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These are the two key weeks in 2015 for the Netherlands. In other words, that means the approach to the game will be the same as if we're talking about finals of a tournament. The individual quality is at least one step above than with the Czech Republic . The main players are in top Danish, German and French championships. When we talk about team quality, a couple of words aren't enough. We're talking about players who have improved the most in the last three to four years. Two years ago on the World Championship placement they crushed one of leading European teams - Russia. In the last European Championship by the end of 2014 they were one of the most pleasant surprises.They beat Slovakia on that championship with 30-20 and they played against the same rivals in preparations two months ago (29-26, 33-27). We're mentioning Slovakia because their game style, and even the players' potential is similar to Czech Republic. On the other hand, Slovakia often managed to beat Czech Republic lately, and the same thing happened only a couple of days ago (22-21). The last head-to-head was a preparation one more than two years ago and the Netherlands won convincingly back then (33-18). I expect the Netherlands will score such an advantage that after the first match they will think about packing their suitcases and heading to the World Championship in Denmark. Details

The tournament that is part of the Championship of the Small Countries is starting today in Iceland. Other than there two countries, Montenegro, San Marino, and Luxembourg are to play as well. Since there are only 5 teams participating and Montenegro and Luxembourg are ahead in quality, I think this opening match could basically decide which of these two teams will win the bronze medal here.

Iceland have the home court advantage but I think the odds are overrating their quality. They were affected by the outcome of the first head-to-head match from 2014 when Iceland played home and won 3-0 in a qualifying match for the Championship of th Small Countries. Lichtenstein were basically playing with their B team there. One of the reasons for it was the fact they had a direct qualification as the hosts of the Championship. The first days of 2015 offered a proper head-to-head match. It was at Novotel Cup in Luxembourg when Lichtenstein won 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-17). Both teams played with rosters almost identical to these they have here.

Another thing is, unlike Iceland who didn't play any games in this period of time, Lichtenstein were participating at the aforementioned Championship of the Small Countries from May 15th until May 17th. They are therefore much better prepared. They did lose all four games but they were very close to winning a set against Luxembourg, who is the leading time at this level alongside Cyprus. Let's just say that half of the Lichtenstein's team play at the same club, which is an advantage. The points handicap at Lichtenstein offered by Marathon (+12.5) has the same value. Details

This match for the third place can be seen from two angles, and from both of them Nimes stands a better chance. The first one is motivational. Metz's goal was to defend the title from the last season, and the result of the playoffs is less important since they won't be playing in the finals. The psychological condition of the whole team is also questionable: they were really shaken up after the defeat in the second semi-finals match of the playoffs against Issy Paris. Metz ignored the +6 from the first match, although 10 minutes before the end they only had -2. From this corner, Nimes outdid their goal for the season by earning the semi-finals of the playoffs. The second angle is the game one. Nimes beat Metz twice this season in the championship (24-18, 32-31) only to score a draw in the regular part in the finals of the French Cup (24-24). Metz won the trophy after better the penalty-shootout. Play-wise they're not lacking after Metz; moreover, with the arrival of Alison Pineau they got an extra kick to finish the season. Mona Chebbah is the first scorer of the league and the greatest favorite for the MVP title. The right side is covered by the experienced Ayglon and Dancette, goalkeeper Marija Colic is in her top shape. She had 14 saves against Metz in the aforementioned cup finals; and 31 in the quarter-finals playoffs against Nantes (in total). In the first semi-finals matc against Fleury Loirete it was 16. For a smaller bet it's worth to go for Nimes's win in the first match of the playoffs for the third place. Details

What is seemingly a close final, I cannot ignore a few facts that I believe will result in Midtjyland's win today. The key players on the team have done many of these kind of important games in which they couldn't afford any slips. And they've been very successful in them. They seem unstoppable, with a dominant defense, top level goal keeper Englert and a much better point guard Groot compared to Team Esbjerg. They won all games for the titles his season (Supercup final, Danish cup, and EHF Cup final second-leg game). They have two wins and a draw against Esbjerg and had a chance to even get most of the job done after the first match but then squandered away a 5-point lead they had 8 minutes before the end. They will probably not allow that to happen today. Details

