Category Archives: Christer Ahl commentary

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Do we really need more speed in the game at the top level?

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There have been suggestions, including from the IHF President, that changes in rules and attitudes would be needed to speed up the game and to create more excitement.  Apart from focusing on this aspect when I watched the games in Sweden, I took the opportunity to ask some players, coaches, journalists and TV producers.

I have rarely heard such unanimous opinions on any technical topic in handball.  Many very surprised at the question.  They felt the issue at this time is that the emphasis on pure speed and quick action may have gone too far.  For instance, they noted that there are now many more fast counterattacks than just 10-20 years ago.  And the rules changes that allow for a throw-off, after a goal, to be taken more quickly have really been effective.  There is now a lot of pressure on the team that scored to get back on defense, and the mere “threat” of a rapid restart creates a bit of drama.  Similarly, only in some tactical situations are there any delays caused by substitutions.  Teams are now used to (and forced to) handling it very efficiently.

So from the standpoint of coaches and players, the main argument was instead that a further emphasis on speed would have a negative effect on ball handling and technical skills.  It would simply be impossible for players to maintain the same control as they have now.  And the view was that the game is nicer to play and to watch with this degree of control.  There was also a sense that the fitness of the players is generally as strong as it can reasonably get.  A further push for speed would cause a change in physical preparation and training methods that would be not just undesirable but in fact unrealistic.  It was also noted that the risk for injuries will probably increase with higher speed and constant action.  A loss of overview and body control would tend to cause more collisions with defenseless players.

I also chatted with some spectators.  Here the response was often that “we watch handball precisely because it has so much speed and action”.  Some compared with basketball which they found boring in this respect.  “We also need time to digest and celebrate what we see”, was another reaction.  The only negative remark involved excessive stoppages for real or “fake” injuries.  It was felt that some teams use this kind of tactics to slow the game down against a superior opponent.

The journalists I canvassed had roughly the same opinions as the ordinary spectators.  The separate category of TV commentators and producers had their own special concern.  They liked the speed of the game with counterattacks and quick ball movement.  But they felt that the restarts were often too immediate to allow them the necessary time for commentary or for slow motion repetitions.  So they would not be in favor of having a quicker turn-around in the game.  Instead, their focus tended to be at the overall concept of time-outs, but of course only at the top level where TV broadcasts are common.

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Iceland – what happened to the fighting spirit??

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The results from the preliminary round in the World Championship suggested smooth sailing for the Icelandic Viking ship.  They brought the maximum of four points to the Main Round and seemed to have had a relatively easy time in most of their five games.  It clearly looked as if it would be realistic to gain two or four more points in the Main Round, which then would help secure a place in the semi-finals.

But this was not to be.  Of course, if one looks at the final ranking, a sixth place and a spot in the Olympic qualifying do not seem so bad.  And one should not expect that the results from the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 European Championship could be repeated every time.  But the issue is HOW it all happened!

One might say afterwards that perhaps winning the preliminary group so easily created an illusion, because this group is likely to have been the weakest one, with Austria, Brazil and Hungary playing below normal standard.  But when an Icelandic team needs to get two-four points out of three games, then they normally get it.  Or at the very least, they fight to the last drop of sweat (or blood!) to try to do so.

There have been many instances of this famous fighting spirit in the past.  Personally, having been present, I remember primarily the final preliminary round match against France in the 2007 World Championship.  Iceland had “messed up” against Ukraine and now absolutely needed to win against France to be in the Main Round.  This seemed too big an obstacle, but the Icelandic team came at it with an attitude that just helped demolish the baffled French opponents, 32-24.

The player who for many years personified this attitude was Sigfus Sigurdsson.  Being somewhat of a giant, he is a really friendly person off the court, but on the court he was always a “tiger”, amounting to a real challenge for both the opponents and the referees.  His methods may sometimes have been a bit “borderline”, but he sure knew how to fire up his teammates.

This year’s team really seemed to miss Sigfus.  In the critical opening game in the Main Round against a desperate German team, it was the Germans who took charge by playing an enormously spirited game.  And after Iceland seemingly unnecessarily lost this game, it seemed as if any remaining fighting spirit was completely gone, so both the remaining two games against Spain and France were lost, as was the fifth place game against Croatia.

And it is not as if Iceland is without stars and players with substantial top club experience.  They had no less than nine players with more than 100 games for Iceland, most of them also playing for top clubs in Germany and elsewhere.  And they had Olafur Stefansson, a world-class player for many years, and a team leader with tremendous personality.  But perhaps Olafur is no longer able to “carry” a team in the same way he was, and he is not really a Sigfus character.

Whichever team an international handball fan is supporting, there would always be a special fondness for these remarkable Icelandic players, who have done such a fantastic job in drawing on their limited resources in terms of overall population.  The handball fanaticism is enormous there, and no other country (except Greenland!) has more handball players per capita.  But all of us really have come to expect not just strong results and great player; above all we have come to enjoy that special fighting spirit.  Let us hope it returns soon!

