If football/soccer is religion, what is handball?

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In most places in the world, football/soccer is at least king, if not religion. So it is in Germany. The whole country, politics and all, goes into a dormant state over the summer break of soccer season. Soccer is what peple talk about on the weekends and what fills the tabloids and newspapers. The world is good as long as your team is playing. And if you think this can't be potentiated any more, you should've been in Germany during the soccer world cup. That was soccer 24/7 pushing [i]any[/i] other news on the back-burner, no matter what. This is what soccer is in Germany – it's what most peoples' lives run on and the motor that keeps the society running.

Last night, a few friends and I went to a sports bar to watch the handball WC final Germany-Poland. The bar, mind you, was the club bar of a local football club. The bar took about 50 visitors and it was smack full with people lining up on the outside. We even had two TV crews in there, one national and one regional station, shooting and interviewing people. Germany won and all hell broke loose of course. But after the game came what struck me the most: the bar owner switched to the ongoing soccer game conference broadcast and the crowd started booing! And it booed until the host would switch back to the medal ceremony! And the crowd was pleased and cheered. This is something I would've never thought possible! A handball medal ceremony beating out a live soccer broadcast! And many of the people in the bar had not even been handball fans before the WCs but had caught the enthusiasm that had built in the course of the tournament.

I later heard that at most soccer stadiums yesterday, giant screens had been set up, showing the handball final and that even in half-time, people spoke more about handball, than the ongoing soccer game. My dad, who's a PE teacher told me that all his kids now wanted to play handball, "even the 9th graders who only ever wanted to play basketball". And my dad lives in the home-town of NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, the greatest sports star the city has ever produced.

This is what one tournament and a spectacular home-team can do to a country.

World-Wide Handball Development (An Interview with the IHF)

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Well, all 92 games from the World Championships are in the books as Germany took care of Poland with relative ease 29-24 to win the title. Anyone who saw any one of those matches already knows what a great sport Handball is. And having had the opportunity to attend several matches, I can personally attest that it would be pretty tough to beat the atmosphere of watching Germany play at home in front of a sold out crowd.

But what about the rest of the world? Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to interview IHF Treasurer, Miguel Roca, to discuss what the IHF is doing to try and further develop Handball world-wide. Topics included Challenge Tournaments, the President’s Cup, TV broadcasts, and the development of Handball in the United States. We just scratched the surface and hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to chat again in the future.

Interview: https://teamhandballnews.com/download.php?view.36

Note: I've solved the problem with the file formats, so you should be able to download this interview on your MP3 player.

How About a Little Cheese with your Whine?

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The complaints in regards to World Championship refereeing has reached a crescendo, at least in France. Here is a sampling of quotes from an article in Lance Armstrong’s favorite newspaper, L’Equipe.

Francois Garcia, Former French International Referee and Chairman of French Federation Referee Commission: “The more we need to improve, the less we improve. Currently, there are only 3 International pairs who are capable of handling matches at the highest level (the German, Spanish and French refs) The roof could fall on their head and it wouldn’t bother them. There are other refs that aren’t bad, but they aren’t ready for the big games. The Swedish refs, Thursday, decided to let the teams play. They weren’t very good a calling “passive play,” but I wasn’t really upset until the end of the match. Guigou’s goal should have been awarded. No more, no less.”

Philippe Bana, French Federation Technical Director: “There is a crisis in the management of referees. The commission is pressured and influenced.”

Nonattributed (presumably the opinion of reporter, Philippe Pailhories): “The commission is led by an… American, Christer Ahl, who is neither charismatic or truly qualified.” (note the “…” is in the actual text, as if to emphasize the preposterousness that an “American” would lead such an important commission.

Now, I’ve seen all of the French matches, and I think it’s safe to say, that the officiating in the match against Germany wasn’t the best. At times I was wondering when, if ever, a German defender would get called for a two minute penalty. That being said, you’ve got to expect that a the home team is going to get the benefit of the doubt on most calls. Where the French really came up short was in their inability to push a 2 goal lead up to 3 or 4 as they could and should have done on several occasions. In failing to do so, they failed to take the crowd out of the game and let the outcome of the game turn on some referee decisions.

