Author Archives: John Ryan

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Handball and Basketball at the Beach

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Venice Beach Handball (foreground) and pickup basketball (background)

The Ryan family was vacationing in Santa Monica for a few days and one day we decided to take a stroll south towards Venice Beach.  Venice Beach is an iconic location featured in numerous movies and TV shows for its skateboarders, weightlifters and Southern California ambiance.  Also part of that scene are the Handball and Basketball courts near the pier.  While watching those two sports being played simultaneously a couple of whimsical thoughts crossed my mind….

1) What’s funnier, a) the fact that many Europeans are puzzled and somewhat insulted that most Americans have no clue as to what their “handball” is or b) the fact that most Americans have no clue about the Handball the rest of the world plays?

It never fails to amuse me the confusion that almost always ensues when an American and European meet and the topic of conversation turns to Handball.  As one who has witnessed and participated in this comedic dance I’ve seen it play out in a number of different ways.  I’ve seen Europeans absolutely bewildered; even angered that their beloved sport can’t even be comprehended by an American who can’t figure out how 7 people get in such a tiny space.  I guess if they traveled to Venice Beach and seen the hundred or so people watching and playing this version of Handball they’d get the picture.  Not to mention the several thousand casual observers who stroll by and witness this sort of spectacle here and in other regional locales around the U.S.  Team Handball has an increasing awareness quotient in the U.S., but it should be readily apparent to all, that there’s a reason why to most Americans our “Handball” is at best “the other handball” and more likely, the “unknown handball.”  It shouldn’t be this way, but make no mistake that’s the way it is.  There are a lot of folks to pin the blame on in regards to this reality, but it stands to reason that no one would benefit more from a campaign to change this reality than the Europeans trying to make a living playing, managing and promoting the sport.  So yes, the answer to my question is that it’s funnier that Europeans are puzzled.

2) It’s not practical to play pick-up Handball and the fact that you can play pick-up basketball has inevitably led to its ever increasing popularity.

As a middle aged athlete with diminished skills I watched the basketball games being played and immediately assessed that I could step right in and play.  One of the games I’d probably have dominated and in the other I’d been a role player.  I wasn’t about ready to step in and play, but if I wanted to I could.  Which, of course, is the beauty of pick-up basketball?.  Just about anywhere in the U.S and increasingly the rest of the world, it’s possible to find a game at your level in which you can just walk right up and start playing.  Whereas, as far as I know, there’s nowhere in the world that you can do that for Handball.  There are a number of reasons why that’s true.  Here’s a few:

– Handball’s a rough game.  Accordingly, you generally don’t want to play with just anybody.
– Handball’s a young man’s game.  Once you get north of 40 years old Handball gets to be pretty hard in terms of recovery.  This is true in basketball, as well, but based on personal experience it’s manageable.
– You got to have 14 people to play the game the way it’s meant to be played.  You can sort of make do with 12 and you can scrimmage on a half side of the court, but it’s a poor, unsatisfactory compromise. And 2 of those 14 better be legitimate goalies.  Whereas in basketball, even 2 on 2 can be fun.
– “Call your own” officiating in basketball is problematic; in Handball it’s even worse.

This whimsical thought is not meant to validate the concept that basketball is a superior sport.  No, just to merely point out the obvious:  The great sport of Handball has got some limitations when it comes to casual, spur of the moment participation.

 

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2011 PANAM Games Draw: Results and Analysis

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The Groups have been drawn for the Men’s and Women’s Team Handball Competition at the PANAM Games.  Both the Men’s and Women’s tournament formats start with round robin play in two groups of 4 teams.  The top two teams from each group advances to the semifinals while the bottom two teams play for 5th to 8th place.

The Gold Medal winners for the Men’s and Women’s tournament earn an automatic ticket to the 2012 Olympics in London.  The 2nd place and 3rd place men’s team earn berths in Olympic qualification tournaments Spring 2012.  The 2nd place and possibly the 3rd place women’s (TBD based on 2011 WC results) will win tournament berths as well.

