EHF Game of the Week: Valladolid at Pick Szeged (Live and with English Language Commentary)

Posted on February 26, 2011 by John Ryan

Szeged's Frantisek Sulc

Another Group C match is served up for this week’s game of the week. Spanish side Valladolid travels to Hungary to take on Szeged. Both sides are likely to advance to the round of 16, but still have strong motivation to win. A win in Hungary would pretty much lock up second place for Valladolid and give them an outside opportunity to win the group. Meanwhile, a Szeged win will qualify them for the round of 16 and put them in third place with a possibility of even moving up to second.

The match is at 6:00 PM (Central European Time), 12:00 Noon (U.S. East Coast) on Saturday, 26 February. Valladolid is a 1.5 goal favorite

EHF Website interview with Pick Szeged’s Frantisek Sulc: http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2010-11/article/13698/%C5%A0ulc%3A+%22Szeged+live+for+handball%22

Live Broadcast link: http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-11/live/high/001438

On Demand broadcast at ehfTV: http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001438

There is also a tape delayed broadcast on the MHz Network in the U.S. at 4:00 PM (U.S. East Coast). For information on how you can watch MHZ see this: http://www.mhznetworks.org/mhzworldview/carriage/

USA Team Handball Announces New National Team Pool Criteria

Posted on February 25, 2011 by John Ryan

USA Team Handball recently posted updated National Team Pool Criteria for prospective National Team players. Some of the criteria appears to be simply a more structured rehash of criteria that has been previously used to assess and identify players. There are the usual battery of physical tests and handball skills identified, but there are also some new requirements that caught my eye.

For instance, some basic minimums were identified in terms of matches and practices each year. A relatively modest number of matches is required (15), but a fairly substantial number of practices are now required (48 court and 72 non court). This may seem rather simple to our European readers, but I suspect that there are very few club teams in the U.S. meeting the 48/year requirement.

More noteworthy, is a requirement for senior players to relocate to designated Regional or National Centers of Excellence by June 1, 2012(#5, page 13). Section 5 goes further to highlight that the process for selecting these locations is planned for the first half of 2011 and that preliminary plan is to re-establish a residency program (either walk-in or live-in). As far as I know, this is the first written indication that USA Team Handball was going to take this significant step. More details will hopefully be coming soon in regards to the specifics of such a program and how it will fit into the current practice of encouraging European Club participation.

Also added is a requirement off the court in terms of being an Ambassador for the sport with options to support development through recruiting, refereeing and fundraising. An appropriate requirement, in my opinion, for a sport that needs as many people promoting it as possible.

But what really caught my eye, were the closing comments in the “Athlete Development Pipeline Model” document:

Finally, as uncomfortable, inconvenient and uncanny it may feel, there is absolutely no science based nor practice based evidence of a “fast track” for high achievers to become masters in their fields. To the contrary, as Malcolm Gladwell in his bestseller “Outliers” put it (sic): “researchers and practitioners in variety of fields have settled on what they believe is the magic number of for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”

“The 10,000 – HOUR RULE” sends very clear and strong message to us all involved in handball. Handball must evolve into year around activity.

A table is then provided which tabulates what this mean in terms of 25 day month (assume you 4 or 5 days off) over a 12 year span (2.77 hours/day) or 16 year span (1.56 hours/day). I’ll have a follow on commentary about the 10,000 hour rule. But suffice it to say, this is a very telling stat that speaks volumes as to the historic lack of U.S. success and the challenge of developing handball experts who pick up the sport in their late teens.

USATH: Live the Olympic Dream: Tryout for Team Handball!: http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/02/23/live-the-olympic-dream-tryout-for-team-handball/40313?ngb_id=42

USATH: National Team Pool Criteria: http://usateamhandball.org/national-teams/national-team-pool-criteria

USATH: USA Team Handball Athlete Development Pipeline Model: http://usateamhandball.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/38081/USATH_Athlete_Development_Pipeline_Model_Application_Guidelines.pdf

EHF Game of the Week: Chekhovskie Medvedi at Aalborg (Live and with English Language Commentary)

Posted on February 19, 2011 by John Ryan

After a long layoff the Champions League is back with leg 8 of Group Play. The featured match this week with English Commentary has Danish side Aalborg hosting Russian side Chekhovskie. Chekhovskie is tied for first place in Group C with 11 points while Aalborg is in last place with 4 points. Aalborg still can qualify for fourth place in the Group, but with only 3 matches to play they will need to start winning. Chekhovskie is also highly motivated as they will want to move ahead of Spanish side Valladolid in their bid to win the coveted first seed heading into knockout play.