To simply blame the officiating or the selection of the officials is simply bogus. One would think that Norway and Sweden, with strong handball traditions could also come up with at least 1 pair of refs able to handle the pressure as well as the super-refs from Germany, Spain and France. And having known Christer Ahl for many years, I will say that he may not be overly charismatic, but I would hardly look for that quality in selecting a Chairman for the Playing Rules and Referees Commission. From my own personal experience I would certainly say that one would be hard pressed to question his integrity and sense of fair-play- two qualities that I would look for in this committee. And as American he certainly can’t be accused of a bias in referee selection. Just imagine the quotes if a German was the Head of the Commission.

The bottom line is that some evenly matched teams have played some unbelievably close games. 2 semifinal games both decided in double overtime. Logic only dictates that such games are going to hinge on a number of key plays and close calls. I daresay that even a perfectly called game would probably have gotten a lot of scrutiny.

Placement Matches- What’s at Stake

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There’s more than just pride on the line for the 5th and 7th place matches this Saturday as teams will be competing for placement in the 3 Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournaments. In particular, the winner of the 7th place match between Iceland and Spain will secure the last guaranteed spot in one of the 3 tournaments. All won’t be lost for the 8th place team, though as there is a decent chance that they will move up to the 7th place spot if one of the teams ahead of them (2nd to 7th) wins the European Championship. As the European Champion will automatically qualify for the Olympics, the winner (or 2nd place if the WC wins) won’t have to play in a tournament for qualification. But there are no guarantees 8th will move up to 7th. While it wouldn’t be a surprise if Germany, Poland, France, Denmark, Russia, Croatia, Iceland or Spain wins the European Championships, it’s not outrageous to think that Norway (playing at home) or Sweden, could take the title as well.

For the 5th place match between Russia and Croatia there is the distinct possibility that the winner could get bumped up to 4th place, and therefore have the opportunity to host one of the tournaments. Again, this would be contingent on France, Denmark or the Germany/Poland Loser winning the European Championship.

[b]When is it Better to Finish 4th than 3rd or 2nd?[/b]

For the 3rd place bronze medal match, you could make a good argument that losing would be better for your Olympic prospects. There will be no draw for the Olympic tournaments and the system that has been put in place ensures that tournaments 1 and 2 will be the toughest with 3 European sides battling for 2 spots. Tournament 2 will also likely have Egypt or Tunisia participating- Two teams that have shown that they are at least capable of knocking off top European sides. Tournament 3 on paper, however, should be a cinch for the 2 European sides as they will likely take on (Korea, Kuwait or Qatar) and (Morocco or Angola). As the Russians will attest, the Koreans shouldn’t be taken too lightly, but given the choice of say, Sweden or Korea, I’m sure most sides will be happy to take on the Koreans.

Tournament 1
1) 2nd Place WC (Host)
2) 7th Place WC
3) 2nd Place at Europe Continental Championship
4) 2nd Place at Pan America Continental Championship

Tournament 2
1) 3rd Place WC (Host)
2) 6th Place WC
3) 2nd Place at Africa Continental Championship
4) 3rd Place at Europe Continental Championship

Tournament 3
1) 4th Place WC (Host)
2) 5th Place WC
3) 2nd Place at Asia Continental Championship
4) 3rd Place at Africa Continental Championship

Overtime, Overtime, Overtime and More Overtime!

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I guess Denmark’s 42-41 quarterfinal overtime victory Tuesday over Iceland wasn’t enough for the IHF, so they mandated that both semifinal matches be extended into overtime. This is getting downright silly! Quite frankly you’d have a hard time scripting two better semifinal matches than handball fans world-wide had the privilege of watching Thursday night.
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First off, Germany and France played a double-overtime match that see-sawed back and forth over 80 minutes of action. At no time in the match did either team lead by more than 2 goals and from the 46 minute mark no lead ever exceeded 1 goal. It’s a shame one of the teams had to lose. At least it didn’t get decided by penalty throws.

Not to be outdone, the 2nd semifinal also played a double-overtime with upstart Poland continuing their Cinderella run all the way to the final, upending Denmark 36-33. Give credit to coach Bogdan Wenta who went to his bench in the 2nd overtime as stars like Karol Bielecki appeared to be winded.

Poland will now face Germany for the Championship Sunday afternoon. Germany’s only loss in the tournament was to Poland in the preliminary round 27-25. I’m sure a lot of people after that preliminary round match, though, “Yeah, these two teams of destiny are going to meet again in the finals.” Perhaps a few observers might have been thinking that Germany could bounce back and make a good run on home soil, but few, if any, were expecting big things from Poland. Just how big an underdog was Poland going into the tournament? Well, let’s just say at 50-1 to win it all, there probably are a few fans in Warsaw with a little monetary interest in the outcome on Sunday.

