WCh 2015 (Qatar) - Qualification

[mikh]

Europe - Qualification Groups Stage:

Group 1: Lithuania, Turkey, Georgia, Finland
Group 2: Slovakia, Romania, Cyprus, Italy
Group 3: Slovenia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Luxembourg
Group 4: Netherlands, Israel, Greece, Belgium
Group 5: Portugal, Bosnia Herzegovina, Latvia, Estonia

Round robin format. Winners go to the Play-off.

[Selena812]

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[Laci55]

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[RickyKaka22]

Hello everyone ... I'm a big fan of HANDBALL.Tomorrow for the qualifying round are the following match...I like bet...these are the odds.Do you have advice?There are particular injury?I'll give you my best wishes for the New Year!

16:30 Ukraine - Switzerland 1.57 9.50 2.74
17:00 Bosnia and Herzegovina - Latvia 1.67 8.81 2.56
17:00 Romania - Cyprus - 1.01 27.83 24.50
17:00 Turkey - Georgia 1.17 12.23 5.59
18:00 Finland - Lithuania 3.70 10.30 1.34
18:45 Israel - Greece 1.50 9.34 3.02
19:00 Estonia - Portugal 3.24 9.47 1.44
19:30 Luxembourg - Slovenia 22.75 25.88 1.01
20:00 Italy - Slovakia 9.46 15.60 1.07
20:10 Belgium - Netherlands 7.63 15.12 1.11

I wait your analysis on the match...Greetings to all

[SilentOne]

What a fight on the match between Slovenia and Ukraine

http://www.mkd.mk/sport/rakomet/haos-vo ... zhot-video

wonder if EHF will punish someone out of this?

[mikh]

The African Men's Handball Championship concluded yesterday in Algeria:
Final: Algeria - Tunisia 25:21
Bronze match: Egypt - Angola 31:24
This means, Africa will be represented at the next WCh by the following teams (in this order): Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt.

[mikh]

European play-off draw:

Hungary - Slovenia
Romania - Sweden
Poland - Germany
Greece - Macedonia
Serbia - Czech R.
Russia - Lithuania
Bosnia i Herzegovina - Iceland
Austria - Norway
Montenegro - Belarus

Matches on 7/8 and 14/15 of June 2014.

Two very good teams will stay at home (Slovenia and Germany risk missing their second in a row).
Two additional "delicate" encounters (GRE - MKD and RUS - LTU). In general quite balanced matches, with the exception of ROU - SWE (although, with this team of ours, you never know) and BIH - ISL.

Any thoughts?

[Galpa]

HUN-SLO
POL-GER
ROU-SWE
GRE-MKD
SRB-CZE
RUS-LTU
BIH-ISL
AUT-NOR
MNE-BLR

Tough draw for Hungary but also for Poland and Austria. And it won't be easy for Sweden and Serbia either.

[Galpa]

European play-off draw:

Hungary - Slovenia
Romania - Sweden
Poland - Germany
Greece - Macedonia
Serbia - Czech R.
Russia - Lithuania
Bosnia i Herzegovina - Iceland
Austria - Norway
Montenegro - Belarus

Matches on 7/8 and 14/15 of June 2014.

Two very good teams will stay at home (Slovenia and Germany risk missing their second in a row).
Two additional "delicate" encounters (GRE - MKD and RUS - LTU). In general quite balanced matches, with the exception of ROU - SWE (although, with this team of ours, you never know) and BIH - ISL.

Any thoughts?

The teams written on first place start at home or teams from pot 2?
I think it's 50-50 against Slovenia, depends on available healthy players at the end of the season. The pressure will be huge bacuse next WC will qualify to Rio as well.

At least we can not get those annoying Slovenian referees. IHF and EHF love them unlike players, fans.

[Des57]

European play-off draw:

Hungary - Slovenia
Romania - Sweden
Poland - Germany
Greece - Macedonia
Serbia - Czech R.
Russia - Lithuania
Bosnia i Herzegovina - Iceland
Austria - Norway
Montenegro - Belarus

Any thoughts?