I think the Americans are favorites for the win here because, first of all, they left a much better impression after the first two days compared to Puerto Ricans. The US were only 3 goals down at half time against Brazil the first round and lost by 14 goals in the end (14-28) but only two years ago, they lost 10-44 at the same competition in the Dominican Republic. They lost to Paraguay after a close game yesterday (25-26) but that opponent is aiming for the top spots here. Puerto Rico played a draw with Venezuela on the first day (25-25) and lost to Brazil by 20 points yesterday. Also, these teams met 4 times this season. In early March, the US hosted three test games against Puerto Rico and won all three (31-25, 30-21, and 29-23). The only official match (qualifier for this competition) was hosted by Puerto Rico but that didn't help them to win. It was 33-29 for the US this time. Also, Borg, the top American player, didn't play any of those games because she was in Norway (plays at second-tier Njard). She will be the leader of this team and scored team-high 5 goals against Brazil. The tip at the handicap offered at the US deserves one unit higher stake but since that's limited we'll go with this one. Details

More factors promise that this could be a match with a lot of goals. Leverkusen are finishing their season in the golden middle, while Trier will officially become a second-league side from the next season. Before the match the home team will celebrate with their fans the title their junior team won: last weekend in Hamburg their won a title of the German championship for a third time. Considering they have four injured players on their list, coach Renate Wolf announced that a lot of juniors will get their chance in today's match. Pia Adams and Ramona Ruthenbeck have already become a standard part of the senior roster this season. In the finish of the season chances were given to Burkholder, Kim Brown and goalkeeper Fehr. The celebration for the juniors will be filled with goodbyes for three players for whom this is the last match in Leverkusen's jersey: Salamahka, Rita Latakaite and Natalie Hagel. Regarding the away team, the only player who will have extra motive for tonight's match is their best shot Katrin Schneider. With 176 goals, Schneider is currently the third best shot in the championship, and she's competing for that place with Leverkusen's Nadzinavicius and Oldenburg's Julie Wenzl. In the first match this season in Trier they played at 65 goals. If we take a look back, statistically, on seven out of their ten head-to-head matches they came to an over on today's offered margin. Details

The second day of the female handball Pan American games which is being held from 21st to 28th of May in Cuba. This is also a qualification tournament for the Word Cup which be held in Denmark at the end of the year. Four best teams from this tournament go directly to the World Cup, while the fifth team will play the extra qualifications. During the first day yesterday, Greenland lost to Paraguay (18-25), and Venezuela and Puerto Rico played a draw (25-25). Greenland are, after a decade long break, back in the qualifications for the World Cup, at the end of March and the beginning of April, they played on a NORCECA qualification tournament in Puerto Rico for the Pan American Games. Greenland won the fourth place, with two wins, two losses and a draw. Greenland's national team is lead by the coach of Danish Superliga team Silkeborg, Jakob Andreasen. He achieved a historic success with Silkeborg this season by winning the fifth position and qualifying for the play-off. The team has five players who are playing in Danish teams, Mikkelsen and Davidsen from Silkeborg, three are from the Danish second League - Rasmussen (Lyngby), Millek (Ringsted) and Lorentzen (Hadsted), while the rest are playing for the amateur teams from Greenland, a few of them spent a few seasons in some Danish lower league teams. As a parallel to their today's opponent Venezuela, we should look back to the mention qualifications held a month ago. On these qualifications, Greenland defeated Puerto Rico 27-26 in the group stage, and a few day before that tournament they defeated the same rival in a friendly game (29-26). In yesterday's game, Puerto Rico was in the lead by three points (13-10) against Venezuela after first half, but they lost in the finish of the game. We should mention that Greenland traveled to these qualifications without their selector Andreasen who had obligations in the play-off of the Danish Championship, but he had enough time in the previous month to prepare ahead of this tournament. His analysis says that a certain part of the team is on a lower fitness level, but that they are tactically and technically prepared, his team has several players that have played quality games during season and that will be an advantage over certain teams on this tournament. If Paraguay was too big of a challenge, since it is a team that is traditionally fighting for the third position, right behind Brasil and Argentina, Venezuela who are convincingly the weakest team from this region, are definitely a team that can be defeated. Details