Archived odds: https://teamhandballnews.com/page.php?13

Brazil Post Tournament Reflections (A Conversation with Asst Coach Marcos Cesar)

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Brazil ended their World Championship campaign on a positive note beating Morocco 36-29 to finish in 19th place. The Pan-American Champions, however, had expected a better final ranking as they get ready to host the PANAM Games this summer. I sat down with Asst Coach Marcos Cesar and we discussed several topics including whether Bruno Souza might be back with Brazil at this Summer’s PANAM Games.

https://teamhandballnews.com/download.php?view.35

Australia Bows Out of President’s Cup

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Team Australia played it’s 6th and final game today vs. Qatar and came out on the short end again, 36-22. As was the case against Brazil yesterday, Australia could only put together one good half. The good half today, was the first half where Australia battled Qatar goal for goal only trailing 14-15 at the break. Qatar outscored Australia 21-8 in the 2nd half as Australia struggled to score in their set offense. Nemanja Subotic led Australia scoring with 6 goals and Darryl McCormack added 5.

The attached file has Coach Fjeldstad’s post game comments on the tournament and Australia’s handball future: https://teamhandballnews.com/download.php?view.34

Quarter Final Match-Set

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Poland's victory over Slovenia and Denmark's victory over the Czech Republic creates a monster bracket in Cologne with the 4 teams favored to win it all forced to slug it out, just to reach the final.

[b]Hamburg Bracket[/b]
Group I (1st) vs. Group II (4th)
Poland vs. Russia 1730 CET, 30 Jan

Group I (3rd) vs. Group II (2nd)
Iceland vs. Denmark 2000 CET, 30 January

[b]Cologne Bracket[/b]
Group II (1st) vs. Group I (4th)
Croatia vs. France 2000 CET, 30 January

Group II (3rd) vs. Group I (2nd)
Spain or Denmark vs. Germany 1730 CET, 30 January

Main Round (Day 4 – The Possible Scenarios for the Quarter-Finals)

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We’ve gotten out our calculator and slide ruler and here are the possible outcomes based on winning and losing. Some of the same logic applies with draws, but the permutations become pretty challenging.

There will be some score board watching tomorrow and losing might very well be a good thing for some teams. In particular, the winner of the Spain-Croatia match could end up with a quarter-final match against a very dangerous French team.

[b]Group 1[/b]

[b]Ranking when teams are level on points- Used to determine the logic below [/b]

Germany, Poland: Poland ranked higher- Head to Head victory
Iceland, Poland: Poland ranked higher- Head to Head victory
Germany, France: Germany ranked higher- Head to Head victory
Iceland, France: Iceland ranked higher- Head to Head victory
German, Poland, France: France ranked 1st, Germany ranked 2nd, Poland ranked 3rd- Common games GD
Iceland, Poland, France: Iceland ranked 1st , France ranked 2nd, Poland ranked 3rd- Common games GD

[b]Germany[/b]
– If Germany wins and Poland loses, then Germany places 1st
– If Germany wins and Poland wins, then Germany places 2nd
– If Germany loses, Poland loses and France loses, then Germany places 3rd
– If Germany loses, Poland loses and France wins, then Germany places 3rd (3 way tie- GD tiebreaker)

[b]Iceland[/b]
– If Iceland wins and Poland loses, then Iceland places 1st
– If Iceland wins and Poland wins, then Iceland places 2nd
– If Iceland loses, Poland loses and France wins, then Iceland places 2nd (3 way tie- GD tiebreaker)
– If Iceland loses and Poland wins, then Iceland places 3rd
– If Iceland loses, Poland loses and France loses, then Iceland places 3rd

[b]Poland[/b]
– If Poland wins, then Poland places 1st
– If Poland loses and France loses, then Poland places 2nd
– If Poland loses, Germany loses and France wins, then Poland places 4th (3 way tie- GD tiebreaker)
– If Poland loses, Iceland loses, and France wins, then Poland places 4th (3 way tie- GD tiebreaker)

[b]France[/b]
– If France wins, Poland loses and Germany loses, then France places 2nd (3 way tie- GD tiebreaker)
– If France wins, Poland loses and Iceland loses, then France places 3rd (3 way tie- GD tiebreaker)
– If France wins and Poland wins, then France places 4th
– If France loses, then France places 4th

Slovenia and Tunisia have both been eliminated.