Men’s Draw

Group A: Brazil, Chile, Canada, Venezuela
Group B: Argentina, Dominican Republic, Mexico, USA

Analysis:  Brazil and Argentina are clear favorites to win their groups and to eventually play each other in the Gold Medal Game.  The rest of the participants with the possible exception of Venezuela have realistic aspirations of making the semifinals.  Chile, which took 3rd place at the 2010 PATHF Championship last year and played respectably at the 2011 WC (their draw against Slovakia was a major surprise) is probably the next strongest team.  They will be challenged in Group A by Canada for the second slot.  At last summer’s PATHF Elite Championship, Chile easily defeated Canada 36-25 during Group play

In Group B, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the USA will battle it out for second place.  Based solely on recent PATHF competition results the Dominican Republic appears to be a slight favorite having finished 1st at the PATHF Div I Championship in 2009, 8th at the PATHF Elite Championship in 2010, and 1st at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in 2010.  Meanwhile, Mexico placed 4th at the Div 1 Championship in 2009 and 3rd at the Central American and Caribbean Championships.  The USA only returned to International competition last December, where they lost to Canada on aggregate goals scored in a home and home 2 game series.  This past spring at the 2nd Chance PANAM Games Qualification tournament the USA drew Uruguay and easily defeated Venezuela.

In terms of head to head competition, the Dominican Republic beat Mexico 35-32 as the 2009 Div championship and the USA has played neither team in several years.  One can extrapolate, on paper anyway, that the USA’s results against Canada and Uruguay (two teams that have played the Dominican Republic close in recent years) means that the USA and the Dominican Republic are roughly on the same level.

Women’s Draw

Group A: Brazil, Dominican Republic, USA, Uruguay
Group B: Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile

Analysis:  As with the men, Brazil and Argentina are clear favorites.  In Group A, the match between the Dominican Republic and Uruguay will likely decide who advances with Brazil into the semifinals.  And these two evenly matched teams know each other well having played to a draw during group play at both the 2009 and 2011 PATHF Championships (just this past June). The USA has only returned to international competition recently and struggled to beat an inexperienced Canadian side to secure the North American slot.  The USA Women are improving, but they are significant underdog to makes the semifinals.

In Group B, Chile (3rd place at the 2009 PATHF Championship) should be favored over Mexico and Puerto Rico.  This past June, at the 2011 PATHF Championship Chile defeated Mexico, 26-22 in Group Play while  Puerto Rico and Mexico may be evenly matched.  At last summer’s Central American and Caribbean Games, Mexico beat Puerto Rico in round robin play, but then Puerto Rico beat Mexico in the Semifinals 24-21.

 

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VIDEO: Free Webstreaming of Men’s Junior World Championships

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Argentina easily took care of PATHF rival Venezuela 31-17 on opening day of the World Juniors

The International Handball Federation is providing free webstreaming of the Men’s Junior World Championships in Greece.  Up to 8 matches per day will be shown live at laola1.tv from 17 to 30 July.

VIDEO Link:  LAOLA1.TV: http://www.laola1.tv/en/int/more-sports/handball/junior-world-championship/video/273–.html

Note:  Scroll to the bottom and select the match that you want to watch.  Central European Time (CET) is 6 hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast.  Also matches can only be watched live.  There is no “on demand” option.

 

IHF: Web Broadcast Schedule: http://www.ihf.info/IHFCompetitions/WorldChampionships/MensJuniorWorldChampionship/XVIIIMensJuniorWorldChampionship2011/News/NewsDetails/tabid/5688/Default.aspx?ID=702

IHF Junior World Championships Website: http://www.ihf.info/IHFCompetitions/WorldChampionships/MensJuniorWorldChampionship/XVIIIMensJuniorWorldChampionship2011/tabid/5683/Default.aspx

Official Junior World Championship Website: http://www.greecehandball2011.org/

 

 

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Partille Cup: How can USA Team Handball best maximize this opportunity?

