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Hey guys, I couldn't find a topic so decided to open one up. Anyway Euro 2020 is well under way, we are almost finished with the group stages. There has already been some epic games and unexpected results.

The biggest upset is defiantly that France is out of the competition after only 2 games. This year the competition format is a bit different and only two best teams from each group will progress which is tough for teams that start slow and then rise as the competition goes on. I always had France pegged as a team which gets more dangerous with every game played but this time they paid the price of slow start which is great for us Croats :)

Portugal definitely positively surprised me. They have a good young squad and probably we will be seeing them in the later stages of the bigger tournaments in the coming years. Don't forget, Portugal did very well in the youth categories this past few years. I look forward to their game against Norway.

Anyway, hoping to see some nice tips here, especially on the likes of players over/under so we could take advantage over bookies. Today I played just Belarus to win since I just started giving this tournament a bit more attention.

Bye, I am of to watch Serbia-Croatia.

I'm not big expert in handball, but I already watched few games of Euro 2020. Unfortunately, my country didn't qualified to championship again. I support Iceland, yes, they are underdogs, but their team is really good.
Denmark is one of favorites, but they lost first game and currently losing against Hungary.
Spain, Norway, Croatia is good as always

Aside from spain I would definitely go for Germany they might not be the favorite and only get the 4th place on 2019 IHF WC but you can really see the potential but lets see if they do enhance or improve their flaws in regards with stamina.I do somewhat believe that they would give out a good show on EURO 2020.

In the end Denmark drew with Hungary, 24:24, and now they are in difficult situation and worst part is that they don't depend on themselves completely. They will have to beat Russia, and Iceland will have to beat Hungary.
They are current world champions, and Iceland is stronger than Hungary I think that they still have good chances to go to next round.

Since France is already out, for me main contender and team that showed most is Spain, and they are Euro champions afterall and they have good chances to defend the title.

Congrats to Croatia's handball team for the victory against Serbia
It was a very intense match, as all matches between this two national teams

Tomorrow (today)  :) Slovenia will have an easy one against Switzerland and Sweden should pass Poland as well

I've also been watching a bit, we (Croatia) started well enough but our group is easy and the same problems we have will be repeated as soon as we play against a top team.

I'm really surprised to see France already knocked out, they are always a medal contender. Denmark as well, handball is usually a sport with few huge surprises and I can't remember a competition where probably 2 of the biggest contenders for the gold medal could be out of it already in the group stage.

I am just reading some articles on the topic of France usually underperforming in Euro when Olympic tournament is held that same year. Stats are showing it clearly and it seams French team just conserves their energy for "bigger". Would love to hear some local opinion on it.

I am not a big fan of handball but sometimes intense games make even non-fans to stop for some time and watch a game and that was the case with Croatia.I also think that during the years this Championship has been won mostly by Denmark ,France and Sweden with few times by Germany also.The favorites from what I am reading now are still the same.

Wow okay I had no idea this sport existed. I thought only women played something like this but I maybe never understood the sport. I'm am looking at it now online and I think the one I have been watching is NETBALL.

Am I right in observing that it's Europeans who play it a lot? It does look pretty athletic. Don't think I've ever seen a live game before.

@milewilda I’m backing Spain too as they have a balanced team and I feel they can definitely win this tournament, but then again nothing is guaranteed and they’ll have to give their best performance in each game to win the tournament.


@big_daddy I’ll second that it was indeed a good match, and after seeing this performance from Croatia I’m picking them as my second team that can win the title.

I haven't been able to watch Handball since my high school years. It is not a popular sport in my country. I guess the whole world, too. But in fact, tournaments of this kind of games can be very enjoyable. For both watching and betting.

Where can we watch it?

Croatia is missing this trophy
We have the olympic gold, the world cup, but the european is what we want :) and those guys deserves it!

Not many value odds today, I have opted for following:

Slovenia to win @1,3
This one should be easy. Slovenia is much better team and their head to head is 8:0 for Slovenia or something like that.

Austria - Macedonia under 56,5 @ 1,85
Austria is a big unknown for me since I didn't watch them much but Macedonia is traditionally a bit slower team so I am hoping they will bring the game to low scoring encounter. In their h2h they played either very low scoring game or very high scoring games. Hopefully this one goes under. This is the riskiest tip of the three in my opinion.

