The 20th World Men's Handball Championship takes place from January 19 to February 4, 2007 in Germany. Preliminary Round Group A (Wetzlar) : Tunisia, Slovenia, Kuwait, Greenland. Group B (Magdeburg) : France, Iceland, Ukraine, Australia. Group C (Berlin, Halle) : Germany, Poland, Brazil, Argentina. Group D (Bremen) : Spain, Czech Republic, Egypt, Qatar. Group E (Kiel) : Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Angola. Group F (Stuttgart) : Croatia, Russia, Morocco, South Korea President's Cup The teams placed third and fourth in the preliminary round groups are divided into four groups of three teams. These teams will be ranked between 13th and 24th places. Main Round 2 groups of 6 teams. The teams carry forward match results from main round. Four teams from each main round group qualify for the quarter-finals. Knockout Stage The quarter-finals are set up so that the winner of one group will face the fourth-placed team in the other.
Day 1 Results Group A Slovenia 35 – 21 Greenland Tunisia 34 – 23 Kuwait Group B Iceland 45 – 20 Australia France 32 – 21 Ukraine Group C Germany 27 – 22 Brazil Poland 29 – 15 Argentina Group D Czech Republic 37 – 23 Qatar Spain 33 – 29 Egypt Group E Norway 41 – 13 Angola Denmark 29 – 30 Hungary Group F Croatia 35 – 22 Morocco Russia 32 – 32 Korea
Croatia making usualy very solid Korea look silly at the moment, 24-12. Handball at this level is more entertaining than NBA.
As it's been nearly 30 years now since Germany's last world championship win, we really need on this time if you ask me . But unfortunately, with the exception of the 2004 European championship win, those tournaments seem to go like this, though: - either, Germany plays rather good but looses the final or at least semi-final - or Germany totally sucks and goes out in the second round
Day 2 Results Group A Greenland 20 – 36 Tunisia Kuwait 23 – 33 Slovenia Group B Australia 10 – 47 France Ukraine 32 – 29 Iceland Group C Brazil 23 – 31 Poland Argentina 20 – 32 Germany Group D Qatar 18 – 41 Spain Egypt 30 – 31 Czech Republic Group E Angola 20 – 39 Denmark Hungary 25 – 22 Norway Group F Morocco 19 – 35 Russia Korea 23 – 41 Croatia
Can't believe I won't be able to watch Croatia vs Russia tonight I'll tape it, should be a great match. Scandinavian derby for the place in the second round also interesting today.
Day 3 Results Group A Kuwait 39 - 27 Greenland Tunisia 27 - 34 Slovenia 1.Slovenia 2.Tunisia 3.Kuwait 4.Greenland Group B Ukraine 37 - 18 Australia France 24 - 32 Iceland 1.Iceland 2.France 3.Ukraine 4.Australia Group C Germany 25 - 27 Poland Brazil 20 - 22 Argentina 1.Poland 2.Germany 3.Argentina 4.Brazil Group D Egypt 35 - 24 Qatar Spain 35 - 29 Czech Republic 1.Spain 2.Czech Republic 3.Egypt 4.Qatar Group E Hungary 34 - 31 Angola Denmark 27 - 25 Norway 1.Hungary 2.Denmark 3.Norway 4.Angola Group F Morocco 19 - 32 Korea Croatia 32 - 27 Russia 1.Croatia 2.Russia 3.Korea 4.Morocco
Main Round Group MI Iceland 2 (+8) Slovenia 2 (+7) Poland 2 (+2) Germany 0 (-2) Tunisia 0 (-7) France 0 (-8) Group MII Spain 2 (+6) Croatia 2 (+5) Hungary 2 (+1) Denmark 0 (-1) Russia 0 (-5) Czech Republic 0 (-6) President's Cup Group I : Kuwait, Ukraine, Argentina. Group II : Egypt, Norway, Korea. Group III : Greenland, Australia, Brazil. Group IV : Qatar, Angola, Morocco.
Iceland will go all the way. They have worlds best handball player Ólafur Stefánsson. Iceland have great team just look how they trashed France 33-24. Just look at the squad Iceland have they have Guðjón Sigurðsson(Gummersbach) Topscorer in Bundesliga and he was voted Bundesliga best player, Smorri Guðjónsson(Minden, Einar Hólmgeirsson(Flensburg), Logi Geirsson(Lemgo), Sigfús Sigurðsson(Ademar Leon) Róbert Gunnarsson(Gummersbach) and many more world class players. Iceland have 19 players in Bundesliga more than any other country. They also have quality coach in Alfreð Gíslason so Iceland could do it.
Anyway, even the dirty games played by the Spaniards can't stop us. They have prevented our best defensive player Dominiković from playing in the tournament, because he was allegedly positive on a doping test made in Spanish league where he plays. The B test was negative (surprise ) but they admitted that, what do you know, 3 hours after the deadline. So he can't play before quater-finals. But they'll pay on the court.