According to both coaches' statements, this match should show much more serious character and responsibility in the defense. Friis-Hansen, Viborg coach, says it's irresponsible to concede 32 goals in a single match, and Holstebro's coach said he's primarily not happy about the number of mistakes his team made in the first match in Viborg, caused by the high rhythm of the entire match. 64 goals in this match aren't an adequate representation of the goalies, Solberg, Masson, and Poulsen. Statistically, their duels this season ended with two unders and two overs on this margin, and this is the first time the margin was set like this. The initial limit on all the previous matches was 54 goals, and moving this one three goals higher is mainly because of all the goals from the first match of this playoff. The last match in the season, the potential of bronze medal, the quality of the offense isn't doubtful, but now is the turn for the defenses to show what they've got. Holstebro's got the second best Danish defense, and Viborg's is among the top five. Details

Metz's players are going to the return fixture in Paris with an advantage of six goals from the first game seven days ago (33-27), the difference is big but not unattainable. Metz dictated the result for the majority of the game, but it needs to be said that the result was 27-25 ten minutes before the end and Metz came to the maximum six point lead in the finish of the game. Metz have maximally used their width, they rotated 12 players on the court throughout the 60 minutes, their goalkeepers were good, Pierson in the first and Glauser in the second half. Issy Paris looked for the cause of the defeat in the absence of their most efficient player this season, member of the Montenegro national team, Marija Jovanovic (third scorer in the league with 123 goals). Jovanovic injured her left ankle, and she spent the entire match on the bench to avoid worsening of the injury, so the efficiency of the offense was limited to Oftedal sisters. Second reason for the defeat is a bad day for the keeper Attingre who finished the match with measly five saves. Regarding the games against Metz, we should mention that Attingre had 18 saves in their last game against them in the league. Prior to this match, there were some information that the left back Montenegro national team member trained full-time without a problem and that she is ready to play, which gives a different dimension to Issy Paris' offense.

Metz and Issy Paris have one win each in the regular season, Metz won 36-27 at the opening of the season (Issy Paris had only 10 players on the roster for this game), while Issy Paris won the second game at home (28-24). Issy Paris finished the season in the second position, qualified directly into the play-off semi-final, which could be a minus for them competitively, because they haven't played a competitive game for almost a month before the first semi-final game against Metz. They know how to play in these situation when they are chasing a goal difference from the first game, and that is proven by this year's EHF Cup quarter-final, in which they lost the first game against Danish Holstebro by 13 goals (27-40), but they almost made a miracle in the return fixture, they won by 12 points (32-20). When I consider the information that they lost only one home game this season (their record is 8-0-1) in all three competitions, I believe that they have enough strength to win by at least two goals in tonight's return fixture. Details

This is the penultimate match of the season for both teams. Both are carefree and this has no importance for either result wise. That is the only reason why I'm not going with a higher stake despite the home team being in quite a lot of trouble. Bietigheim have had injury struggles all season long and have only 10 players at their disposal ahead of he last 2 rounds. Coach Albersten says he has only one wish until the end and that is for his now healthy players to stay injury-free. 6 players are on the injury-list now, two of which got on it in the last game. Three players from youth ranks joined the team late last month just to be on coach's disposal in case they are needed. The coach has have only one goal keeper and one typical linewoman, who is 17 years old, at his disposal. Fuchse are on a 5-game losing run (three in the championship and 2 at Cup final tournament) and they want to win this last match home. They are better than Bietigheim quality-wise and beat them convincingly in the head-to-head early this year away (32-23). Details