[b]Group 2[/b]

[b]Ranking when teams are level on points- Used to determine the logic below:[/b]

Croatia-Spain: Spain ranked higher- head to head victory
Spain-Hungary: Spain ranked higher- head to head victory
Spain-Denmark: Denmark ranked higher- head to head victory
Denmark-Hungary: Hungary ranked higher- head to head victory
Denmark-Russia: Denmark ranked higher- head to head victory
Hungary- Russia: Russia ranked higher- head to head victory
Spain-Hungary-Denmark: Denmark ranked 1st, Hungary ranked 2nd, Spain ranked 3rd (common games GD

Hungary-Denmark-Russia: Results of common games:
Denmark-Russia 26-24
Denmark-Hungary 29-30
Russia-Hungary (Not yet played)
– If Russia wins by 1: Denmark ranked 1st, Hungary ranked 2nd, Russia ranked 3rd
– If Russia wins by 2: Denmark ranked 1st, Russia ranked 2nd, Hungary ranked 3rd
– If Russia wins by 3 and scores 32 goals: Russia ranked 1st, Denmark ranked 2nd, Hungary ranked 3rd
– If Russian wins by 3 and scores 30 goals: Denmark ranked 1st, Russia ranked 2nd, Hungary ranked 3rd
If Russia wins by 4 or more: Russia ranked 1st, Denmark ranked 2nd and Hungary ranked 3rd

[b]Croatia[/b]
– If Croatia wins, then Croatia places 1st
– If Croatia loses, then Croatia places 2nd

[b]Spain[/b]
– If Spain wins, then Spain places 1st
– If Spain loses, Hungary wins and Denmark loses, then Spain places 2nd
– If Spain loses, Hungary loses and Denmark wins then Spain places 3rd
– If Spain loses, Hungary wins and Denmark wins, then Spain places 4th

[b]Hungary[/b]
– If Hungary wins and Spain loses, then Hungary places 3rd
– If Hungary loses by 1 goal and Denmark loses, then Hungary places 4th
– If Hungary loses by 2 goals and Denmark loses, then Hungary places 5th
– If Hungary loses and Denmark wins then Hungary places 5th

[b]Denmark[/b]
– If Denmark wins and Spain loses, then Denmark places 2nd
– If Denmark loses and Hungary loses by 2 goals, then Denmark places 3rd
– If Denmark loses and Hungary loses by 4 goals, then Denmark places 4th
– If Denmark loses and Hungary wins, then Denmark places 4th
– If Denmark wins, Spain wins and Hungary wins, then Denmark places 4th

[b]Russia[/b]
– If Russia wins and Denmark wins, then Russia places 4th
– If Russia wins by 2 goals or more and Denmark loses, then Russia places 4th
– If Russia wins by 1 goal and Denmark loses, then Russia places 5th
– If Russia loses, Russia places 5th

The Czech Republic has been eliminated.

Main Round (Day 3 Wrap Up)

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[b]Group 1[/b]
FRA-GER 26 : 29 (9-14)
ISL-SLO 32 : 31 (17-15)
POL-TUN 40 : 31 (17:13)

[b]Standings[/b]
Iceland 6 +13
Germany 6 + 14
Poland 6 +4
France 4 +12
Slovenia 2 -12
Tunisia 0 -29

Germany held off a late French rally to win 29-26 and moves into a first place tie with Iceland and Poland. Germany had a stellar first half holding France to 9 goals. French pressure in the 2nd half gradually ate into the German lead, but two penalty shot saves by Henning Fritz had the French side once again questioning their supposed front runner status. The French defense was less then stellar and an 11% save percentage (3 stops on 27 shots) from all star goalie Thierry Omeyer is certainly an anomaly. Assuming France bounces back against Tunisia they will like finish 3rd or 4th setting up a monster quarter final vs. either Croatia or Spain.