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The pressure on the players in a World Championship

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One of the proud statements from the IHF apropos this topic was that this time there had been an additional rest day inserted, in recognition of the concerns about fatigue and related issues.  The twelve teams who played in the Main Round typically had to play eight games in twelve days.  For the majority of them there was also travel on one of the rest days.  This is obviously a somewhat more intensive schedule than during the normal club season, but it is indeed a slight improvement over schedules in the past.

So how could one then summarize the different aspects related to the participation in World Championship for elite players who are already expressing concerns about the impact of the overall competition schedule?   Well, there are indeed several different aspects.  One involves the different practices in different countries regarding an adequate break in the league schedule, not just to accommodate the World Championship as such, but also to ensure adequate preparation and recuperation time for the players on the national teams.  Here it seems that most countries value the role of the national team enough to allow a rather generous gap in the league schedule.  But the opposite was really true in the case of Germany, where one could even observe an accelerated schedule immediately prior to what must be seen as a rather minimal break.

Then there is the tension between clubs and national teams, with the players themselves caught in the middle, regarding the fitness of a rather substantial number of key players, whose readiness to participate in the World Championship was debated heatedly up to the last moment.  Some clubs felt that there was undue pressure on players who were not really healthy, and some national teams clearly held the opposite view.  And sure enough, some players who had been noted as being only marginally fit indeed suffered relapses or new problems through their participation in Sweden.   In some cases it is suggested that players kept playing even when they perhaps should have been kept off the court.  There are now accusations about carelessness and inadequate concern for the longer-term health of these players.

Other players, whose health was never an issue prior to the event, happened to suffer the kind of injuries in Sweden that inevitably will happen during a period of intensive and hard-fought competition.  And of course it involved some players who are key figures on their club teams.  It may be of some consolation that the IHF for the first time provided insurance to keep the clubs whole, in terms of salary payments for periods during which the players are now unavailable for club duty.  But this is likely to be a limited consolation for teams who are now entering the critical stage of both the league season and continental competitions such as the final phases of Champions League etc.

Another new feature was the permission to allow each team to use all its 16 players in each game, instead of having to rely on 14.  While this may have created some peace of mind for the coaches, who had maximum flexibility in using their troops in each game, it is not likely to have had much impact in terms of reducing playing time for the star players or reducing the likelihood that risks with semi-injured played were avoided.   For the most part, four-five players were sitting on the bench rarely getting out of their warm-up clothes and setting a foot on the court.  The team will simply rely on their key players.  In fact, a couple of experienced coaches commented that the only benefit of the new regulation was really that it helped avoid the awkward decision of which two players would have to be placed as spectators in the stands.

But there is one aspect that seemed to be relevant.  When many teams had players unavailable due to injuries during, or from before, the event, it seems clear that those with the “deepest” teams had an edge.  They were able to integrate newer players who were able to play important roles throughout the Championship, and/or they could trust their marginal players so fully that they put them in for entire games or long portions without any risk.  This meant that they were able to rest their stars in some games where the outcome or the goal difference was not so important.  In this way, as the Championship came down to the final stages, there was a noticeable difference between teams that had constantly had to rely on five-six players and those who had been able to spread out the burden somewhat.

However, generally speaking, one cannot get around that the stars are the stars.  These are players that both the national teams and the club teams must draw on.  And these are the players whom the spectators and TV/web viewers love to watch.  They are the ones whose skills help create the necessary excitement around our sport.  One can come up with new regulations and fine-tuning in the schedule; but in the end we must realize that there is a limit to the intensity with which our biggest assets can be utilized.

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Refereeing – nothing replaces experience

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Last week I wrote about the World Championship refereeing and characterized it as “fair and honest”.  I also noted that, overall, the standard was good if one takes into account that many of the referee couples did not previously have much experience from this type of event.  I have now received some feedback from acquaintances who were present in Sweden and felt that they I should have noted the inconsistency that was evident from couple to couple and also from match to match with the same couple.

I have to agree with these comments to some extent.  This kind of inconsistency was noticeable, although, as I emphasized, the teams in a match were generally treated in a very even-handed way.  To some extent, a lack of consistency (or a “clear line”) for instance in handling personal punishments can sometimes depend on a lack of clarity in the instructions received.  But here I felt that most of the concerns were related to a shortage of Championship level experience on the part of several couples.  When the pressure is on, then there is a risk that more spontaneity and reliance on sudden instincts will become apparent, as opposed to the ability to draw on years and years of experience with the same kind of situations in the same kind of atmosphere.

There is simply no easy substitute for experience.  If a referee needs to analyze and think about every situation and decision, instead of just relating it to his/her vast “archives” of game situations, there will inevitably be deviations from a clear line and instead a sense of relative inconsistency.  But this does NOT mean that the IHF policy for nominating referees is incorrect.  As I noted in my previous article, there is not much choice, as the previous generation of top referees is for the most part no longer available.  So it is a matter of making good judgments in selecting and supporting the best of a younger generation.

