Yearly Archives: 2018

PANAM Games Qualification 2nd Leg Preview: USA vs Canada Women:  Which Side Will Make the Better Adjustments?

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USA’s Julia Sayer on attack in the 1st leg match vs Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “home and home” 2 game aggregate playoff may well be the fairest playoff format devised.  Both teams get a match at home.  The winner is whoever has the most goals after 120 minutes of play.  No home court advantage and less chance that the outcome that one fluke performance (good or bad) will determine the outcome.  And, if by chance, there is a fluke outcome in the first match, each team has some time to make adjustments to correct any problems that may have occurred.

For sure, both sides had their share of problems in the first game.  The U.S. offense struggled against the 3-2-1 defense of the Canadians.  Forced out higher away from the 6 meter line the U.S. backs had difficulty getting in position to be a threat to score.   And, when they did move forward on attack coordination with the wings and circle runners was lacking resulting in only 1 goal in 60 minutes from those positions.  The U.S. will definitely need to make some adjustments if they want to improve on the 22 goals scored in the first match.

The Canadian women will also need their own adjustments to improve on their 20 goals.  At times it seemed as if the Canadians were simply playing catch hoping for an opening in the U.S. defensive wall to magically appear.  As the saying goes: hope is not a strategy.  Canada will need to make some adjustments to get the static U.S. defense moving to the point where they can find some more offensive openings.

If either side can find a way to step it up a bit on offense, that side will likely be well on its way toward victory.  But, it could very well be that we just might see another night of stellar defensive play with both team struggling to eke out goals in half court situations.  If that’s the case, the outcome may well come down to which team minimizes turnovers and resulting opponent fast break opportunities.

And, if that’s the scenario for tonight I think the veteran U.S. team is probably at an advantage with several players having been there before.  Indeed, the U.S. team 8 years ago needed a 5 goal win in Canada to qualify and they found a way to do it.  This time around they have a +2 goal cushion to work with.

Countering that argument, though is a hungry Canadian side which surely feels they can play better than they did Sunday night.  And, on top of that, they are playing at home in front of a sellout crowd of 600 fans who will surely be making some noise in support.

Emotions should be running high tonight.  And, with everything to play for in front of a sold out crowd.  This is going to be one game to watch for sure.

Match Schedule (Wednesday, 5 September)

Canada vs USA (Women) 1900 Eastern Time (0100 CET, Thursday)
Canada vs USA (Men) 2100 Eastern Time (0300 CET, Thursday). 

The match will be live streamed on the Quebec Handball Federation Facebook page:  Link

 

USA Men Wear Down Canada for Convincing 36-24 Victory

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With several changes to the U.S. roster the big question heading into last night’s contest was how much of a difference those changes would make.  From the opening minute it was pretty clear that the new backcourt trio of Fofana, Hueter and Hines would add much needed scoring punch to the U.S. offense with crisp passing and one on one athleticism.  But, Canada met the challenge with a little athleticism of their own and matched U.S. scoring in the early going, even taking 1 goal leads in the early going (5-4 and 6-5).  Midway, through the first half, though, after being tied 9-9, the U.S. was able to clamp down a bit on defense and get some separation for an 18-14 lead at the break.

The first 20 minutes of the second half would see the U.S. build a 6 goal lead only to have Canada claw its way back to a four goal deficit at 28-24.  At which point, a combination of Canadian fatigue and missed scoring opportunities turned the game into a rout.  It was as if the U.S. had found another gear and Canada had run out of gas.  The U.S. dominated play on both sides of the floor to finish the match with 8 unanswered goals for the final 36-24 result.

Abou Fofana, with 9 goals was the Match MVP, but quickly noted in a post game interview that Center Back, Ian Hueter was a big part of his success feeding him the ball for multiple scoring opportunities.  Gary Hines also benefitted from an experienced center back and another back court threat and scored 7 goals at right back, a position he does not regularly play.  (Indeed, as one who has seen Hines getting marked and roughed up over 60 minutes, it was as if he was 24 years old again.)  The U.S. also got solid play from wings Michael Lee and Ty Reed.  Reed, who outside of training camps, is not even practicing regularly was particularly effective with 8 goals.  A trio of circle runners (Baup, Skorupa, and Donlin) played hard, but were little overly aggressive on defense resulting in multiple 2 minute penalties.  Finally, Rene Ingram, played all 60 minutes in goal and found his rhythm in the 2nd half with several nice saves.

