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Bruck's first half in the championship this season: Krems 11-18, Graz 11-20, WestWien 9-16, Alpla 8-17, Ferlach 14-14, Linz 13-14. Ferlach are at bottom part of the table just like Bruck, Linz is not far either. That game was played at Bruck's court where they did rather well. In away games, they are really bad.

Fivers can compete with all of the 4 teams that covered this against Bruck. They beat Krems, Graz and Alpla, lost a close game to WestWien. They jsut played a good game against the powerful Alpla and there is no doubt they will go into this strong to settle the game as soon as possible since this is the 5th game for them in two weeks.

These teams met at Bruck's arena in preseason. Fivers were weakened and had a 13-10 lead at half time (2x25). I have no doubts the goal difference here will be at least 5-6 goals now that they are complete and in great rhythm. Details

They played the prep ratio game at 63. Dinamo averaged 58,6 on average last year and I think they will keep that up. They played Fagaras in the first round to record 10-10 at half time. Later on, when the game fell apart, the second finished at 35 but Fagaras record mostly unders and don't have great offense. They averaged 51,6 goals last season. When fighting to avoid relegation, the average dropped to 48,5. Even with such a team, they stopped at 55, just under this margin.
Dinamo can get the game at 60 goals, especially if the games fall apart. They proved it many times last year, especially home. In test games, they played under 59 only with Meshkov, who have very good defense and play slower than last seasons.

Baia Mare are an enigma this season. They acquired a lot of players this summer and not even they probably know what's going to happen this season. What we can conclude from the first round and test games is that they will run and that there is potential for higher numbers. They opened with Politehnica, played badly in defense but still scored 32 in a game that was close for good 45 minutes (61 goal in total). In test games, thy are 8-for-10 in overs at this margin (the rest were at 59 or higher). The one under is with Timisoara, who averaged 51 last season, and the day before, they have a game with them at 63 goals. The other under is with Balmazujvarosi (47 goals) who have 44 and 45 goals in other test games. Last year in the league they averaged 51,7 goals per game. Those numbers don't worry me and don't discredit this tip. For me, this is a game for 60 goals. Details

Baia Mare played CL not that long ago but financial troubles saw them relegated. They are back now after sailing through the league 20-1-0 and want to go where they belong.

They acquired some good players during the summer and proven they have the quality for mid-table. They stood up to Timisoara in two games, while Timisoara beat Politehnica 29-22 (17-12). They lost narrowly to Calasari and convincingly to Dinamo and Tatabanya. Those last two defeats aren't relevant here. What's important is the win over Suceava 32-27 (17-13), ZNTU Zaporožje 35-27 (15-8) and Turda 37-24 (19-15). Turda were the runner-ups last season. Sucava beat Politehnica easily in test game 31-25 (16-10).

Politehnica are also a newly promoted team but financial troubles didn't allow them to acquire enough good players. They also lost to two teams that are predicted to linger at the bottom of the table (Fagaras by 7 and Focsani 5)

Baia Mare should win this. The difference in quality will reflect on the result here. Details

Tatran lost to Alpla yesterday and there is some disappointment on the team but I believe Goluza will get them ready for this. If they lose this, they will not play the EHF Cip, which would be a disaster.
Defense is their key segment this season and the main goal today will be stopping the Finish transition, bringing it to a pace that suits Tatran much more.
They can stop teams even better than the Fins. Alpla got limited to 26 yesterday, which is under this margin. Alpla are better than Cocks in offense so I think the Fins will get a few goals less than them.

Tatran recently conceded 23 to Meshkov here, last weekend to Dukla 24 and Plzen 19. Aix and Aintethur went over in test games. Both of them are better than Cocks. Borac, St. Petersburg and a lot of other weaker teams stayed under.

