Brazil easily defeated Cuba last weekend in 3 friendly matches. The scores

Friday, 14 April Brazil 27, Cuba 16
Saturday, 15 April Brazil 38, Cuba 23
Sunday, 16 April Brazil 38, Cuba 29

The Brazilian Coach, Jordi Ribera, indicated that it was good preparation for the Pan Am Championships, even if the Cubans were not able to send their strongest team. Also of note, German 1st Division player, Bruno Souza, who plays for Goppingen saw action for the first time in quite awhile in a Brazilian uniform. He has recently recovered from shoulder surgery and appears to be getting back into playing shape.

Source: http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/noticias/noticia.asp?nid=1998

According to the Canadian Federation Website, http://www.handball.ca/newsletters/80.doc Canada has been formally notified by the PATHF that they will not be invited to participate in the 2006 Men’s PAN AM Championship, 6-10 June in Brazil. As the 9th ranked team in the PATHF, Canada’s only hope to participate had been the failure by one of the top 8 nations to register to participate. As all 8 nations met the 5 April 2006 deadline, Canada will not be included. The 8 nations that will participate are Brazil, Argentina, USA, Chile, Mexico, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay.

Brazil and Argentina are overwhelming favorites to take the top 2 spots this June, but Canada would have been favored to repeat their 3rd place performance from the 2004 Championships. Canada’s exclusion will likely result in a more wide open competition for 3rd place. Based on recent performances Greenland, Chile, USA, and Uruguay can now all realistically envision a 3rd place finish and punching the final PAN AM ticket to the 2007 World Championships in Germany

The Canadian Federation Website has outlined new qualification formats for both of these events. http://www.handball.ca/newsletters/77.doc

A few observations:

[b]PANAM Games[/b]- The Canadian-American competition scheduled for Oct/Nov 2006 will provide some meaningful competition for these two long time rivals. The specifics are not stated, but I for one, would like to see a Champions League style home and away competition for both the Men and Women. Why not a doubleheader (Men and Women) at Cortland one weekend, followed by a return double-header match the next weekend in Montreal? Or vice-versa, as there should be a draw to determine the order since it is a significant advantage to have home court for the second match.
– The repechage (or 2nd chance qualification) between the US-Canada loser, 1 or 2 Central/Caribbean nations, and 4th place South America is a good idea, but fairly ambitious, considering the costs and organization involved.

[b]World Championships Qualification for 2009[/b]
– More meaningful competition is good and kudos for the IHF for providing funding for the tournaments.
– This clearly is an improvement on the qualification system being used for 2007.
– The information is somewhat sketchy, but I assume that there will still be a Pan American Championship (similar to the one planned for the Men in Brazil this June) in which the winner will be automatically qualified. Then there will be two separate tournaments, each with four teams, with the winner of each of those tournaments receiving the two remaining spots. This raises a number of questions concerning the exact format- round robin, who hosts, seeding, etc. Not to mention, the fact that the Women actually have 4 spots thanks to Brazil’s finish at the 2006 WC.

[b]PATHF Website and Communication[/b]
– It’s frustrating that information like this trickles out primarily through the Canadian and Brazilian Websites. I had a short email exchange with the PATHF President, Prof Manoel Luiz Oliveira and he indicated that the PATHF Executive Council recognizes the need for better communication and a PATHF website. Hopefully, this shortcoming will be rectified in the near future.

Note: Just in case you ever wondered why Greenland participates in the Pan American Handball Championships, but not the Pan Am Games it's because as an autonomous part of Denmark, it depends on who you talk to as to whether they are in fact an independent nation that can field it's own National Teams. The IHF has welcomed Greenland as a independent member nation, but the IOC still considers Greenland to be part of Denmark. Since one of the requirements for participation in the Pan Am Games is to be a member of the IOC this explains why Greenland isn’t part of the equation for the Pan Am Games, but is for the Pan American Team Handball Championships. Greenland, however, is seeking IOC status, so this may change in the future: http://www.playthegame.org/News/Up%20To%20Date/IOC_agrees_to_discuss_membership_for_Greenland_and_Faroe_Islands.aspx

According to the Brazilian Federation website http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/ and my Portuguese to English Translator http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr the Championships will be contested from 6-10 June 2006. The Brazilian had apparently preferred the April dates due to a TV deal. The top 3 finishers will qualify for the Men’s World Championships in Germany in January 2007.

The Brazil Men’s National Team has been very active in January as part of their preparation for the PANAM Handball Championships in April. They played 3 matches against Cuba (all 3 wins 28-19, 31-30, and 28-24). They then travelled to Spain where they played in a in a tournament against Spain, Ukraine and Russia and followed that up with a couple matches vs some top Spanish Club teams and Japan.

13 January 22 Brazil vs Russia 32
14 January 18 Brazil vs Spain 37
15 January 22 Brazil vs Ukraine 28

18 January 19 Brazil vs BM Aragon 30
20 January 28 Brazil vs Japan 30
22 January 30 Brazil vs Barcelona 39

This trip has probably been a minor disappointment for Brazil, as I’m sure they’d like to move to the top tier of national programs like their Women’s team has. These results show that they still have quite a ways to go yet. It’s probably safe to say, however, that they weren’t fielding a full strength team. In particular, their top player, Bruno Souza, who plays with 1st Division Goppingen, has been injured and did not play. If you add a consistent backcourt scorer, I would guess these games could have been closer.