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USA Girls in action at the Partille Cup

The USA sent two youth teams recently to participate in International Handball Federation (IHF) Olympic Solidarity Program and the Partille Cup in Sweden.  The Olympic Solidarity Program is an IHF funded program held to support developing handball nations and the Partille Cup is a massive youth tournament with club teams from all over Europe and the world participating.  While I think it’s great that a handful of young American players are getting this exposure to Handball, some of the ugly score lines from the tournament got me contemplating whether the USA is maximizing this opportunity.

Boys Team Results from Partille Cup

Olympic Solidarity Camp Friendly Games
USA National Team 26-22 China
USA National Team 44-29 Singapore

Pool Play (16 and Under)
USA National Team 7-32 OV Helsingborg
USA National Team 9-22 Kärra HF
USA National Team 16-14 BK Ydun
USA National Team 17-22 TV Birsfelden
USA National Team 9-19 HC Eynatten-Raeren

Knock Out Tournament
USA National Team 8-21 Elverum IL

Girls Team Results from Partille Cup

Olympic Solidarity Camp Friendly Games
USA National Team 10-18 Scotland
USA National Team 12-23 Scotland

Pool Play (15 and Under)
USA National Team 3-22 Vorup FB
USA National Team 4-28 Kungsängens SK
USA National Team 4-27 Skövde HF
USA National Team 1-27 Klaebu IL
USA National Team 4-30 Skedsmo HK 1

Knock Out Tournament
USA National Team 5-14 Röyken og Hurum Graabein

Results Overview

A quick assessment of the score lines show that the boy’s team had some measure of respectability.  They won their two friendly games against China and Singapore at the Olympic Solidarity Camp and compiled a 1-5 record in their Partille Cup games, with an average score line of 10-19.  The girl’s team results were more lopsided.  They lost both of their solidarity camp games to Scotland and were totally overwhelmed in every Partille Cup match losing their 6 games with an average score line of 4-25.  (Note:  These matches were 2X15 minutes, so to get a true picture you might want to multiply the scores by 2)

Top Prospect or Any Prospect?

While these score lines were ugly we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking this was a wasted trip.  I’ve written before about lopsided scores and the benefits the learning experience provides to the losing team.  And in that commentary I was talking about much older teams.  The two teams sent to Sweden were far younger and coupled with the training at the Olympic Solidarity Program this event was surely worthwhile for every athlete that attended.  All that being said, however, I think USATH needs to be  more low key as to the composition of this “national team”.  This was clearly a developmental team and I would classify the participants as more any prospect then top prospect.

The play on words refers to the current youth focused effort established by the USA Federation: the Top Prospects program.  There are a lot of positive things about this program as it’s providing funding, curriculum and structure to different regions of the country.  There’s a clear application process and it may be presumptuous on my part, but I think if someone is motivated and takes the time to fill out an application they probably stand a good chance of getting some support to develop a local program.  In short, the Federation is providing much needed support and incentive to start new pockets of development throughout the U.S.

But, while what I’ve just described is all well and good it appears that the program is probably falling well short of its stated mission of identifying “talented” future Olympic Players.  I say this based partly on the ugly looking score lines from the recent Partille Cup.  While those poor results can be partially chalked up to the vastly more experienced European clubs I think a team of future Olympic athletes could use that superior athletic ability to keep the game a little more respectable.   This is especially true when you factor in that most of the clubs participating at the Partille cup are only drawing athletes from one small dot on the map, not an entire county or 300 million people.

But, then again the current reality is that the U.S. is probably working with a youth talent pool smaller than what many of those clubs are working with.  In fact, based on Federation articles written promoting the trip and tryouts a cynic might even assess that just about anyone willing to pay for airfare probably could have put on a USA jersey.