Canada, except for the last 10 minutes of the match, had a lot to commend for itself.  Defensively, they adapted quickly to the capable USA back courts challenging them and making sure there that there were no free shots at 9 meters.  I was particularly impressed with the play of backcourt Marc-Andre Vachon who led Canada with 7 goals and also set up other scores as well with aggressive attacks on offense.

With a 12 goal aggregate lead the U.S. has a big cushion for the second leg in Montreal.  While not insurmountable, Canada will have its work cut out for them.  Regardless, they will be eager for revenge and with a sold out crowd of 600 cheering them on leg 2 should be closer.  Wednesday night’s game is at 2100 Eastern Time (0300 CET, Thursday).  The match will be live streamed on the Quebec Handball Federation Facebook page:  Link

Scoring

USA:  Abou Fofana (9), Ty Reed (8), Gary Hines (7), Ian Hueter (5), Michael Lee (3), Drew Donlin (2), Antoine Baup (1), Greg Inahara (1)

Canada: Marc-Andre Vachon (7), Justin Larouche (4), Alexandre Touzel (3), Christian Toth (2), Tim Sartisson (2), Etienne Mercier (2), Marc Gordulic (1), Gregory Chauvee (1), Mattieue Rousselle (1), Cedric Dupere (1)

Video:  USA – CAN Men (Leg 1): Link

USA Women Edge Canada 22-20 in First Leg

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The USA Women edged Canada 22-20 in a closely contested affair.  Both teams appeared tight to start the match struggling to score and setting the tone for a defensive minded match.  The first half was close throughout with a one goal lead by either side for most of the way eventual and at the break the U.S. held a 12-11 lead.  The 2nd half saw each side manage a “mini-run” to surge into the lead.  Canada came out gunning and was able to overtake the U.S. getting ahead 16 to 14 at one point.  The U.S., however rallied to tie the game and then went on a 3-1 mini-run for the eventual 22-20 final score.

As has been their standard for the past few years, the U.S. women made it very tough for Canada to score in a set offense.  The taller American side’s wall made it virtually impossible for Canada to score at distance and limited their scoring pretty much only to the occasional breakthrough or wing shot.   Canada, meanwhile, utilized a 3-2-1 defense to great affect disrupting Team USA’s rhythm offensively and limited quality shots on goals.  At times it also forced turnovers leading to much needed fast break opportunities for the Canadians.

Nicole Andersen led the U.S. with 8 goals and Julia Sayer added 5. All but 1 of Team USA’s 22 goals came from four backcourt players (Andersen, Sayer, Rhoads and Darling) while Canada had a very balanced with their 20 goals coming from 9 different players.

The U.S. takes a two goal lead in the two match aggregate playoff.  The U.S. will advance for certain with another win or a 1 goal loss.  Canada will advance with a 3 goal win.  In the event of a two goal Canadian victory the next tiebreaker is away goals scored meaning that the U.S. will need to beat Canada’s 20 goals at Auburn to advance. The second leg of the match will be in Montreal on Wednesday night at 1900 Eastern Time (0100 CET, Thursday Morning).  The match will be live streamed on the Quebec Handball Federation Facebook page:  Link

Scoring

USA:  Nicole Andersen (8), Julia Sayer (5), Jence Rhoads (4), Kathy Darling (4), Monaye Merritt (1)

Canada: Emily Routhier (3), Myriam Laplante (3), Abbey Renee Perry (3), Audrey Marcoux (3), Myriam Zimmer (2), Catherine Leger (2), Haven Wong (2), Katya Chan (1), Rosali Langlois (1)

Video:  USA – CAN Women (Leg 1): Link

 

Podcast (Episode 46): Postgame Interview with Match MVP, Abou “Sticks” Fofana

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:31 — 1.5MB)

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Game MVP, Abou Fofana and MVG, Rene Ingram. (Also pictured, award presenters USATH CEO Mike Cavanagh and Mexican Handball President Mario Garcia Del Torre)

PANAM Games Qualification Preview (USA vs Canada) Men:  New Look USA Men’s Team vs Steady as She Goes Canadian Side

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The Canadian Men have been solid consistent performers for the past 6 months. Will that be enough to beat a new look U.S. team?

The USA and Canadian Men will face off against each other in a 2 game series this Sunday in Auburn, AL and Wednesday in Montreal to determine the North American qualifier for the PANAM Games next summer in Lima, Peru.

