Bitcoin Forum

The 27th World Handball Championship starts on January 13, and this year it will be held in Egypt. Although everything in the world is affected by the pandemic, the matches will not be played without spectators - although it was originally planned that the capacity would be 30%, it was finally decided that the audience would be filled to a capacity of 20%.

Without underestimating anyone, at first glance I would single out some old favorites who should play the lead roles in this competition as well. From group A there are Germany and Hungary, and from groups B and C we should definitely single out Spain and Croatia who played a friendly match a few days ago in which Croatia won as host (31-28). Three days later, Spain also played a friendly match with Russia and also lost (26-28), so even though it is a preparatory match, it is possible that Spain has some problems given the number of goals conceded in those two matches.

The absolute favorite of Group D is of course Denmark, which lost a friendly match against Norway (34-36) yesterday, which brings us to a very interesting Group E with France and Norway. I have to admit that group F is quite unknown to me, while from groups G and H I would single out Sweden and Slovenia as possible favorites.

I hope for good handball and as few refereeing mistakes as possible - and let the best one win ;)

More info on link : https://www.handballegypt2021.com/

I have heard some rumors that due to the larger number of infected players, Sweden and the Czech Republic could give up this competition.
The IHF has already determined the list of reserve teams and the first on the line is Macedonia.
Given the crisis with Covid there is reportedly the possibility of a new draw and changing the entire skeleton of the competition.
It seems that the collapse of the competition and the cancellation of the arrival of the best players is also possible.
The decision to allow spectators to follow the matches directly is also very controversial.
The Croatian online portal Index wrote about this recently here: https://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/spu-u-rukometu-prijeti-totalni-debakl-hoce-li-ihf-spasiti-stvar-u-zadnji-trenutak/2245036.aspx (https://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/spu-u-rukometu-prijeti-totalni-debakl-hoce-li-ihf-spasiti-stvar-u-zadnji-trenutak/2245036.aspx)

Anyway, this is going to be a very controversial competition.

Nice thread :) Though I don't follow Handball in general very much, the WC/EC/Olympics are always nice to check out and by watching the games you get a good impression pretty fast and can find some good bets without being an expert.

Some bad news were already published in December, when some core pieces of the german NT cancelled their participation due to safety concerns. There were some discussions about it, since these players did play in Bundesliga/CL all the time and now all of sudden, they consider the WC with a quite good hygiene concept unsafe, but anyway.

The missing players will be Hendrik Pekeler, Patrick Wiencek, Steffen Weinhold (all THW Kiel) and Finn Lemke (MT Melsungen). This is a big blow for Germany, since the guys from Kiel have been the defensive heart and soul and it will be very hard to replace this well working block in the middle of the defense. So don't expect a lot from Germany, betting on overs could maybe be a good option.

Here are the outright odds taken from William Hill:

https://i.imgur.com/V2kv2H6.png
Source: https://sports.williamhill.com/betting/en-gb/handball

I am amazed that Norway and Sweden are so good in this sport, judging by the odds I see here in the table. what could that have to do with? it cannot be compared in total with the level of the countries in football.
Also nice to see that Egypt is also a decent team with handball. i thought it would be way to hot to play handball in that country  ;D

I do not see any official information that the Czech Republic or Sweden will not participate in this competition, data from the IHF from yesterday confirm their performance. In situations like this, it’s always good to have a backup option, as players can become positive on a daily basis.


I do not see how a smaller number of people who would respect all epidemiological measures would be a problem, but still the decision was made to play without spectators. (https://www.ihf.info/media-center/news/egypt-2021-world-championship-be-staged-without-spectators)

---

I find it ridiculous that someone refuses to play a competition like this because they are afraid of infection, but at the same time they play the domestic league and also the final four of the handball Champions League without any problems. Still, maybe this is an opportunity for some new players to show what they can do.

---

Then you are not at all familiar with handball, because this sport is very popular in these countries, as is the case with hockey, but of course football. Their leagues are certainly not as strong as the German or Spanish ones, but that is because their best players play in those leagues. At the last European Women's Handball Championship, Norway won first place which only shows that handball is a very important sport for them.

I think there are not much of handball fans in the forum while about 90% being soccer fans.Still diversity is good and a thread like this is needed.I learned about Scandinavian teams being the best in this competition,I knew about Ice hockey but didn’t knew about handball.

Egypt is a solid team but nothing more. Their big plus in this championship is home turf. There is usually the talk of referees favoring home teams in handball and Egypt is very physical team which can use that to the maximum. Since there will not be supporters in the stand maybe that influence will not be that big but I will still be vary careful before betting against them.

---

Croatia actually has very little injury problems this year and we should make good use of that. We are missing only Stepancic which seems very insignificant when we check absentees from teams like Germany or Sweden. Maybe we will even manage to do good against France now that they are without older Karabatic :)

I used to play handball when I was young and I remember the crazy amount of sweat we produced for every game (in a closed environment). How will they make sure that these guys will play under safe conditions? Who knows!
Anyway, I did not know Denmark was that good at it.