The challenges of identifying top young talent

But, even if USA Team Handball had thousands and thousands in the talent pool vying for Partille Cup spots, identifying the future Olympian at ages 15 and 16 is probably a futile mission.  Out of curiosity I checked out the USA Basketball website to see what kind of Under 19 and Under 18 rosters they’ve sent to assorted FIBA tournaments in the past 15 years.  I didn’t do an in-depth review, but the typical roster only had 1 or 2 players whose names I recognized and with a few notable exceptions (Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh) I didn’t see a whole lot of Olympians.  And this is for a U19 roster for a major sport where colleges spend hundreds of thousands of dollars recruiting and assessing potential high school prospects.  So, with all those resources being applied they are either missing some talented players or more likely those talented players are still developing as athletes.  And this is at ages 18 and 19!  If you look at ages 15 and 16 players like Michael Jordan (he got cut from his HS Varsity team as a sophomore) would never ever get selected.

Recommendations:  Focus on maximizing exposure

So, if you take into account that a sport like basketball can’t do a great job of identifying Olympic talent at young ages, it’s very unlikely that we’re going to do the same for Team Handball.  And if you couple that fact with the other challenges our sport faces competing against other more established sports, we need to make sure were maximizing the potential benefits of Partille Cup participation. And in my opinion, maximum benefit equals maximum participation.  With that in mind I have the following recommendations.

1) Maximize nationwide participation: The rosters for the Partille Cup had fairly heavy representation from only a few Top Prospect programs.  Notably, the girl’s team was mostly from New Jersey while the boy’s team was spread out a little better with 3 players each from Salt Lake City and Chicago.  I would argue that it would be better to further spread out that representation, so that only 1 or 2 players be allowed to participate from a local youth program.  Such a quota would give more players from clubs and Top Prospect programs exposure to the Partille Cup experience.

2) Limit participation to “one and done”:  Attending an event like the Partille Cup can be life changing for a young athlete.  It is a totally unique opportunity and has the distinct possible outcome of creating new Handball fans for life.  Attending the same event in subsequent years, however, will not have a significant multiplying effect.  Therefore, it would be far better to maximize the numbers of kids who get that opportunity.  Hence, my one and done proposal to ensure that as many kids as possible get that experience.  Undoubtedly, this will mean the official USA teams that are sent won’t be as strong, but results are really secondary at these ages. (A short side note here:  There’s nothing to prevent anyone participating or creating their own team to play in this event.  I’m simply talking about the teams that are getting resources from USA Team Handball.)

3) Come up with a new name for the team:  Since the criteria above will keep us from sending our best team forward the USA team should be given a name like “USA Select” or “USA Development Team”.  This is semantic, but in terms of promotion to the rest of the world it will help to at least partially explain ugly score lines.

4) Continue to promote the event:  My compliments to Kyle Hanson and the USATH staff for their regular reporting on this event.  This isn’t the first time a team from the USA has attended, but it’s the first time it’s gotten the exposure it deserves.  Future prospects will read those reports and target this as an event they want to play in.  Promotion is key to getting the word out and expanding the talent pool.

 

USATH:  Top Prospects Program Overview:  http://assets.teamusa.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/37770/Top_Prospects.pdf

USATH (18 Feb 11): 20 Athletes Converge on Colorado Springs for Youth National Team Selection Camp: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/41031

USATH  (10 Jun 11): USA Team Handball youth taking on the 2011 Olympic Solidarity Program and Partille Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/42763

USATH (15 Jun 11): U16 Boys and Girls Rosters Named for Partille Cup: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/42855

USATH (28 Jun 11): U16 Girls Training Camp in August at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/43135

USATH (13 Jul 11):  Youngsters shine at Partille Cup:  http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/07/13/youngsters-shine-at-partille-cup/43521

Partille Cup VIDEO: Olympic Solidarity Overview: http://partillecup.com/eng/index.php/home/webb-tv/?film=4407

USA Basketball (Under 19 History): http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/u19/history.html

 

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Brazil Women win gold with dominating performance

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Brazilian women celebrate after easy win vs Argentina

Brazil easily defeated rival Argentina 35-16 on Saturday to win the Gold Medal at the Women’s Pan American Championships.  The contest was never in doubt as Brazil held Argentina scoreless for the first 13 minutes on the way to a 22-5 halftime lead.  Throughout the tournament, Brazil was clearly the best team with an average margin of victory of 19.2 goals.  The closest any team came was 15 goals by Cuba and Mexico in Group Play.

