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A week ago Vardar have, during all 60 minutes in Koprivnica, had a maximum of two goals of difference which, with great struggle, they managed to turn into a win. What would change if they beat Podravka today with seven or more goals of difference? Nothing, besides the fact they're playing on home court, on which two weeks ago they beat Thuringer with five goals of difference which were created in the last 10 minutes of the match. Let's remind ourselves that Thuringer came to that match with nine players, and during all 60 minutes seven of them were rotating. Vardar wants shape, their game is far from the real deal and it all depends on Lekic and Penezic. Dembele and Zebic are scoring points on the left wing, the right wing doesn't exist, pivot Althaus doesn't even get the ball. If Podravka had one or more good players in the rotation, Vardar would have been defeated in Koprivnica, but so far Tatari, Elez, Trifunovic and Zivkovic seem like better players. It was 26 points against Buducnost and 27 against Vardar. That guarantees us that today we will see an even match for the most part of the game, and a difference of at least two goals less than the margin offered. Details

Both teams are on the same 2-1 record after three rounds, with the same number of lost and won sets. Galatasaray have been among the top four Turkish teams for years now but they are not are good as the other three teams this season. Only two players from last season didn't leave the club and new players that joined need more time with the rest of the team and that is their main problem this season.

Canakkale have a brand new team this season, having acquired two good quality Polish players, and an inexperienced Spaniard Lamas. Ceda Aktas, former European and World champion, will be their main attacker. Galatasaray's foreigners might be more renowned, but Galatasaray's positions are not good and they don't have much substitutions to choose from. Galatasaray met Besiktas last round and barely managed to win, having lost one set. Besiktas are not as good as Canakkale, their first round defeat 3-1 home only went to prove it. Cannakale have more experienced reception and organization, they already recorded two wins against ambitious teams and proved that they have what it takes to get at least a set against Galatasaray. Details

Gyori recorded a relatively easy win last week, having contorted the whole match. But, the feeling is that Viborg could have done better. The score was tied 22 minutes into the game, Viborg's goal keepers were better but their defense players failed to step up and stop Gyori's scoring run. They lacked the usual toughness and fierceness and clearly needed better preparation. The offense made too many mistakes obviously affected by the defeat in Danish cup semifinal that happened only a few days earlier. After a championship win, Viborg came to Budapest with a much higher confidence level and now have one extra player on the roster. That's important since Gyori have psychically very powerful Loke they need to fight against the whole match. Gyori are the favorite but they're at least 30% weaker than the team that was lead by goal keeper Lunde and Gorbicz in the first game. Gorbicz might do seven-meter throws only today, leaving Aguilar as the main organizer on the court. She needs more time to get a hang of the European handball. As for goal keepers, neither Grubisic not Herr are capable to make up for the stability that Lunde provided her team with. Viborg are in a much better situation now and I expect a much closer match. Details

As the new team in the league Silkeborg have held their own in duels with teams equal to themselves, but their results against the top teams of the Danish league are revealing a quality disparity. Randers 21-40, Team Esbjerg 21-32,Mitjylland 19-28, and their only performance worth mentioning was a 23-25 loss against Viborg. TT Holstebro are at least equal to the ones mentioned above, they have a very deep rotation with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish national team members in almost all positions. They have two exceptionally good middle backs in Kristina Kristiansen and Laerke Moller. Along with the best Danish left winger Norgaard, those players can dictate a fierce pace throughout 60 minutes. If we were to compare rosters, suffice to say Holstebro have Dragojević as a reserve, who was one of the two most efficient Silkeborg players last season. The entire Silkeborg concept revolves around two players: experienced Jette Hansen, who battled Holstebro for two seasons in Vejen, and young and talented Dornoville de la Cour, with the two of them totaling 105 of the teams 206 goals this season. The two of them cannot match Holstebro's capacity, and will easily shut them down. We also have a preseason match of these teams ending with a 38-19 win for Holstebro. Given it was a preseason match and there were rotations involved, the real difference is less than 20 goals, but the current form, results, and the individual and team quality Holstebro have, all this points to at least +10 as a very realistic option. Details

