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Is somebody has the motive in this last game of the qualifications, then it's definitely Ukraine. There's a theory that Ukraine can make it to the European Championship as the best third team out of all groups. For that they need two things: first, Ukraine have to win today, and Slovenia have to lose tomorrow in a visiting match against Montenegro. Second, that win needs to be very convincing. Since only the results against two first teams are taken into account, Slovenia currently have the best goal-difference (-9), while Ukraine are at -18 which means they will have to insist on winning today with the biggest difference possible. If they are going to win, that's another matter, but what's known is that they will have result-uninterested opponents and that they will insist on realizations because they have nothing to lose. On Wednesday they recorded 26 goals against Serbia with two missed seven-meter throws, today that same number brings them the winning prediction, and with the things the way they are, Ukraine will need at least two or three goals on their total count. Details

This is the first semi-final leg at the final tournament of the Serbia Cup for the players which is being played today and tomorrow. Radnicki Kragujevac are the huge favorites for the finals in which they're after the trophy. After losing the title, that would be some kind of a compensation for this season. During this season Radnicki beat Medicinar in the regular part of the season. At the start of the first round it was 32-16, and at the start of 2016 it was 28-35. The difference between those two matches is that Medicinar's "brain" of the offense didn't play in the first match. Medicinar ended the season at the sixth place, and their position in this final tournament is beyond all of their expectations. Today they'll play with no pressure. Radnicki have the width, and rotations can be expected. The offered margin for a total number of goals has been pulled out of their two results from the championship and it doesn't suit the given moment which is closer to 60 goals. Details

Gyori has a 4-goal lead from the first leg. Ferencvaros needed 14 minutes to scored the first goal and finished the first half with just 6. Gyori finished it with an 11-6 lead and ended up winning. Their coach said they conceded a lot of goals in the second half because they lost focus and that it cannot happen again. This will be their 7th meeting this season. It's the most important one. Ferencvaros are defending the title after the failure in the Champions League QFs in the meeting with Gyori (lost 18-31 and 23-40). They lost to them again last month in Hungarian cup semis. Gyori didn't won Champions League but they won the Hungarian cup. Both teams need this title. Gyori won the last two games over Ferencvaros through aggressive defense. They had the same approach in the CL semis against Buducnost and in the final with CSM Bucharesti. All of them finished with unders at half time and at the end. Both of those unders have value today but since Gyori might save or increase the lead which might get their opponents playing faster and in turn get the game falling apart at the end. That is why I went with this option. Details

This is the second test game for these teams before the qualifiers for European championship 2017. Sweden beat Bosnia 3-1 last night (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22). The first three sets were close until the very end while the Swedes won the second one after being 6 points down (14-20). They were dominant from start to finish only in the 4th set. They already played two test games (two wins over Denmark, both 3-1) unlike Bosnia, who came to Sweden just a day earlier. Sweden are focused only their two receiver. One of them was the best scorer with 26 points. She's the only player from an international club alongside the other one. All the other players are in Swedish teams. The base of the Bosnian team are players from Jedinstvo. There are 6 of them from Jedinstvo on the team. A few other had good results this season in other league, for example Begic who was a Top 5 scorer in Serie A. Gardovic was the best player in Raspenjij in Hungary. The Bosnians work better together and have more experience. But they didn't have enough matches. However, after playing the one yesterday, we can expect a better preparation of them today. This is a dress rehearsal that they will try and use for boosting their confidence before the qualifiers start. The odds are based on yesterday's results and not a realistic view on this. We need to take advantage of that. Details

Astrakhanochka smelled blood and took advantage of a big drop in Rostov's form. They were the only undefeated team in Russia until last Thursday. Astrakhanochka now have a chance to finish the job they started in game one to beat the defending champions and clinch the title. In case Rostov win, the key game will take place tomorrow in Rostov. Rostov had a big drop in form after the 'unexpected' knock out in CL quarterfinal to CMS Bucharesti. They showed weakness in both semifinal games with Dinamo and it was clear in the first leg final game that the team is not ready for the final. Worst of all, their top player Ekatarina Ilina got hurt before the first leg. That affected the offense and resulted in 17 turnovers for her team. Had it not been for the brilliant goal keeper Sedoykina (52 percent of saves), Astrakhanochka would have won the first leg by at least 5 goals and scored over 25. In the two regular season games Astrakhanochk scored 26 and 28 goals and had an average of 49 shots on goal on average in all three meetings. They got limited to under 23 goals only once this season (in this final). Details

With yesterday's 30-23 win over Pogon, Lublin have take a 2-1 lead in the play-off final and came one step away from defending the title. Lublin played what could be their best performance this season in the first 30 minutes of the third game, they were good in both directions, and had a 17-10 lead after the first half (in 30 minutes they scored the same number of goals as in the entire second game of the final). In the second half, Lublin were even in the lead by 10 (26-16), and they could allow themselves to relax a bit in the final moments of the game. Pogon were not as bad offensively, but their defense was bad, especially goalkeeper Placzek who made only two saves in the first half.
- I congratulate Lublin on their deserved win. We didn't play well in defense, and it has been a while since we lost by conceding 30 goals. On Sunday we have a new game, and I believe we will be much more serious and more focused and we will try to earn the decisive match - said Pogon's coach Adrian Struzik.
Let's recap, Pogon are playing in the final without two of their best scorers of the regular season (Stasiak and Gadzina), with Bancilon who is no completely recovered, and with certain players in the offense who are not in their natural positions. They can win a 'break' in today's game only with quality defense and patient offense. Goalkeeper Placzek is in her best form, and it is hard to believe she will have two bad performances back-to-back. It will be a problem for Lublin to play so well just 24 hours later, we can expect a big battle on both ends, and the under on the offered margin, which is higher by a goal today than it was yesterday, does have some weight. Details