Main Round Day 1 Group MI Slovenia - Germany : 29 - 35 Tunisia - Iceland : 30 - 36 France - Poland : 31 - 22 Iceland 4 (+14) Germany 2 (+4) Slovenia 2 (+1) (63-62) France 2 (+1) (55-54) Poland 2 (-7) Tunisia 0 (-13) Group MII Czech Republic - Hungary : 25 - 28 Spain - Russia : 33 - 29 Denmark - Croatia : 26- 28 Spain 4 (+10) Croatia 4 (+7) Hungary 4 (+4) Denmark 0 (-3) Russia 0 (-9) (56-65) Czech Republic 0 (-9) (54-63) President's Cup Day 1 Group I : Kuwait - Ukraine : 23 - 33 Group II : Egypt - Norway : 18 - 27 Group III : Greenland - Australia : 34 - 25 Group IV : Qatar - Angola : 27 - 33
Main Round Day 2 Group MI Tunisia - Germany 28 - 35 Poland - Iceland : 35 - 33 France - Slovenia : 33 - 19 France 4 (+15) Iceland 4 (+12) Germany 4 (+11) Poland 4 (-5) Slovenia 2 (-13) Tunisia 0 (-20) Group MII Czech Republic - Russia : 26 - 30 Croatia - Hungary : 25 - 18 Denmark - Spain : 27 - 23 Croatia 6 (+14) Spain 4 (+6) Hungary 4 (-3) Denmark 2 (+1) Russia 2 (-5) Czech Republic 0 (-13) President's Cup Day 2 Group I : Kuwait - Argentina : 25 - 28 Group II : Egypt - Korea : 30 - 36 Group III : Greenland - Brazil : 30 - 33 Group IV : Qatar - Morocco : 27 - 44
Croatia is the only undefeated team left. Nothing will chage tomorrow against Czech Republic, but on Sunday we're facing a real test - Spain. I'm eagarly awaiting that match because I think we still have a lot of reserve in our game, I wonder how well we can really play. I think France with their rock-solid defense is the only team that can cause us serious problems on our way to the gold. Doesn't have anything to do with this tournament, but here's one of the best handball goals ever. I ran into it just the other day, scored by Croatian Kaleb in the 2004 Olympics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwu28aNMkec
Main Round Day 3 Group MI France - Germany : 26 - 29 Iceland - Slovenia : 32 - 31 Poland - Tunisia : 40 - 31 Germany 6 (+14) Iceland 6 (+13) Poland 6 (+4) France 4 (+12) Slovenia 2 (-14) Tunisia 0 (-29) Group MII Croatia - Czech Republic : 31 - 29 Hungary - Spain : 31 - 33 Denmark - Russia : 26 - 24 Croatia 8 (+16) Spain 6 (+8) Denmark 4 (+3) Hungary 4 (-5) Russia 2 (-7) Czech Republic 0 (-15) President's Cup Day 3 Group I : Ukraine - Argentina : 23 - 22 1.Ukraine 4 (+11) 2.Argentina 2 (+2) 3.Kuwait 0 (-13) Group II : Norway - Korea : 34 - 32 1.Norway 4 (+11) 2.Korea 2 (+4) 3.Egypt 0 (-15) Group III : Australia - Brazil : 23 - 30 1.Brazil 4 (+10) 2.Greenland 2 (+6) 3.Australia 0 (-16) Group IV : Angola - Morocco : 28 - 32 1.Morocco 4 (+21) 2.Angola 2 (+2) 3.Qatar 0 (-23)
Croatia just beat Spain 29-28 which means we're (probably) playing France in quater-finals. Not great, but if we survive that we are champions for sure.
Main Round Day 4 Group MI Germany - Iceland : 33 - 28 Slovenia - Poland : 27 - 38 France - Tunisia : 28 - 26 Poland 8 (+15) (Poland beat Germany) Germany 8 (+19) Iceland 6 (+8) (Iceland beat France) France 6 (+14) Slovenia 2 (-25) Tunisia 0 (-31) Group MII Spain - Croatia : 28 - 29 Russia - Hungary : 26 - 25 Denmark - Czech Republic : 33 - 29 Croatia 10 (+17) Denmark 6 (+7) (Denmark beat Spain) Spain 6 (+7) Russia 4 (-6) (Russia beat Hungary) Hungary 4 (-6) Czech Republic 0 (-19) Placement Matches 23/24 Australia - Qatar : 22 - 36 21/22 Greenland - Angola : 28 - 29 19/20 Brazil - Morocco : 36 - 29 17/18 Kuwait - Egypt : 22 - 26 15/16 Argentina - Korea : 31 - 38 13/14 Ukraine - Norway : 22 - 32
and then perhaps not ... Iceland have some great players, but they very much lack depth in their squad, so their key players have grown more and more tired as the tournament has progressed. Denmark on the other hand are slow starters, but great depth has helped them get far in this tournament, also with a few absolute key players being sick and getting injured (Per Leegaard and playmaker/key defender Boldsen) and missing the quarter finals against Iceland. .
Crap. France 21-18 Croatia. Absolutely desrved. France simply doesn't suit us. When I think that we could have lost to Spain in the group stage and have a much easier path to the final The tournament system really sucks. We're 7-1 in this tournament and we're not fighting for medals
Im atleast 10 years older after the Denmark- Iceland game. That was very close. That Gudjonson fella was unstopable with 15 goals in 18 attempt Poland next- hopefully Joakim Boldsen is ready