Cocks scored 27 against Sporting yesterday. Sporting play faster than Tatran, who are weaker in defense. Also, they played a pretty bad game. Cocks got limited to 19 against Melsungen, 25 Benfica and 24 Anaitasuna.. They scored 28 against Anaitasuna and Melsungen home but I don't think those two games affect this tip.
In test games, they scored 21 against Saint Raphael and Meshkov, 19 to Kolding and 29 Dnamo who play faster than Tatran. Also, that was a test game. I don't see them over 24-25 this year. Details

The defense, which is tougher and better this season, will keep on being Tatran's key segment. They are still without top player Rabek and won't record high number here, at least not in the first half. That is why I'll go with the 1st half under.

Tatran limited Meshkov at 23 a few days ago here in a first proper competitive game of the season. A total of 47 goals were scored (22 at HT). They played two relaxed games with weaker opponents last weekend but those games fell apart early on and aren't relevant.
They played a lot of preparation games. I wouldn't take the early ones with Czech opponents as relevant. They went to Sala after that are played games at 51, 48 and 43 against weaker opponents too.
In Doboj, where they prepared for this, Tatran had: Winterthur 25, Borac 22, St Petersburg 25 (16 in the second half) and Aix 25. Tatran will be even tougher today.

Aplpa played quite a few preparation games. The more relevant ones were with tough Winterthur who are similar to Tatran. In the Coburg game at 23, Balingen at 31. They ahve 24 with Gossaul and 25 with Suhr Aarau earlier on. Last year, they averaged 56-57 goals in the league but they played Fivers at 50 and 53 goals in playoff finals. That means they go lower when things are really important. A few days ago, they have a half at 26 with Fivers in Supercup in a game that did not have the charge this one against the weaker Tatran offense will. Details

CSM want to get Dinamo off the throne this season in Romania. They acquired a lot of players and put together a team that could stand up to many teams from Europe (Šunjić, Tioumentsev, Ramba, Leonardo Santos, Garcia Robledo...). They played Barcelona some ten days ago and managed to keep up for 50 minutes. They will dominate the Romanian championship this season.
They played another two preparation games, beat Steaua by 1 away, played a bad game but Steaua beat Focsani yesterday by 7 (9 at ahlf time), by 9 weeks ago (half time 5).
CSM trashed Vaslui by 15 (10 at ht) yesterday and last season in playoff they struggled with them and won both by 3. That alone suggests they are much better now than last season. Focsani are clearly weaker than Steaua and Vaslui. Given that, this handicap should be covered.

Focsani didn't chance a lot during the summer, the only thing we need to note is Sladic who joined from Puerto Sagunta and Rapciaga who left for Steaua (both are left backs). They are very similar to the team from last year quality wise and htey finihsed in spot 11 out of 14 teams back then. They lost to CSM by 11 (2at HT), and 9 (6 at HT).

They beat only newly promoted Politehnica and second-tier Bacau in preparatin games. They lost to Suceava by 1 (2 at HT), Odorhei 5 (HT +1), Constanta 5 (3 at HT). The only problem for this tip is +1 with Odorhei at HT. That team was somwhat weaker than CSM last season but they won the second half by 6 back then. This CSM are significantly better than that team.

Total handicap makes sense too but the HT is a bit better because there is more chance of subs playing the second half. Details

This is the game for spot 3 of the tournament, both teams won 2 out of 3 group stage games.

Tatran put emphasis on defense this season. They are without top player Rabek without whom the offense seems harmless.
They opened the preparation period with two games against modest Czech teams Karvina (54 and 65 goals) and Zubri (57 and 60 goals). Those games are not relevant since neither team tried hard. Tatran got intensity up later on and played games that are relevant recently in Sala: Tatran-Frydek Mistek 30-21 (Mistek averaged 55.9 goals last season), Tatran-Eger 27-21 (50.2 goals on average) i Tatran-Šala 24-19 (in h2h games last season 61, 60, 55, 57 i 59 goals). Tatran are changing their game and the numbers go down.
They played tougher teams here at: Winterthur 51, Borac 50 i St. Petersburg 41. They have 6 for 6 in unders at this margin and no games over 51 goals since they got serious.