Iceland also held off a late rally from Slovenia setting up a showdown vs. Germany for Group 1 supremacy. While Poland easily defeated Tunisia to secure a ticket for the Quarter Finals

[b]Group 2[/b]
CRO-CZE 31 : 29 (14-12)
HUN-ESP 31 : 33 (15-17)
DEN-RUS 26 : 24 (16:14)

[b]Standings[/b]
Croatia 8 +16
Spain 6 +8
Denmark 4 +3
Hungary 4 -5
Russia 2 -7
Czech Republic 0 -15

Croatia continued their winning ways as they eliminated Czech Republic from quarterfinal qualification with a 31-29 win. Spain took care of Hungary and can take first place by beating Croatia tomorrow. Denmark secured a ticket to the final 8 with a victory over Russia. Russia still can advance, but they need a 2 goal win tomorrow vs. Hungary.

President’s Cup (Places 13-18)
NOR-KOR 34 : 32 (17-17)
UKR-ARG 23 : 22 (13:8)

The European Sides again had their way in Lemgo, but both South Korea and Argentina put up a good fight. Norway and Ukraine will play tomorrow for 13th place while South Korea and Argentina will play for 15th.

[b]President’s Cup (Places 19-24)[/b]
AUS-BRA 23 : 30 (6-17)
ANG-MOR 28 : 32 (14-16)

As earlier reported Brazil took care of Australia 30-23. Morocco defeated their African rivals to take first place in Group 4. Morocco will take on Brazil for 19th place, while Angola will take on Greenland for 21st.

Australia – Brazil 23-30 (6-17)

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Brazil continued it’s President’s Cup wining streak with a 30-23 defeat over Australia and will play the winner of Morocco-Angola for 19th place on Sunday. The teams traded goals and were tied up 3-3 after 10 minutes. Brazil then ran off 9 straight unanswered goals and took an eventual 17-6 lead to the locker room at half-time.

The second half was a different story, as Australia arguably played their best half of the tournament, outscoring Brazil 17-13. In particular, a six minute stretch where Australia ran off 8 straight goals to cut the lead to 6 had the German crowd cheering on the Aussies. Brazil woke up, however, and the teams traded goals over the last 5 minutes of the match for the eventual scoreline of 23-30. Team Australia had a balanced scoring attack with 6 goals from Namanja Subotic, 5 for Darryl McCormack and 4 for Josh Parmenter. And goalkeeper Ogi Latinovic had a great match between the posts and was selected Man of the Match. Quite an honor, as a player from the winning team usually is awarded this honor.

Australia has one more opportunity to pick up a win as they take on winless Qatar for 23rd place on Sunday.

Greenland Handball (A National Passion)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.7MB)

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This afternoon I was invited to a reception hosted by the Greenland Handball Federation. It was a great opportunity to get to know a little bit more about Greenland and their unquestionable passion for handball. Here are 3 short interviews:

Greenland Handball Federation President Palle Jerimiassen: https://teamhandballnews.com/wp-content/uploads/LegacyPodcasts/PalleDerimiassen.mp3

Head Coach Jakob Andreasen:https://teamhandballnews.com/wp-content/uploads/LegacyPodcasts/JakobAndreasen.mp3

National Team Player Minik Dahl Hoegh: https://teamhandballnews.com/wp-content/uploads/LegacyPodcasts/MinikDahlHoegh.mp3

Side note: After our interview, Coach Andreasen indicated that Greenland is planning on competing in the PANAM Under 21 Championships. With seven players on their Senior roster eligible, including their leading scorer, they could be a force to reckon with.

Looking Ahead: Qualifying for Beijing

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The IHF has introduced new regulations for qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Previously, the teams placing 1st to 7th would directly qualify for the Olympics along with the host nation, and the Champions from each of the 4 Continental Federations. This format has been replaced with the introduction of qualification tournaments and now only the World Champion will earn a direct qualification spot. Teams at the World Championship will still have something to play for in terms of the Olympics though, as spots 2nd – 7th will earn spots in the 3 pre-Olympic qualification tournaments. And due to the distinct possibility that next year’s European Champion may very well also occupy one of the spots from 2nd- 7th, 8th place could also earn a bid as well. So, in short, the 12 teams participating in the Main Round are not only competing for quarterfinal berths they are also playing for spots in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments. And on top of that, the teams that reach the semifinals will earn the right to host an Olympic Qualification tournament.

The official qualification regulation is here: https://teamhandballnews.com/download.php?view.30

We’ve also added an Olympics Qualification Page, which will be updated as teams qualify. https://teamhandballnews.com/page.php?17