SG Flensburg-Handewitt go into the final nine matchdays of the DAIKIN HBL in third place in the table. A position that would probably mean a place in the EHF Champions League. It is therefore all the more important to pick up two more points against GWD Minden. Kick-off is at 8 p.m. on Friday.
It was a grueling time: For three years, GWD Minden handball players and fans regularly commuted around 20 kilometers to the TuS N-Lübbecke venue. The home games had to be played at the arch-rival of all places, as the Kampa-Halle was closed due to extensive renovations. The comeback finally came on February 14: all 3700 tickets were sold out against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The Green-Whites returned to the DAIKIN HBL in the summer after a two-year absence. Despite bad luck with injuries at the start of the season, they have scored so regularly that they have remained above the relegation zone so far this season.
A former SG player as coach
However, the cushion shrank as a result of the home defeat against penultimate-placed HSG Wetzlar. "Nevertheless, we've built up a pretty good starting position, even though almost everyone declared us to be relegation number one and saw us as the new Potsdam," said Aaron Ziercke. He has been the coach of GWD Minden for around two years. He once played 34 games for SG Flensburg-Handewitt, scoring 46 goals in the process. His expectations for the away game at the SG? "We're not coming to Flensburg to raise the white flag," says Aaron Ziercke. "But if we want to hold our own against such an opponent with our rather inexperienced team, we have to do extremely well and our opponents have to do extremely badly." Where the Minden team is well positioned in any case is at goalkeeper. Malte Semisch and Tibor Ivaniševic are among the experienced representatives of their trade and will also form the pairing between the posts in the coming season. The two left wingers are particularly loyal to the club. Florian Kranzmann is Minden's second-best scorer in this series. His position colleague Mats Korte has already played over 300 professional games for GWD. Ian Weber, Philipp Vorlicek and the Lithuanian Karolis Antanavičius are regarded as the first choice at right back, while Tom Bergner is the man in the circle.