Knowing that this the the game between the top and the third best defense in the Danish league, that this is the first leg final game and that Midtjyland might have to do without their only let-handed back player (Jorgesen), under becomes the no.1 option here. When analyzing all the important games Midtjyland played this season, we conclude that they won all 3 titles by limiting the opponents' defenses as much as was possible. They won the Supercup at season start by beating Viborg (25-19), limited Holstebro in the first playoffs semifinal match to 19 to basically advance to final after the first game. They won the Cup Winners' Cup by limiting Fleury Lioret to 19 goals in the second lef final game last wek. Only the Danish cup final was different as they beat Holstebro by 32-26 but that final took place only a few days after the players got back from Europen Championship. This is the third consecutive playoff finals for Midtjyland They won the title two years ago against Holstebro after two games that finished at 50 and 46 goals, respectively. Last season, they lost to Viborg after two matches that finished at 48 and 45 goals. I don't expect more of them today. Details

This is a match played for satisfaction and for those who "read" the history of the German cup in which is will say that one of these teams in the final tournament in Hamburg 2015 won the third place. Fuchse were an outsider considering the rest three teams. In yesterday's semi-finals they managed good 25 minutes while Buxtehude ruled the rest of the match. They conceded 34 goals in the semi-finals in which they were supposed to be on a higher level in the defense. In today's match with no pressure we should expect at least 30 conceded goals from the current champions Thuringer. This season they lost twice against their opponents; 31-22 at the start of the season and 41-28 during February this year. Thuringer "unexpectedly" got knocked out in yesterday's semi-finals against Oldenburg after doing penalty-shots. In regular part it was 24-24. We've seen "terrible" defenses in the first part of this match and only 16 goals, but also 32 goals in the second part which goes with both teams' capacities. A lot of tension and 16 penalty shots in the regular part, a lot of time lost... Today we have a match which won't have competitor's tension, in which there will surely be rotations, and this goes for Thuringer who will go on an away match on Tuesday to Goppingen where winning and two points surely bring them the title of the German champions, and who will find it important to have their whole team healthy and at the disposal for a far more important match than this one. The "deep" over on the last match is also something to look after, considering today's limit. Details

On the final tournament of the German handball Cup for women in Hamburg, the second game is played between the current champions Thuringer and Oldenburg who won the German Cup three times in the past, last time in 2012. Thuringer are going after a double crown, they defeated their direct rival for the top spot, Buxtehuder, 32-26 in the great derby last weekend. Their team is complete, their best player Nadgornaja, who missed several games at the end of the last month because of an injury, is also in the team, and her 14 goals in the last two games say that she is completely ready for the hunt after the two trophies by the end of the month. Majority of experts predict a Thuringer vs. Buxtehunde finale, but Oldenburg's coach, Leszek Krowicki, is opposing those predictions, "Of course we have a chance. We proved that many times throughout this season". Oldenburg are going into this game highly motivated and confident after a great championship win over last year's Cup winner, Leipzig (28-18). They are also building their optimism on a great win over the same rival on the rival's court in the Cup quarter-final (29-28), and that win opened the door to this final tournament. Oldenburg's concept is the first thing influencing today's pick. Oldenburg are the second most efficient team in the German championship, right behind Thuringer, their score 30 goals per game on average, but they are also the team that conceded the most goals against top 6 teams (27 goals per game). They are forcing fast attacks, using counterattacks, and they have the most efficient back line. Three of Oldenburg's players are among the Top 10 scorers of the League, that's their complete back line, left back Geschke, middle back Muller and right back Julia Wenzl. The latter one is in the best form of her career, in the last seven games she scored average of 10 goals. It is important to mention that Oldenburg's most important player and a member of the German national team, Angie Geschke was out for five weeks, but she came back ten days ago and was in the starting lineup against Leipzig for the first time after the break. She played for the majority of the game, and the information that she scored 8 goals in that game confirms she has returned to her form.

