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Only victory in play for Kadetten, Szeged firmly in second place

The Swiss lost the first match by 10, but today they got three more starters back (Liniger, Kukučka, Stojanović) and are convinced they'll fare better. Manager Vass reveals the plan is to win the 'Szeged way', through quality offense

With two rounds to go before the end of the group stage, Szeged are in a clear situation. The 12 points from eight games put them firmly in second position, and since they lost two matches against Kielce they cannot move forward. Kadetten are in a completely different situation: last in the group with four points at the moment, but still have a chance to advance to the next stage of the competition.

-First we beat Szeged, then Dunkerque, and we're through to the elimination stage- explained manager Voss, who is still aware that this will be a different story on court:

- I'm well aware that each team has their limitations, ours as well. To win against Szeged we need to be at our 100% to get points.

The Hungarian team scored 10 more goals in the first duel of these teams (34-24), but the situation is very different today, primarily in terms of Kadetten's lineup. The Swiss now have several key players they were missing back then, like left winger Liniger, middle back Kukučka and right back Stojanović. On the other hand, Szeged arrived without a player who performed very well at the WC in Qatar, left winger Jonas Källman.

Due to a viral infection he could not travel with the team to Schaffhausen and stayed at home instead. His teammates will have to make up for his five goal performance from the first game, as well as his good quality defending.

- I doubt anything will change regarding their tactic. It's simple - full throttle from the start. Offense is the main principle of their team, and it's up to us to parry them- revealed Voss.

Kadetten are no strangers to stronger tempo and offensive gameplay, especially now that they've finally managed to round up their roster and now have significantly more rotation options than they did in the first match. Truth be told they had 16 players on the list back then too, but a few were actually pulled from the junior team, which will not be the case today.

- Today Swiss handball proves it has a future. We've been part of the European competitions for a while now, it's time to profit from it once again- said the home team manager with optimism, but Pastor is not too worried about such speeches:

- We did what we had to do, we're in the second position and can now play without pressure. Naturally, we will not relax, we still want to win.

The last time they won in Switzerland was way back in 2006. After that, they lost 36-29 in 2012. Interestingly, both duels were played in February, like this one, but the difference will be in the rosters. Szeged have developed theirs quite a bit since their last match, while Kadetten have rotated quite a lot, rejuvenating the team, and are now waiting for better results. Vass is hoping for them today, as he said, although he admits Szeged are the favorites. Pastor is accepting that too, and was very happy with one detail:

- The accommodation is amazing. I'm very glad that we're practically across the street from the hall and we don't need to drive and waste energy on travelling.

Even if he had to, Pastor probably wouldn't be too disappointed. He commented earlier that this is the first time he's had such a good and healthy roster at his disposal this season. This resulted in better practice sessions, and there is talk of a spring offensive on Veszprem - a huge superpower compared to Kadetten. The only issue is whether Szeged can find equal motivation for this game as they'll have for the match against the defending champions of Hungary.

The first head-to-head finished at 58 goals and there are a few more reasons I believe this one will end as an over. First and foremost, there's Kadetten's roster that will have their top scorer Liniger, top playmaker Kukucka and right back Stojanovic back. All three are much more important for Kadetten's offense than defense. Szeged will have to do without Kallman, who scored 5 goals in the first match, but I'm sure his team will have it much more difficult in defense today, which is Kallman's specialty. On top of that, Kadetten's coach Vass said his team will try and outrun Szeged (who will be happy with it) and that makes around 60 goals a realistic outcome of this match.