And it cannot be emphasized enough: it is not sufficient to make good selection decisions; these referees need a particularly strong education and nurturing to help make up for their lack of experience.  Of course, they need to be supported in their respective continents through optimal assignments as a preparation between Championships, something which particularly outside Europe is easier said than done.  But the IHF needs to see them as a group that constantly needs to be monitored and supported.  In addition to those who were in Sweden, there may be up to ten more couples who could be seen as legitimate candidates for the next Men’s World Championship in 2013.

This combined group simply must get special attention, not just through sporadic moments of observation and feedback, but through a massive and systematic follow-up effort.  While there are no shortcuts in making up for experience, this kind of close and personal monitoring will clearly contribute to increased stability and consistency.  I know from my own experience that the IHF Referee Commission has only limited resources, especially in terms of manpower.  But these resources can be supplemented, and especially used better through substantially increased financial resources.

Surely the IHF top management, including President Moustafa, will realize that the investment in the IHF Global Referee Training Program that has been so successful up to this point is just a start.  Now the continuous development of this asset must follow, without any constraints in political and financial support.  This is the only hope of having “the best of both worlds”:  young and talented referees who are suited to the fast-paced game but also trained and competent well beyond their years of experience.

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Tunisia and Egypt lethargic on the court – ‘distractions’ had an impact?

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When the group with the three most recent world champions (France, Germany and Spain) was referred to as the ‘group of death’, this was partly because it was furthermore believed that Tunisia and/or Egypt might be strong enough to surprise one of the three favorites.  It turned out, however, that both of these North African teams played below their recent standard, something that may well have rescued the feeble German team from even greater embarrassment.

Perennially among the key players on the Tunisian team, Megannem was this time unable to impress, and Tej had become a heavy and immobile version of his past figure.  The team played inconsistently and without real cohesiveness, despite drawing on many players with substantial club handball experience from abroad.  Egypt seemed listless and without their typical fighting spirit.  There were comments to the effect that the very late decision to bring back the German coach Lommel had led to confusion and divisiveness.  I cannot remember having seen such an unimpressive Egyptian team for many, many years.

I happened to witness the game between these two teams.  These rivalries are unpredictable: sometimes they offer very exciting spectacles but sometimes they are very disappointing.  This time it was about as bad as it can get.  The teams seemed to compete with each other not to win the game but to give it away.  Tunisia seemed to have a solid lead, mostly because the Egyptians were so error-prone.  But then suddenly Tunisia lost their thread completely, and within 12 minutes Egypt scored 9-0.  After that, Tunisia more or less seemed to give up.  And the usual tendency to cause a lot of stoppages by being down on the floor in exaggerated pain was worse than ever.  At times it was really anti-handball.

I did not have many opportunities to talk with my old acquaintances on the two teams and delegations.  And I did not want to get much involved with delicate matters.  But ‘off the record’ I got unsolicited comments from Tunisians along the lines:  “surely you appreciate that, while we try to concentrate, our thoughts are really elsewhere at this point in time”.  And an Egyptian comment suggested that they had indeed had occasion to discuss a bit with their brethren, even though nothing overt had yet taken place in Egypt at that moment.  One cannot escape the sense, however, that this group of Egyptians, like perhaps the broader population, was ‘seeing the writing on the wall’ and was beginning to worry about what might happen.

Let us hope that in future international events the two teams will come back to old form and with a new spirit of pride and determination.  And more important than what might happen on the handball courts, let us be optimistic that the evolution will turn out to be what our many friends in these two proud countries are hoping for!

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This time Argentina is the pride of PanAmerica

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Following Cuba’s short period of glory in the late 1990s, culminating with an 8th place in 1999, PanAmerica’s representation has mainly been a matter of Argentina and Brazil.  But Argentina never placed better than in the 15th-18th range, despite the sensational triumph in 2003 against Croatia who later went on to win the gold medals that year.  And Brazil often got the upper hand in the PanAmerican finals against Argentina, but in the World Championships they had to be content with positions in the range 16th-24th.

So it was really a special moment, especially for Argentina but also for PanAmerican handball as a whole, when Argentina now managed to qualify for the main round in Sweden and then went on to finish 12th.  And to make it clear, it was not a fluke that gained this position; it could easily have ended even better!  Already in the preliminary round, where Argentina shocked the handball world with a 5-goal win against hosts Sweden, they could have brought one or two more points with them to the main round.  They lost 23-24 against Poland, in a game where only the lack of experience made them come out at the losing end.  Similarly, both a one-goal loss against Serbia and an overtime defeat against Germany could easily have been turned into victories.