The match is at 4:50 PM (Central European Time), 10:50 AM (U.S. East Coast) on Sunday, 20 February. Chekhovskie is a 3.5 goal favorite

EHF Website interview with left wing Timur Dibirov: Hungry for European handball: http://www.eurohandball.com/article/013676/Dibirov%3a+%22Hungry+for+European+handball%22

Live Broadcast link: http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-11/live/high/001431

On Demand broadcast at ehfTV: http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001431

NBC to broadcast 5 hours of “7 on 7” Olympic Team Sport

Posted on February 11, 2011 by John Ryan

This weekend, one of the major USA TV Networks, NBC, will have an unprecedented 5 hours of live coverage of a 16 nation tournament for a relatively unknown Olympic team sport with 7 players to a side. The sport is fast paced, features crisp passing, physical contact and high scoring. Unfortunately, for us Handball fans, the 7 on 7 sport is Rugby 7s, not Team Handball.

My adopted home of Las Vegas will be hosting the 4^th leg of the Rugby World 7s tour. Rugby 7s is a modified version of Rugby that features fewer players per team (7 vs 15) and much shorter games. The Rugby World 7s tour plays in 8 cities world-wide and tournaments are played out in rapid fashion over two days in a festival style setting. Rugby successfully lobbied to get the 7 on 7 version of the game on the Olympic program and it will make its debut at the 2016 Olympics.

I’ll be attending the event and hopefully speaking with NBC and USA Rugby 7s executives and maybe see if we can convince them to do the same for Team Handball. If you have time check out the event on TV this weekend and let me know your ideas are concerning a similar event for our sport.

Hollywood Reporter: NBC, Universal Sports Bet on Rugby: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/nbc-universal-sports-bet-rugby-98136

NBC Rugby 7s Page: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35910886/ns/sports-rugby_7s

Live TV Coverage is Saturday, February 12, 3:30 – 6:00PM ET and Sunday, February 13, 4:30 – 6:00 PM ET

Additional Internet coverage is also available at http://www.universalsports.com/

USA Team Handball’s Egypt Connection

Posted on February 9, 2011 by John Ryan

A strange twist of events resulted in USA Men’s National Team Captain, Mark Ortega, witnessing history in Egypt. Looking for a better training opportunity in preparation for the upcoming PANAM Games 2nd Chance tournament Mark moved to Egypt in January to train with fellow teammate Adam El Zogby’s club team, Al-Ahly, in Egypt. In two video reports, Mark chronicles Adam’s recovery from ACL surgery, life in Egypt and his search for a club to join. What starts as a handball travelogue seems starts to take a dramatic turn as protests in Egypt engulf the country. Video 2 ends with the protests starting and a discussion with a Cairo cab driver regarding their significance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY6Rcpx9Xto&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCcmSYU6GNs&feature=player_embeddedUSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmpPpey64_k&feature=player_embedded

Team Handball’s weekly report on athletes playing overseas reports that Adam El Zogby is continuing his recovery and is safe and sound in his apartment situated a little over a mile from El Tahir Square.

USA Team Handball: Mark Ortega Profile.
USA Team Handball: Americans Abroad Report.

2012 Olympic Qualification Update

Posted on February 5, 2011 by John Ryan

We’ve updated the 2012 Olympic Qualification page to reflect the recent results of the Men’s 2011 World Championships.

https://teamhandballnews.com/2012-olympic-qual-men/

By winning the title France has joined host, Great Britain, in qualifying for the Olympics in London next year. Ten spots in the twelve nation tournament remain to be awarded. Four spots will be awarded to the Continental Federations (Europe, Pan America, Asia and Africa) and 6 spots will be awarded via 3 IHF Qualification Tournaments.

The IHF has decided to use the same format that was used for 2008 Olympic Qualification. Three round robin tournaments (with 4 nations participating) will be plaayed from 6-8 April, 2012. The top 2 teams from each tournament will qualify for the Olympics. Teams will be seeded in these tournaments based on the recently completed World Championship results and the results of upcoming Continental Qualification events.