Bad draw for us.I think our chances are very small.We can make a good result against Sweden in one game, but not in a double encounter.As you and Galpa said pretty balanced matches.I woudn't be surprised if Germany will miss another final tournament.Germany out again would be a disaster.Macedonia,Russia,Belarus/Montenegro with a good draw.

[kleber]

wow great draw for Russia,the best possible realy,only bad first game at home.......

germany-poland!
hungary-slovenia!

germany to miss the second big tournament in a row?

[dakicaska]

Hungary - Slovenia
Romania - Sweden
Poland - Germany
Greece - Macedonia
Serbia - Czech R.
Russia - Lithuania
Bosnia i Herzegovina - Iceland
Austria - Norway
Montenegro - Belarus

[karel]

Well, Germans aren't big team any more, but they definitely don't want to miss another big tournament so the draw could have been much better for us... On the other hand - I think these are Germans who should be affraid before this duel, not Poland.
Poland-Germany is always something more than ordinary game - in all sport disciplines. But I wouldn't call Greece-Macedonia " a friendly game" as well. What a malignant fate.

[mikh]

Asian Handball Championship - Manama, Bahrain

Group round is over and you can see all the results here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Asian ... ampionship
As you can see, extremely weird results in both groups, leaving out South Korea, Kuwait and Japan. The weirdest is the EXTREMELY convenient result in the last match in group A, between Bahrain (new Asian "power", it seems) and Iran, which left Korea out.

So, semis:
Qatar - Iran
Bahrain - UAE

Which means that Iran, Bahrain and UAE will join Qatar to the WCh.
I know Korea has been on a downfall lately, but Japan seemed to go up and not having any East Asian teams on the next WCh is quite bad for handball, in general. Also, I don't trust too much this sudden rise of Oman and UAE.

[mikh]

Asian Handball Championship - Semifinals:
Qatar - Iran 23:22 (either Qatar is not as good as they were imagining or Iran is actually planning to be competitive next year as well)
Bahrain - UAE 27:20 (I don't trust any of these 2 being capable of any good result at the WCh next year)

Final: Bahrain - Qatar
Bronze match: Iran - UAE

In another match, Kuwait was thrashed by Saudi Arabia. It seems they're completely uninterested in the tournament after being out of the WCh race.

[ThorTharu]

Judging by the scores UAE are looking bad. They can't even be competitive against Qatar, Japan and Bahrain. They might give Australia some competition for the much coveted 24th place at the Championships.

Traditionally, the style of play South Korea and Japan play have translated much better against European teams than the Arabic ones.

I will admit though it is good for the cup to have 4 "local" teams (Qatar, Bahrain a bridge away, UAE short flight and Iran also). Hope it can spread the sport.

[mikh]

Asian Handball Championship - Finals:
Bronze: UAE - Iran 23:29
Gold: Bahrain - Qatar 26:27

Korea and Japan achieved their worst results ever. Also, for Korea it's the first time they're out of the top 4 and only the second time they're not playing the final, in the history of the competition.
To conclude, the seeding order for Asia at the WCh will be: Bahrain, Iran, UAE, with Qatar being seeded as the host.

[Ivar]

Really disappointed that neither South Korea nor Japan will qualify. I've always loved watching them play.

[karel]

POLAND – GERMANY 25:24 (9:12)

POLAND: Szmal, Wyszomirski – Gliński 1, Bielecki, Wiśniewski, B. Jurecki 6/6, M. Jurecki 2, Grabarczyk, Jurkiewicz 7, Syprzak 1, Daszek 2, Łucak, Krajewski, Orzechowski 2, Szyba 3, Chrapkowski 1. min.
GERMANY: Bitter, Heinevetter – Kniefer, Gensheimer 4, Sellin, Wiencek 1, Danner, Glandorf 3, Pekeler 2, Groetzki 4, Alendorf, Weinhold 2, Kneule 3, Kraus 5, Fath, Hass.