But the main thing is that Argentina really played a very attractive handball, with a sophisticated and quick-footed offense and a spirited and tenacious defense that frustrated most opponents.  I heard spectators and TV commentators expressing amazement over the abilities of the young team from Argentina.  And their relative youth and lack of international experience is what both make their success this time and their prospects for the future so remarkable.  Their top scorer, Federico Fernandez is 21, and their great trio playing club handball for Torrevieja in Spain is also very young (Diego Simonet 21, Sebastian Simonet 24 and Federico Vieyra 22).  Another outstanding contributor was the goalkeeper Matias Schulz who is 28.  Perennial team captain Andres Kogovsek is the contrast at 35.

It is clear that the performance of Argentina was an eye-opener for many, and that it will help increase the respect for PanAmerican handball.  Brazil was clearly not at their usual level this time.  They were missing several key players, including their main star Bruno and their top goalkeeper.  As a result, the Brazilians were somewhat resigned to a modest outcome and tried instead to integrate several younger players.  One could even say that they used a World Championship as a preparation for the upcoming PanAmerican Games in October, where the continent’s one and only automatic slot for the 2012 Olympics is at stake.  And the Brazilians know now that they must be at their absolute best to have a chance to knock off Argentina.  That will be quite a duel in Guadalajara!  But for the first time PanAmerica might have a serious chance of qualifying TWO men’s teams for the Olympics, by also making good use of the subsequent qualification tournament.

The third PanAmerican team participating in Sweden was Chile, much to the delight of the numerous Chilean immigrants in Sweden.  Clearly they would have a long way to go to reach the level of Argentina and Brazil.  But unlike some previous Championships where the performance of the No. 3 team was negative PR for the continent, this time the Chileans showed a bit more.  They played in an optimistic style and showed a relatively more advanced type of handball, with at least 6-8 players showing good technical and tactical skills.  Especially the Feuchtmann brothers took the opponents and the spectators by surprise.  It seems that the Chileans might be able to establish themselves as medal favorites in upcoming men’s events in PanAmerica.  Of course, there is some hope that the Cuban government one day will resume the support of their team and that the ‘North Americans’ will return to old levels, but the other contenders will probably find it difficult to remove the Chileans from the medal podium.

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Oh la la — France loses to Qatar — perhaps just ‘comme il faut’

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Following the IHF Council meeting on January 27, there was a sense of ‘deja vu all over again’…  Just a couple of months ago, Qatar surprised many, and angered some, by winning the rights to host the World Championship in football 2022.  Now the IHF President was getting ready to reveal the name of the host for the 2015 World Championship.  French representatives seemed tense but hopeful – surely it would be enough to rely on recent years of successes on the court and a reputation for being able to organize events!?

But, au contraire, out of the envelope came the dreaded 5-letter word: QATAR!   A philosophical French representative was heard mumbling: c’est la vie…   but the more typical representatives were instead commenting to the French media in terms of ‘deception immense!’ (Note: deception in French means disappointment) ‘How could this have happened’, they seemed to ask.  ‘What did they do to avoid this defeat’, might have been a more relevant reflection.

Two other candidates never seemed to be in the running, namely Poland and Norway.  The Norwegian bid was heard being described as lacking in conviction.  And the Poles seemed to have done a great job of explaining in writing everything that might have been needed to answer serious questions.  But had they done any ‘selling’?  Yes, technically speaking, the only ones voting on the matter are those Council members who are not from one of the candidate countries.  But in this day and age of constant bombardment of advertising through a multitude of media, is it not obvious that a serious contender needs to create a ‘hype’, an ambience of having the winning product?

So what did the French do, en route to the final decision-making in Malmoe.  Well, they relied a lot on reputation, they used their proud French team as the ‘poster boys’ par excellence, and they seemed to feel it would be a bit too ‘gauche’ to do any heavy selling of their bid.  This may have been a major faux pas.  By contrast, the Qatari spared no effort (or riyal) to draw attention to their bid and to what would be special about a Championship hosted in their country.  The rented a banquet room and hosted a reception in what looked like a large-size Bedouin tent, with Middle Eastern food as the piece de resistance, but also with plenty of sophisticated advertising material and some small souvenirs available.

Of course, advertising and appearances are not the only considerations.  In a global sport there are different ways of enhancing the growth outside the traditional handball countries.  One of them is to allow a non-traditional, non-European country to host the Men’s World Championship every now and then.  After four consecutive events in major European handball countries 2007-2013, perhaps it is ‘comme il faut’ that one of the few non-Europeans that is likely to have capacity for such an event gets a chance in 2015.

Moreover, when Spain applied for 2011 (and later on were rewarded for 2013) they argued rather awkwardly and arrogantly that they should get the votes for 2011 simply as a major handball country that had never organized the event.  At least they were correct on the fact.  But France organized the Men’s Championship as recently as in 2001 and the women’s event in late 2007. So are they really overdue for another chance?