Aix, on the other hand, averaged almost 59 goals in France but those days seems to be over now. They are now putting emphasis on defense too, have 50 and 49 against modest Sloga and Sasja whom they beat by 15 and 16. The most important game is the one with Kolding at 49 yesterday. They score 8 goals in the second half, do not play fast pace anymore and can stop Tatran at some 25 goals. Kolding are better in offense and faster than Tatran but still go just 28.

The fact this should be a close game is good for this tip too. We have all 9 unders (no game over 52) for both teams and coaches that push defense. Details

Plzen have been dominant in the Czech Republic for years now, especially when it comes to the most important games. They lost just one out of 24 playoff games in the last 3 seasons. Given how they're playing now, that incredible record should only get better.
They proved to be better than Lovosice in both games last weekend to win by 6 and 8. They could have won by more goals had it not been for rotations or holding back. It was +8 by half time in both games. Lovosice didn't seem good enough for that challenge at any point in the game. One other reason for this tip is Boucek's injury. He is their key offensive player and they have no proper substitute for him. Also, they will be without key defender Landa today as well. Like that, Lovosice are not top of the league and even with those two players, Plzen are at least 5 goals better.

Lovosice now have home court advantage and the audience but I cannot just ignore these odds because of that. Plzen are well-experienced, do great under pressure. Last season, they came here with a 2-0 lead when Lovosice had Boucek and Landa. Plzen were weaker than now and still won 28-20. Looking at a more recent meeting, Plzen won by 7 in regulation time here two months ago. The second half finished at 16-4.
Easy wins in Brno and jicin were also good for this bet. Some earlier defeats for Plzen away when they were not complete mean nothing here. That often happened to them in earlier seasons too. When it's important and it is now, they don't make mistakes.
Lovosice beat Karvina three times easily here but that team is horrible away and cannot be compared to Plzen quality-wise. They lost to Frydek and Jicin when complete here. I think that kind of a team cannot make this complicated for Plzen. They will confirm another great final today. Details

Germany are doing brilliantly against weaker opponents here and do not let go, no matter which of their players are on the floor. They are even better in defense, fastbreaks are brilliant, they have a lot of options against zone. They will play Croatia for the top spot in two days and they want to deal with this as easily as possible. That means 6-7 point difference per half. They have +5 against Hungary, +11 against Chile, +8 against Arabia (bad day for the goal keepers). In test games, they had +6 against Austria and +8 against Romania. That is 5-for-5 handicaps at half time. How could Belarus cover that here?
They are doing horrible in defense. The Germans will score as they like here (Germany team over, total and first half over also good options) and Belarus won't stand a chance.
Belarus stood up to Craotia but when it comes to these kind of games, Croatia cannot be compared to Germany, especially with Duvnjak sitting on the bench. They were 3 goals down at half time in that game, it would have been 5 if Croatia had a bit more focus. Germany won't allow that. The unmotivated Russians covered this handicap in 2 out of 3 test games and I think this is a pretty straightforward meeting. Details

I'm writing this in case the info comes out that Tej will play today. He'll play even if there's a slightest chance due to the importance of this match.

This is a 'to be or not to be' match for Tunisia, since they will have a harder time beating Slovenia in the next round, and without two wins they can't pass on. They fell apart against Macedonia in the last 20 minutes, it was expected the same would happen against Spain yesterday, but it didn't. They were defensively great, the limited Spanish offense struggled with their zone and they've shown their greatest weapons. Undoubtedly the defense will be on a high level today too, and since Iceland are at least equally modest in positional offense like Spain, then we shouldn't expect Iceland to be overly efficient, at least not in the first half while Tunisia, as a rule, oscillate. Tunisia had the marginal 27 goals against Macedonia by half-time, but Macedonia were criminal in the defense who a lot of times played 7-on-6. At the Olympics they stayed under this margin in four games, only against Croatia where they didn't stand a chance and they fell apart was it 35, completely unimportant for this bet.
Iceland's defense turned to be their biggest ace which was to be expected, since offensively they don't have a lot of options. They struggled Spain in the first half with their defense, Slovenia the same, and they'll be looking for their chance today. This is the last train (the same as for Tunisia) for the second round, and if they lost today, they will have to try and find a way out against Macedonia. Thus I expect a maximum fight from the first minute, and no more than 25 goals by half-time.
Iceland stopped with Spain at 22, with Slovenia at 19, even in preparations when they played a lot faster they were at 27 against Egypt, while matches against Hungary and Denmark where they ran around a lot and had stronger offenses don't seem relevant (33 and 30 goals). In the Euro qualifications in November they had 26 against Ukraine and 22 against the Czech Republic; last summer in the qualifications for this WC they had 17 and 23 against Portugal, all four games with Palmarsson in the line-up. Details