It is a pity of course that the Russian athletes have to play under the flag of FGR (Russian Handball Federation) instead of the state tricolor, but I think it should not affect the game itself and they will show their best side as always.

I think at least Russian handball players will come out of their group winners.

So I placed my first bet today on handball. I know nothing about this sport, but it does look really athletic, exciting, and I know for sure my arms couldn't last 10 minutes at the kind of speed and strength they play. I have severe multiple dislocation, exhausted socket... and it's from football, if you believe.

Nevertheless. Russia look like a really good pick, I got it at about 3.6x boosted odds... and Trofo says Iceland are a better team than Portugal but again I go for form, so a Russia-Portugal parlay to kick this off at almost 6/1.

If I bum out, I'll start following some of you, maybe. As if I don't throw away enough money on sports =p

Same here mate. I don't really know what Handball is until now then I've searched it on Youtube and watched some highlights and it was pretty fun to watch. I see it waaaay better and enjoyable than football (if you would play it as well). Also, it reminds me of some childhood room basketball with relatives where you pitch the ball on a box. I guess this would be part of sports I would be searching, watching, and betting on. I just hope that there would also prediction threads for the upcoming handball games in this championship.  ;D

As I predicted earlier (and it was expected) the Czech Republic has officially given up the competition and will be replaced by Macedonia, the first reserve.
It's official new now: https://www.ihf.info/competitions/men/308/27th-ihf-mens-world-championship-2021/22415/news/25989 (https://www.ihf.info/competitions/men/308/27th-ihf-mens-world-championship-2021/22415/news/25989)

I just went to see the groups and saw that Cape Verde is playing in the tournament? ;D ;D

I really dislike what they are doing with handball, they are killing the sport. 32 teams, half of them will be losing by double figures. 3 new teams (Uruguay, Cape Verde and DR Congo) combined would probably lose to a club I played for 20 years ago.

The US (https://www.ihf.info/competitions/men/308/27th-ihf-mens-world-championship-2021/22415/news/25999) is out as well after reporting 18 Covid cases and will be replaced by Switzerland. Cape Verde (https://expressodasilhas.cv/desporto/2021/01/11/mundial-de-andebol-surto-de-covid-19-atinge-seleccao-cabo-verdiana-de-andebol/72901) is battling some outbreak also, but so far it looks like they are going to play, though they are still in Portugal as of now. They will play Hungary on Friday, HC-14.5 looks like a good bet under these circumstances. Brazil was reporting cases too, but mostly staff.

This is already a big mess before the start ;D Probably not about the strongest team, but who has the fewest problems with this virus.

Yeah it seems a bit crazy too include all these tiny countries. But we shouldn't forget that handball needs more followers too. It could be a good way to include more countries and people from all around the world. In the end it only means that the group stage becomes more predictable and less exciting games. But the quarter and semi finals should be very exciting games. It also means less of the good teams will be knocked out on the group stage.

The whole format is wrong. There are 4 teams per group (8 groups) in the first stage, top 3 teams go through to the next round. Then they form 4 groups containing 6 teams each, meaning that a team like Angola, Uruguay or Bahrein will be forced to play a minimum of 6 games against strong opposition. If a team like that loses 5 games, each of them by 15 goals difference, I'm not really sure it will bring more followers in these countries.

Problem with handball is that big differences in quality can't be hidden by playing defense and counter attacking like in football. Any of the top teams can just decide to play serious defense for 20 minutes and make +15 goal difference in that time. Or treat the game as training and let the guys have fun. It is unfortunate that this expansion of teams coincided with covid outbreak. I can already see some top team getting kicked from competition because half of their team got covid in one of those less important matches.

This year, teams can bring 20 (instead of usual 16) players and if they can't field 10 healthy players for any game they are out of competition.

It might be best if the competition was postponed, but then the question arises as to when the games would be played later because the schedule of domestic leagues and handball Champions League would have to change - or maybe it could be played after the end of the season as is the case with football?

---

Look at it from the angle of those countries that would not otherwise have a chance to play competitions like this - which may mean that some of them will invest more in handball at the national level to be more competitive in the future in competitions like this. Probably that's the purpose of this format, although some will certainly not be happy to watch such matches. Personally, I don't mind that, there is always an outsider who surprises everyone and plays above all expectations.

---

As for the match that opens the competition, we have one interesting thing. Both national teams (Egypt & Chile) have Spanish coaches - The Egyptians have a well-known Roberto Garcia Parrondo (win EHF Men’s Champions League in 2019 with Vardar), and on the other side for Chile is Mateo Garralda.

Yes, this competition should have been postponed! Look at the mess that is happening: Egypt has already a lot of troubles going on in the country and I think the least they can do now is to make sure that an handball competition will be covid risk-free.
Would you do that as a professional player? I personally would not go there and risk my life (and career) to have some fun.  ;)

Probably yes, maybe it sounds a bit harsh but professional players are actually one of the safest groups of people. They are all in best years of their life and in top form plus they have all possible medical care they could wish for. Covid is just another thing that can happen, same as injury or traffic accident. We are taking risks everyday and that falls under acceptable risk in my book. I would follow all possible precautions and enjoy opportunity to play in big competition.