I do not personally know if Qatar ‘deserved’ to win, whatever this means.  But I have the sense that just because there were/are some concerns about football and 2022, it may be too easy to taint handball and 2015 with the same brush.  Also, the ‘noveau riche’ do not tend to get much respect.  But just as we accept that our teams are winning and losing, I think it now behooves the international handball family to rally around this event and do everything to ensure that it creates the global propaganda that we all are hoping for and that our sport needs.

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New focus for the offense (and for the referees)

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During many years, one of the more difficult and controversial aspects of the game has been the struggle between the pivot and the defender(s) on the 6-meter line.  The difficulties partly result from the fact that much of the struggle occurs long before the ball gets anywhere near the pivot. The pivot tries to get into a good position to receive a pass, or at least wants to disrupt the defense to make it easier for the teammates to shoot from the backcourt.  But the reliance on the this approach depends on the availability of a strong but agile pivot.

All of us can think of many such specialists over the years, but in this World Championship I was surprised to observe that very few teams really had a first-rate and effective pivot. Yes, Gille and Vori were as difficult as always to get a grip on, but Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Iceland all suffered a bit from not having outstanding pivots this time.  Among the other teams, Myrholt from Norway may have been one of the few to give his team an edge.  So this may explainwhy there were not so many scenes where the players were seen wrestling or falling to to the floor at the 6-meter line, without a clear indication of who really initiated the battle.  I am sure that the ones who were particularly greatful for this were the referees, who had been prepared to have to focus a lot on this situation.

By contrast, it seems that several teams had instead concentrated on developing a more effective attack from the wings.  I saw several absolutely superb players with very elegant and surprising moves.  Especially Denmark impressed, with at least two or three such specialists, even if none of them got on the All-Star team.  The attacks from the wing were typically facilitated by unsually fast ball movement, which caused the defense to have to move laterally and then often helped an attacker to get an amazing amount of space and a very good angle for a shot.  But many of the wing players were also real acrobats, who needed very little space to have room for a quick and surprising move from the corner.

It also seems that both the attackers and the defenders have become considerably more sophisticated in executing the wing play and the defense against it.  In the old days, the attacker wanted to get away from the defender, avoiding contact.  Now it is common that the attacker seeks a slight and quick body contact, just enough to gain some extra momentum for a spin move.  Similarly, the defenders are aware that taking a big step into the attacker, using legs or arms will always be too obvious, creating a risk for a 7-meter throw and/or a personal punishment.

But this means that the referees have a new area of difficulty.  If both players are moving towards each other for what could be seen as a ’50-50′ contact, there may be no reason for action.  But just how much body contact should the attacker be allowed to iniate without being seen as guilty of an offensive foul?  Surely it should not be allowed to make the defender lose his balance and prevent him from blocking the shot or to force him to step into the goal-area.  And the defender who now uses ‘small’ methods to have an impact on the shooter!?  A last-second minor hip movement/tackle, where arms and legs are kept demonstratively still, will have the necessary (illegal) effect, but it is awfully difficult to observe.  (Do you remember the situation where Dalibor Doder got injured against Spain.  There was no 7-meter or 2-minute suspension against , but in some strange kind of justice Doder incurred an injury…).

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Disastrous German decline

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When the German women failed to qualify for the main round in the European Championship last December, one thought that this was about as low as it could get for German handball.  The German women just needed to avoid losing by more than 7 goals in a game against a mediocre team from Ukraine, and miraculously the Germans lost by 9.  This meant that the team will now have to face the strong Hungarians in play-off games for the right to participate in the Women’s World Championship in November.  And if they should fail to qualify, then the chances of participating in the 2012 Olympics are also gone.

But most observers figured that the Germans, one of the traditional powers of handball and the base for the superior Bundesliga, would get their revenge in the Men’s World Championship.  After all, the Germans won the gold as recently as in 2007, albeit with a bit too much advantage of playing at home.  And they were close to the medal round in 2009, so surely they would be at roughly the same level again!?

Of course, the German coach/icon, Heiner Brand, had done his best in recent months to sound pessimistic and frustrated.  He had talked about injury problems, the lack of adequate time of preparation for the team due to the Bundesliga schedule, and also the notion that German players were being ‘crowded out’ by all the foreign star players in the Bundesliga and therefore not getting enough playing time.  It almost sounded as if Heiner Brand wanted to set up an alibi in the case of a negative surprise.

I think one than needs to point out that Germany has two goalkeepers of absolute top class, and that among the court players there were 7 players with 90-170 international games to their credit, and another 5 with 40-70 games.  Not exactly an inexperienced group…  And do not tell me that anyone on the German team is seriously lacking in playing time in Bundesliga.  It may turn out that some younger talents who have been on junior national teams but have not yet reached the level of the senior team are having their opportunities affected to some extent.  But there can be no suggestion that the Germans are worse off then their counterparts from other countries, many of whom spend their year playing for clubs in mediocre leagues.