Something about their head-to-head games. These two teams played against each other 10 days ago in the championship, Thuringer won 35-32. Above mentioned Geschke played only defense in this game and scored only one goal, but we can expect her usual efficiency today, the same one she had in their first game this season in Oldenburg at the end of November (27-32), when she scored 7 goals. Thuringer have won last eight games, but what needs to be stressed are are seven overs on the margin offered for today's game. The eighth over seems to be announced for tonight. Details

With only two games left until the end of the Championship, this game is very important for both teams. Leipzig have put their placement into the Europe in doubt, while this is the last chance for Koblenz in their struggle to avoid relegation. Leipzig have entered a bad run of three games without a win, two defeats and a draw, in the finish of the season. The last defeat at Oldenburg (18-28) was their most convincing defeat this season. The reason for their bad results and bad performances is the absence of three of their key players, Karolina Kudlacz, Anna Muller and Saskia Lang, and Anna Atlandottir is also on the injured player list, and has missed almost the whole season. Kudlacz is Leipzig's top scorer, Muller and Lang are starters, all of them important players for the defense as well. Leipzig has played with this limited number of players in rotation in their last two games and the main problems were obvious in the shot efficiency.
Koblenz have lost at home last week what was probably a deciding game in their struggle to avoid relegation, but they still have some theoretical chances. According to their coach, Caslav Dincic, "his team didn't handle the huge pressure and they lost even before the game against Goppingen started". The first half, in which Koblenz scored only seven goals, was crucial. They scored 15 in the second half, but the seven points they were behind in the first half were too big of a challenge. They are coming to Leipzig as underdogs and in that situation Koblenz look for their chances. According to them, there will be no pressure, they can play the card of player problems and the bad form Leipzig is in, but they are also counting on a solid result against Leipzig in the first part of the season. At the end of January this year, Koblenz lost at home against Leipzig by only 2 goals (23-25), and the three mentioned Leipzig players who will not be playing today scored 12 of the 25 goals in that game. Leipzig is not going after a result difference, but a win, they're playing against visitors who are motivated and who will be going after salvation so in this situation I see value for the set stake in the offered handicap on Koblenz. Details

Neither of these two can find a motive to play this match for the third place, especially Vardar who got beat in the semifinal against Budućnost yesterday. Vardar were fully focused on Budućnost and possible final against Larvik while getting ready, they weren't thinking about Dynamo. We can expect a lot of rotations today, defenses being less aggressive, lack of real focus in the entire 60 minutes, which is a problem Dynamo were dealing with this entire season. Dynamo and Vardar faced each other twice in the main phase of the Champions League, it was 33-25 in Volgograd and 28-27 in Skopje. So over 55 in both matches. Add to this what we saw in the match between Vardar and Midtjylland (who are knowon as one of the better defensive teams) for the third place last year, and 65, the offered margin on today's match, gets an even bigger value. Details

Bulatovic is living in the shadow of Kristina Neagu when it comes to the efficiency in Buducnost's offense and that is only one more reason to go with her finishing this semifinal with at least 5 goals. Vardar will be at least a bit more focused on Neagu, which Bultovic should take advantage of given her experience and the freedom coach Adzic gives her. Another thing, Vardar are awarded 5 seven meter throws in Champions League this season on average and she is the first choice when it comes to taking those shots. Bulatovic played only the first match against Vardar and scored 5 goals, while she didn't play the second match in Skopje. Dalby took over at her position to score 3 goals, all from the floor. It is except that either Lekic or Dembele guard Bulatovic, but Katarina is superior in height over both of them. Details