Dukla and Plzen's games are more than handball. It's a game between top teams in the league. They played the playoff finals last season and the games were dominated by brilliant goalkeepers and defenses. The game in that series finished at 45, 46, 44 and 43 goals. The game from the first round of regular season finished at 44, the second at 60 when the game was not important for Dukla. This preseason, Plzen trashed Duka and the game still finished at 55. The first game of the season finished at 55. 15 goals were scored in the last 10 minutes of that game. Since Plzen are weaker away and Dukla have a lot of confidence after a good game with Zubri, I think this will be a close game.
Dukla have 53 with Zubri last round where we saw that they pal tough derby games. In the two games before that they were weakened and have 55 with fast-paced Veseli and 56 Tatran and I wouldn't take those as relevant. When it comes to meeting with stronger teams, they have 51 with Zubri in the second round and 53 with Lovci. The meetings with teams like Koprivnica, Brno, Frydek, Karvina aren't relevant.
The visitors stayed under this margin in the last 6 games and they have 4 overs in 13 games overall. They got the defense better later and they will play this tough. I think the overs with Frydek, Hranice and Veseli have nothing to do with this. The only problem is the 60 goals with Zubri but that was really long ago and Plzen are much more compact and tougher now. Details

Dukla are playing a fast-paced game and that's a fact. But I think this margin is too high. They score a lot of goals in the Czech league but Nexe won't allow them to do that. They are technically a very good team which has been preparing for this game for a long time. Dukla's counter attacking isn't good enough to get them close to 30 goals today and Nexe definitely have enough solution for Dukla's back players.
Their fast pace is mostly not there in important games with powerful teams. These opponents are definitely powerful. They stayed at 25 goals against Lovosice here on Wednesday, ar 24 against Plzen with fast pace, at 27 with Zubre. Those are top three teams in the league alongside Dukla and they didn't go over this margin with any of them. I wonder why they would against a team that is at least one level better than all of those.
Next struggle in offense this season but they can do very well in defense. They limited Gorenje to 24 goals, slow but good-quality Metalurg at 25, Szeged at 24 in preseason. Zagreb scored 28 in a game in which Nexe made a lot of mistakes. Tatran Presov scored 31 when Nexe did horribly and Izvidac 29 in a game that fell apart. All of those teams are better than Dukla and this margin therefore makes no sense.
The total under is a good option as well but this one is a bit better. Details

Not much to discuss here. Koprivnice are one of the fastest teams in the league, but their defense isn't that great, and Karvina are playing much faster this season, and not as well defensively as last year. Then, their duel ended at 59 goals, and in Koprivnice at 58. I expect a few more today.
Karvina played 61 against Lovci in the first round, 67 against Veseli, and 57 against Brno in the last round. The game against Jičina can't be compared, they're the slowest team, great defensively, so those 52 goals (32 in the second half) don't mean much here.
Koprivnice have 47 against Plzen in the first round, in a match that they slowed down as much as possible because they wouldn't stand a chance otherwise, and they almost surprised the champion, but then they continued in their olden ways. 72 goals against Hranice, 59 Frydek and 62 Lovci. Both teams played evened out games, and those that fell apart, and they all went far over this margin. I don't see why that wouldn't happen today. Details