In any event, the German team did not look like it usual self in the preliminary round.  They benefitted from the fact that the Tunisians and Egyptians were not nearly as strong as in recent years.  In the game against a Spanish team that did not seem to wake up until half-way through Championship, the Germans really had the game in their hands but managed to throw it away despite their many experienced players and really strong goalkeeping.

In the main round, they seemed to come with a new attitude, taking on the previously undefeated Icelandic team with a spirited style and lots of energy.  They won the game, perhaps in part by being allowed to play an overly physical game, but it seemed that they might now be ready to win their next two games and protect their small chance for a semi-final slot.  But instead it was back to the listless style, and both games were lost.  The Germans mostly looked confused and helpless on the attack, and without the necessary cohesiveness on defense.  So the only win came in the placement game against Argentina, where Germany after much effort managed to win by one goal and avoid the bottom ranking among the teams in the main round.

Shocked German supporters and journalists seemed to have difficulties in understanding what had happened.  This result now means that Germany failed to secure a slot in the qualification tournaments for the Olympian Games.  The only remaining chance would come through a sudden resurge and a top position in the European Championship next January.

Heiner Brand has a contract through the next World Championship in 2013, but there was strong speculation that he would announce his early resignation directly after the game against Argentina.  What has now instead happnened is that he has announced he will stay on under ‘certain conditions’.  And here we are back to the issues of more preparation time for the national team, at the expense of the Bundesliga schedule.  And the issue of limiting the contracting of foreign players on the Bundesliga teams again seems to be back.  But the Bundesliga clubs quickly have shown a lack of sympathy, and the the German Federation vice-president has already speculated in public that Brand might soon decide to resign after all.

What a mess!  Clearly the German handball ‘pyramid’ is still capable of fostering young talents, if one judges from results in European and World Championships at the youth level, so the long-term prospects do not seem so bleak.  And like most traditional ‘powerhouses’, the Germans must accept that there are some ups and downs, so that medals cannot be guaranteed in every World Championship.  But right now it seems that the Federation, the Bundesliga and all other stakeholders really need to ‘roll up their sleeves’ and start pulling in the same direction.   German handball fans will to some extent be absorbed by the fate of their club teams, but they will not have a lot of patience with two faltering national teams!

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World Championship refereeing seen as fair and honest

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Being the former President of the IHF Referee Commission, it is only natural that I received a lot of spontaneous feedback on the refereeing from old handball acquaintances during the Championship.  Of course, I also had my own observations from watching 27 games live and another 7 or 8 on television.  The feedback I received reflects what people see as the most important aspect, especially considering some bad experiences they may have had in the past.  “The referees are being completely fair and honest” is the best way of summarizing the comments I heard.

What my sources imply is that they understand that mistakes are inevitable and must be tolerated.  But as long as the mistakes come out roughly 50-50, as a sign of an unbiased and evenhanded refereeing, then there is general acceptance.  And clearly this matches my own observations.  Yes, there may have been some games where some individual mistakes may have come at a critical stage and possibly may have had an impact on the outcome.  But that is the ‘human factor’ in sports.  With so many games being decided with just a margin of just a couple of goals, also a very strong referee performance may include a critical error or two.

To some extent, I would ascribe the fair and honest refereeing to the emergence of a young new generation of referees.  As I intend to discuss in some future posting, their lack of experience may occasionally become apparent, and there may have been problems with some particular aspects of the rules interpretations in a game.  But these referees are at the beginning of what they hope to be a long career at the international top level, so they will not risk everything by being conspicuously, or even marginally, biased in their work.  They know that they have knowledgeable and alert observers keeping an eye on them, with video software available to capture and confirm any problems.

If anything, the young referees may in some instances have gone too far in instinctively deciding on the basis of their first impressions, somewhat ignoring ‘tactical’ considerations in their game management.  (I will get more into this in a separate posting).  In some other cases, they may have either been too eager to project toughness or, alternatively, a little bit lacking in courage in some situations.  But this is something totally different from bias or favoritism.

One might say that the IHF initiated a ‘youth movement’ at the elite level a number of years ago.  In part this happened out of necessity, with many older, more experienced couples retiring, and in part as a response to the increasing speed of the game requiring a stronger emphasis on fitness and agility. It may be too early to be sure, but it seems from the indications so far that the IHF can be proud of the emerging competence of the new generation of elite referees, especially their adherence to the motto of ‘honesty above all’.

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No surprise: goalkeepers determine the fate of their teams

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Thierry Omeyer’s key role in the successes of France is well-known.  And it is generally understood that a strong goalie performance can be the key to the outcome in any given game.  So it can be instructive to analyze the goalie performance of some of the top teams in the World Championship.