Portugal to score over 25,5 @ 1,8
Norway is playing very fast handball and and often ends up in high scoring encounters. That kind of play leaves a lot of space for the opponents score goals as well. Hopefully Portugal will continue and score at least 26 goals today. They met 3 times and Norway won all encounters but Portugal always scored at least 27 goals and it was much weaker Portugal then this one today. Portugal managed to score 28 against France which is also good for my tip. France wasn't the best in this tournament but any team that can score 28 against France defense has some serious firepower.

High stakes combined odds of @4,33 for me today.

Wow, just found out about Handball, and I'm impressed.

Initially, I thought handball was just a game that kids play at school, but it seems I couldn't have been more wrong! Looks like there's some serious athletes in the game.

I guess it's time for me to start binge-watching all the major games.

Any recommendations on where to start? I'd definitely like to find out more about the sport.

I think there is no live stream about it. It should be broadcasting internationally for us. But unfortunately, handball is not so popular.

At least in Europe, it's one of the most popular team sports after football and basketball, don't know how about other continents.
I don't know where you're from, but maybe there is TV channel broadcasting this event in your country. If no, you may tree to watch it here for free https://www.ehftv.com/int/

I was close yesterday but in the end it wasn't good enough. Macedonia just played a terrible game and Austria scored way too many easy goals and killed my prediction.

Today is a slow today, only two games left to finish first stage of the tournament. I will watch Island-Hungary and maybe play something live. I have a feeling this one could end as draw.

First stage  is over, these are 2 groups that continue with EURO

https://i.postimg.cc/vHd0j5Pm/ehf1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/fbFKvdtD/ehf2.png


Those who follow handball will immediately notice that 2 teams that we all saw as one of the contenders are missing: Denmark and France. While France not qualifying was definitely a surprise , Denmark failing in the first round was even bigger one, as they they are current world champions.

Today matches are:
Spain vs Czech Republic
Croatia vs Austria
Belarus vs Germany

Yep, a big game for Croatia tonight. A win would be a huge step towards the semifinal.

A medal is something that was not really expected before the tournament so reaching the semifinals would be a good result for us. From there, anything is possible.

We will have to play much better than that game against Serbia, as Austria can be dangerous, especially since they are playing at the home court, so we can expect different treatment from the referees.
We have good defense, but we are not so convincing outside,  that's the area we have to improve.

I agree that no one expected much from our team, so i would say that semifinals would be seen as  success , and after that who knows. Good thing is that Spain is in our group, so if we move on we can play against them only in the finals , or for the 3rd place. There are some good teams in the Group 2 of course, but i would rather play against them as we are at least 50/50 against any of the team from there,  while against Spain odds would be a bit different and certainly in their favour.

I didn’t bet on Croatia to win this tournament before the start, only looked at the really high price, it was around 15/1
Than I missed an opportunity last week when it was 10/1....
Now looking at the bookies, Croatia is around ~6/1 to win the tournament, and I will not miss that chance  ;D 8)
Go on Cowboys!

Just watching our guys play, everything going according to the plan from the beginning of the match. We are leading by 5 goals at halftime and it could have been even more. I am most impressed with Duvnjak in defense. When he plays the front one in 5:1 defense it really looks unbreakable.

This will be the biggest event in history for croatia, and I see that they're doing great in every performances. Their capability and coordination to take over an opponent was the biggest asset to win the game. We will see them shining over the finals, and I guess it's more exciting to watch them growling the balls towards every goals.

Biggest event in the history of Croatia? Not even close.

Croatian handball team is one of the most successful one in the last approximately 20 years. We were 2x Olympic champions, World champions, with bunch of 2nd and 3rd places so we got used to win stuff. Albeit this team is not as good as previous ones, so we have kinda lower expectations. No one is expecting from them to win the gold, but medal is certainly something we hoped for ( but not expected).
For me personally reaching semifinals is decent enough, everything else is bonus.

