Zagreb looking to end six year-long drought in Presov

PPD Zagreb - Tatran Presov

Second round of SEHA - Gazprom League brings us a duel in which Tatran will in Presov host PPD Zagreb. Both teams are entering the match after Round 1 victories - PPD Zagreb versus Nexe and Tatran against Meshkov. Slovak champions have in the meantime also played CL Qualifiers failing to accomplish their goal of reaching the group stage. Only thing left to see is how much did strong rhythm hurt Slavko Goluza and his players ahead of tough duels against PPD Zagreb and Celje PL.

However, thing that makes this match special is the fact that Zagreb have never managed to reach a victory in Presov losing each time throughout first six seasons. Last season they suffered a huge loss although we have to mention they did travel to Slovakia with rejuvenated roster. List of coaches who have failed to conquer Presov is really long - Vujovic, Goluza, Dvorsek, Obrvan and Ivandija putting Kasim Kamenica in quite tough position ahead of Wednesday’s face-off. The question is has the time finally come for SEHA - Gazprom League’s longest tradition to come to an end? 

Slavko Goluza, Tatran coach:
We expect Zagreb to come here with their strongest roster. So far they still did not show their best and that’s why we have respect for them. Of course, our goal will be to play best match we can and hopefully win it. We’re however sure it won’t be easy with Zagreb’s roster being full of quality both Croatian and Slovenian internationals. They will certainly come here with winning ambitions but with the support of our fans we’ll do everything we can to end up celebrating on Wednesday night.

Mario Cvitkovic, Tatran goalkeeper:
PPD Zagreb are a great and strong team. It will be a tough match. We want to win this game as much as every other with play. I repeat, it won’t be easy but I believe points will stay here in Presov. We want to reach SEHA F4 and to do that we’ve got to give our best match in - match out. 

Kasim Kamenica, PPD Zagreb coach:
Tatran have against Meshkov managed to reach a result which surprised me to be honest and that’s just another reason why we must respect them. Although coach Goluza did not have much time to make everything work in the best possible way it is clear he did a great job so far. They have many young players and that always brings new motive to a team. We are however highly motivated ahead of the clash as well, especially due to the fact that we’ve never managed to celebrate there. We were good against Nexe which will surely boost us with optimism ahead of Presov where I believe we can reach a good result. 

Zlatko Horvat, PPD Zagreb player:
It is never easy to play in Presov but the way we entered the match against Nexe has to be our guideline for every new challenge. When we look at the list of players Meshkov managed to acquire recently we surely have to respect what Tatran did in Round 1. I watched the match and I saw a young, strong, fighting team which deserved to win. It won’t be easy but we have whole lot of motive to break the bad tradition.