2017 World Men's Handball Championship in France

[Verjamem]

It's exactly 1 week left to start of biggest competition in men's handball - World Championship

Group A - France (host nation & title holder), Poland, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Norway
Group B - Spain, Slovenia, Macedonia, Iceland, Tunisia, Angola
Group C - Germany, Croatia, Belarus, Hungary, Chile, Saudi Arabia
Group D - Qatar, Denmark, Sweden, Egypt, Bahrain, Argentina

Group stage: 11-20 January
Round of 16: 21-22 January
Quaterfinals: 24 January
Semifinals: 26-27 January
3rd place game: 28 January
Final: 29 January

I see 3 teams, which could win it all:
- they will be playing on their own soil, I've heard players like Karabatić and Narcisse are going to retire + probably France would like to take revenge after last Olympic Games.
- current Olympic champions. I guess Danes really want to prove, they're just the best team in the World.
- if they were able to win the most difficult tournament with reserve squad, I'm afraid to think what Germans are capable of with their strongest team + they confirmed good form at Olympics.

I don't expect much from , probably we'll just make it to round of 16 or even not

 

[ShoeFlo]

's team is amazing, Handball is the second most popular sport here (16 million people watched the final of the last Euro) and nevertheless the tournament won't get broadcasted in any German TV channel, not even in Pay TV That's because our TV channels ARD and ZDF don't want to follow the strict demands of the rightholding broadcaster beIN It looks like I need to set my hope into live streams. It's ridicolous but that's how it is.

About the tournament: This will be the last tournament for Dagur Sigurðsson as our headcoach. He surprisingly decided to end his tenure because he got an offer from Japan national team. He has a soft spot for the country and I guess it's an exciting challenge taking charge of a minor side and trying to make them competitive until the Olympics 2020 in Tokyo. Sad news for German handball but I hope he will leave Germany as as World Champion... I think we can do it. I watched our team in a friendly against Romania and we looked pretty good already. Fingers are crossed. Most likely France is gonna win the torunament but I am hopeful the old age of some of their key players (Narcisse, Karabatic) will take its toll. It's an exhausting tournament, after all.

Of course I will also cross my fingers for Iceland. I don't have high expectations though. The good times are over and they already struggle in the qualification campaign for Euros 2018. On the positive note, they finally managed to integrate some younger players. In the last couple of years their squad was full of old farts. The oldest fart, Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson, is still there but he is still an amazing player, being on a high worldclass level.

 

[ShoeFlo]

Where are the Handball fans of this forum? Please show up

 

[EscGeek]

alrighty..my two cents coming up...

I don't expect much from ...And i'm still disappointed we didn't take the medal in Rio as our team was at it's best.
Now Zorman and Škof are retiring, and Bombač is injured..Of course getting into the knockout stage is a must.
Round of 16 match will be very important, as I'm sure we will lose in the QF

Also, I've had enough of french victories...let some other country take the throne

 

[Tinchey]

I hope I'll have time to watch some of the matches, although I don't have high hopes but I do expect a top 5 finish.

 

[GRE]

I support

 

[SaladBreak]

Looks like they decided to pick the WV70 winner song
as the theme of the championship

 

[aletem]

Macedonia won over Tunisia today with 34:30 and that makes me quite happy!! I had the honour of meeting coach Lino Cervar before the start of the Championship and he is one hell of a passionate coach. With him Macedonia should be doing well.

And who else, but Kire the Great was the man of the match!!! 12 goals!!

 

[Verjamem]

Unfortunately, lost first game against . We could (maybe should?) have won it, but Norway had more quality and bigger experience than us.

Fortunately, and won their games tonight + made a little upset

 

[Magizian]

Where are the Handball fans of this forum? Please show up

Right here!

Of course I'm rooting for but I'll be satisfied if we're able to reach the semi-finals - after all, there are a lot of good teams in the tournament. I do consider France to be the favourites over all, although I don't know how much Luka Karabatics injury is going to affect the french defense.

 

[Malagant]

I'm here too

Naturally I'm rooting for We have 2 victories so far, against and 'today' , very happy with that. Aiming for a top 8-10 if possible, I don't think we have enough quality to reach the semis tbh, but will have to wait and see. Many exciting matches ahead

I too think are likely favourites (the French perhaps most of all) and will fight it out for the win.

 

[aletem]

2/2 for

Let's hope we can beat Iceland, so we can face Norway or maybe even Russia in the round of 16!

 

[Magizian]

NORDIC FIGHT NIGHT!

Tonight we take on in the group stage. I predict an even game, with either team winning with no more than a few goals. I'm a bit worried, because two of our starters sit out with injuries and won't participate tonight (Olsen and Mensah). Olsen is our best playmaker in my opininion, and Mensah is one of our best defensive players and he's a threat in offense, as well. Bah!

 

[Verjamem]

If will lose against tonight, we won't go further. It's a in/out game for us. We have quite unexperienced team, but I believe that motivation is key. Game with was good perfomance, because they knew it's going to be important game and opposite thing happened against

 

[EscGeek]

first ones to advance to the next round

 

[Verjamem]

is out, now I can follow top teams

 

[ShoeFlo]

vs 28:21

5 games, 5 wins. Everything's perfect so far Our defense is a wall and goalkeeper Andi Wolf is just insane.

In the round of 16 we'll face Qatar. It's time for a revenge!!

 

[Verjamem]

Congratulations , it was quite enjoyable game to watch. Hope you'll show your strength against Qatar

 

[EscGeek]

of course they will....germany has a free pass to the semi final where they will fight with france for the final

the bottom bracket semi finalists are denmark for sure and either spain or croatia

 

[Magizian]

Qatar 29-32 Denmark

Well, I don't really know how to feel about this match We were down by five goals at one point in the second half - mostly because we had a lot of turnovers (about 14-15 I think ). The good thing is that Landin, Hansen, Søndergaard and H. Toft didn't play, so they should be well rested for the next game.

The next game will be against Hungary on Sunday at 4 pm.