to do here last year (lost 32-24). Details

Like the guest coach Brüngger said, these teams have about the same quality. But, when they're both complete, which isn't the case today. Pfadi came without a single pivot, and also the first left back Maroš is out, while the first middle back Čorović is very questionable. The pivots' absences are the most worrying because they're not only important in the offense, but also make the middle part of the Swiss team's defense. In a situation like this one, the defensively powerful Svajlen will have to play the offense, too, and play the whole match, something he's not used to. Besides, Pfadi will have lot less options in rotation in general, so I don't trust them today. Haslum are very strong at home, and have individuals like Mamelund in their team, nobody in the home team can't even compare to him. Haslum will also have more players at their disposal. All in all, this should be more than enough for them to win the first round of the group phase of the EHF Cup. Details

The first head-to-head finished at 58 goals and there are a few more reasons I believe this one will end as an over. First and foremost, there's Kadetten's roster that will have their top scorer Liniger, top playmaker Kukucka and right back Stojanovic back. All three are much more important for Kadetten's offense than defense. Szeged will have to do without Kallman, who scored 5 goals in the first match, but I'm sure his team will have it much more difficult in defense today, which is Kallman's specialty. On top of that, Kadetten's coach Vass said his team will try and outrun Szeged (who will be happy with it) and that makes around 60 goals a realistic outcome of this match. Details

Metz's Champions League second stage first meeting in Viborg finished at 53 goals with the home team bringing the pace down as much as possible because of their great injury struggles. Savenhof played Baia Mare, a team known for defense-oriented approach and tendency to avoid fast-paced games, to finish the game at 54 goals. That is probably what resulted in this margin, which I think is off. Both Metz and Savenhof prefer faster ace and both coaches talked about offense-oriented game (as per usual) ahead of this game. These two teams met last season to play a very close match that finished at 62 goals and the second leg in Metz that was not important anymore finished at 50 goals, first and foremost because Savenhof held back as they had a national league game ahead. This is a very important match and both teams will do their best. I thus expect a match to end closer to 60 goals, especially with Metz playing even faster-paced game since Roussel took over. Details

Petterson scored only one goal in the disaster that was Iceland's clash with Sweden. He recorded six against Algeria and 4 against France and CzR. Three unders and one over, that's his stats, but there are a few reasons for this bet now. The No.1 is Palmarsson, who took 12, 11, 11, and 7 shots in previous matches, missing the game. That means Petterson will be the key shooter at Iceland today. He is healthy and capable of spending a lot of time on the floor, especially since Atlason struggles with an injury all the time. Petterson will most definitely spend a lot of time in the game today since this is the key match for Iceland and he the deeper-set better, aggressive Egyptian defense should suit him better. Algeria are similar to Egypt in that respect and he managed to score 6 goals despite Palmarsson having a very productive day. I expect him to score at least that much today, especially given the fact Egypt's key defender sprained his ankle the last game. Sine Egypt will be better off with a loss today, I expect Petterson to be the dominant Icelander. Details

Aron Palmarsson, as one of the best players in the world, has complete freedom with the coach Kristjansson. Even when he wasn't completely ready, and when his eye was making troubles at the beginning of the tournament, Palmarsson had 7/11 against Algeria, 4/12 against the frightening Swedish defense. He said he's 100% ready before this match, and I expect him to be even better. Without him, Iceland can hardly win. In a match like this one, I expect Palmarsson to have over 10 shots, which should be more than enough to score four goals at least, especially because Omeyer is still not up to the level expected of him. Details