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Oppsal are very close to achieved a historical result of reaching the Noweigan Cup final. I think that they will take advantage of this opportunity and beat their semi final opponent convincingly. They are currently in position three of the Norway championship table, with three wins more and 6 points ahead of Halden, who are in position 9. Oppsal met Hladen a month ago and won by only two goals after struggling in the first half. But, unlike in that game, Oppsal will now play with all of their top players. The had to do without two very important players middle back Duda and right back Kurtovic. Duda and Suvdal were starters in their team's last two championship matches. Suvdal was the top scorer with 12 goals combined. Kurtovic is expected to be in the game today after sitting the last one out. Oppsal are better when it comes to each and every position, have more players on the roster and play home. Halden has a few Danish players and the Danish coach, but none of them have good reputation in Denmark. The fact they reached semifinal is great success considering their quality. The margin set at handicap in their first head-to-head game was one goal higher, but with everything a mentioned about Oppsal before, the margin set one goal short is worth the stake. Details

Last week we were chasing an under for Vardar with the same margin against a way faster Thuringer team than today's home Podravka, and I don't see why we shouldn't do the same today. Everything said about Vardar's game on offense came true against the Germans, almost everything hangs on the scoring of Penezić and Lukić, who totaled almost half of the 26 goals for Vardar. There is no quick transition, very few goals from counterattacks, the wings are getting few passes and the pivot is forgotten. We should also mention that Vardar's only player for that position today is Anja Althaus, who will also be playing defense. She is now rather mature and no longer has neither the freshness nor the speed from the time when she demolished in Viborg. A point in favor of an under bet and worth mentioning is the great form of goalkeeper Suslina, who came close to an incredible 30 saves in their last match.
Podravka scored 27 against Budućnost, a team synonymous with defense, but such an offensive performance is far from an everyday occurrence. Budućnost failed at defense, their goalies had a bad day, and almost ever shot into the frame way a goal. Podravka's rotation cannot support a quick pace, they rely on eight players at best, of which four are perimeter players who are basically their entire offense. The important thing in this last match is that the home team saw they can handle big teams, at least for some time. In order to score they have to rely on good defense and fewer mistakes, so the statements about going out to 'fight it out' and playing 'bloody knees' defense say enough of their intentions here. Details

Budućnost can hardly be as bad defensively as they were in Koprivnica, where they conceded 23 goals in 40 minutes. In the 17th minute of the game, they lead 13-4, all they had to do was finish the opponent, but things took the wrong turn, thanks to their wrong decisions both ways, but also a bad day for Budućnost goalie. We have to mention that Budućnost played the whole match without Milena Knežević who got hit hard at the beginning of the match, while Neague didn't train in full intensity that week and she wasn't her usual self. They come to Germany very motivated, complete and with no problems, to get their third win. What makes us believe that the win will be by at least 4-5 goals difference is the state of the German champion. Thuringer have 11 players to rotate for this match, five back, two pivots and two wings. Snelder's got a broken nose and will play with a mask. They barely defeated Bietigheim on Wednesday, they were even with Vardar for 30 minutes, but hardly had the strength to do more. Coach Muller will make unnatural rotations, play with seven players on the court to get the best out of this match, but on the other side is the European vice champion who aspire to get a title this season. Details

The odds are heavily influenced by the torture Eczacibachi had in the season opener, and the tradition of their head-to-head matches with Vakif. If we analyze the roster a bit better we can find value for Eczacibashi. Both teams have changed half the starting line-up, with a lot of new players joining and not having enough time to adjust. Eczacibasi have the well organized Asuman-Neslihan duo and other thing is Neslihan, who started the new season rested after doing the whole preseason with the team. One of Vakif's former players is not at home team and might have the key role at blocking Vakif's attempts. Reception is their driving force, but Gozde and Gizem have both had a busy summer with the Turkish national team. I think that will affect their game this season. I expect a very close match and the offered handicap at the home team winning at least 2 sets in this match is worth paying attention to Details

