European debutants see semi-finals as reward
European debutants see semi-finals as reward
Things have gone fast for TuS Metzingen lately. Not only have the German club reached the semi-finals of the Women's EHF Cup in their first European season: When Metzingen travel to Romania to meet ASC Corona 2010 Brasov on Sunday, they can make the trip as the current number one in the Bundesliga.
ASC Corona 2010 Brasov (ROU) vs TuS Metzingen (GER)
Sunday 3 April, 18:00 hrs local time (17.00 hrs CET) live on ehfTV
"We are looking very much forward to both matches against Brasov, and we see these matches as the reward for our good performances over the last weeks," Metzingen manager Ferenc Rott told his club's website.
"The pressure is no doubt on us, but despite that, we are going to give our best and I think we have a good chance to prevail," the manager of the "Pink Ladies" added.
However, there seems to be little doubt, that Brasov will be in for a tough challenge. In the first leg of their quarter-final tie against Danish HC Odense, Brasov won as big as 29:21 away, and after that clear win, they could do with a 21:21 draw at home and still qualify for the semi-final easily.
Randers HK (DEN) vs Dunaujvarosi Kohasz Kezilabda Akademia (HUN)
Sunday 3 April, 19:30 hrs local time
In the second semi-final, neither of the teams who meet in Arena Randers Sunday evening are European debutants.
Randers HK as well as Dunaujvarosi Kohasz Kezilabda Akademia have a lot of experience from various European competitions in the past, and both have felt the triumph of standing on the podium at the end of a tournament.
"I am glad I do not have to pronounce the name of our opponent, but from what I have seen of them, they play rather physical and quite offensively in their defence," Danish international Camilla Dalby from Randers tells eurohandball.com.
"However, I think we have a good chance and I am looking forward to the matches – partly because semi-finals and finals are always particularly exciting to play, and partly because I have been used to playing in the Champions League, so these European matches are especially appealing to me," adds the 27-year-old right back who played for Buducnost before.
On their way to the semi-finals, Dunaujvarosi eliminated quite prominent clubs such as Hungarian Siófok KC in the Last 16 and Russian Astrakhanochka in the quarter-finals, so Camilla Dalby and her Randers teammates probably have their work cut out for them.
