Milos’s Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto face test against Romania’s Odorheiu

Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto play their second winter pre-season test this Friday in the Catalan town of San Joan D’Espí against Romanian side Oderheiu Secuiesc.

The match, scheduled at the Poliesportiu Salvador Gimeno for 19:30, will be the first high-level test for Nikola Milos’s Valencians after Tuesday’s 28-28 draw with Interstar Maristas Algemesi.

The Romanian team have spent the whole week based in San Joan D’Espí on a training camp and, after matches against Barça B and La Roca, face an Asobal team.

Oderheiu are the reigning Challenge Cup champions, the third continental competition after the EHF Champions League and the EHF Cup. It is less well known among the Spanish public because no Spanish team competes in it, but its latter stages feature high-quality teams such as Oderheiu, who currently sit second in the Romanian League.

For the red-and-whites, Bernatonis and Sayad will remain absent, having been called up by Lithuania and Morocco respectively. Milos has not called up reserve-team youngsters Angel Lopez, Juan Carlos Chueca and Pablo Valderas. In keeping with the nature of a friendly, his aim is to raise the level of demands on the players tasked with preserving their Asobal status, although they all arrive with a heavy workload, as the Croatian’s training sessions have been intense, particularly the physical and defensive work. The latter is one of the areas they must improve to increase Fertiberia’s points tally in the second half of the season.

After this friendly, Milos’s side have another scheduled for Tuesday 26 at 20:30. At the Ovni, with free entry for everyone, Florida Caixa Popular of the 1st National Division, managed by former red-and-white Alberto Estornell, will test whether the team can improve its performance in front of disappointed supporters who have not seen it win since September last year.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.