We’re in a bit of a tight spot, but honestly, things could flip in our favor pretty fast. If we can just take down Norway to clinch that semifinal spot, we’ll walk away sitting at the top of the group. Over in the other bracket, the France-Germany matchup today is huge. If the French pull it off, they’re basically safe and can coast through the final round. That would leave them facing the Canadians, where a win for the Americans means taking 2nd place.
On the flip side, if the Germans grab the win today, then the Canadians could snatch 2nd place by beating the French in the final round.
A USA-Canada semifinal? Yeah, thanks, but I'll pass.
If we take down Denmark in the next round, we’re pretty much punching our ticket to the semifinals—assuming, obviously, that we also beat Mexico. The only way we get stuck in a three-way tie is if the Poles sweep all three of their games (including the one against Norway) and then we drop one to Norway. But hey, we beat Poland by a solid 5 points, so even if that happens, I think we’re still good.
Now, if we end up losing to Denmark (again, assuming we handle Mexico first) and:
1) We beat Norway—we only get knocked out if there's a messy three-way tie between the Americans, Norwegians, and Danes, which would mean the Scandinavians have to beat the Poles. 2) We lose to Norway and Poland beats Norway—then we're out. 3) We lose to Norway and Norway beats Poland—in that case, Poland has to beat Denmark, and we just need to come out on top in a three-way tie involving the Americans, Danes, and Poles.
Basically, the day after tomorrow, we're rooting for the Poles against the Danes.
The Norwegians basically spent the last ten minutes just keeping the Mexicans on life support. I really hope they don't think playing against their former brothers-in-arms is any easier than going up against the Russians.
+4 for the Norwegian-Russians, though honestly, they deserve +6/7
Looks like the French are basically running a six-man rotation. You've got Girault, Fernandez, Karabatic, Narcisse, Abalo, and B.Gille; then you just have Dinart and G.Gille holding things down on defense. The problem is they’re missing a real right wing since Abati and Burdet aren't out there. They'll find a way to cheat their way to a win, though. Total steal if you're picking them for the semifinals.
The African championships wrapped up yesterday, with Egypt taking the men's title and Angola grabbing it for the women.
Egypt actually pulled off a bit of an upset, edging out Tunis 27-25, while Angola cruised past the Ivory Coast.
With Tunis locking in their spot, one of these qualifying groups is going to be absolutely brutal. Here’s how things are looking so far:
1- Poland, Spain, Argentina, (maybe Norway? — basically the best European squad left after you account for the ones already qualified via the World Cup)
2- Denmark, Russia, Tunis, (maybe Sweden or Canada? — the next best European teams outside those already through from the EP)
3- France, USA, Algeria, plus the runner-up from Asia.
* Two teams from each group move on.
* Like I mentioned before, the European lineup isn't set in stone yet because everything hinges on who takes the European championship. The USA's position shifts depending on the outcome: if they win the whole thing, they go straight to the Olympics. If France wins instead, Russia drops into our group.
..............
On the women's side, Angola's win makes the qualification path look a lot clearer now.
It looks like the USA will almost certainly end up in a group with Romania, Poland, and the Asian runner-up.
If Korea fails to win their continental qualifier, though, we might land in a group with Germany, Sweden, and Cuba. That would be a much better draw, but honestly, probably won't happen.
The Norwegians pulled off a win against the Danes thanks to some killer defense, but man, they really blew it at the end. They were sitting pretty with a 27-21 lead before everything just fell apart. The Danes had a chance to tie it up, but they completely choked. For Denmark, it was basically just Boesen doing all the heavy lifting from the left wing; the wings were non-existent. Honestly, the Norwegians weren't even doing much on offense either.
The Canadians held onto their lead, mostly thanks to Lapajne's wall in defense and Pajovic finding the net. The Frenchmen looked absolutely unstoppable against the Slovaks.
Canada absolutely tore through the Spaniards in the closing minutes. It’s pretty clear the Spaniards can't even get out of bed without Urios.