The Norwegian handball championship for women will end with the game between Larvik and Glassverket, this is the return fixture of the play-off final. We should mention that Larvik's players already got 'golden medals' as the winners of the title, and that the winner of this play-off gets the second 'best' position in the European Cups, and that is a spot in the Champions League qualifications. Since Larvik already secured a spot in the Champions League by winning the title, Glassverket have, regardless of the result in this finale, secured a spot in the Champions League qualifications just by reaching this finale. Larvik won the first game on Wednesday 33-21 and pretty much answered any question about the winners of the play-off. Today we can expect a game without any result pressure, especially emotional for Larvik's best player, Nora Mork, who will be playing his last game for Larvik (moving to Hungarian Gyori) and she will definitely have a great shooting night in her last game at home. On the other side, this will be the last game for Glassverket's coach and seven players (almost whole starting lineup), and everyone announced that they will play 'with style'. The first game in which Larvik were 'serious' in the second half, finished at 54 goals, and in today's game, for which it is announced that offenses will be in the forefront, suits a margin of at least 55 goals. Details

This is the last match of the season for both teams, also the second leg for the seventh place in the playoff. Zaglebie had a disappointing season - they wanted to be in the top four, and Piotrkow did what they wanted, got placed in the top eight. Zaglebie finished the season with a four-game winning run, and one defeat in the last five rounds (three wins were against the direct rivals from the top), and started the playoffs from the fourth place (14 points ahead of the seventh-placed Piotrkow). Then they got beaten twice by Vistal in the quarterfinal, getting eliminated from the race for the title, and that shook the entire team and affected their scores negatively - first in the fight for the fifth place (lost by five to Gdansk, 23-28, and only +2 in the second leg, 28-26), and the unexpected win by Piotrkow, 16-28, seven days ago, after 10-11 after the first half. They can hardly even out those 12 goals difference, but they're obligated by their fans to at least finish this off decently. They had a 6-game winning run before this defeat last week, 11 in the last 12 games against today's guests, both times in the championship this season (24-20, 27-22), and 10 of those 11 wins were by five or more. The home team have a much better roster with players playing for their national teams. Their problem in the first leg was psychological, and they'll go full force today. This was Piotrkow's first win after a 7-game losing run, with six of those by eight or more goal difference. Their form can't be praised, and they'd be happy by losing under 12 goals difference today, so that's why the handicap that's offered gains some value. Details

Viborg can't play around anymore, this is the last match of the season and they have seven goals to catch up with from the first game. That happened to them a few times this season, and they'd always manage to win in the end (28-21 against Metz in the Cup winner of the cups, losing to Copenhagen 11-16 after the first half and winning 28-27, winning by eight against Tvis, 28-20, at the beginning of the championship). Whether they will catch up with seven goals, it'll be seen, but their statements show they're going to try their best.
Tvis Holstebro played Cup winner of the cups final match in Russia on Saturday, they got a valuable title, but came back home on Monday and enjoyed the celebrations for two days. They're drained emotionally, and Viborg will try to use that, and the fact that Tvis might underestimate them tonight. The result from the first game needs them to be quick and efficient offensively. That's why I think the home team will have an individual over. Details

When we compare two matches which Vardar and CSM played in the main phase of the Champions League and in which Vardar won with 22-21 and 30-25, and today's is more likely to be like the one played in Skopje at the start of the year when we're talking about the general efficiency of today's match, especially about Vadard's offense. I expect CSM's best edition, especially in the defense which the whole Romanian team support, from Gulldenova and the rest of the team, all the way to coach Kim Rasmussen. Why is the accent on the defense? First and foremost because Vardar prefer an open game, and because the main defense players of CSM are in top shape, from goalkeeper Pesoa to Torstenson and Fisker, all the way to LIna Jorgensen. At the time the two matches against Vardar were played, they were either injured or back after a long break. Furhtermore, the momentum is on their side, they secured their place in these semi-finals after a double win against Rostov who by the quarter-finals were the only team not defeated in the Champions League. And in the end, the most important thing: their coach is Rasmussen who in the past two seasons has been achieving a lot (the first title last season in the playoffs finals against Baia Mare 23-22, 17-20; the semi-finals of the World Championship in Denmark with Poland against Hungary 24-23 ad Russia 21-20, limiting Rostov to only 25 goals in the first quarter-finals match which paved the road to these semi-finals), he always did it when his girls were playing for "one goal less". When we add to all of that how significant today's match is, everything is pointing to a match under 50 goals, and as the best option I see Vardar under 25. Details

Holstebro have a 4-goal lead to defend from the first game. They won 31-27 6 days ago after Lada had a 6-goal lead at half time (10-16). Holsebro played the first of the two games for spot 3 in between these two European games and beat Viborg 30-23. They came to Russia with 13 players, 9 of which played the entire 120 minutes in those last two. Lade are'fresh', play home and have more players to choose from at almost all positions, except for the pivot position. Lada had the lead for two third of the first game (Holstebro took a 24-23 lead 49 minutes into the game for the first time. They had 4 missed penalties after that, which says they could make up for this deficit today. Last season's EHF Cup final comes to mind. Holstebro won the first game home against Rostov by 13 goals and barely managed to save that in Russia (lost by 11 goals (22-33) but still won the title. Details