EHF Cup preview - Vojvodina and Nexe looking to leave a European mark
Two SEHA teams have their EHF Cup matches scheduled for the weekend as part of the qualification Round 2. Serbian champions Vojvodina will look to build upon a comfortable victory in qualification round 1 and a recent win against Metalurg in the SEHA - Gazprom League. Nexe are playing in a European competition for the first time this season and will look to leave a better impression than they did against Meshkov Brest.
Vojvodina have a tough fixture ahead of them. Their opponents, the Swiss vice-champions Pfadi Winterhur are currently unbeaten in the Swiss League, even beating the strong Kadetten Schaffhausen away. Vojvodina had some problems this season, they even parted ways with the coach Bosko Rudic due to a poor start in the SEHA- Gazprom League. However, they were convincing in EHF Cup qualification round 1 against the Greek club- A.C. Doukas. The Serbian team had a lot of time to prepare for this double-header, but it is still going to be hard, as both matches are to be played in Switzerland, on Saturday and Sunday.
After a long and tiring trip to Brest to play Meshkov, Nexe have another away match. This time they are facing the Estonians Polva Serviti. Interestingly enough, Polva Serviti already traveled to Croatia as they played and won against the Croatian team Gorica in the first qualification round. The Estonian champions also feature in the Baltic League where they came fourth last season. The Croatian vice-champions definitely cannot be happy with the start of the season, only managing to win once in the SEHA - Gazprom League after 5 rounds. Here is what the head coach Hrvoje Horvat had to say for RK Nexe website: "We have put the poor second half against Meshkov behind us. Our main task is now to rest and fully focus on the match against Polva. We will treat these two matches like the World Championship semifinal, this double header is definitely our priority."
These two matches are definitely a great chance to break out of the recent poor form and gain some confidence for the rest of the season. Nexe are definitely a better team and we should expect them to go through and join Tatran in qualification round 3.
EHF Cup qualification round 2
Saturday, October 7th
17:00 Polva Serviti- Nexe
17:30 Pfadi Winterhur- Vojvodina
Sunday, October 8th
15:00 Vojvodina- Pfadi Winterhur (played in Switzerland)
Saturday, October 14th
18:00 Nexe- Polva Serviti