Life is about living it and not letting it go by. You have a limited number of World cups in your body as professional athlete and I for one would take my opportunity to leave my mark in all of them. But I also played football with busted knee for 2 years before going on surgery so maybe I am bit crazy that way :)

So far this championship looks like a joke. USA and Czech Republic being forced to withdraw from competition just few days before start of it. They will be replaced by Switzerland and North Macedonia, but they will have to play without any preparation basically.
Also, whole qualification to the tournament in Europe was cancelled in late phase of it and they simply send teams according to results of last European championship, what isn't fair IMO.
I don't have much knowledge about handball level outside Europe, but I imagine that for some African and Asian teams it will be difficult to compete and we may see some big scores.
Same like every major sports competition, players and staff will be tested almost every day, they will live isolated in hotel, conditions are similar to NBA bubble, so conditions is really safe. I read somewhere that tournament will be not only without spectators, but also without journalists.

First serious day of Championship today and nobody posting any picks, makes me sad  :(
I wanted to copy some good ideas and now you made me make my own so here it goes:

Belarus - Russia over 53,5 @1,75, my top pick today and I believe this should be an easy over game, odds on over are dropping all day and now you even have a problem getting 53,5 and maybe have to go for 54,5 but that should still pass. Both teams are playing quite fast and this over passed in the last 5/6 games between this sides.

Austria to not lose @1.8, They are better team for me and I am surprised they are not favorites here

France +3.5 @1.5, I am getting that Norway are favorits here and maybe even rightly so but 3.5 handicap against France is something we don't see very often and I have to take it.

Small stakes for first few days until I see how the teams actually perform.

The first half ended with as many as 30 goals (15-15), so this could pass very easily. By the way, I earned the most money on sports betting on the total number of goals in handball or the number of points in basketball. It's a pity that I don't have a little more time for some better analyzes, but the championship has just started, so maybe I'll make a few bets.


I believe that this is no longer the old France that was the absolute ruler of world handball, but until I see them in action, it is difficult to predict anything. They played the last two games with Serbia and lost the first game (in Serbia), and played a draw in France.

https://ehfeuro.eurohandball.com/men/2022/participating-teams/details/VDAxs4FiPA_D5jnphT7lmA/france/

You have a point regarding France but they are always much more dangerous when it matters and their defense is unbreakable when it clicks. I am actually gonna reinvest profits from first game (over on Russia game, that one was free money) into Norway win. Perfect result for me is Norway win with 2 goals difference and that seems very likely to me.

Bold part is important here and that is why I said small stakes first few days until we have time to judge the teams. Big money bets for me start after the first group stage.

By now Cape Verde has travelled to Egypt without 6 players and 4 staff members, amongst them their coach, according to local news site (https://expressodasilhas.cv/desporto/2021/01/13/cabo-verde-viaja-para-egipto-desfalcada-de-seis-jogadores-e-treinador-principal/72923). The HC for Hungary went up to 17.5 and I am thinking about placing a bet on Cape Verde actually, because missing 6 players is probably not that much of a deal, if it isn't their best players. Unfortunately no names were mentioned, if someone has them available, please post.

We have 4 portuguese-speaking teams in Egypt, so Handball is on the rise in these countries and the majority of players from Cape Verde do actually play in some bigger leagues, so I doubt they are just cannon fodder:


Missing all these players/staff could actually result in being even more motivated and glue this team together as a unit. We have seen it before, what this can do to the team spirit and also what it probably does to the opponent, like "they are missing 6 players, we will win this easily with minimal effort".
But if it's 6 top players missing for CV, then I would probably skip it......

Are you actually saying that you know who are top 6 Cape Verde players :) If that is true than I have to collect much more research and knowledge before changing tips with you on sort of equal basis.

I don't like the games today very much, all favorites will stomp the opposition it is just a question of handicap. I am playing just 2 games:
Croatia -6.5 @1.6, this should be a safe bet, we covered that handicap every time we played against Japan so I am expecting the same here. Over should be a good bet as well since we usually opted to overshoot Japan instead of trying to stop them with defense.

Angola +7.5 @1.55, Angola actually has favorable H2H with Qatar but this is not the same Qatar side. Qatar has a lot of foreigners playing for them. Yes that is allowed in Handball so they are big favorites here but I expect Angola to cover this handicap. This is just for beer money since I have no clue about real strength of Angola team.

Well, you can just check who are these players playing in Spain, France, Germany and Romania - they should be the stars ;D And the team page actually lists the key players and surprise surprise, it's five of the six players playing in these countries:


Semedo plays at León, currently #4 in Liga Asobal. Pina in La Rioja, even #3. I was looking for that Santos guy, because the website says he plays in Germany, but couldn't find him in the roster of Bergischer HC. Turns out he plays only for their second team :D

I think it's better to skip this, there are probably better things to bet on today ::) I will follow the game though and come here bragging, if CV manages to beat the HC, lol.

Professional players are well-dedicated and they're willing to take the risk just to raise their flags and represent their countries.
It's just so sad that some players couldn't make it because of being infected by the virus but so far, most teams are doing great and they're all well-motivated. It has been a close match for France and Norway but I guess it wouldn't be a year for France again.