The nations that placed 2^nd through 7^th (Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, Iceland and Hungary) have qualified for IHF Qualification Tournaments. The World Championships also decided the rank order of the different Continental Federations. Europe by virtue of France winning the title is ranked as the top Continent. Pan America is second (Argentina, 12^th Place), Asia is 3^rd (South Korea, 13^th Place) and Africa is 4^th (Egypt, 14^th Place). The most significant ramification of the Continental ranking is that Pan America, by virtue of Argentina being the sole non-European team making the main round, picked up an extra qualification tourney spot.

The current seeding for these tournaments is as follows

Tournament 1: Denmark (Host), Hungary, Europe (2^nd), Africa (2^nd)
Tournament 2: Spain (Host), Iceland, Pan America (2^nd), Europe (3^rd)Tournament 3: Sweden (Host), Croatia, Asia (2^nd), Pan America (3^rd)

It’s fairly likely, however, that this seeding will be altered by the 2012 European Championships as Denmark, Spain or one of the other European teams that finished 2^nd-7^th at the World Championships will be strong candidates to earn the European Automatic Qualification bid. This will then set off a cascading effect in terms of which teams will play where. For instance, should Denmark earn the European bid the placement of teams would change as follows:

Tournament 1: Spain (Host), Poland, Europe (2^nd), Africa (2^nd)
Tournament 2: Sweden (Host), Hungary, Pan America (2^nd), Europe (3^rd)
Tournament 3: Croatia (Host), Iceland, Asia (2^nd), Pan America (3^rd)

Commentary: As I pointed out 4 years ago, I think most observers would probably consider this format flawed in that it’s fairly certain that the Continental Championship Qualifiers in Tournament 3 will be weaker opponents than the qualifiers in Tournaments 1 and 2. Tournament 1 will likely have Germany, Norway, or Serbia as Europe 2 and then either Tunisia or Egypt as Africa 2. The teams in tournament 2 are likely to be Brazil/Argentina and Germany/Norway/Serbia again. Contrast that to Tournament 3 where the likely opponents include Japan and Chile/Cuba. You can pretty much ink in Croatia and Iceland as qualifying out of that tournament. So, it’s pretty clear that a 3^rd or 4^th seed is better than a 1^st or 2^nd seed. Granted, Spain and Sweden will still likely qualify, but why should they get punished for doing better at the World Championship?

There’s a number of ways that the IHF could have fixed this. The simplest would probably be a draw for tournament seeding using 4 ranks of 3 teams each. That would at least even out the likelihood of getting a 3^rd European team in each tournament. Another option would be to rank order the 6 teams that qualify via Continental Championships based on how well they performed at the last WC. Regardless, it’s clear that the current system is flawed. It’s probably too late to fix it now, but I guess maybe there’s a chance the IHF could get it right for 2016.

Time Shifting: Why would I watch any other way?

Posted on January 24, 2011 by John Ryan

I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth mentioning again.

I know it is Monday afternoon in Sweden and teams are gearing up for the second round of play for Main Round Group I. Everyone’s also probably still talking about the Croatia – Sweden match on Sunday night. But in my little private Handball World, it’s still Saturday evening and I’ve yet to scan through Spain – Norway to see if any of it is worth watching.

Yes, with 9 hours separating me from Sweden, it’s not practical for me to watch very many games live, but through the convenience of on-demand viewing at livehandball.tv I can watch whenever I want. I know you old schoolers like the aesthetic of watching it live, but tell me old schooler what are your plans for this coming Wednesday and Thursday night? Yes, while you and the teams are getting some much needed rest, I will be watch whatever pivotal matches remain in the Main Round at my leisure. I’ll catch up with you in time for the Semifinals, although I may watch one Friday night and the second one on Saturday night. Seriously, I must ask; Why would you watch anyway else?

And now for a short plug for livehandball.tv. If you haven’t signed up yet, I would strongly suggest that you do. They’ve lowered the price to $25 for the rest of the tournament and with the on-demand feature you truly can get your money’s worth. I’ve been plugging my laptop into my TV via HDMI cable and I’ve been pretty pleased with the quality. Mind you it’s not Hi-Def by any stretch, but it’s TV worth watching.

