All times are Egypt Local (CET is 1 hr behind; US ET is 7 hrs behind)
Odds courtesy of Bet MGM
If you want to watch the matches that aren’t available on ESPN+ check this article for how to watch geo-blocked matches on YouTube: Link
Group E
- 1900 Austria vs France (-9.5) (on ESPN+) (YouTube) w/English commentary
- 2130 Norway (-7.5) vs Switzerland (on ESPN+) (YouTube) w/English commentary
The first matches for this group saw the two favorites play each other with France beating Norway, 28-24. Now the remaining matches we’ll see if either Switzerland or Austria can pick off a win against them. Switzerland beat Austria, 28-25, so they have a leg up in qualifying for the Main Round
Group F
Just like Group E, Group F saw the two favorites play each other last time around, with Portugal winning 25-23. Algeria staged a major comeback to beat Morocco 24-23, so they have the advantage in terms of advancing. This means that the Algeria – Iceland result will likely carry forward to the Main Round.
Group G
Egypt won their opening match vs Chile while N Macedonia was beaten handily by Sweden 32-20. If N Macedonia wants to take any points into the Main Round they’ll need to pull an upset vs the hosts today. Sweden are big favorites over a Chile team that put up a decent fight vs Egypt.
Group H
With S. Korea sending a B Team to this tournament it’s all but decided that Belarus, Slovenia and Russia are through to the Main Round. Belarus and Russia played to a 32-32 draw, so they each have 1 point. Slovenia and Russia will play what amounts to a de facto Main Round match while Belarus will have a scrimmage practice vs S. Korea.
Betting Predictions
For this tournament we’ve doing some betting predictions using an imaginary starting bankroll of a 1,000 Euros. Joining me will be, Sharp Action, a former professional handball player from France.
Odds are either from the Bet MGM or the Bet Rivers online sportsbooks.
John’s Pick(s):
- Current Bankroll: $1,000
- Yesterday’s Result: N/A
- Today’s Pick: France vs Austria
- 1st half handicap; France (-5.5) (+128 or 2.28); Bet $100 to win $128
- France shook off 2 disappointing results vs Serbia in European qualification play and put everything together for an impressive 28-24 win over Norway on the first day. But, France being France, will everything fall apart once again? Against a weaker foe, not too dissimilar to Serbia? I say nope… They may indeed go back to their old ways later in the tournament, but they won’t have any problems scoring early and often against an Austrian team that won’t be able to handle them one on one. Further compounding Austria’s problems will be their lack of backcourt scoring against France’s middle defense. France should cruise to a big first half lead much the way Germany did in Euro Qualification. I’m not saying France will lead 19-5 at the break like Germany did, but such a result wouldn’t totally shock me. In the 2nd half, however, with the game in hand, I’m not so sure as to what will happen in a game that will likely have no bearing in the Main Round. Hence, the first half bet.
Sharp Action’s Pick(s):
- Current Bankroll: 1,000 Dollars
- Yesterday’s Results: N/A
- Today’s Pick: TBD