And already at the beginning of this competition, the first big surprise happened. Japan played 29:29 with one of the big favorites of the competition, Croatia.
Croatian players always seem to have the problem of underestimating weaker teams and a more relaxed approach to the match.
I hope the players will forget this match as soon as possible and play much more seriously remaining matches in the group.
I believe that very few people bet on this result and that the gains were great.

Not the only one. Spain played same 29-29 vs. Brazil but granted ours was a bigger disappointment, not even gonna comment on that game since the post would anyway get deleted due to language used :)

---

After tough showing from some favorites yesterday I am on underdogs side this time:
Switzerland +9.5 @1.51, This margin is quite big and I expect them to cover it, if Norway has big lead hopefully they will opt to rest some of the best players as well
Austria +11.5 @1.48, same as above and the margin is even bigger which makes this one even safer for me.

I am playing those 2 as a double for high stake. Never in the recent history in their H2H were this handicaps even close to being fulfilled. Hopefully they will not be today. I also have those two games as a smaller handicaps (Swiss +7,5, Austria+9,5) on my multi x5 tickets. Odds are much better around 1.8 per game and they should still come.

I must admit that Japan pleasantly surprised me with their game, although the final result is the result of incredible oscillations in the game of Croatia (which was pointed out by their coach before the competition) which at some points was somewhere else, not on the field. With an incredible amount of misses, the Japanese goalkeeper had his day with several Japanese players who were a real enigma for the Croatian defense.

Japanese coach Dagur Sigurðsson (Iceland) has well thought out tactics and brought his team to Egypt even 10 days before the start of the competition and played 2 friendly matches with the host Egypt and lost both times (33-25&34-29)

Good thing there is handball around, football kicked my ass today but I managed to end the day in small profit thanks to those 2 picks I posted above.

https://i.imgur.com/rjcR855.png

Did not check the markets and margins for tomorrow yet but I am again eyeing some handicaps on underdogs. Seems like the way to go in this competition, at least for now. Over market has also been a very good bet so far.

I think this is the way to go in general in a lot of sports. The smaller/weaker nations catch up very fast, while there is not that much room for improvement for the big nations. This is something I also observed in football in the various WC/EC qualifying competitions. Not only in Europe (well for EC obviously^^), but also in Asia, where football dwarfs nowadays are able to handle themselves very well against good opposition and can keep the scoreline close-ish often times despite huge HC's.

---

I wanted to recommend a bet here today, but totally forgot about the (early) starting time and while I was writing my post, the game had already started ;D I then jumped in live myself, but abandoned my post:

https://i.imgur.com/w3wjzyy.png

Pre-match the line was even 70.5, which was insane imo and just inflated by the previous result from SK (80 goals in match against Slovenia, pre-match line o/u 58). Belarus had a high-scoring affair against Russia in their first match as well, but this was an outlier as well, the pre-match line was 54.5.

Then I had my eyes on Russia - only the HC - but didn't have the guts and in the end they even won as 8+ underdog :o Looks like there is at least one big upset per day, so who will it be tomorrow ? Maybe Poland can do something against Spain or Bahrain will beat Argentina.

I'm observing mostly so far, waiting to get a clearer picture before placing some bigger bets.

It's been a really weird competition so far, I agree that over margins and handicaps on outsiders seem like the way to go for now. We are playing Angola today, handicap is 10,5 - the way we played against Japan makes me want to take this.

I am skipping it. We always have what I call "Croatia effect" when our team is playing. If we go high and mighty like before first game when everybody was talking about medals and nobody mentioned Japan we disappoint. When it is opposite and we start shitting on our team, they usually pool their strength and kick somebody ass. I feel like this will be total destruction of Angola or another game where we will be afraid for the points until the end. Maybe I will play something live later on.

I have actually seen this and thought it is not possible that they are offering such big margin. Must be something I don't know about the game so I skipped betting on it. It was so overblown that I was sure I am missing something.

---

Don't like the markets today, all handicaps seem on point today so I am taking just Qatar to win against Japan. Japan was loosing all the games before Croatia and I think that it was a case of Croatia playing bad and not Japan playing good. Qatar is also nothing special so small stake for me and time for football and eSports to carry me today.

Probably because not many people follow the handball here on bitcointalk. I have seen this first thread dedicated to handball in this section.
Can you tell me where are you betting on these matches ?

I agree in general, but we are just so bad. Our handball is pre - historic, I really feel this team will struggle with everybody during the tournament.

We are among the favorites, I'm aware - we always are. And I somehow feel we'll drag ourselves to a position from which we will fight for a medal again. But it has to be said - we are poor, and we have been for years already.

It seems that this is part of the Croatian mentality, that they always play less motivated against weaker teams and give 100% only against the strongest teams.
However, there are no weak teams in this championship and you need to have a serious approach in every game, which Croatian players have probably realized now.
Another big surprise happened at the World Cup, Russia beat Slovenia 31:25 which is just a confirmation of how unpredictable and uncertain this competition is.