Unlike the Women, The USA and Canadian Men have played each other recently.  Just this past April, Canada beat the U.S. Men 33-31 at the North American & Caribbean Championships.  And, this was an important match in which a U.S. victory might have led to the U.S. Men qualifying for the Pan American Championships.  While a close match the Canadian Men clearly were a better side that day and consistently a better side throughout that tournament.  They rightly earned qualification to the Pan American Championships that were held in Greenland this past June.

At that tournament, Canada continued their steady, consistent play.  They were not competitive against Brazil (42-13) and were soundly beaten by Greenland (32-20), but they finished up strong in the consolation rounds beating Puerto Rico and avenging an earlier defeat against Uruguay to finish in 5th place.  They may not be the most athletic team, but they play smart and find a way to beat teams on their level.  Not surprisingly, Coach Alexis Bertrand, has kept his roster almost entirely intact, with virtually an identical roster from the two tournaments played earlier this year.

With the U.S. Men, it’s a dramatically different tale to tell.  The U.S. has a new coach, Robert Hedin, and a dramatically different roster with only 6 players returning from the NORCA Tournament.  National Team mainstay, Gary Hines, has returned and several dual citizens, mostly playing in Europe will make their U.S. Sr Team debut.  Some have previously played for the U.S. in Jr team competitions and have shown promise in those events.  Adam El Zoghby also returns after a long spell and the U.S. has added a totally new face in 21 year old Ian Huter who plays for Dormagen in the German Bundesliga 2nd Division.

It’s hard to say who exactly will play the bulk of the minutes for Coach Hedin, but it won’t surprise me a bit if he leans heavily on the new dual citizens and Gary Hines.  And, based on the individual pedigrees of all these players, in theory, overnight, the U.S. has a more talented and athletic team than Canada.  Key words: “in theory.”  Why?  Well, because it’s not always easy to integrate individual talents into a cohesive team.  It takes time to accomplish that task.  And, time has run out for this “new look” U.S. team.  They’ve had limited time to prepare, limited time to practice, and only a few friendly matches under their belt.  None of which were played with the full roster.

Meanwhile the Canadians have played two important qualification tournaments in the last 6 months.  They are as ready to play at their maximum potential as they probably could be.  They know their teammates, their strengths, their weaknesses.  They know that “so and so” likes his pass “right here” on the wing.  And, when if the left back starts his move, the circle runner knows exactly where to go to get the entry pass.  They are a solid “team”.  Not flashy, but solid.  Based on their recent performances they are very unlikely to beat themselves.  Indeed, they’ve shown quite the knack of finding a way to win the close games at crunch time.

So, what we have are a lot of unanswered questions:

  • Will the new U.S. dual citizens live up to their billing? Making the U.S. Team immediately better?
  • And, if so will this new U.S. side play as a team? Or, will they merely be a collective group of individuals that haven’t quite gelled together yet?
  • And, will that leave an opening for a proven Canadian side? To collectively beat a side which is a better team on paper?
  • Or, will the Canadians wilt under pressure from superior talent?
  • Or, maybe the Canadian Men will grow tired of all the hype surrounding a new U.S. team and have that little extra motivation to just prove they are better.

I could go on, but you get the picture.  Lots of burning questions to be answered.  And, the answers to these questions may change over the course of 120 minutes making the aggregate winner of this border war showdown all the more interesting.

USA – Canada PANAM Games Qualification Schedule

Sunday, 2 September at Auburn
USA – Canada (Women) 3:00 PM (Central Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 5:00 PM (Central Time)

Wednesday, 5 September at Montreal
USA – Canada (Women) 7:00 PM (Eastern Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 9:00 PM (Eastern Time)

All 4 matches will be live streamed.  

Live stream for matches at Auburn: Link
Live stream for matches at Montreal:   (Link to be added when available)

I will be on the ground, both in Auburn and Montreal, with interviews, stories and some tweets during the match.  You can follow me here:  https://twitter.com/TeamHandball

I Just Made a Donation to Support the USA National Teams.  Maybe you Should, Too?

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The USA Men and Women will take on their Canadian rivals this Sunday and Wednesday. If you’re watching and being entertained then perhaps you should consider a small donation to defray player travel costs.  Just sayin…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most likely you’ve seen many online pleas for money.  Support this, support that.  My favorite is the college kid who held up a “Send Beer Money” sign behind the ESPN College Game Day hosts.  And, the crazy thing is that it worked! This guy actually got total strangers to send him money.  Crazy, but ingenious.