THN (23 Jul 08): Extreme Time Shifting in the Desert or How I Hope to Watch Olympic Handball: https://teamhandballnews.com/2008/07/extreme-time-shifting-in-the-desert-or-how-i-hope-to-watch-olympic-handball/

Preliminary Round Wrap Up/Main Round Preview

Posted on January 22, 2011 by John Ryan

Christer Ahl and John Ryan discuss the final preliminary round results and look ahead to the Main Round. Again, we apologize for the sound quality. Occasionally, there is a little echo on Christer’s end.

Also, our memories were a little short in regards to a few players and where they play. After the fact here’s some info:

Danish Backcourt, Kasper Sondergaard, plays for Danish Club, KIF Kolding.

Iceland Goalie, Bjorgvin GÚSTAVSSON plays for Swiss Club, Kadetten

Argentina Goalie, Matias Schulz, age 28, plays for Badajoz in Spain’s 2^nd Division. Four other players for Argentina play in Spain’s Liga Asobal. Sebastiean Simonet, 24; Diego Simonet, 21; Federico Vieyra, 22 play for Torrevieja. Gonzalo Caro, 31 plays for Ademar Leon. It’s worth noting that not only are they playing in Spain’s top league, with the exception of Caro, they should be around a while.

Argentina with huge victory over Sweden

Posted on January 19, 2011 by John Ryan

Argentina defeated host Sweden 27-22 in what is probably the biggest victory ever for a Pan American team in World Championship history. For more on this victory check out this Argentina Handball Blog.

Our correspondent in Sweden, Christer Ahl, concurs:

Argentina defeated Sweden, after having dominated the whole match; great goalkeeping, an aggressive and tenacious defense, good fastbreaks and confident shooting were the key factors; Erwin Feuchtmann was the top scorer. Argentina celebrated as if they had already won the Championship, but in fact they still need one point against Chile to be sure of a place in the main round; but if they get there, they will bring the 2 points from yesterday with them. The Swedish team and fans are shocked and disappointed; they figure they lost their chances for a medal, but they admit the Argentina win was fully justified; they now desperately need to win aginst Poland on Thursday.

In an earlier game, Chile sensationally was ahead against Slovakia the whole game, often by 3-4 goals, but with ONE second to go, the Slovaks managed to equalize. However, while the immediate reaction of the Chileans was one of desperation, they soon begun to realize that the point they had gained was a historic one.

In a game in another group, Brazil came close to gaining their first point. They lost by only one goal against a strong Norwegian team, after they failed to use their chance to tie the game in the final minute.

All in all a fantastic day for PanAmerican handball. Now the fans (including my Swedish friends) will no longer doubt that handball exists on our continent as well!!!

WC 2011: After Day 4 (News and Notes)

Posted on January 18, 2011 by John Ryan

Every team has now played 3 matches and the Main Round Tables are starting to take shape. I have a few observations as does my colleague Christer Ahl in Sweden.

Group A

It looks like the European powers France, Spain and Germany will qualify for the Main Round.

Christer writes:

“The group headed by France, Spain and Germany was/is supposed to be the “Group of Death”; after I watched GER-ESP and TUN-EGY last night, I would say that the label is deserved but in a very different sense!! at least in the last 10 years, I have never seen any one of these 4 teams being so weak Spain were listless and allowed Germany to stay even or move ahead on the basis of playing with much more passion and energy and using in part a good defense and a strong GK, Bitter; but when the game seemed decided, with 10 minutes to go the German energy was gone, or they had a black-out, so Spain could score 7 goals without answer and win easily.

I have seen many games between the rivals TUN-EGY but this was the worst one; TUN missed several top players from recent years, and their `star’ Tej was a shadow of himself; they were still able to take a 10-7 lead against a sleepwalking EGY team; but then EGY found their rhythm a bit wile TUN got more and more desperate, so EGY scored 9 straight goals and that was i.t”

Group B

Iceland, Norway and Hungary look to be on course to advance. Austria and Japan could still make some noise, those. Japan looked sharp in their earlier win against Austria, but were pummeled by Iceland, who had no problem exploiting Japan’s aggressive, but risky defense.

Group C

Denmark and Croatia seem to be locks for the Main Round, while Serbia has the upper hand for the 3^rd spot. Algeria and Romania still have chances though should they all end up level on points.

Christer Ahl writes: “The big surprise was that Romania found no way of dealing with Algeria’s defense, with half-court pressure; perhaps they were also tired after trying to keep up with the Danish running game the previous evening… Algeria won with the amazing score of 15-14 and now have a better chance of moving on to the main round than their North African rivals Egypt and Tunisia,:

Group D

Sweden and Poland are on course to advance. 3^rd place, however is up for grabs.