Despite my earlier words of the smaller teams catching up, I am going with Denmark -17.5 today. They already comfortably beat the HC against Bahrain with 34-20 and well, DRC is one of the poorest teams in this WC. Although they have one big fella I'm a bit scared of.....

https://i.imgur.com/8ZqfAk5.png
Source: https://img.olympicchannel.com/images/image/private/t_16-9_760/f_auto/v1538355600/primary/r9cwdayimyka9zazmuvu

.....Gauthier Mvumbi, 192cm, 110kg, looks a bit more kg's, if you ask me. He could play in NFL with that frame :o Or Darts ;D

Apart from Jakobsen, Denmark has all players available, so no worries on that end. DRC had a very good first half against Argentina, which they even won, so I was looking for a second half HC on Denmark, but didn't find one. Normally these small teams fade a little bit more towards the end of the game, because they are just gassed and not used to play on a high and fast level for 60 minutes. This could happen here as well, so I will probably add a smaller HC inplay at HT, if available.

Didn't notice the topic personally until now although it was created a week ago. I will not bet on it, I will just follow few games whenever I have free time. New young players in different teams made me a little sceptic.
Today I watched Brazil vs Tunisia which was leading with 4 goals difference but couldn't manage to keep that gap and the game end with a draw. At the last minute there was a controversial goal? for Tunisia but was cancelled.

There was some interesting games today between Brazil - Tunisia and Poland - Spain, but it's sad to see games in World Championship ending with 20+ goal difference.
Cape Verde - Germany game was cancelled and Germany was awarded with a win. Cape Verde simply didn't had enough players because of Covid.
Damn, he definitely doesn't looks like 110kg guy, it should be 130-140kg at least :D. It should be very difficult to defend him, when you need at least 2 players to stop him.
He reminds me one former player of our national team. According to different sources, his weight is between 160 and 180kg:
https://youtu.be/pu6ykR4gvjs

What a player, he really looks scary, and it seems that everyone gets out of his way when he is ready to send the ball towards the goal ;D

---

Unless it is some kind of tactic of keeping strength or deceiving the opponent in the further course of the competition. At first glance, it really seems that they lack motivation, but also that they are not sufficiently prepared.

---

Unfortunately, the national team of Cape Verde no longer participates in the competition, all their matches will be registered in favor of the opponent 10-0.

Final day of first groups, time to wrap it up. Some bets I am looking for today:
Japan to win, probably with handicap - I am still looking for some info on Angola squad, I believe they lost at least one very important player against Croatia and looking for some confirmations before betting. Japan looked good and should win this without much problems.

Croatia - Qatar over 49.5 - This could be a tight game but somebody will also have to chase a result and I believe 50 goals is not too high number. Qatar is getting back Youssef Ben Ali, very good pivot and among top scorers in their squad which should help push this bet in the green. I am also looking for Halil Jaganjac over goals but I have not yet found a bookie offering this. Margin should be very low since he did not play much yet and I believe he will score a couple of goals today.

Agreed on this, I said many times that we are bad but this margin is really low for handball nowadays. It is a really important game, so if one team gets a few goals difference, the other will want to chase for sure.

I think I will play on Japan as well, from what I've seen, they are a much better team. They might struggle physically though, so maybe over goals seems like a good bet as well.

I went with Poland @2.75 today, because I feel this should be more of a 50/50 affair judging by the results so far. Both had Spain on the brink of defeat; Brazil managed to come away with a draw, while Poland lost 26-27. Brazil then struggled a bit against Tunisia as 1.40-fav. The glory days of polish handball are a bit behind them, but they are building up a new team and are still able to field a strong squad.
In the unlikely event of Tunisia beating Spain earlier in the day, it would be best for Poland to draw, because that would eliminate Spain (and thus make Poland carry more points into next round), but I doubt they calculate that far and playing for a draw in Handball isn't that easy ;D

This is also a good bet but I have opted for more safe Poland +1.5 @1.85. All games in this group are very tight and I have a feeling this will be another one which gets decided in the last attack. I watched Poland against Spain and they were quite good, did not watch Brazil yet though and that is the reason why I am a bit more cautious.

I am also considering throwing something on a draw but the odds of @8.6 are too low for me, will probably wait until one team gets 2 goals advantage and then play it live if odds get to something like 11 or 12. This game screams draw as much as it is possible to count on draw in handball.

I expect Japan to win, I watched a part of their game vs Croatia and they did quite well comparing to what we used to know about them.
I find group B interesting and followed it. Today Spain will face Tunisia which will be a tight one especially that Tunisian are looking for at least a single win, yet I expect Spain to win. Poland vs Brazil is also hard imo. The final results of their games are very close too. I expect a draw. Wouldn't bet in this group since the final result could flip in few seconds.
For Qatar - Croatia, I doubt they will score less than 50 goals.

I have 2 games or today which I feel should be easy money but I don't advise you to follow. I have made way too big bet on that double so I am expecting it to go wrong as usually those things have a tendency to do so :)

Switzerland +4.5 @1.41, I have watched the Swiss side and they impressed me a lot against France. Island is much weaker team than France and I can see Swiss team even getting a draw or win here.