Metz have a 2-goal lead from the first game but things are far from being over. Metz had the biggest lead in the first match with some 10 minutes left on the clock (+4, 15-19) but Nice weren't giving up and managed to get only one goal short at the beginning of the final minute. It was generally a game more dominated by defense and offensive tactics. The score was 10-11 at half time, both goal keepers were doing great (Darleux at Nice recorded 15 saves, Pierson at Metz 14). Darleux was the top player at nice, next to Lacrabere. She had the same number of saves in the first head-to-head in regular season and now in the first playoff game. She was the best player in regular season game and we have to point out that before joining Nice, she used to be at Metz, meaning she knows their players well. We are to expect Nice to play another game with focus on defense. Three of their players are both in defense and offense throughout the game and right back Lacrabere (9 goals in game one) also spends a lot of time on the floor, while other back players cannot be to happy with their speed. That means there will be no running and fast pace against Metz. All three results of these two teams in this season (25-27, 23-23, 19-21) are another reason for this bet. The first one at season start finished at 52 goals after everything fell apart in the second half, even though the first half finished with only 19 goals. Details

Less than 24 hours since Game 2, Zvezda and Astrahanochka will play the third and crucial match for the bronze medal in the Russian championship. The game yesterday was settled in the opening 10 minutes when Zvezda took a 7-1 lead as a result of a total lack of focus on Astrahanovhka's offense and superior Sidroova on Zvezda's goal. She had 50% of saves in the first half and 14 in total. Astrahanochka managed to make a comeback later on and tied the score with one minute left on the clock. But they failed to stop Zvezda's last attack in which right back Khavrinina fired a shot because she didn't know what else to do and scored.

There was not enough time for any serious tactical preparation ahead of game three, which I think Astrahanochka will win for a few reasons. Zvezda used 9 players yesterday, as in most of the season, 4 of which spent 55 minutes on the floor on average. Goal keeper Sidorova was on the goal the whole game. Astrahanochka have, next to Rostov, the greatest number of players. They used 12 players plus two goals keepers yesterday. The bad start was partly due to a bad choice of the middle back player. Smirnova was given the start at that position not having played 4-5 previous playoff games. While she was on the floor was when their offense fell apart. As soon as Vyakhireva and Nikitina took over, things got back to normal but the 6-goal deficit was still there. Goal keeper Trusova didn't live up to expectations yesterday either. She recorded 14 saves in game 1 and only 4 in game two. Asrahanochka's top players, Vyakhierva and Kuznetsova first and foremost, didn't live up to their potential last night. That and a much better choice at back positions is a great upper hand for them today. Details

There are three rounds left and Buxtehuder are still top table. They were never as close to winning the title as they are now ahead of the great final match taking place at Thuringer's arena. Thuringer, the defending champions, are in the runner-up spot and only three points short of Buxtehuder but have also played one game less. Buxtehuder still need to do one game before that big clash. Their opponents are Trier, who are in a desperate race for avoiding relegation. The visitors are favorites but their players are already thinking about the game to come next round. They are three players short, two of which are important. Trier have only three games to save themselves and even though winning points will be very tough today, they will try anyway. They lost to Thurniger home by 10 points last round, with the defending champions mostly being 6-8 goals ahead. They lost by 5 goals here last season to Buxtehuder and the situation today should result in at some 8-goal difference. Details

The semifinals first-leg game finished with Glassverkt wining away 31-25, which saw them take a huge step towards the finals. They are the better-quality team but on the other hand, Byasen won't give up just like that. They have the highest number of shots, they are the second most efficient team in the championship but at the same time have the second worst defense. They need to try and make a comeback after losing the first game by six goals. They have nothing to lose as this might be their last game of the season. Glassverkt are the second best team in Norway but the runner up spot in the league, the silver throphy and the secured spot in Europe mean their season is virtually over. This semifinals comes after a break of almost 40 days. They have only one first team goalkeeper, which forced the coach to put a 17-year-old Peteresen on the team. She had her debut in the second half of the first game but the coach said she'll get more time in the game today. That means we will probably see Bysen score a few goals more. Stats-wise, all three games of the season finished at over 56 goals, both in the championship being played at a pace for over 60 goals. The average of shots is 100 per game. To sum up, there's more than one reason to see another match with at least 55 goals Details