Christer Ahl writes: “ ARG continued to impress, but in part their win was caused by self-destruction on the part of Slovakia who had an early lead. It seems the Slovaks demonstrated against their coach during the half-time break, staying in clusters on the court instead of joining the coach for instructions in the locker room. It may now come down to a goal difference affair between Argentina and Korea for the final slot in the main round.”

PODCAST: Men’s World Championship: Day 3 Wrapup

Posted on January 17, 2011 by John Ryan

John Ryan and Christer Ahl discuss the first 3 days of the 2011 Men’s World Championships. Christer is in Malmö, Sweden and he recounts the action he’s seen and what to expect in the remaining preliminary round matches. Catch a listen as you watch the matches at www.livehandball.tv

(Our apologies for the audio quality. At times, there’s a bit of an echo at times on Christer’s line)

World Championship Preview: Only 1 Big Question: Will France make it four in a row?

Posted on January 14, 2011 by John Ryan

France has been on a roll. Since winning the 2008 Olympics in Beijing they’ve added a World Championship in 2009 and a European Championship in 2010. When a team dominates a sport as France has for the past couple of years, the only real question is whether there’s any reason to think that the current trend won’t continue. Time for another argument with myself.

Why France won’t win again

1) No Daniel Narcisse: Arguably, Daniel Narcisse is the best “1 on 1” offensive player in the World. At key moments in the past few tournaments, he’s used those skills to rattle off some goals and quickly turn a close game into a 3 or 4 goal lead in the space of a few possessions. With Narcisse out due to injuries France will have to rely on other players to step up and fill his shoes. And while there are some other very able backcourts none of them have the explosiveness of Narcisse.

2) No Guillame Gille: Gille is not the star player that Narcisse is, but he’s a very competent Center Back. If I was coach Claude Onesta, the first thing I’d do in the absence of Narcisse is move Karabatic to left back and let Gille run the show. Not an option here, so it will be interesting to see the lineup chosen.

3) Circle Runners on the “outs” with their club team: I’ve been watching a lot of Hamburg matches on “My Sports Germany” and it’s interesting to note that former Handball player of the year, Bertrand Gille has been relegated to backup Circle Runner behind Igor Vori. Of course, Vori, is the best in the World now, but still he hasn’t been playing much on the offensive side of the court. Additionally, I’ve read that the same thing is happening with Cedric Sorhaindo down in Barcelona

4) Short preparation time: France did not have a very extensive preparatory session prior to the World Championship. Are they perhaps getting a little over confident? They only beat Argentina by 3 goals in Paris?

Why France will win again

1) Who’s going to beat them? While I’ve pointed to some clear chinks in France’s armor, as my colleague Christer Ahl pointed out previously other teams have injuries to deal with. And more importantly, none of the other top nations have near the depth that France has in terms of replacing them.

2) Nikola Karabatic is due for a break out tournament. This may seem like an absurd statement to make about the consensus best player in the world, but I think it’s a valid one. Notably, I’ve had to explain to several handball neophytes who’ve seen France play why while that Narcisse guy is very good, it’s that workmanlike Karabatic who’s pulling the strings on that team and making everything happen. With Narcisse out I expect Karabatic to step up his scoring a bit and make it clear to anyone who was doubting it, that he is indeed the world’s best.

3) Theirry Omeyer. There’s nothing quite so comforting as to have the best goalie in the world between the bars making 3 or 4 (or even more) saves that no other goalie in the world will probably make.

In the end, I suspect that France again will ascend to the podium. The oddsmakers also definitely concur as France is slightly more than an even money bet to win the tournament. It’s possible that they will fail in their quest, but I wouldn’t bet against them.

Website Upgrade

Posted on January 13, 2011 by John Ryan

You may have noticed that THN was down for a few days earlier this week. We’re sorry for this outage, but the good news is that this hiccup became an impetus to perform a much needed site upgrade. We’re still working the kinks out, but we think it is great improvement. We hope you’ll agree, as well.

The move to the new website system also means that all passwords, which were encrypted, got lost. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please use the ‘lost password’ function to log into your account.

If you have any suggestions regarding any functionality/features that should be added to the site please let us know.

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