Russia +4.5 @1.46, Russia is also playing good handball and if Egypt were not the home team I would expect much closer odds. As it is Egypt will probably get the win in the last minute or something like that but that is enough for my bet to pas.

Didn't followed Swiss nor Iceland games so I have no idea but Egypt is a good team and regarding its game vs Sweden where it did well, I think it has a chance to win vs Russia.
Nice to find your prediction worked with Japan and Qatar - Croatia  ;)
Dunno if you followed group B games, Poland was impressive, the first half was intense vs Brazil with no goals scored in the first ~3 minutes. At the opposite Spain - Tunisia game was disappointing where they failed to tie even with 2 Spanish players out for 2 minutes at the same time..
There is Sweden (x1.4) - Belarus also with Sweden/Sweden @1.78 /looks good imo?

Tough one :P, although they were never "in the range" from the latter stages of 1st half on.

---

I am going with Spain TT over 29.5 today. This will be the first real test for the germans and their decimated and newly put together defense. Hungary scored 29 against them and one would expect Spain to be able to score the same and a bit more. It always depends a bit on the pace of the game, but Germany will most likely trail most of the time, so slowing down the game might not always be possible. In their last 3 H2H games, Spain scored 31/30/33, so this bet won't be a walk in the park, but I don't trust the german defense with missing the Kiel block.

Thought about adding Denmark ML to juice up the odds a bit, but something tells me that would be a bad idea ;D

^That loss yesterday hit me hard so I am much more careful with my Handball bets today.

Don't know about the Spain over, seems to me the games got much tighter and unders started popping all over the place. Good luck with the bet. I have some money riding on over 50.5 goals in Denmark game. I am expecting Danish to play seriously like they usually do and score a lot of goals even if they are leading.

Hungary is actually the team that impressed me most in this competition. They are playing great and I am planing on playing on them against all the big opponents. At least handicaps if not outright wins.

I just watched last 5 minutes of Angola game, never seen a team lose in such stupid fashion. First they manage to miss the penalty 2 minutes from the end. Then they are having last attack and score is even, about 50 seconds till the end. What they do - they give the ball from bad pass to the opponent with 30 seconds to spare and immediately concede the goal from counter attack. Now they are loosing but still have time for quick equalizer and of course pivot mises one-on-one with the keeper. Laughed my ass off.

Edit:
Don't know if you knew guys but there is free live streaming of all games available on official IHF youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNxIzSQ_GOWPmpC_V1oQVIA?fbclid=IwAR2JeYOxgsyzU9DFUAjZ1d37l4U3AhYnny9e1EfzqUYZLJQmD5C1YmG0YNs) channel, give it a try if you miss a coverage for some game. If you don't see the live streams use VPN since it is working only in areas without paid TV coverage. The basic VPN which comes with Opera is more than enough :)

Good choice, passed easier than I expected. There was a few fast plays from Spain after conceding goals which was something I thought Germany would not allow and helped your choice to pass comfortably.

---

Lots of interesting games today, not sure yet which one to take, too much choice. Following odds are from my fiat bookie since they are much better than what I managed to find in BTC accepting ones:

Egypt to win @1.45, Egypt showed a lot of good handball in the competion and I expect them to win against Belarus without big problems. Some small handicap on them is also a good bet

Slovenia to win @1.75, Sweden has not impressed me and that is expected since they have a lot of important players missing. Odds have big value and I am taking either straight win or 1x @1.50

Switzerland +4.5 @1.65, They covered every handicap I took on them so far and I simply must continue backing them. Did not see Portugal play yet so I am bit afraid how good are they actually.

France to win @1.3, France is much better than Island and this should be a slam dunk, considering a handicap on France as well

I will join you on the Switzerland train, with HC+3.5 and a little bit of ML @4.50. I don't know what makes the swiss team so good, but they are doing fantastic so far considering they come out of holidays basically. They give me some Football EC 1992 Denmark vibes ;D

Cross-comparisons are always a bit meh, but here we go:

Switzerland - Iceland 20-18
Portugal - Iceland 25-23

Switzerland - Norway 25-31
Portugal - Norway 28-29

So the ML and HC look about right on paper, but this will be a low scoring game, so +3.5 has some more value than in an expected high scoring one.

---

Germany played very good and yes, it was probably a bit lucky to win that one comfortably-looking in the end, but I have had it the other way round gazillion of times as well, thats just betting ;D Germany is practically out of the tournament now, but they will still give 100% as they always do. I was hoping for some good odds against Brazil, but it's just 1.18, with the HC sitting at 5.5 :P

This was a tough one to swallow, better for you if you did not watch last few minutes of the game. This was a very strange match, as you said I expected much tighter game but Portuguese scored goals whenever they liked it. Swiss attack did well to keep it competitive until the end but their defense took a day off today.

I would try betting on few of these matches provided anyone would tell me where can i place bets on these matches  ::)
Although i don't have enough knowledge about the teams but sometimes wild guesses can also make you win. Although i have started liking the game.