Looking ahead, the Brazilian women will be overwhelming favorites to win the Gold medal and Pan American Olympic spot at the PANAM Games in Guadalajara this October.  On top of that they also appear to be in good position for a breakthrough performance when they host the World Championships in December.  In 2009 they beat runner-up France in pool play, but then placed a disappointing 15th place after failing to qualify for the Main Round.  They’ve shown they can play with Europe’s best and with most of their roster now with several years of experience playing on top European clubs they know they have the talent.  Add the benefit of hosting the event a run to the semifinals is a distinct possibility.

With Brazil separating themselves from the rest of the pack it appears that the PATHF women’s team can currently be grouped as follows:

Tier 1:  Brazil
Tier 2: Argentina, Cuba
Tier 3: Uruguay, Chile, Dominican Republic
Tier 4: Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, USA, Canada

While it may be all but a foregone conclusion that Brazil will win Gold at the PANAM Games, the tournament does present an opportunity for teams to compete and show improvement against upper tier teams.  With Cuba not participating in the PANAM Games due to their decision not to play in the Central American and Caribbean there should be an interesting battle between the tier 3 (Uruguay, Chile and Dominican Republic) and tier 4 teams (Mexico, Puerto Rico and USA) for semifinal spots.  Beating Brazil and Argentina is not likely for those teams, but a bronze medal opportunity is certainly a possibility.

 

 

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Women’s PATHF Championship Update: Iron Women Cubans demolish Chile with just 7 players

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7 Iron Women from Cuba played all 60 minutes vs Chile

The 2011 Elite Women’s Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) Championships are underway in Brazil with the expected favorites having little trouble in the first round of matches.  Of particular note, though, was Cuba’s 40-21 thrashing of Chile with only 7 players.  It’s not clear as to why the Cubans decided to have their team travel in two separate groups, but it’s clear they sent the right 7 players first.  The “Iron Women 7” arrived in Brazil on Tuesday and apparently didn’t take long to find their rhythm as the game was never in doubt.  Argentina, Brazil and the Dominican Republic also had relatively easy wins.

The top 3 teams (not counting Brazil- already qualified) will qualify for the World Championships to held later this December in Brazil.

Mundo Handball:  Cuba will play the first match of Pan American Championships with only 7 players: http://www.mundohandball.com/articulos/cuba-jugara-el-primer-partido-del-panam-solo-con-7-jugadoras

PATHF Twitter Feed:  https://twitter.com/#!/panamhandball (includes a live and taped video feed- Not the highest quality, but our compliments to PATHF for their efforts to provide fans with this option.)

PATHF Competition Page: http://www.panamhandball.org/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showResultsRank&layout=bydiv&p=28&Itemid=65

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Qualification Update

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All but 3 teams have now qualified for the Women's World Championship in Brazil this December

The last two weeks included several qualification matches for the Women’s 2011 World Championship and the Men’s 2012 European Championship.  Both events will play a part in the eventual qualification for the 2012 Olympics.  To see which teams have moved closer towards a slot in London check our updated “Qualification Pages” on the right hand side of the page.

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NBC buys Olympic Team Handball through 2020: Will they capitalize on that purchase?

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A re-imagined home page for www.universalsports.com

On Tuesday, NBC outbid ESPN and Fox for the U.S. TV rights for the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympics for $4.38 billion dollars.  That’s $4,380,000,000, or as I like to say a lot of “zeroes”.   And part of that purchase is the right to broadcast the Team Handball competition at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.  It’s highly doubtful that Team Handball factored into NBC’s winning bid, but that point is moot.  Regardless, they own Team Handball’s most prominent showcase in the U.S.  Which leads to a couple of questions:

Will NBC broadcast more Team Handball in the upcoming Olympics?