The choice of only eight players is bound to create problems for Viborg sooner or later (problems bigger than they've been experiencing so far), particularly now that they have two games each week and especially when meeting teams such as Holstebro. Holstebro have built a team that can stand up to just about anyone - great signings, diverse offense and, as of this season, better defense resulted in only Midtjylland conceding less goals then them. They can stand up to Viborg in every aspect of the game. Holstebro's goal keeper is just as good as Viborg's, they have more players on the roster. Viborg are better maybe only in the pivot position. Holtebro had a few more days off to prepare for this game. They already beat Mitdjylland away this season and lost to Esbjerg by only one goal in the season opener. I think they have a 50-50 chance to get through to Cup final and the handicap margin therefore has value. Details

Due to other obligations, Thuringer are playing their seventh round home match against bottom ranked Bierigheim today. Thuringer managed to glied through the first six rounds of the national league easily, but they've been playing two games a week for the last two weeks, which is taxing on them if you remember that they had five players off the roster up to the Vardar game, and six after it. Danick Snelder got a broken nose in Skopje and will not be playing today. Their second offense player, Meike Schmelzer, played both pivot and perimeter positions against Vardar due to a shallow roster, while their third pivot is 17-year-old Gramma, who wasn't even a bench player so far. Coach Muller has a ten player roster with two juniors, which will take its toll on their game.
Bietigheim are not as bad as their score shows, since a win and a draw are far from what a team gunning for European cups expected this season. The team changed a lot compared to last season, as nine new players arrived, mostly foreigners, so they're still tuning in. The key issue is that their main organizer Jurgutyta got injured before the season started, with another four players off the roster for the first two rounds as well. All of them, apart from Jurgutyta who will be off for a while, are back now, and reinforced by Larsen Poulsen, so they have a wide selection of perimeter players. They lost two recent matches, one against a top tier team and one unluckily. In the past six rounds Thuringer won only one match with a double digit lead, the team are far more tired now and burdened by injuries, which Bietigheim, who are far from a push-over, should take advantage of and at least secure a minimal defeat. Details

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A deeper analysis of Vardar's first game shows a few things. Vardar didn't solve the question of a good right back player, Lazović isn't one who'll crush the offense, it all comes down to Lekić and, starting this season, Penezić. Jovanka Radičević is completely out of form, and Indira knows it, so she started the match in Podgorica with the Russian Chernoivanenko as the right wing, but the realization lacked from this position. Generally, the complete right line is far from the real form in the offense. Pineau and Khmyrova are not playing, and lack of good players in the rotation means forcing Penezić in the defense, while the young Ikhneva as the first substitute for the left back position looked completely lost. Now, Budućnost's defense is bordering on fanaticism, but the fact is that Vardar's offense isn't that dangerous, at least not at the start of the CL.
On the other hand, we have Thuringre who force fast rhythm, but considering the numerous changes with the injuries, and the fact that they came with 11 players, seven of which are backs and two goalies, it all shows they won't have the material for their recognizable transition for all 60 minutes, but the result will be a priority. Add to this that they have Krause on the goal, she's in a great form at the beginning of the season, had 17 saves against Podravka, and it just adds to the value of seeing this game with the max 50 goals total. Details

I decided on the visiting team handicap in the end because of the fact Buducnost are the top defense of the Champions League. That defense will be faced with Podravka's 4 back field players who play both offense and defense each game. Left back Trifunovic and right back Zivkovic won't lack motivation since they meet their former club today, but if they were any good, Buducnost would not have let them leave after only one season. Tatari will be Podravka's key player, with their performance depending almost entirely on her. That will make her the main target of Buducnost's defense, especially defense specialists Lazovic and Cvijic. I think Buducnost could have done much better in their meeting with Vardar. They recorded four completely unnecessary technical faults, missed four seven-meter throws, and Kaca Bulartovic didn't do her best. Buducnost beat Podravka in Croatia in the last preseason match by 6 goals and I don't see any reason why this game would not end up in a similar fashion, maybe even by 2 or 3 goals more. Podravka played a derby match with Lokomotiv three days ago, which could make fatigue another problem for the Croatian team today. Details