The first half was just terrible. Fortunately, we played much better in the second and managed to win. However: this victory has rather only psychological meaning, because one goal difference doesn't give you much more than a draw when it comes to play-offs. And especially if you have to play the 2nd leg abroad, additonaly in Magdeburg, Germany...
Szmal was great once more (as well as Heinevetter in German team), Jurkiewicz scored some important goals (including the last one) and B.Jurecki was extremely effective in 7m. We need to play much better in Magdeburg, if we want to be in Quatar next year. If we don't qualify for the WCh it will be a real disaster for the team. But the Germans are in the same situation, especially, that they didn't play in the last ECh. We have to beat them away, because our advantage is symbolic. It is possible, cause Germany aren't top team now. But the level of our play must be higher. I hope K.Lijewski will be fit for the 2nd leg as we have real problems with fast playmaking.

The other games:

Romania-Sweden 24:25
Greece-Macedonia 25:27
Serbia- Czech Rep. 23:15
Russia - Lithuania 30:22
Bosnia and Hercegovina - Iceland 33:32
Austria - Norway 28:26
Hungary - Slovenia 25:22
Montenegro - Belarus 28:27

Russians and Serbians are in. Swedes, Macedonians and Icelanders are very close to success. However, I see that Romania took some fight, which was not so sure to expect, if we consider their last results.
In the other duels everythin may still happen.

[Ivar]

Things are starting to clear up. Here are my predictions after the first round:

Poland - Germany 25:24 (sad to not see both of these teams qualify)
Romania - Sweden 24:25
Greece - Macedonia 25:27
Serbia - Czech Rep. 23:15
Russia - Lithuania 30:22
Bosnia - Iceland 33:32
Austria - Norway 28:26
Hungary - Slovenia 25:22 (yet another sad playoff )
Montenegro - Belarus 28:27

[mikh]

Good day to be Polish! Brawo biało-czerwoni!

[mikh]

Some info about the other qualification zones:

Oceania Handball Championship, in Auckland (NZ) on April 25 and 26
New Zealand - Australia 18:22
New Zealand - Australia 18:32
Australia takes the Oceania spot.

The Pan Americano 2014 will take place between 22-29 June, in Canelones (Uruguay).
Group A: Brazil, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Guatemala
Group B: Argentina, Chile, Greenland, Mexico

Cuba withdrew and Paraguay declined the invitation to take their place.
3 spots are on stake for the WCh and while Brazil and Argentina will easily take them, the final one is up for grabs. It will probably be between Uruguay, Chile and Greenland, with USA also hoping to return to the WCh after a long absence.

[kleber]

Germany miss again a major tournament.

Serbia collapse today and also miss Qatar Wc.

russia with a easy qual,well done to austria.

[karel]

Good day to be Polish! Brawo biało-czerwoni!

Yes, indeed! A great day for Polish handball.

Germany– Poland 28:29 (14:10)

Germany: Heinevetter, Bitter – Kneer, Gensheimer 7 (2), Sellin, Wiencek, Danner, Glandorf 7, Pekeler 2, Groetzki 2, Allendorf, Weinhold 3, Kneule 2, Kraus 4, Faeth 1, Haass.

Poland: Szmal, Wyszomirski – Lijewski 3, Gliński 1, Bielecki 7, Wiśniewski 1, B. Jurecki 4 (3), M. Jurecki 5, Grabarczyk, Syprzak 1, Daszek 3, Łucak, Masłowski, Orzechowski, Szyba, Chrapkowski 4.

Wyszomirski and Bielecki, who was scoring time after time like in his best years - they were the key factors of the success.
Beatin Germany in Germany. It always tastes sweet for Polish fan. As Kleber wrote: Germany miss another big tournament. It is a disaster for this "handball country" with such a strong league...