To NBC’s credit they pretty much web streamed every men’s and women’s match in 2008.  Broadcast TV options, however, were somewhat limited.  While more Team Handball was shown than ever before most of it was broadcast on the Life and Bravo networks.  True devotees could find it, but the “stumble upon” opportunity for new fans was pretty small.  With the recent merger of NBC and Comcast, however, NBC will have more channels to broadcast events like Team Handball and it wouldn’t surprise me if the packaging of sports like Team Handball, Field Hockey, sailing, etc is more consistent.  So, yes, I think we’ll get more coverage in London, Rio and 2020.

Will NBC broadcast Team Handball outside of the Olympics?

While it’s nice to get the Olympic stage every four years in the U.S., the bigger question is what will happen in between Olympics.  As anyone who follows Team Handball in the U.S. knows the sport receives very little exposure on TV.  Baby steps have been made like the Comcast broadcast of the Germany-Poland match in 2010, German Bundesliga matches on the My Sports Germany channel and the Mhz network’s broadcast of the EHF Game of the Week this past season.  All well and good, but again these options have limited market penetration and are more for the true devotees than potential new fans.  To really spur the sports growth in the U.S. a committed patron willing to showcase the sport on a major network is needed.  Will NBC be that network?

There’s at least a chance they will be.  Buried in the reporting of the NBC victory, was a small snippet (only reported in a few media outlets) that the contract allows for the creation of an Olympic Channel if NBC, the USOC, and IOC can come to an agreement.  You might recall that back in 2009 the USOC trumpeted the creation of an Olympic Channel agreement with Comcast (which was then a separate entity from NBC).  Less than a year later, however, the USOC sheepishly shelved the project due primarily to NBC and the IOC both expressing displeasure with the USOC going at it alone.

A year later the landscape has changed dramatically.  NBC and Comcast are now a merged company and that merged company has bought the Olympics through 2020. The USOC is playing nice with the IOC and is planning to renegotiate the USOC’s financial share of U.S. Olympic TV rights.

Moreover, NBC has shown just how well they can promote a low profile sport if they put their mind to it.  Back in February, I wrote an article profiling what they are doing for Rugby 7s with their annual World Series event in Las Vegas.  Just this past weekend they showed several hours of a collegiate rugby 7s tournament in Philadelphia on NBC, the Versus network, and the Universal Sports channel, which has a web streaming and
broadcast presence.  In fact, I would venture to guess that this Universal Sports channel will soon be rebranded the Olympic Channel.

And it doesn’t take much to imagine Team Handball getting a presence on this web page.  Hence, my doctored photo of their homepage.  While it might have been expensive for NBC to travel to Guatemala for a Team Handball qualifier there’s plenty of content available which would have minimum production cost.  The EHF Champions League, the German Bundesliga, the World and European Championships, next spring’s Olympic qualifying tournaments.  Throw in a few events where the U.S. is participating and you have a nice channel to complement the rugby, cycling, and swimming options.

I know you’ve heard this before so many times.  But, Team Handball will sooner or later have a place in the American sporting consciousness.  It won’t take up as much space as our major sports, but if there’s room for Rugby 7s, lacrosse, etc., there’s room for Team Handball.  Here’s hoping that NBC will see the light.