Regarding results last night, everything went as planned.
Croatia vs Austria 27 : 23
Spain vs Czech Republic 31 : 25
Belarus vs Germany 23 : 31

Today's fixtures:
Slovenia vs Iceland
Norway vs Hungary
Portugal vs Sweden

Ok I agree that Croatian national team playing well at the moment and have good results but it's to early to predict anything.
They still didn't play with the best teams in the Euro.
Croatia many times in the last 7-8 years started well in different competitions only to loose in the matches for medal.
We didn't play in any Final for almost decade so better not to have to much high expatations now.  
In the past we had even better teams but couldn't achieve good results.
"Biggest event in history of Croatia!?"
I really don’t think so,  final in world cup in Russia in 2018 can come in this cathegory but not this competition.
After all,  everybody know that this EURO is only preparation for the main sport event this year,  olimpic games.  

We were great in defense yesterday, playing like that gives a lot of easy goals through counterattacks.

We have Germany next, it is a must win game for them so playing good in defense could frustrate them from the beginning. If we win that one we are probably through to the semifinals, we should beat Czech Republic so we need a win either vs Germany or vs Spain. I'd rather that we do not have to win against Spain, they are probably the main contenders for the gold now.

Results from today's matches in  group II

Slovenia vs Iceland 30 : 27
Norway vs Hungary 36 : 29
Portugal vs Sweden 35 : 25

By far biggest surprise is the way Portugal completely destroyed and humiliated  Sweden, that was playing home. This was the first Portugal  game i watched in a while, and i had no idea that they can be so good, it looks we have new power rising.
Norway was also very convincing, they look extremely good and powerful, and for me they are after Spain the main contenders for the  title.

Spain should win easily against Austria and I have them on most of my tickets as a way to boost the odds a little. I managed to get 1.25 so it isn't something to just ignore.

Big game today is Croatia against Germany. Maybe I am biased a little but I have a feeling we will be good tonight. I played Croatia not to lose @1.55. Didn't check the odds and line for under in this match but the more I think about this one I think we will have a low scoring encounter. Croatia is playing very good defense in this tournament and our attack is missing goals from long ranged shots which will be felt against Wincek and that other guy in the middle of Germany defense. Maybe I will put some money on that as well. Especially if the line is placed high enough. I would take under 55.5 immediately but I have a feeling that line will be closer to 50 which is a bit to risky.

A very even and uncertain match.
Germany did most of the match better and led but in the end Croatia showed character, turned over and won.
Croatia is now in the semifinals and everything is possible.
I think the match with Spain will show if they really have the quality for gold medal.

Tough game tonight, even tougher than i thought it will be. I knew that Germany plays some tough defense, but still they got me surprised, even our team was surprised by their tenacity and aggressiveness.
Then again, our handball team played so many tough games like that in the past, that it couldn't be any easier than this. At some point, in the beginning of the first  half i thought that we can't get back, but luckily i was wrong.

In the semifinals i would definitely  like to avoid Norway. Slovenia or Portugal seems like a bit weaker and kinda easier opponents.

Very good result for Croatia yesterday. Keep in mind we won against Germany in the game were we didn't use properly situations when German players got 2 minutes, we missed first 3 or 4 shots from 7 meters and our goalkeeper had one save until last 10 minutes. Really don't know what to think about this team. They play by far the best defense and nobody can stop Duvnjak, Karacic & Cindric in the attack but then we have worst 7 meters conversion ratio in the championship, we don't use our wings in the attack at all and our keepers often don't show for the game. I have never seen such lack of balance in the team fighting for the medals.

Yesterday was good day for me betting wise and hopefully it will be the same today. I am picking all the favorites to win today, Slovenia and Norway are given but odds show that as well. Portugal is my main match with odds @1,75 for their win against Island.

Thats how we roll! Probably our worst game on tournament so far and still managed to beat Germany.
What a match... Not too nice, but intense. I got my first gray streak right in the front of the TV watching this game last night. ;D

It's all right what you said, we probably have the best defense and the worst attack and yet we push well and win  ;D ;D
I think in such tough and tense matches, the psychology and character of the players is much more important than some statistical indicators.
It seems to me that Cindric stated that he saw fear in the eyes of German players towards the end and that he was sure of victory then.