Most observers recognize that the goalkeeper coming closest to Omeyer’s steadiness and spectacular performances in recent years is Szmal from Poland.  This time he had less support than usual from his teammates, as Poland was hard hit by injuries both before and during the Championship.  Bielecki’s comeback is amazing, but he is not back to his dominant form.  Generally speaking, the Polish team at times looked heavy-footed and sluggish, and their final position as number 8 was rather telling.  But things would have been worse had it not been for Szmal’s fantastic performances in some of the games.

The most exciting young new goalie is undoubtedly Niklas Landin of the Danish team.  He may not yet be absolutely steady, as shown in the final, where he had been replaced in the early stages and then came back in and almost turned the game around single-handedly.  He has already been signed up by Rhein-Neckar-Loewen from the 2012-13 season.  It is interesting to note that both Szmal and Landin are part of the ‘stable’ of young and older goalies who are getting special training by the Swedish goalkeeper guru Claes Hellgren.

A big surprise was caused by the young Swedish goalie Niklas Sjoestrand, who is the second choice goalie for Barcelona but just barely made it onto the Swedish squad.  He narrowly beat out the veteran Beutler for the second slot and was seen as back-up for spot duty behind Mattias Andersson.  But some absolutely fantastic performances, especially against Poland and Croatia, quickly made him the top choice.  When other Swedish key players wavered or were injured, it was Sjoestrand who came through.  While he may not quite have matched Omeyer in the semi-final, he deserves credit for keeping Sweden in that game.

Another young Nordic goalie is Gustavsson from Iceland, who plays club handball in relative obscurity in Switzerland.  When he had top performances, then the Icelandic team looked almost invincible.  But when he was more ‘human’ then the team was a rather pale copy of the ‘viking’ style and attitude so often displayed in recent years.  The veteran Ege in goal for Norway had a similar Championship.  Being perhaps a bit more steady, he nevertheless oscillated between fantastic and more average.  What was noticeable in the case of both Norway and Iceland was the lack of a solid back-up in net.

A surprisingly mediocre goalkeeper performance may have contributed to the relative lack of success for Croatia this time.  By contrast, the surprising performance of Argentina, the only non-European team in the main round, has a lot to do with the amazing job of their goalkeeper Schulz, who has had an anonymous existence in the Spanish second division.  One would imagine that more lucrative offers in a fancier setting will now await him.

Spain started out in a rather feeble fashion in the earlier stages where they did not really look like a medal contender.  The whole team seemed mediocre and uninspired at times.  On paper, Sterbik and Hombrados should have constituted a strong goalkeeper combo, but it was not until late in the event that Sterbik finally showed his abilities and helped his entire team lift itself a couple of notches.  In particular, he was instrumental in securing a win in the bronze medal game.

Finally, another team with a strong combo was Germany.  Both Bitter and Heinevetter had games where they looked brilliant, although sometimes their top form seemed to hold up for only part of a game.  But one thing is clear, the final ranking of the disjointed and listless German squad could have been even worse without their generally strong goalkeeping.

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Budget-conscious Swedes ‘sold’ part of the home court advantage

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It has become increasingly common in recent decades that two countries join together and organize a World/European Championship.  But it is surely more unusual that the one and only organizer, in this case Sweden, more or less gives away home court advantage to one of the main rivals, Denmark.  This is what Sweden did, quite knowingly and for strictly financial/budgetary reasons, realizing that this might come back and haunt them on the court.

Malmö is located just some 20 minutes away from Copenhagen, just across the bridge.  But Sweden still had Denmark play both the preliminary round and the main round in Malmö, in front of crowds totally nominated by Danes.  And this even though Sweden knew that they would play in this group in the main round, after having started out with strong crowd support in Göteborg.  The fanatic Danes had even bought up most of the tickets for the main round in advance!

So it was really lucky for Sweden that the final match in the main round against Denmark was not a matter of managing vs failing to advance to the semi-finals;  instead it was ‘just’ a matter of avoiding France as an opponent in the semis.  Denmark won the game.  And then, can you imagine, the Danish fans had become so spoiled that they were genuinely upset and protested loudly when they realized that Sweden was finally using its privileges as organizer and the right to play the semi-final against France in the 12000-seat Malmö arena, while Denmark was ‘relegated’ to the 4000-seat arena in Kristianstad, 90 minutes further away from Copenhagen.

A frantic ticket swap effort ensued, both on the internet and outside the Malmö arena.  Danish supporters with tickets to Malmö now scrambled to find scarce tickets for their game, while peddling tickets to the Sweden semi-final in tough competition with the scalpers.  In the end, both teams really got overwhelming crowd support, but only Denmark managed to take advantage, beating Spain.

More generally, the Swedish way of organizing the event was indeed characterized by budget considerations and cost effectiveness.  Typically, the IHF and the organizer insist at the outset that “this will be the best Championship ever”.  And then the hope is that the IHF President will indeed use the key phrase ‘best ever’ in his post-event press conference.  But this time he pointedly chose a more modest label.