Broadcasting and Cable (7 Jun 11) Confirmed: NBC Universal Wins Bidding for Olympic Games: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/469360-Confirmed_NBCUniversal_Wins_Bidding_for_Olympic_Games.php

THN (9 Jul): Olympic TV channel set to launch after 2010 Olympics: https://teamhandballnews.com/2009/07/olympic-tv-channel-set-to-launch-after-2010-olympics/

THN (1 May 10): U.S. Olympic Channel venture officially over:  https://teamhandballnews.com/2010/05/u-s-olympic-channel-venture-officially-over/

THN (28 Feb 11): Promoting Team Handball in the U.S. (Part 1): Las Vegas Rugby 7s Tournament: Undoubtedly, a model to follow: https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/02/promoting-team-handball-in-the-u-s-part-1-las-vegas-rugby-7s-tournament-undoubtedly-a-model-to-follow/

THN (12 Mar 11): Promoting Team Handball in the U.S. (Part 2): How is Rugby getting promotion done right?: https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/03/promoting-team-handball-in-the-u-s-part-2-how-is-rugby-getting-promotion-done-right/

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Fatsis requests more Team Handball, ehfTV delivers!

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Will German Coach Heiner Brand go out a winner?

There’s little doubt that NPR’s Stefan Fatsis, is America’s #1 mainstream media reporter Team Handball fan. Just this past Monday, Fatsis gave a shout out (starts at 58:15) to the USA Men’s National Team for their qualification for the PANAM Games and at the same time put out a plea for more Team Handball viewing opportunities. Well what Fatsis requests, the European Handball Federation (EHF) delivers. And in a big way starting on Wednesday with 2 critical European Championship Qualification matches webstreamed for free at ehfTV.com

European Qualification for Team Handball can often be a humdrum affair with top teams quickly distancing themselves from weaker teams in their group leading to inconsequential games in the final rounds. Not so in Group 5 this year as Austria, Germany and Iceland are locked in a 3 way battle for two spots. All three sides control their own destiny and the first pivotal match will be Austria hosting German Wednesday night.  Austria leads the group with 7 points and Germany is in 2nd place with 5 points. An Austria win would qualify Austria and put Germany in a dire straight as Iceland, currently in 3rd place with 4 points will likely knock off winless Latvia to move into in 2nd place with 6 points. Germany, in all likelihood will pick up 2 points from Latvia on Sunday as well, but then they will need an already qualified Austria to knock off Iceland in Iceland. So, translation: This is must not lose situation for Germany. (Also, based on goal differential for a three way tie, Germany would be in good shape with a draw)

But it’s also a key match for Austria, because they surely know that beating Germany in Innsbruck is going to be a whole lot easier then beating Iceland in Reykjavik. Should Austria lose to Germany the Iceland-Austria on Sunday will become a true elimination game with the winner punching a ticket to the EURO 2012 and the loser staying home.

The 3rd match has Lithuania hosting Spain. At first glance, this looks to be a showdown between two sides fighting for one remaining spot. And indeed both sides are level on 4 points. Only problem is that Spain is clearly a better side (they won the first head to head match in Spain 33-17) and Lithuania has to travel to Croatia on Sunday. So, even if Lithuania pulls off the upset, they’ll likely need Spain to lose again to Romania.

Handicap point spread in parenthesis

Wednesday, 8 June, 2011, 2015 CET (1415 US East Coast)
Germany (-1.5) at Austria
ehfTV On Demand: http://www.ehftv.com/ech/adults/men/2012/video/001751

AUDIO Commentary popup is below (Synch with the ehfTV video webstream)

Thursday, 9 June, 2011, 1845 CET (1245 US East Coast)
Spain (-6.5) at Lithuania
ehfTV Live Link: http://www.ehftv.com/ech/adults/men/2012/live/high/001750
ehfTV On Demand: http://www.ehftv.com/ech/adults/men/2012/video/001750

Sunday, 12 June, 2011, 1630 (Iceland Time) (1230 US East Coast)
Austria at Iceland
ehfTV Live Link: http://www.ehftv.com/ech/adults/men/2012/live/high/001752
ehfTV On Demand:http://www.ehftv.com/ech/adults/men/2012/video/001752

Subject to the on demand streams being posted in timely manner and the demands of the Ryan family household I will do an audio commentary of the Austria matches.