There's an unwritten rule to not appreciate the strength of the French and their opponents at the beginning of the championship. The French are known for slow starts, but even like that, they could have gotten a more convincing win against the Czechs in the first part. They were +6 at the 54th minute, and then inexplicably fell, ending it at the margin set for today. The bookmakers obviously valued that result, which I think is a huge mistake, especially because the Swedes showed against Iceland that they don't even think about relaxing in the last minutes. Olsson and Lindgren's players got to +8 in the last few minutes, and that shows their approach. Besides, they have a fantastic defense, hardly penetrable, and the Czech aren't really famous for their offensive. Jicha might help solving that problem, but it's questionable whether they'll use him. Besides, even if he played today, I doubt he can be his real self after losing seven kilos in two days. If it was sure that he won't play, this bet would lean for the max stakes, this way, I'll keep it in the middle. As a cherry on top, I should mention that the Czech don't think this is a key match for them, but those against Algeria, Egypt and Iceland, so it is easily possible that Jicha, if he plays at all, gets a lower number of minutes, and the other main players could also spend more time on the bench if the final result quickly becomes obvious, which is easily possible considering what Sweden showed in the first performance. Details

The Algerians showed how helpless they are without Bakir and Zamoum right at the start. Egypt managed to get nine points ahead by the half-time, and it's clear that the Icelanders are at least one level up here. They didn't manage to prove it against the Swedes in the first match, and that's probably why there's a handicap oriented to them. But, the Scandinavians got that win with only 16 goals conceded, and with fantastic performance by the defense and the goalie Andersson. Algeria showed in the first match that they have no goalie or the defense, and their offense wasn't that good, either. It turned out that Berkous is playing the key role, but when he's not having a good day, neither do the Algerians. His 0/8 from the start tells tons about the current situation, and today he'll face a defense even better than the Egyptian one. Besides, the Icelanders are great with counter attacks, and that's why I think they can easily go over this margin. They shouldn't lack motive because the Egyptians hit rudely, and I'm sure Kristjansson doesn't want to see his key players on the court for the whole 60 minutes, he wants to rest them - that's what should cause their convincing leadership at the half-time. Details

In the first match of the championship we have a duel of continental rival that could determine their path to the first elimination round - plenty to think of under. The statistics support this, as these teams, Egypt in particular, barely get over the set margin even in friendly matches. What I see as particularly significant in this tension filled match are the recent duels these teams had against Tunisia at the Africa Cup. Algeria played at 46, Egypt at 46 in the group and just 42 in the semifinal. The importance of this match equals a final for both teams, which will, I believe, reflect on the tempo of the match, meaning we can expect a very calm, careful game with the aim to reduce mistakes to a minimum, as Egypt's selector said himself. Last time they met, two years ago at the World Championship, this resulted in 20-20, and I don't think the audience will see many more goals today, hardly more than 45. Details

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It's almost impossible to play a match under 60 goals against Israel. They play a wild 3-3 defense, run full force the whole match, and have very weak goalies. Their offense is definitely their best defense, and the fact that they play an aggressive defense shortens the time the opponents play the offense, which leads to plenty of shots, and also goals. If neither of the teams played on such a small number of goals yesterday, the margin would probably have been 60, which sounds more realistic. Mostly because Hungary slowed the rhythm down against the Dutch. Israel did the same themselves yesterday, mostly to be well rested for today and this match that will have a completely different rhythm. Details

Czech Republic are without Kasal and Recek, two key back players, and that makes them weaker than Poland, which is why I expect another convincing win for the French, maybe even more convincing than yesterday's. This is the second game in two days and the Czechs don't have that many players to choose from. The French can put pretty much anyone in the lineup, given their quality, which saw them beat the motivated home team yesterday by 7 goals and should be enough against this opponent. Details

With Bilyk out, Austria are showing two characteristics: playing faster, and having offensive solutions, while using the 3-2-1 zone in the defense, and that looks awful. Not surprising because they rarely used that zone before, now they have to because they don't have players tall enough to fit the 6-0, nor the top pivot for 5-1. The Russians took advantage of that in a match they kept trying to slow down, and scored 35 goals. Austria added 32, so 67 total. Today, the Team 94 will face Turkey who came rejuvenated. They showed a fast rhythm against Slovakia yesterday, and also showed their offense is much better than their defense, where these young guys simply aren't strong enough to stop the opponents. Slovakia, known for playing quite slowly compared to other teams from this generation, scored 22 in the first part, and 16 goals in the second. The offensively stronger Austrians should reach those numbers, or even go over it for a few goals. All Turkey can do is finish the job because, with what they showed yesterday, they don't have problems scoring 20 goals at all. Details