Egypt and France looks really solid and I think one of this team will be in the finals as personally I can't see this not happening. Denmark and Hungary plays good aswell but Hungary doesn't have players for the finals and Denmark will have a hard time to keep the pace with the France if they will face each other. The surprise of all this could be Norway who is scoring a lot!

I think you can bet on these matches in every sports bookie out there. I can recommend Sportsbet and Stake as two choices which are solid and I trust them with my money. Both have topics here on the forum. They have all the markets expect for player over/under but if you are new to sport it is better that you skip that one. I am not even shearing those tips since they are a total gamble and I usually end up loosing them.

Great day for me yesterday, everything passed (took Slovenia 1x and they scored in last seconds of the match for the draw) even though 3/4 my choices were much closer than I expected. Only Egypt played to the fullest of my expectations :)

I also had a great day yesterday, playing only Norway team total over 33,5 for 1,85 odds and then live again over 35,5 goals for 2,20 odds. They scored 36, last one in the last minute ;D

4,5 handicap on Argentina against Croatia looks good today, I think I'll try that one. Croatia really does not impress me, although we'll reach the quarterfinals if we win tonight.

Even a medal for us would not surprise me, we always find enough muscle to somehow fight for them. But our handball is bad and I'm fairly confident in placing those handicap bets on the opponents.

Agree on handicap against Croatia, I have +5.5 on Argetnina for high stake which should be free money in low scoring game and I really expect a game dominated by defenses. There is also some news about some stomach flu or whatever among our players with Duvnjak hit bad. If he gets rested a bit more than this handi simply must pass :)

My other bet is on Quatar to win but odds dropped a lot. I played it @1.3 yesterday, today it is just 1.19 which is just to low to play.

Yep, looked quite good, but Switzerland probably has some betting people in their squad and they all had Portugal -3.5 ;D

---

I am going with my polish friends again today with two bets, although Hungary got some praise in here lately^^ Normally Hungary should and will win this, but nearly @5 for Poland is too high. The HC is only +2.5/-2.5 and I don't see a lot of value there, but ML is worth a try with smallish stakes.
This is a must win for Poland and they could find themselves in a very comfortable position before their last match against Germany, because Spain and Hungary will meet in last round and that one is played before the Poland - Germany match.
Some bucks on the over 25.5 TT as well. This will be a hard fought one and Poland scored only 30 against Uruguay (GER/HUN scored 40+ against them), but they took it easy I guess against an overwhelmed opponent. 

Today it was confirmed that all players will be ready to play, especially Duvnjak and Martinovic who were the hardest hit by the stomach flu. This is a match in which Croatia can solve everything and calmly welcome the match with Denmark, and the pressure is likely to be very high - but I think their form is rising from game to game. I'm not sure what to expect from the game in terms of results, but for me personally all three outcomes are possible for Croatia - they can win with a 5+ difference, but I would not be surprised if they play a draw or lose with a minimal difference.

They will play but I am quite sure that Duvnjak needs some rest and we should take the opportunity to do so if the results permits. As you said this is very important match and we have to win to secure next phase of competition. We can't count on points against Denmark.

---

I agree that @5 for Poland is too high and worth putting something on but I also said that I will bet on Hungary till the end of the competition since they really impressed me. Their keeper is world class and their attack is scoring easy goals but I expected bigger odds on them. Skipping it for tonight. Handicap on Argentina is enough plus some football.

Oh come on, I had Spain team total over 40,5, they scored 24 in the first half. They scored 34 goals in 45 minutes and were then 8 minutes without a goal, missing a penalty, 2 fast breaks and receiving multiple suspensions during that period.

They ended with 38, scoring only 4 in the last 15 minutes. Against Uruguay, unbelievable.

That is really unlucky. Hope you didn't lose too much.

 So far I didn't bet on any matches yet and just keep watching for now. Maybe I bet a little on Germany vs Brazil for tonight, should be a save win with a small profit.

What a start from Croatia, we managed to score one goal in first 14 minutes of the match. Looking very sad for our medal aspirations but very good for my handicap :) Good way to manage the disappointment. I expected out attack to have problems but not this severe.

Croatia 's match with Argentina is one of the worst matches Croatia has ever played.
At times they looked like rookies, with no idea in attack and like they were playing defenseless.
After the match, Coach Cervar was supposed to calm the situation and encourage the team for the decisive match with Denmark.
Instead, he resigned and brought additional chaos and turmoil to the team.
This looks very bad and I'm afraid that as early as tomorrow, Croatian could be out of the tournament.

Croatia should beat Denmark, and Argentina should lose to Qatar - the chances for that are really minimal considering how Croatia played last night. This will surely remain in history as one of the strangest games for Croatia, and the defeat would have been even greater if it were not for the great defenses of our goalkeeper, and the only player who practically scored all the goals in the first half.

Croatian media say that former national team player Niksa Kaleb best described the situation after the game by stating :

Not really minimal, I'd say we have a solid chance. Denmark played without Hansen against Japan and struggled a bit, they will probably rest the team heavily against us because they have the top spot no matter what.

Argentina-Qatar will be a tough one to predict but the latest H2H goes in Qatar's favor and they are not a bad team - it will be physical and probably really close until the end.

