Handball EP - Norway 2008

The Olympics.

Live: China, Germany, Egypt, Brazil, Denmark, Korea/Japan

Qualifiers:
Tournament 1—Poland, Iceland, Sweden, Argentina.
Group 2: France, Spain, Tunis, Norway
Tournament 3 - USA, Russia, Algeria, and the losers of Korea/Japan.

The hosts for the tournament (May 30th – June 1st).

...

World Cup 24 teams.

Live:
Defending the headline: Germany
host: America
The top 3 teams from the European Championship: Denmark, France, Sweden
Top 3 squads from the Africa Cup: Egypt, Tunis, Algeria
Top 3 teams from the Asia Cup (Feb 17-25)? Any guesses?
Top 3 teams from the Copa América (June 24-28)? Any takers?
Oceania champion: ?

European qualification (9):

Canada Slovakia
Spain Greece
Norway Ukraine
Belarus— Russia
Russia Mexico Romania
Czechia Poland
Poland Switzerland
Canada Canada
Mexico - Iceland

top seeds

The handball qualifiers are set to take place in that new arena over in San Diego, though I can't quite recall which group they've been placed in.
They picked that venue specifically because the atmosphere there is an absolute whirlwind... a total storm.
I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks about this...

It’s a solid spot, honestly—smart move considering how much those tornadoes can tear things up—though I suppose if you were looking for a real powerhouse, maybe somewhere like Miami would have been a better bet since they’re such a massive hub for handball.

I’m reading in the papers that it's all a wash—there's basically zero chance that arena will actually be finished on time.
So, I guess we'll probably end up playing in Chicago instead.

The qualifying mystery is officially over. South Korea swept through the Asian qualifiers, taking down Japan in both the men's and women's brackets. That means our guys have a relatively smooth ride ahead against Russia, Japan, and Algeria, while the ladies are looking at a much nastier path against Romania, a Polish woman, and a Cuban woman.

Olympic tournament

Men:

Directly qualified: China, Germany, Egypt, Brazil, Denmark, South Korea

Qualifiers: - top two from each group head to the Olympics
Tournament 1-Poland*, Iceland, Sweden, Argentina
Tournament 2-France*, Spain, Tunis, Norway
Tournament 3-USA*, Russia, Algeria, Japan

* hosts (May 30 - June 1)

Women:

Directly qualified: China, Russia, Norway, Brazil, Angola, South Korea

Qualifiers: - top two from each group head to the Olympics
Tournament 1-Germany*, Spain, Sweden, Cuba
Tournament 2-Romania*, USA, Japan, Poland
Tournament 3-France, Canada, white-haired, (Asia no.3**)

* hosts (March 28-30)

** only two teams competed in the Asian qualifiers, so we're still waiting to see who grabs that last spot.

I honestly think those folks in tournament 2 are feeling pretty intimidated when they look over at us in tournament 3 😁 Algeria and Japan 😁 plus Russia, which is on a bit of a downward slide 😁 and we're even hosting the whole thing! 😁

I honestly don't think there should even be any mystery about this. If you look at the lineup, we're looking at Poland, Sweden, France, Spain, America, and Russia heading to the Olympic tournament. We could have easily cruised into this without all those extra qualifiers, just like how things have always worked out in the past... instead, they’re just making everyone run themselves ragged for nothing

So, I guess we’ve got an Olympic tournament coming up on our schedule too... honestly, it doesn't even phase me... I just hope things settle down enough for Chervar to catch his breath a little bit...

Japan isn't going to be a threat to us, and while we shouldn't sleep on Algeria, we're clearly the stronger side here—we're definitely better than Russia... even if we happen to mess up one game, there's no way we'll blow it twice, especially since the competition has basically handed us everything on a silver platter

Don't sweat it... we're plenty tough enough... 🙂
Besides, we're the home team, and anyone who follows handball knows exactly what that advantage looks like ☕

Honestly, when it comes to Alzheimer and Japan, we don't even need to call up guys like Balica, Metlica, or Lackovic and that whole broken crew. Let them take a break; our young talent is more than enough, and we can just go up against the Russians for prestige ☕

Don't go underestimating Algeria or Morocco; about ten years ago, those squads were playing at a top-tier European level, and while they’ve slipped a bit since then, they’re still hovering somewhere around the quality of a high-end US minor league side. I definitely wouldn't throw our youngsters into the deep end against them—they'd likely get absolutely slaughtered if we did.

Gosh, they look prettypassionate. Not 😁 quite, this is from two years ago and I couldn't track down anything more recent... but honestly, I think it says enough. With all those struggles, even the slightest injury or bit of fatigue would have forced him to call it quits and stay on the sidelines🙂

Japan at their last few World Championships (assuming they even qualified)

Iceland 95: 23rd place
Japan 97: 15th place
Tunisia 05: 16th place (wins against Argentina and Australia, losses to Spain -19, USA -9, Sweden -14)

They haven't won the Asian Championship since 1979, and here are the results from their recent appearances:

06: Missed the semifinals (lost to Qatar and Iran)
04: 2nd place
02: Didn't make the semifinals
00: 3rd place

Algeria at the World Championships:

Tunisia 05: 17th place (beat Kuwait, tied with Czech Republic, lost to Russia -6, Canada -5, Iceland -9)
Portugal 03: 18th place (two ties against Egypt and Brazil, losses to Sweden -4, Denmark -3, Canada -10)
France 01: 13th place
Egypt 99: 15th place
Japan 97: 17th place
Iceland 95: 16th place

African Cup of Nations:

08: 3rd place, 23:20 win over Angola
06: Missed the semifinals
04: 4th place, loss to Angola
02: 2nd place, loss to Tunisia 25:16

Draw your own conclusions.😁