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Kiel traveling to Poland without Christian Zeitz; Wisla with only one true winger

Kiel is struggling this season, and their recent performances are far from good althought Lauge and Palmarsson are back in the team. They won against Wetzlar and Gummersbach with the goals in the last seconds of the match. The home team is facing some injury problems and they will only one true winger in the squad today.

Wisla won their first three matches of the season and that shouldn't surprise anyone as it is well-known that the only real threat in the domestic league for them is Kielce. Because they were playing against much weaker opponents it is hard to say exactly how good is Wisla right now. But, all of those victories were very convincing and that counts for something. Two matches in the Champions League qualifications against Montpellier also gave them a lot of reasons to be optimistic.


- It would be great if our fans could make the same atmosphere as they did in the match against Montpellier. That would be something special for us - coach Cadenas said.


In their last match they won against Gornik. That was supposed be a tough match for Wisla (at least that was what Gornik's players were saying) but in the end they have won with ease despite Wisniewski, Spryzaka and Nikcevic were unavailable for that match. But, today they are facing a much tougher opponent and they could feel the absence of Nikcevic and Wisniewski on the field. Also, their reserve goalkeeper Wichary is slightly injured and his appearance still remains questionable. The Polish press have reported that Nikcevic was training with the team during the week but as he is not fully recovered yet, he probably won't be in the starting line-up although it is possible we could see him on the court today.


- We have a very tough challenge ahead of us, especially considering all the troubles with injuries we've had lately. If we wish to win today we must work harder then we did in the last couple of matches - said Cadenas. 


Wisla achieved their main goal by advancing to the group phase of the competition, but they are not without chances for achieving something more than that. As things stand right now, they should be able finish fourth, in front of Porto and Dunkerque. Despite having strong players such as Jurkiewicz and Lijewski, they are just lacking quality to achieve something more. Their wings for today's match will probably be fullbacks Paczkowski and Milas.


Kiel are coming to Poland as a leading team in the German Bundesliga. They won all six opening matches of the season but they probably didn't deserve to win all of the matches. In the last two matches against Gummersbach and Wetzlar they won by the very late goals and they struggled against league newcomers Eisenach also (they won 29-23 in the end). Their only decent performance this season was against their main rivals Hamburg - they have won that match with ease (32-26).


- Wisla kicked Montpellier out of the competition. That clearly shows that they are much stronger than they were last season. They will try to pressure us today - said Kiel's coach Alfred Gislason.


It is hard to say exactly how good Kiel is right now as they had some good performances but also some bad ones so far. There is no doubt that they are motivated for the matches against tough opponents but after the departures of Narcisse, Ilic, Omeyer and Ahlm this is not the same team that was so dominate in the last seasons.


- Wisla have signed two great players, Jurkiewicz and Lijewski and they are now stronger than ever. The Polish fans will certainly help their team perform even better and a lot of things will have to go in our favor if we wish to leave Poland with two points in a bag - said pivot Patrick Wiencek.


- I was born in Duisburg, but I have Polish ancestors. This is a very special match for me as my grandfather and some family friends will be in the stands today - he added.


Against Wetzlar Kiel have conceded an equalizer (25-25) only 23 seconds before the end of the match. But that was more than enough time for Filip Jich to score the winning goal for his team. Jich and Marko Vujin have scored 15 out of the 26 goals Kiel scored in that match. They will need to match that performance today and Vujin has an especially tough game ahead of him as Christian Zeitz is unavailable for today's match. 

At the moment, Manolo Cadenas is, in my humble opinion, in top five, maybe even top three world coaches. He took over Wisla after he accomplished amazing things with average team of Ademar Leon. He immediately got them in the Champions League. They defeated Montpellier after two matches. I have no doubt he will find some tactic against Kiel. And Cadenas is a true master when it comes to slowing down your opponent. He left Montpellier at 23 goals. I remember Kiel playing in Leon a few seasons ago. They had Narcisse, Omeyer and Ahl playing for them. The final score was 28-28. The Poles are pumped, the hall will be covered in blue colors and they will be a hard opponent for Kiel, I have no doubt. I originally wanted to take 3.5 on the Poles, but it's already down to 2.5, so I'll rather take the complete under. Apart from Nenadic and young Milas, Wisla are not a very fast team, which is seen in their results thusfar. Kiel are not very convincing lately, two lucky wins against Wetzlar and Gummersbach, and they didn't show much against recently promoted Eisenbach (29-23). But Kiel's defense did get a little bit better in the last few matches and Sjostrand improved on goal. That's going to be very important today.