Vojvodina facing a tough challenge against Vardar

Војводина најави борба против фаворитот Вардар

Vardar - Vojvodina 6 (14/15)

After winning two tournaments, in Kanjiža and Skopje, Macedonian champions Vardar will start playing real, competitive games in SEHA Gazprom League fighting for points and doing their best to, for the beginning, repeat last year's success of qualifying among League's best 4 teams. Serbian champions Vojvodina will be their first rivals for the season, on Wednesday (20.15 CET).

Vojvodina is coming to Skopje after a 25:25 draw in Stumica against League's rookies Maks. Team from Novi Sad has always performed well in Macedonia but despite of that hosts are clear favorites. Last season they have managed to reach two victories, 30:26 and 26:21.

'Red-black' goalkeeper Peter Angelov will miss the match due to his back injury being adviced to take rest for a few more day. Also, Matjaž Brumen missed last training due to abdominal pain.  

Raul Gonzalez, Vardar’s coach:

We are beginning with a new SEHA Gazprom season. I have to say, so far, I am pleased with pre-season. We've worked really hard playing some good matches. I hope this season will be better than previous one. We have some injury problems with Angelov and Brumen which means our roster for tomorrow is still a bit uncertain. However, we'll have to play good in attack against Vojvodina because of their deadly counter-attacks. It is good we'll have some tough matches ahead of duel against Montpellier and we just have to go step by step.

Filip Lazarov, Vardar’s player:

Our goal in each match is to win. We've watched Vojvodina's match from Strumica. In my opinion all teams in the League are willing to show how good they are, especially in the beginning of the season. We have to be cautious and play in our rhytm which we are slowly catching. I hope for good results through the whole season.

Nikola Marković, Vojvodina’s coach:

Vardar is among four best teams in Europe. We’ll play a difficult match. We just played in Strumica after which we were immediately on bus heading towards Macedonian capital. We've only had a day off. I still have to see if I will rotate players. Again, our priority is not the result but raising form before matches in EHF's Champions League.

Zoran Nikolić, Vojvodina’s player:

It is a great challenge to play against Vardar. They are a top team. We will do our best. We will fight best we can, but we must be realistic - Vardar are absolute favorites.