I will avoid betting on tomorrow's match Croatia vs. Czech Republic, cause for sure the coach (Lino Červar) will give the main players a rest, cause Croatia is qualified for the semi-final

But the match between Austria and Germany is the point of interest, I will wait for some good live odd to catch, we can see everything here  ;)

Wow, the game against Germany was one of the best ones I watched recently. Not from a technical standpoint, there were too many errors from both sides to count. It was just full of fight, passion and it was really dynamic. At one point, I just knew we will turn it around.

Now let's rest a bit and keep Duvnjak fit for the semis. His defending is out of this world.

Duvnjak's defending in the 5-1 defense reminds me of Timur Dibirov in the past. He is getting a couple of steals every now and then.
Austria - Germany tonight. After such a performance as VS Croatia, Germany should be able to cruise past Austria trying to secure 3rd place. I don't see how the Austrians can win this one, even if it's a derby. 

Today’s match against Czech Republic, with the B selection (almost), is the confirmation that Croatia is doing a great job here
Congratulations to the players ant the whole team

I will say it, Croatia will win this tournament

Good night.

I will say it too - no, we won't ;D

To be fair, Norway is playing a tremendous tournament. I think Spain is playing better than us as well. Whoever reaches the semifinals has a chance of winning of course, somehow I just feel both of these teams are on a higher level than us.
Fingers crossed we surprise them, but we will need to be at the top of our game throughout the whole 60 minutes to have a chance for that.

We can beat Spain tomorrow, they are the favorites looking at the odds on the bookies, I'll bet on Croatia with a positive handicap

Croatia - Spain
Asian Handicap 0-0 Croatia (2.5) @1.48

Another ticket will be placed tomorrow LIVE, (if) Spain will lead at the beginning of the match, the price on Croatia to win will jump over ~@3.50, than I'm placing the single on Cro to win  8)

I will fully ignore tomorrow's game. If we are smart enough, we will put our B team to play the full game. We have much more to hide than Spain because we have way less options in offence than they do. I would also really wish to keep Duvnjak at 100% before the semifinals.

Tomorrow's game is definitely a hard one to bet on - although both teams might want to avoid Norway.

Spain will also (probably) play with a B team, and all players from the B teams would like to be a part of the A team, so that's a chance to show the coach what they are capable of
It will be an intense match just as a match for the final, believe me

Could be, but they are rotating more than we are and their B team is much closer to their A team than ours is. We can still win, sure, it's just that I dislike betting on games in which I do not know who will play and what the actual goal is - winning or keeping freshness/hiding strategies.

I don't know about Spain, but i think that we will go for win and i expect all our best players to play. Maybe some of them won't play full minutes, but i don't expect anyone to rest completely..
I would certainly like to avoid Norway if possible, but it kinda hard to go for that as they are playing their game against Slovenia day later. Even though they already qualified for semi-final i think that they  will also go for win against Slovenia (who is underdog in this match, but has the quality needed to beat Norway)to secure 1st place  in order to avoid Spain ( who I believe would be tougher for Norway to beat than us).

Anyway, school example of game that should be avoided betting, imho.

Wow, Slovenia simply destroyed Portugal, after a lost first half (a point of difference)
Congrats to our neighbors
They could pass to the semi-final stage as well, let’s see how will end the Hungary vs. Sweden match

Definitely no betting on handball until semi-finals, there is too many calculations in the games and mixed motives. We could see some upsets and great performances from players which are not usually in the spotlight but there are no guarantees.

---

Edited day after. Now we know semi final pairs. It is Croatia-Norway and Slovenia-Spain. I have a feeling we have 3 very good teams and Norway which has been absolutely excellent until now. They won today even without using their best players. But Croatia can surly give them hell in that one most important game.

I’m confident on the Croatia’s winning against Norway, but will play a handicap +2.5 @1.74
I’s a good price, cause my hearth is telling me to play on Croatia on without the handicap, but, I have to stay on the ground  :D

Than there is another one interesting, but just for fun
A double
Slovenia and Croatia to win
The balkan Friday double strike  8)

I went with same handicap as you +2.5 for Croatia and Spain to win on my main ticket. Go CROATIA!!

