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Kiel to open a string of 8 games in 27 days

They are to meet Veszprem over the weekend and then play the Cup knock-out round against Flensburg, just like the derby match with Lowen. Gislason is complaining about the lack of players, which their game in Celje last weekend proved as Kiel barely recorded a 23-23 win

www.rk-celje.si/

The bottom-table race for staying in the league has not been this close and interesting for seasons now. All of the three rookies stand a good chance of earning a spot in Bundesliga next season. Leipzig are already in the clear while Stuttgart and Eisenach still struggle to get points and look better than expected. That especially goes for Stuttgart, who recorded only one win, 4 draws (3 in the last 4 rounds) and played a lot of close games. There are not many games in which they were crushed by the opponents, which proves they belong among the elite. 

A goal by Spatz from the seven-meter line in the last second last weekend saw them win an important point against the direct rival Bergischer, after they were 21-18 down only three minutes before the end. Baumgartner and Kisum scored before Spatz, while a save by the Turkish goal keeper Ozmusul with some 50 seconds left on the clock turned out to be very important as well.

- I'll tell you if this is a point won or a point lost after the season. It was obvious that both teams were racing to avoid relegation - Konig said after the draw. 

- We played very good defense and forced them into taking a lot of tough shots and making a lot of mistakes. But, we didn't use our chances and our wings missed 8 clean shots.

Interestingly, Stuttgart had 7 different scorers in that game, all seven scored 2-3 goals from the floor (Spatz 6 with 3 penalties). That has been a characteristic of this team throughout this season - it rarely happens that a single player scores 7-8 points, especially not consistently. 

They are set to face Kiel in the great Porsche arena in Stuttgart. This will be a match without an pressure for them as the game to game is much more important. Since that clash with Balingen is in 12 days, there is no reason for the coach to rest any players. It's not every day that they meet Kiel and it's no wonder that all 6,211 tickets were sold out. That should result in a great atmosphere. 

Coach Konig is still without Friedrich and Heib, while Esteki is to return after participating in the Iranian national team campaign. 

Kiel were already in this arena this season and have already played before its packed stands. It was at season start when they met Flensburg and won 27-26 as Weinhold scored to beat the buzzer. They are now to open a long and very demanding run of games (8 until December 27th). The matches go from those against rookies extremely tough ones like the one against Veszprem the next weekend or the Cup QFs against Flensburg. The peak should be the game against Lowen on December 23rd in Kiel. 

They won the last league game against Melsungen and then put up a mediocre performance in Celje to barely record a 23-23 draw after Duvnjak stopped the final attack by Celje through a brutal foul. 

- We missed too many easy shots and the refs made some wrong decisions as well - Gislason said and added:

- We are short-handed...

That is getting more obvious as the seasons advances. The injured Wiencek and Jansen didn't play in Celje but Ekberg didn't play either with a stomach flu. It is not yet known whether he'll play today.

- Stuttgart are particularly tough home. We want to win at any cost, which is why we have to open the match fully focused - coach Gislason said.

- They have a technically very good team that has a lot of options on the floor. Who ever underestimates then will lose in Stuttgart. My players know that full well.