Stefan Fatsis article in NY Times (11 May 2009) Team Handball Has It All…: http://www.stefanfatsis.com/2009/05/11/team-handball-has-it-all/

 

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PATHF Second Chance Tourney: USA defeats Guatemala 38-24 to qualify for the PANAM Games

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Team USA poses for a celebration photo after their 14 goal victory over Guatemala

Team USA easily defeated Guatemala 38-24 in the third and final match of the 2nd Chance tournament in Guatemala City, Sunday night.  Due to the USA-Uruguay, 23-23 draw the night before the USA needed to win by at least 8 goals to pull ahead of Uruguay on goal differential and first place in the tournament.

The win now means that the USA has qualified for the PANAM Games this October in Guadalajara, Mexico.  Eight nations (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada and USA) will vie for the 1 Pan American Olympic qualification spot for the 2012 Olympics in London.  Argentina and Brazil are the prohibitive favorites, but Team USA should compete for a  semifinal spot as the 6 teams below those two sides are more evenly matched.

Final Standings
1) USA 1-1-0 3 Pts 61 47 +14
2) Uruguay 1-1-0 3 Pts 43 35 +8
3) Guatemala 0-0-2 0 Pts 36 58 -22

USA Federation write-up: http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/06/06/usa-men-qualify-for-pan-american-games-for-first-time-since-2003/42652

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PATHF Second Chance Tourney: USA – Uruguay draw 23-23

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23-23: A draw vs Uruguay means goal differential will be key for the U.S. tonight against Guatemala

Game 2 of the Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) 2nd chance tournament ended in a dramatic 23-23 draw.  According to a recap provided by USA Team Leader, Jim Thome, the match was a see-saw affair throughout with the largest lead being a 3 goal lead for the U.S.  The match was a physical affair with 15 two minute penalties being assessed (8 for Uruguay and 7 for the U.S.)

A further account of the match including the last minute is at the USA Federation site:  http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/06/04/usa-ties-uruguay-in-second-chance-tournament/42643

Qualification for the PANAM games will now come down to goal differential in the final match between USA and Guatemala later today.  On Friday, Uruguay beat Guatemala, 20-12, so a 9 goal or more USA victory would put the USA at the top of the table.  A 7 goal or fewer win would see Uruguay qualify.  An 8 goal victory would revert to the next tie breaker, total goals scored, so the U.S. will be looking to score 21 or more goals in the match.

Guatemala cannot win the title, but as host, can play the spoiler.  For a young team playing in front of a home crowd against the big country to the North this will surely be a challenge they will relish.

Note:  I now plan to interview Mark Ortega after Sunday’s match.  Throw off is at 6:00 PM local (8:00 PM East Coast Time).  I will try to post the interview by 11:00 PM East Coast time.

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PATHF Second Chance Tourney: Uruguay opens with 20-12 win over Guatemala

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Team USA poses prior to opening ceremonies Friday night in Guatemala

Uruguay and Guatemala opened the Second Chance Tournament in Guatemala City, Guatemala Friday night with a 20-12 victory over Guatemala.  The U.S. and Uruguay will play the 2nd game of the tournament on Saturday night at 8:00 PM (10:00 PM U.S. East Coast).  If Uruguay wins they will secure first place and qualification for the PANAM Games later this year.  A U.S. win will put the U.S. in good shape to qualify, but they would still need to defeat Guatemala on Sunday night.

U.S. National Team Captain Mark Ortega chats with John Ryan and about Friday’s match and Saturday’s showdown vs. Uruguay.  (Running time is 9 minutes)

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Podcast: EHF Champions League Final Four Discussion

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John Ryan and Christer Ahl discuss the EHF Champions League Final Four matches that took place on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the event’s format, schedule and promotion.  Running time:  37 minutes

Note: Be forewarned, the quality of the audio is sometimes spotty and on a few occasions there’s some feedback that could be ear-piercing if you have the volume set too high.  And, if anyone out there is a wizard at skype audio recording and has a few tips that could help us improve the sound quality please drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com