In the round of 16 of the DHB Cup there will be a NRW duel between Lemgo Lippe and Gummersbach. VfL has two unfinished business.
If the TBV Lemgo Lippe and VfL Gummersbach face each other in the DHB Cup on Wednesday evening (7 p.m.), then there will be a meeting between two teams that have been doing really well so far this season. Lemgo and Gummersbach are among the teams of the moment Handball-Germany.
After almost a third of the current season in the Handball Bundesliga (HBL), both Lemgo and VfL are among the top five in the league. Lemgo in fourth and Gummersbach in fifth are even ahead of the reigning champions from Berlin in the table.
Lemgo wins first duel of the season
The start of the season could hardly have gone better, especially for Lemgo. In the first nine games, Florian Kehrmann’s team only lost their first game of the season against the still unbeaten Magdeburgers and won eight wins from nine competitive games. There was a first dampener in the mood last matchday with the 22:28 defeat at MT Melsungen.
Things went much better for Lemgo in the last duel with him VfL Gummersbach. The two teams faced each other in the HBL at the beginning of September. Lemgo celebrated a clear 31:25 home win and inflicted VfL’s first defeat of the season.
Gummersbach scores against Berlin and Kiel
After the defeat, VfL Gummersbach had its best phase of the season, achieved four wins in a row and, among other things, won clearly against Füchse Berlin (34:29). But VfL also suffered a setback recently. Before winning a point against THW Kiel, VfL narrowly lost at HSV Hamburg.
Lemgo with fans behind them
As with the last duel between the two NRW teams at the beginning of September, Lemgo can count on a sold-out hall and the support of 4,000 spectators on Wednesday. “It’s always particularly important in the cup to have the hall and the fans behind you,” said coach Florian Kehrmann: “The fans make the cup game something special and we want to move into the next round together. Our big goal remains to continue to be there in the cup.”
In their own hall, the TBV has not lost a point this season – excluding the defeat against Magdeburg. “Of course it will be difficult to win against Lemgo – especially away from home. But we want revenge for the last Bundesliga defeat,” says VfL newcomer João Gomes.
Gummersbach wants to return the favor twice
Gummersbach can return the favor in two ways on Wednesday. Head coach Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson’s team also lost their last duel in the cup. At the beginning of February 2023, Gummersbach was eliminated in front of their own fans in the quarter-finals of the DHB Cup against Lemgo. Back then, as in the previous two years, Lemgo always reached at least the semi-finals, and in 2020 the TBV was even crowned surprise cup winners.
Recently, Lemgo’s cup record has had a few blemishes – in the last two years it ended in the round of 16 at the latest, while Gummersbach made it to the quarter-finals in each case. This season the really big highlight should work. “One of our goals as a team is to get to the Final Four,” Gomes said.
Our sources:
- Homepages of TBV Lemgo Lippe and VfL Gummersbach