On another one I put Croatia to win and over goals for following players:
Karacic +2,5 - If he is 100% ready this one is free money, and I would put my house on it but since he had an injury it will be just a part of low stake multiple
Cindric +3,5 - same as above
If Slovenia will have any chance below players will have to be good tonight.
Bombač +2,5 -If you have option to play over assists for Bombac that is free money but I couldn't find it
Janc +2,5
Dolenc +2,5
Maqueda +2,5 - he will take his share of shots, hopefully he will have decent percentage and this one should pass easily

Uuu good one
I’ve almost forgot the over goals by player
I will make some new tickets

And, watch the live odds, cause I have a “just for fun” on Cro, without the handicap, and, let’s say, Cro goes on some +2 goal difference, the live odds will make me a sure bet in that case  8)

Always a drama... up until the very last minute...

Croatia is in the finals! Congrats!

EDIT[20:12]: What did I tell you?  ;D

Drama is the second name for handball matches
We have experience  8)

Well, my main ticket was settled before the final drama

Congratulations Croatia!

This game just shortened my life a for a few years, it must be the sickest handball match i have ever watched, and I'm watching this sport for almost  30 years. Only Croatia vs Spain  back in Portugal  2003  when we won World Championship comes close. I wouldn't mind if this Euro Championship ends in the same manner  ;D

After bunch of extra times for a 29:28 win in a last few seconds. You can't see this shit in Hollywood films.

edit: video with the last 17 seconds of the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJTBBaZIIt8

Damn, what a game. We should build a statue for Duvnjak. I am a bit afraid how he will look in the final since he played whole game and 4 extra times today, we simply couldn't afford to rest him even a minute. Hopefully, adrenaline from playing in the final will be enough to carry him one more game.

Now it is time for beer and some snacks during other semi final match. This one was too intense for me to properly enjoy them :)

What a match! Fantastic! Probably the most exciting one I ever watched.

The final will be tough but we will play long attacks again - maybe we can find the strength to play. Hopefully we'll have Cindrić back.

Truly a great performance, although I cannot understand why did the Norwegians shoot 15 seconds before the end. They were under no pressure, they lost this one themselves.

Great match really!
All the time, I felt we were better and that we would win and finally we succeeded  :D
Our defense is fantastic, the best in Europe but just I worry about the attack.
For most of the match, Duvnjak seemed to be the only player who could score a goal and that was not good for Croatia.
I really hope someone else will help Duvnjak in final and that players will still have the strength to play on Sunday after such difficult match today.
Now the interesting question is who will be the opponent in the final. What do you think?

I would like Slovenia, cause you know they kicked our ass last time
But Spain is leading few goals... but you never know
Slovenia could turn that game and win at the end
I’ve just backed them with a little live bet  8)

We're not there yet, but it looks like a waste of money ... sorry.  :(
However, I prefer that we play against Spain in the finals. Croatia and Spain have the strongest defense when looking at the whole of the EHF EURO in my opinion. It' s gonna be interesting match.

Spain had 11 breakaway goals against Slovenia yesterday. If we manage to control our offensive play and focus on these long and dragged out attacks, I think we have a much higher chance of winning.

It is already a great result for us and we will be really tired going into the final, but somehow I feel we will win this one. We just need to drag the game into the mud, if we play an open game our chances are much smaller.

I think final between Croatia and Spain will be very interesting and completely different than matches yesterday.
Both teams have very good defense and I think that team with more inspired players in attack will win.
Until now Croatia had problems in this part because only Duvnjak was good in attack and other players didn't support him much.
If Croatia will have more inspired players in attack tomorrow than Spain have no chance.

Does anybody know the reason why odds for Germany to win keep rising whole day? It was 1,4 yesterday, then 1,5 this morning and now it is already 1,7. I am seeing Germany as clear favourites but these rising odds have put doubt in my mind.

In other game, I am picking Norway to win. Slovenia just looks a bit low on energy in the last few games and Norway always had quality on their side.

The rising or the dumping of the odds is always connected with the arbitrage, so it depends on how much money is olaced on each side
Than, there is the "faking" of the odds, to move away players from that betting pair

I understand the mechanics of odds changing. I was thinking, that there maybe was some interview where germans said that 5th place doesen't mean anything or maybe some injuries. Something that sparked people to bet against Germany and move the odds but I couldn't find anything.