The home team have too many problems, which is definitely one of the reasons to pick Midtjylland. Odense are missing two very important players, Adler and Iversen, both among the top four scorers of the team, while Adler is even more important with the fact that she's been off the team for four rounds now and is still among the Top 4 scorers of the team. Those two were also a central part of their defense, which means their defense will also be in disarray. Even without those issues Midtjylland would still be a favorite, as a team attacking the title and having three consecutive victories. They have far bigger individual potential at all positions, and according to the latest information their right back LIne Jorgensen might also play, which would make Midtjylland's offense complete and even more deadly. A margin worth the indicated stake. Details

Byasen have individual quality and European cup experience on their side, but they are no longer the team who were traditionally second in Norway and left a very good impression at European competitions. Now their starters count three junior players and the bench is filled almost exclusively with juniors who have great potential but were not in the forefront last year. They have a big responsibility this season, which did not go easily in the Norwegian league, on the contrary, they already lost against teams who are among the three 'worst' in the championship. On Thursday they lost the Cup quarterfinal against Halden, a team who don't have much of a score themselves in the championship, which was yet another blow to Byasen prior to this double bout in Danilovgrad. The home team are known to be one of the most talented generations in Montenegro, with the best right back in the world for this age category and four players on the A team. Their downside is naturally youth and lack of experience, but playing together throughout the year, both in the club and the cadette national team under the leadership of Maja Savić, is producing results. Apart from doing great at the cadette W, Danilovgrad won two regional league matches in this period, and beating Krim carries some wight. Krim are significantly weaker compared to past seasons, but still have some experienced players on their team, which shows significant progress by Danilovgrad in this season. The team have a winning mentality and the least we can expect in this duel is a battle throughout the 60 minutes of both this match and tomorrow's rematch at home, while we believe the handicap margin on offer is at least two or three goals above the realistic one. Details

This is more than an acceptable margin when it comes to the clash of one of the top three teams in the championship and the worst team in it. Nykobing, despite the horrible record, never lost by more than 5 goals, but also never met any of the top 4 teams. Esbjerg use the fast pace throughout the match to deal with similar teams, having beaten Sikeborg by 11 goals, Skive by 13 and Ringkobing by 6. Nykobing's game usually gets worse in the last 10-15 minutes of the games since they don't have a lot players to count on, which will be something Esbjerg will know how to take advantage of. Details

Are one of the top teams of the 1st division (Njard) ready to beat one the worst top division team to get through to Cup semifinals? I think not, and these are my reasons: most of Najrd's players used to play at Nordstrand and there are a few other young players on the team. They won three games in the 1st division, having recorded one other draw and one defeat and meet Molde n Sunday, who are the top team in the league at the moment. The visitors ended the season 2013/14 in the seventh position, but in the meantime lost a few important players. Their line up, though, is still made up of players who have been on the team for years now and still have a choice better than most second division teams. They didn't win any of the first seven round matches, but we should point out that they lost to Larvik by only 7 goals, which is a great achievement not many teams better than Nordstrand are capable of. They lost two games with direct rivals Halden and Stabaek by one goals despite being in the lead for the most part of the game. The beat second division Realingen 28-22 to advance to Cup second round, with their results in the preseason period proving they're not as bad as their ranking might suggest. In one of the preseason tournaments, Nordstrand beat Njard convincingly 24-14 after a bad start to the game and later came in as the fourth best team. I think they're capable of winning by at least two goals today. Details

A derby of the Noweigan Cup quarter final between Stormahar (eight in the championship table) and Oppsal (thrid in the table). Both teams had enough time to rest and prepare since they played their last championship matches seven days ago. The home team lost all of their four matches against the upper table teams and beat three teams that are among the 4 worst teams in the championship. Oppsal are one of the most pleasant surprises this season which is not surprising since they opened the season on a bigger budget.

They did the Larvik match seven days ago without their three key players, one of which was their top scorer. There was no way to avoid the defeat to Larvik under such conditions. But today, they cannot count only on Kurtovic, who played only two matches this season. Duda and Suvdal are back in the line up. These opponents met in preseason at Vest Fjorden Cup, the final test ahead of the season and played 19-19. Oppsal played one more game that very day to win and secure the top spot in the group, advancing on to win the tournament in the end. Oppsal find this game very important and I believe they will win to reach Cup semifinals. Details