And, of course, I’ve seen many pleas for support to handball causes, particularly national team travel.  While my love for the sport of handball and Team USA is pretty high I’ve always been reluctant to contribute to to these campaigns for a number of reasons.  Those reasons:

1) Rewarding the Budget Shell Game.  Back in 2011 USA Team Handball found itself short of cash for upcoming national team trips.  In this commentary, I highlighted what can be called a “Budget Shell Game.”  Essentially, this trick involves first spending all or most of your money on several items that might not be very popular and then playing the pauper, holding your hand out for critical needs that now can’t be paid.  Our Congress uses this trick all the time.  I was a party to it during my Air Force days arguing for budget support.  “Cut something the Fighter Pilots really want and then we will get more money.”  And, USA Team Handball, intentionally or not, sure was guilty of it back in 2011.  The U.S. is really strapped for money now, so if similar machinations are going on now they are on a far smaller scale.  Still, there’s a budget.  Could more money have been found to support National Team travel?  Could something else had been sacrificed?  There’s no way of really knowing for sure and the details behind such decisions, but make no mistake, such decisions are made.  And, I don’t care how tight money is, it just doesn’t seem right that travel can’t be funded by the federation and that pleas have to be made by the players.  It’s annoying, but it can be effective.  I complained back in 2011, but I still made a contribution for travel support.

2) Setting a Continuous Expectation? Further complicating things are the moral questions that play out when you help the homeless guy on the street.  If you give him a buck once, why don’t you give him a buck every time you see him?  Are you helping that guy out or enabling and encouraging him to ask for even more handouts? And, what about the other guy down the street?  Shouldn’t he get a buck, too?  And, why just 1 buck?  Why not a 20 spot?  All of these questions apply with handball fundraisers.  The U.S. has multiple teams and those teams make multiple trips.  Should one contribute to these equally and will these requests ever stop?  As someone who never had to pay for his national team travel I feel a bit conflicted.  On one hand, shouldn’t I help out those making similar sacrifices who are less fortunate than I was?  But, on the other hand am I setting a precedent here?  That this is the new way of doing business and I should just get used to it?

3) Other Handball Needs are More Deserving.  Another conflict I often have is a reflection as to what our sport really needs if it’s ever going to succeed in this country.  As much as I love cheering on Team USA it’s pretty clear to me that youth development, college development and other efforts to broaden our player and fan base are more important in the long term.  In the big scheme of things near term National Team performance won’t make much of a dent, especially with the ultimate goal of Olympic qualification being a real longshot.  Hence annual contributions to Air Force handball and youth programs have gotten priority.

4) Other Non-Handball Related Charities are Altruistically More Deserving.  It goes without saying that the world has a lot of needs.  Yeah, it’s hard to rationalize that flying some athlete to Montreal for a handball match is more important than say giving to a wounded warrior fund or helping starving kids somewhere.  And, 100% selfishly, my daughters’ college funds.

I’m not sure I’ve resolved my feelings regarding these internal conflicts, but I’ve made a donation to the men’s and women’s online campaign for the upcoming PANAM Games qualifiers.  Why these campaigns and not others? I guess I personally really put a premium on matches that are part of Olympic Qualification.  Plus, I’m attending them, so that’s a further point suggesting a contribution.  I am being entertained.  I really am getting something transactional.

And, I would suggest that if you’re planning on spending about 8 hours watching the online streams for those 4 matches then maybe that ought to tip the scales for your contribution as well.  How much do you pay for Netflix or Hulu or to go to a movie?

Just saying…  I really hate people bugging me for money. (And, wow, I just became one of those people.)

You can contribute at the following websites:

USA Men: Link

USA Women: Link

 

 

 

 

PANAM Games Qualification Preview (USA vs Canada) Women:  USA Road Warriors Clear Favorites vs Relatively Unknown Canadian Side

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Can this motivated, but relatively inexperienced Canadian side match up with a USA “Road Warriors” team?

 

The USA and Canadian Women will face off against each other in a 2 game series this Sunday in Auburn, AL and Wednesday in Montreal to determine the North American qualifier for the PANAM Games next summer in Lima, Peru.