Anyway I ignored that that and went against the herd which is always profitable. Germany to win @1,75 should be the value and I took it.

It's THE Day

European Championship - Winner
Croatia @2.55 (price boosted)

The other good price on the market is:
Spain - Croatia
Asian Handicap 0-0 Croatia (+1.5) @1.78

Good luck Cowboys!

https://media.giphy.com/media/cInU9eYv1iLn39EOaS/giphy.gif

I took that handicap since I am expecting a close game which will be decided in last minute. Therefore, this handicap should be good however it ends.

That was objective thinking for my main ticket, on my other one for lower stakes I went full patriotic and placed a bet on Croatia to win and couple of our players to score over the offered margin, and couple of Spanish players to go under :)

Can't wait for the match, I have a family lunch at 15:00 but i already informed everybody that I am leaving before 16:15 so I can watch the game at home in piece, without chatter.

I made another two “localpatriotic” tickets  8)

HT/FT - Spain/Croatia, than, Draw/Croatia

Now I’m chasing a good over goal margin for the players, our players of course  ;D

Only a few hours before the start of the grand finale between Croatia and Spain.
Croatia had a very difficult and exhausting match against Norway, while Spain had a much easier match with Slovenia.
Because of this, it seems to me that the Spanish players might be more rested and that this could be an advantage for them.
However, Croatian players have shown so far that they are real fighters and never give up.
It seems to me that the odds are 50/50.
What do you think?

I’ve watched the game against Slovenia, it wasn’t really so easy as the final result is showing
Both teams are on their condition limits, but it’s the final match, and both will gove 200% to win the gold medal

I agree for the 50/50 chance, the bookies are giving a false advatage to Spain, that’s why the handicap price on Cro is the one for my single bet today

Eyes open for sure bets on live  8)

Cheers

So in the end, Croatia lost against Spain 20:22. Spain won fair and square, nothing to complain here really, they were better, especially their goalkeeper Perez, even though it wouldn't be undeserved if we won either. That previous game  in semifinals against Norway simply cost us too much, we don't wide selection of players like Spain had. They even managed to spare some players in their against Slovenia from playing full 60 minutes, and it showed in this final.

All in all, since we didn't even expect medal before start of this Euro ( I think that no one really knew what we can do), getting silver will be seen as success. Too bad that we didn't secure Olympic Games  with this Euro silver, so we will have to play this summer tournament with France, Portugal and Egypt in order to qualify.
Since this was last game for Lino Cervar, this next period will be time of change. Next coach won't have an easy job to do, to replace some players and bring new. Hopefully Strlek will play again for our  national team as he was missed.

Spain could use more players during this competition and their main players could rest more.
Problem with Croatian national team is that we have 7 very good players but don't have good replacement for them.
In such competitions with a lot difficult matches in very short time,  it's always problem for our players, not just in this EURO but in all competitions before.
In every competition in the last 10 years our main players was to tired in the last and the most important matches.
Still,  it's great success for Croatia.

This was hard to take. It would have been my favorite gold medal, because it would have been won purely on heart and fight. I know it sounds like a cliche in sports nowadays, but this gold would have been a Rocky Balboa type of story. This silver feels like it too.

We were just a step too far from it, we missed Cindrić and did not get a break in the deciding moments. That goal that went in off of Šego, the post and then Šego again was the turning point in a really well played game. Then Karačić mnade a beginner's mistake and it was all over.

We had to play slow and boring because in an open game we would have lost by 5 goals, this is a great result but still hurts like hell.

i would like to thank the whole team, the silver medal, the second place is always a great achievment, but we still miss this gold medal... this time in two years, there will be another chance

(local story)
Is there a way to ban the term “silver medal with golden shine”
I’m simply going tilt when I hear or read this...

Only first is gold, and that’s it.

Spain win the title for the second consecutive time and they surely were the better but the match score 22–20 suggest that Croatia really were close to the winning but in the end the game ended in Spain's favor.

https://i.imgur.com/bv61TtU.png

Locking the thread since competition finished some time ago.