Netherlands has three good players who could handle Hungarians, but the rest of the team can't keep up with that pace. For a try in the qualifications for one last big competition of this generation I don't see this as enough to compete with the first favorite of this tournament. The Hungarians are arriving as the Top 10 national team of the world, as a team who invests a lot. Last season this team was together all the time, this year most of them are in Balatonfuredi. Coach Csoknyai is in that club, who is also the selector of this national team. There's no doubt that that's a huge plus for Hungary because most of the players are well played-in, even Juhasz and Gyori - two very good cadets with whom the Hungarians have strengthened their lines. They get on the width, but also on the maturity, no matter how silly that sounds. Juhasz and Gyori play very mature handball, and they've shown that during preparations when they were the best players of their team in a dual match against Slovenia. One of those matches ended in a draw, and in the second one the Hungarians lost with a four-point difference. The Dutch are no where near that level. Thus I expect the Hungarians to ease their way towards Brasil without much struggle. Details

First head-to-head match these teams played in the season ended at 54 goals despite having been played under strange circumstances. Both teams had much more important games to play the very next day, which forced them to rest the key players as much as possible. Savenhof's best players spend some 15 minutes in the game, and even that was enough for 20 goals at half time. Savenhof's top players will spend at least half as much time in the game today, which should result in some 40 goals more. Spar should be able to score 15 or 20 points. We need to point out that the game ended at 54 goals despite the fact neither teams were very efficient. Both hit 10 points, 13 shots weren't even on target, and the game ended with a total of only 1 seven-meter throw. Savenhof's goal keepers had 18 saves, 35 technical errors were made. Now that both teams have only this match to focus on, I expect better numbers and over at this margin. They went over even in a less productive game and I think that makes this a very good option. Details

Lugi have a couple of days ago shown that they are more powerful than young Drott. Halmstad team have big problems against hard defenses, and such are Kristianstad and Lugi. How did those games go? Drott lost with 13 and 12 difference. Today it may not be such a convincing win, but the 5-6 difference seems realistic. The only detail which could be the hosts' minus is the leaving of Tingsvall, but he's being substituted by Roganovic, and he's been the best player of the league for years. I see him as the key of today's bet - his 20-something minutes on the court could lead Lugi to a convincing win, although the fact that the hosts are a better team than Drott even without him is there. They shouldn't lack the motivation because the first time they played against Drott they turned an almost certain win into a defeat. Such an experienced team won't allow the same thing to happen twice in only a couple of months. Details

On the one hand we have a team that averages 20 points per games (Heid) and on the other Tyreso, who average even less (only 19.7). Heid went over this margin only when the opponents would go over 30 goals per game, but not even like that would Heid always go over the margin. Heid managed to limit teams like Savenof, Skovde, and Lufi to 20, 24, and 23 goals, which is quite impressive. In accordance to that, we should not expect Tyreso to be as productive as they were against Eslov or Sparvagens (27 goals in each game, their season-best). They went over 20 only against Skuru after that, but Skuru are a fast pace team like Spar. Heid are nothing like that and their coach Johansson calls for extra caution now, which is why we should expect a slow-paced game. Given its importance and the increased number of technical errors that result from it, this match will most likely not go over the 45-goal margin. Details

I expect the margin is somewhat higher (for Ricoh's frames) because Hammarby announced the race. But, they did the same thing before the first match and the game remained at 48 goals. Ricoh are simply not a team who would allow anyone to run around them; they have a good number of experienced players to succeed in obtrude their own rhythm. Also, we should keep in mind that this is the Swedish capital derby, today the duel will be followed by additional special effects - it all comes to the fact that both sides will be pumped up, and I don't see a lot of goals in such a scenario. Details