Certainly, the organization was not weak and error-prone.  The Swedes are experienced organizers of handball events, and they have the necessary infrastructure.  They know what it takes to put on events that are technically solid and offer all the services needed.  But the problem is that participants, especially the teams and the media, are used to being pampered in an unlimited manner, just for the sake of image and positive feedback.  Such extravagance is not the Swedish approach.

Instead the Swedes could point to having exceeded their budget estimates in all areas, including ticket sales.  And IHF could boast with a TV coverage to more countries and to larger aggregate audiences than ever before.  Of course, the number of tickets sold was not as huge as in Germany 2007 with consistently larger arenas. But the focus is more and and more on television coverage and an adaptation to ‘new media’.  The web cast coverage was a matter of special pride to the TV rights holder, UFA sports.

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‘Dream final’ met the expectations

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A couple of weeks ago I suggested that France-Denmark would be the most probable match-up for the final, and that this could be a ‘dream final’, if both teams played at their best.  The hope for such a ‘dream final’ came through.  After having demonstrated a convincing form in both the Preliminary Round and the Main Round, both teams were a bit below their best in the semi-finals which they still managed to win.  But in the final they  joined together in putting on real handball propaganda.

Most of the focus may now be on the remarkable feat of the French team in winning successive championships in 2008-11.  And one might want to discuss a bit further about the keys to this success.  But I would argue that we should now instead look ahead and note that we now have at least one other team that will make it tough to talk about France as the clear favorites in the Olympics in 2012 and the next World Championship in 2013.  The Danish team, and its situation for the next few years, has many of the same characteristics as the French one.

For me, the best way of describing the French team is that they have an absolutely remarkable framework of key players, into which it is possible to insert ‘role players’ and new young players who can help carry the team to success, even in the absence of top players such as Narcisse.   It was rather self-evident that Karabatic would be named Most Valuable Player of the Championship.  In several games, including the final, he ‘just’ stepped forward and secured a cushion for France with a couple of seemingly effortless goals.  And he gives his teammates on the offense benefit from the extra attention he is getting.   Of course, he has able support from his veteran colleague Jerome Fernandez, and Bertrand Gille is one of the very best pivots, but ‘specialists’ like Luc Abalo and Michael Guigou also get a chance to shine frequently.  But for me the remarkable thing is that this framework enables young players like Xavier Barachet and William Accambray to step right in and look the kind of stars that in fact they have not yet developed into being.  Also Sorhaindo and Honrubia played well in the earlier rounds.

Apart from Denmark, no other team seemed capable of successfully integrating new players in this way.  In particular Croatia, who in 2009 seemed to have several ‘almost stars’ ready to blossom, failed completely to provide good complements to the Balic-Vori axis. Sweden and Spain each had a good mix of old and young, but not with the same effect as France and Denmark.

But back to the French:  it is not all about offensive weapons of course.  Gille may in fact be more important, and ruthless, as a defender, and Fernandez was always a strong card on defense. Apropos ruthless, we also have Didier Dinart as a key component of the French defense, albeit with some signs of slowing down.  But behind them all is that guy Thierry Omeyer, who is unbeatable when he is at his best and pretty solid even when he is more human.  So for me, the issue for the next few years is if these relatively older defensive specialists will continue to hold up, and/or if France will be able to integrate new defenders in the same seamless way that they have integrated offensive specialists.  Even if the special French system for fostering new talents is remarkable or even unique, one might have some doubts.

I am surprised when I hear suggestions that the Danish silver medals were just a fluke or largely depended on strong crowd support.  These observers may not be aware that the Danish team was harder hit by injuries, both before and during the event, than really any other team and that, looking ahead, they are better placed than most other teams in terms of having young talents ready to step in.  Yes, like the French they have some older players who may not hang in there beyond 2012-13, but they have a ‘long bench’.  To my mind, what did them in was the fact that their pivot, Jesper Noeddesbo, was forced to play the whole event below normal capacity due to injuries, that Thomas Mogensen was unable to play and that, in the final, Gille’s cynical ‘knee to thigh’ on Kasper Soendergaard in the opening minutes, left the Danes with only one long-distance scorer, Mikkel Hansen.  This young players, incredibly enough dismissed by Barcelona not long ago, was superb but not as much of a threat as when having Soendergaard next to him.

For the spectators in Malmö, and for the world-wide TV and web audience, it is likely to have mattered the most that the finally brought together the two teams playing the most exciting style of handball.  Especially the quick movements of ball and feet, the fast pace, the strong shooting, the acrobatics or strong technique from many players, combined with spectacular goalkeeping, made for a really memorable final.  Even when the best teams make it to the final, the importance and emotions of the moment often prevent them from showing their best.  I have been to every World Championship and Olympic final for at least 20 years, and I cannot remember anything better. This is the kind of handball that shows our sport at its best.  Let us hope for a repeat in London in 2012 and in Spain in 2013!