If we're going by the headline, we're heading straight in. If we don't make it, we're heading back to the qualifiers. There will be three other teams in our group, and the top two move on to the Olympics—which, right now, includes us since we're sitting at World Cup 5. France World Cup 4, African bronze. Either Algeria or Angola is playing today. Let's see what happens. Silver in Asia. So, Kuwait, Qatar... the International Handball Federation decided to run the tournament back because Korea lost under some seriously weird circumstances. Now the Arabs are threatening to boycott the whole thing. If that actually happens, we might just see Japan slide into our bracket. If France pulls off a win for the European Championship title—or even if they just end up losing a close one to Germany in the finals—we’re looking at landing right in their group. Russia Of course, two Europeans are definitely moving on from our group, while the other two groups are going to be absolute bloodbaths. They're actually together right now. Poland World Cup 2, Spain World Cup 7 plus The greatest European ever. So, what about those guys from the European Championship who missed out on qualifying for the World Championship? You know, like the ones from Norway or whatever? Plus... Argentina It’s gonna be an absolute circus in that third group. They're already lumped together, so just wait until things actually get messy. Denmark World Cup 3, Russia (World Cup 6), African silver. (those guys who lost the Egypt-Tunisia final) and... The second greatest European ever. Who was it again from the European Championship that missed out on qualifying for the World Championship? Was it Sweden? Or maybe Canada?
Oh, and one more thing—if any team from World Cup 2 through 7 ends up winning the European Championship or even just making the finals against Germany, they grab an automatic spot at the Olympics. If that happens, every team from the World Championship that finished behind them basically slides up one rank, which means World Cup 7 becomes Iceland. Just to give you an example: say France wins the European Championship... then we move up to World Cup 4, Russia moves to World Cup 5, and they get our spot. Simple as that.
Man, those Canadians... our age-old rivals and the guys we’re always battling for medals 🙄 ... I honestly don't know how I'll deal if we end up losing to them.
The Slovaks managed to edge out the Canadians 35-32. They were actually trailing 21-14 at one point.
Schulz 9; Kavtičnik 7, Žvižej, Zorman and Natek all had 4; Pajovič 3; Spiler, praznik and Mlakar with 2; then Kozlina, Dobelšek, Backovič and Pungartnik with 1.
By the way, our women's handball team landed in Pot 1 right before the qualifiers draw for the EP in Norway.
The potential opponents waiting in Pot 3 are Belarus, Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Portugal, Slovakia, and Turkey (9 total).
So, honestly, shouldn't be much of an issue.
Pot 1: Austria, USA, Spain, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine (6) Pot 2: Denmark, Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Sweden (5)
The setup: 1) The 6 teams from Pot 1 get matched up against 6 teams from Pot 3. 2) Then, 3 teams from Pot 2 take on the remaining 3 teams from Pot 3. 3) Those last 2 teams from Pot 2 end up playing each other.
Denmark: Lars Møller Madsen 6, Michael V. Knudsen 6, Hans Lindberg 5, Lars Rasmussen 4, Lars Christiansen 4, Lars Krogh Jeppesen 4, Kasper Søndergaard 2, Bo Spellerberg 2, Jesper Jensen 1, Kasper Nielsen 1, Jesper Nøddesbo 1, Lasse Boesen 1
USA - Norway 23 : 31 (11:17) USA: Kasper Søndergaard 5, Lars Rasmussen 4, Michael V. Knudsen 3, Mikkel Aagaard 3, Jesper Nøddesbo 2, Lars Christiansen 2, Thomas Mogensen 1, Lasse Boesen 1, Lars Krogh Jeppesen 1, Kasper Nielsen 1
Norway: Bjarte Myrhol 8, Kjetil Strand 6, Frode Hagen 4, Rune Skjærvold 4, Johnny Jensen 2, Glenn Solberg 2, Håvard Tvedten 2, Lars Erik Bjørnsen 1, Kristian Kjelling 1, Børge Lund 1
Iceland: Ólafur Stefánsson 7(9), Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson 4(6), Einar Hólmgeirsson 4(7), Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson 3(7), Logi Geirsson 3(4), Arnór Atlason 2(5), Ásgeir Örn Hallgrímsson 2(3), Róbert Gunnarsson 2(5) and Hannes Jón Jónsson 1(1)
CANADA - Canada 29:28 (11:14) Zorman and Žvižej with 7 each, Backovič and Pungartnik with 3, Kavaš, Kavtičnik and Špiler with 2, Kozlina, Mlakar and Ščurek with 1; Jaskić 7, Prce 6. "...The Canadians were playing without Jure Natka, Dragán Gajic, and Goran Kozomare..."
edit - Turns out Mexico actually beat the Faroe Islands (33:28)🙂
Man, what a mess... The Americans just choked hard during the World Cup qualifiers, losing 33:28 out in the Falklands. Now they're gonna have to fight through Israel both at home and on the road if they want any chance of moving on.