Based on recent friendly competition results the USA Women would seem to be solid favorites to come out on top.   This is not so much because they have had better results than their Canadian rivals (although, they have), but because they’ve been able to play dozens of games together as a team in the past year.  Really, you would be hard pressed to find any team in the world that’s travelled more than the U.S. Women in the past year or so.  They’ve been to South Korea (August 2017), France (Dec 2017), Italy (March 2018), South Korea again (June 2018), and one last whirlwind European tour in July with stops in Germany, Hungary and France.  Incredibly, the USA Women have probably played more games together as a unit than any other national team in the world.  And, all done with a non-existent travel budget.  Of course, all those games are friendlies.  Rosters have changed from trip to trip.  But, still… This is a team that’s played together… a lot.

Meanwhile, the Canadian team is a bit of a mystery.  While the U.S. Women played in the North American & Caribbean Championships and the Pan American Championships in both 2015 and 2017, the Canadian Women stayed home.  In fact, their only official competition of recent note is their 7th place (out of 8) finish at the 2015 PANAM Games which they automatically qualified for as hosts.  And, only 6 athletes who played in that tournament are on the latest roster.  Further, half the team (8 of 16 players) will be making their international debut on Sunday.  The roster in total has played 83 International Games while the U.S. Women have a few players that may have well played more international matches on an individual level.

The Canadian women have had teams travel to Europe for competition and recently they played 4 matches against club teams in France, winning 3 and losing 1.  But, the three wins were against lower level amateur sides and the 34-22 loss was to a club team still playing at a lower level than the sides that the U.S. faced in France just a week earlier.   And, while the U.S. struggled at times against the higher French level teams they were competitive even picking up a few wins.  Again, with friendly matches, roster experimentation, team fatigue, etc, it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions, especially when you haven’t even seen one of the teams (Canada) play.  Still, one can infer that the U.S. is on paper a better, more experienced team.

But, the actual games will be played on the court.  And, the Canadians as a mystery team may be able to surprise.  Key to the match could be defense.  The U.S. has had solid goal tending and have at times in the past year shut down opposing teams for large blocks of time.  If the U.S can do that, they could build a sizable lead that they can take with them to Canada on the return leg.

Sight unseen, I suspect the Canadians will not want to get into a half court battle.  They may well try to up the tempo of the game with the hope of scoring on fast breaks.   And, with a faster paced game they might also force the U.S. to play some of their less experience reserves more than they would like to.

Historical Note:  Best that I can tell this will be the first non-friendly matches between the U.S and Canadian Women since the 2010 PANAM Qualification matches played in 2010.  Those matches had a bit of a twist to them with the U.S. losing the first leg in Lake Placid 23-18, but then winning the second leg in Canada 26-21.  This resulted in a 44-44 tie on aggregate, but the U.S. won the 2 game series since they scored more goals in their away match.

2010 Match write up: Link

So buckle up and throw out the analysis.  When the U.S. plays Canada you never really know what’s going to happen

USA – Canada PANAM Games Qualification Schedule

Sunday, 2 September at Auburn
USA – Canada (Women) 3:00 PM (Central Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 5:00 PM (Central Time)

Wednesday, 5 September at Montreal
USA – Canada (Women) 7:00 PM (Eastern Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 9:00 PM (Eastern Time)

I will be on the ground, both in Auburn and Montreal, with interviews and stories.  All 4 matches reportedly will be live streamed.

 

Podcast (Episode 41): USA Men’s Coach, Robert Hedin

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:49 — 15.5MB)

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USA Men’s National Team Coach, Robert Hedin

USA Team Handball Men’s National Team Coach, Robert Hedin, joins the podcast to to discuss his first impressions of his new assignment.  In the last month he’s conducted training camps at Auburn and in Dormagen, Germany.  We review both camps and the roster that’s been selected for the upcoming PANAM Games qualification matches vs Canada.  It’s definitely a new look USA roster with only 5 players returning from the the roster that lost to Canada 33-11 earlier this year at the NORCA Championship.

USA Team Handball article on training camp in Germany:  Link

USA Men’s National Team roster for upcoming matches vs Canada:  Link

USA – Canada PANAM Games Qualification Schedule

Sunday, 2 September at Auburn
USA – Canada (Women) 3:00 PM (Central Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 5:00 PM (Central Time)

Wednesday, 5 September at Montreal
USA – Canada (Women) 7:00 PM (Eastern Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 9:00 PM (Eastern Time)

Both the Men and Women will play a two game series with the winner advancing based on aggregate goals for both matches.  The loser will have an opportunity to qualify via a second chance tourney.

Men’s 2nd Chance Tourney:  Chile, Dominican Republic, Colombia and USA/Canada loser
Women’s 2nd Chance Tourney: Chile, Mexico, Guatemala and USA/Canada loser