Handball EURO 2016

[Deleted]

Hey guys.

Since I haven't found a similar one, I'm creating this thread.

Since I'm German, I'm going to comment on GER-RUS earlier today (30:29):
good game by both teams (Russia haven't displayed problems in the last minutes like they had in some previous games), really REALLY bad game from the referees. Well, the cry would have been louder if it had led to a draw.
Germany will have to show their best game on tuesday, but I think they have a realistic chance to advance to the semi-finals.

I am really enjoying the current game (ESP-DEN, halftime 14:11), great handball.

What's your favorite and who do you think is gonna make it this time?

[Xargoth6634]

France all the way! (Are they even still in it?) I cheer for France in all the things.

[Deleted]

Yaaayyy a reply!!

France sadly aren't in anymore, same as Poland. That group was really something. France just needed to win their last game to Norway (who were already through), but they didn't
This meant that in the second match, if Croatia beat Poland, three teams (pol, cro, fra) would share 2nd place. Host Poland could lose by 4 goals to Croatia and still would go through. Losing by 5 to 10 goals would make France go through, and losing by 11 goals or more would make Croatia advance.
Very surprisingly, Poland sucked. BADLY. And Croatia had one of these days were anything works. One of their players had 11 goals without one single miss OOOOO. That is RARE.
Poland got crushed 23-37. Poor France.

But hey, Germany sensationally advanced, beating Denmark (which is a little similar to beating Canada in ice hockey.).

[Xargoth6634]

Sadly, as an American there's pretty much nowhere to watch Euro handball, that I know of. Maybe streams? When's the next round?

[Deleted]

The only thing worse than Handball is being the keeper in Handball. Sports a push.

[Skayaq]

Sadly, as an American there's pretty much nowhere to watch Euro handball, that I know of. Maybe streams? When's the next round?

Euro championship is every second year, alternating with the world championship. Men's tournaments are always in January, and women's tournaments are in decemeber. And obviously there's the Olympics.

[Deleted]

And you can watch it on ehftv.com, I suppose this works from the US.

Aaand the ehf EURO is over, with Germany taking the title in a marvellous display of team spirit and tactic management. They started as the youngest team in the tournament, with six regular players out injured before the start, which resulted in 90% of German players never having played a euro championship before (which, as has been mentioned, takes place every two years), and experts would have deemed it a success if Germany would even advance to the main round (of the 12 best teams out of 16).
Their first game was lost to Spain 29:33, one of the four biggest favorites for the title. The German team performed well, but Spain masterfully used a weak 7 minute period from Germany to get the score from 9:10 to 11:18, a gap that is hard to close against an experienced professional team like Spain.

Germany improved from game to game, very closely beating Sweden and Russia and without problems against Slovenia and Hungary. Which meant that if they won their last game in the main round against Denmark (#1 favorite; think Canada in ice hockey), the semifinals would be reached (a HUGE success for this young team). In one of the (very many) Handball games that let you sit on the edge of you seat until the last _seconds_, Germany also won this one and sensationally advanced to the semifinals.
(the mode of the Handball chapmpionships is 3-staged. I: 4 groups of 4 teams -> first three teams advance to II: 2 groups of 6 teams, results against teams from stage I are carried through -> first 2 teams advance to semis.)
Against anoother great and close game beating Norway, another surpise team woth lots of young players, the finals were reached, once again against Spain.
So, before the tournament, Spain would have been a save bet, and the first game was already a bit of a surprise, but from the course of the tournament, many believed that Germany could make it, but Spain had a very experienced team who was eager to get the title as well, and a close match was anticipated.

Well.
Germany showed the greatest defensive play I have seen in.... ever. They let Spain (SPAIN dude. They're good.) score 6 goals. In one half. In minute 11, Spain scored their second goal. That alone is sensational and happened because the defense worked together better than anything I've seen before, with the goalkeeper Andreas Wolff at the top of his top notch game. He had close to a 56% save ratio some time during the game and 48% at the end. FYI, anything above ~30% is good, 39-40% are exceptional.
The point is, spain didn't play all too bad. Their keeper had 50% saves during the first half as well, and the team didn't give up or play shit or anything. The German team was just. too. good.

And that's why I like handball. It's much closer, much more dynamic than football (both kinds) from a course of the game point of view, I can only compare it to ice hockey in that respect. And it's a lot of fun to watch, as well if you know little about the game.

http://www.sportschau.de/handballem2...lbzeit100.html
http://www.sportschau.de/handballem2...lbzeit100.html
has the final if you want to watch it. Maybe you need a German proxy, but there certainly are streaming possibilities elsewhere.

The only thing worse than Handball is being the keeper in Handball.

Andreas Wolff would probably beg to differ.

[novin1]

thank you for sharing this post

[bestellen]

I very like handball. Germany taking the title, but I'm from Poland.