Talant Dujshebaev will be in the stands in Skopje to see Vardar take on Paris SG. Will he soon be the coach of either of those teams?
ehfTV’s designated “Match of the Week” has the two evenly matched foes with France’s Dunkerque hosting Denmark’s Kolding facing off in a Group B clash. It’s still early in Group Play, but with two losses under its belt Dunkerque need’s a win badly if it still has plans on moving to the round of 16. Dunkerque is a .5 goal favorite. ehfTV’s Tom Ó Brannagáin’s will be on site with English language commentary.
Dunkerque vs. Kolding (Sunday, 13 Oct 1700 CET/1100 U.S. Eastern Time)
Video: Link
If you can’t catch the match live it will also be available later “on demand”. Further, U.S. residents with beIN Sport can also catch a retransmission on Wednesday, 16 October at 1700 (Eastern Time).
While Dunkerque vs. Kolding is the designated match of the week, in my opinion there are two far more interesting contest taking place on Sunday:
Vardar Skope vs Paris SG (Sunday, 13 Oct 1900 CET/1300 U.S. Eastern Time)
Video: Link
Two weeks ago Paris lost to the other Skopje team, Metalurg. Now they return to play Vardar in the same arena. Vardar already fought Barca to a draw there so could the world’s richest club lose again in Skopje to fall to 5th place in Group C? Maybe Coach Philippe Gardent’s job is in jeopardy? And what of Vardar? They just sacked their coach and rumors are running rampant that former Madrid Coach, Talant Dujshebaev could be their next coach. Dujshebaev will be in the stands to watch his son Alex play for Vardar and he swears that this trip was planned weeks in advance. Who knows? Maybe Dujshebaev will end up coaching who ever loses this match. Has there ever been a match with so many questions? All in the cauldron that is Boris Trajkovski Sports Center: perhaps the best place in the world to watch a handball match.
Nothing against the fine folks in Northern France, but Tom Ó Brannagáin and the rest of the EHF team should accidentally get on the wrong flight and head for Skopje. This is the real Match of the Week. Quite frankly I don’t think I’ve ever been so eager to see a Group Play match. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations. (Paris is a 2 goal favorite.)
Wisla Plock vs Kielce (Sunday, 13 Oct 1930 CET/1330 U.S. Eastern Time)
Video: Link
This all Polish clash should be entertaining. Kielce has been the top Polish side for the past few years, but Wisla Plock with a few new roster additions would like to unseat them. Kielce already beat Plock 32-28, so this will be a chance for them to make amends. .
I will replace the live video links with on demand video links when they are available at the ehfTV website. If you go to the ehf website yourself click on the side arrows to get to the “Full Match” page. A word of caution, however, the EHF sometimes posts match interviews with revealing titles like “Jicha scores the decisive goal,” so you might want to use a sheet of paper to mask the screen if you want to watch the matches oblivious to the outcome.
ehfTV Page: Link
EHF Week 3 Preview: Link (A written summary by Bjoern Pazen previewing all 12 matches)
Tom Ó Brannagáin’s latest blog post: Link