Regarding Kaleb's statement, I heard it yesterday and laughed my ass off. He's a funny guy, was always one of my favorites.

Watching France vs. Portugal now. Can't pin down French performances in this competition. They played really bad against some week teams but also won against Norway and now they are destroying Portugal. Can't believe it is just the case of serious approach towards opponents. Good thing I stopped betting on their games, you just can't know what sort of performance will the French have.

I bet on France yesterday, first at 2.35 odds and a minute before the match began at 2.55. I expected a much closer game but France can be such a heavy outsider only against Denmark.

They have upped their game significantly, I think it's between them and Denmark for the gold. That said, I think I'll make a cheeky bid on Croatia today - Denmark will be playing with reserves.

Well, I'm just reading how the Danish national team was hit by the same stomach virus that appeared in the Croatian team, so today they could almost certainly play without their biggest star Mikkel Hansen, but also some other important players.


Interestingly, Qatar is also still in the game for second place if they beat Argentina and Croatia loses to Denmark, so they will certainly have a motive to play the best game possible.


Well, as a commentator of the match, he repeated countless times that it is not clear to him why no one commits fouls in defense - while on the other hand the Argentines played very dirty handball, which resulted in a lot of exclusions and a red card for one of their players. The man just told the truth, because watching a game like that was really frustrating - I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up on the field and showed the players how to play defense :)

Yes, Mikkel Hansen (and Johan Hansen) already missed the game against Japan. Hald and Gidsel got sick yesterday and stayed in hotel, while 3 others players are feeling unwell. Otoh Denmark got Emil Jakobsen back and he didn't fail to disappoint, scoring 12 goals in his debut at this WC. I wouldn't jump on Croatia right away though, but wait for the result from Argentina game. I do think they want to restore their pride and we will see a different showing today, but if they are out already before the game, a lot of motivation might be gone despite the pride factor.

-

I remember the german team doc getting asked what he fears most from a medical point of view. And he said gastrointestinal illness, because it's so common for foreigners travelling there and could put your tournament success in jeopardy easily. Because of this, all german players started a perenterol treatment 10 days before flying to Egypt.

I am jumping on Croatia immediately and playing it as double with Qatar :) That will be for smaller stake and then later on I will probably add more if Croatia has something to play for and odds don't drop too much.

I expect Denmark to play without many first players and others will also probably look o save some strength. This could be our chance to get back in the competition and then get destroyed in the next match.

I just saw Argentina portrayed as a heavy outsider, with odds placed at 3+. No matter what I said yesterday, I simply cannot miss odds like these in a game in which I feel 2-3 balls will decide the winner.

I also agree with tyKiwanuka, I won't be placing any bets on Croatia-Denmark game before I see the outcome of this one. I think we can beat Denmark if we need to, if we don't, I expect us to lose by 10 goals difference - even against their reserve team.

Argentina definitely played well and If there are decent odds it could be a great way to hedge our big bets. But after all these games so far you have to give it to Spain. They are just such a strong team and play great handball. Unfortunately the payoff is so small when betting on Spain.

Those odds are spot on for me. I hoped for even bigger odds on Argentina and possibility to play +3.5 handicap on them. The game will be low scoring one and decided on couple of balls. When you look H2H you can see that Qatar had much more success in the past and when push comes to shove that will give them a bit of confidence needed to win.

As I said low scoring game for sure but bookies know this and goals line has been put at 48.5 which is really risky. Wanted to play this game for high stake but margins and odds are too well placed for me to find any value.

What a drama in the match between Qatar and Argentina!
Croatian fans must have followed this match with great nervousness and fear  ;D
Argentina did better for most of the match and had a scoring advantage but in the end Qatar won 26:25.
Great news for Croatian team!
Now Croatia just needs to beat Denmark  ;D
A large number of Danish players have been poisoned by food and have intestinal problems, so maybe this fact will help Croatia.

Argentina was simply awful in the last 10 minutes ;D

I had a decent bet on them, watched it and they really have only themselves to blame. Silly closings to both the 1st half and the end of the game cost them the quarterfinals. They didn't last 5 seconds in attack without making some kind of technical error.

2.30 on Croatia looks like a gift from the bookies, I'm sure they know something we do not. I'll still bite, looks too good to be true.

It is not 2.30 any more it has already fallen to under 1.6. Called all the games perfectly so far, now waiting just for Croatia to cash out big. I am already in the green but Croatian victory with Karacic scoring at least 2 goals and Maric scoring at least 4 goals would be a cherry on the top :)

At first I always thought this was a very boring sport. After looking at some images, I have to come back to this opinion. It is also very intensive. In terms of donation you have to be much better than playing football. No idea who is the favorite.

Without following each team and knowing its players one by one, telling who will win is very hard especially that some teams we used to know have changed its players and so on. Personally, I was surprised a bit to find Croatia losing with such big difference..

Wow, we were so bad yesterday. I still can't believe we lost by 12 goals against Denmark C. At one point I had a feeling they would win if they brought coaches and physios on the court instead of the players.

Luckily I know our marvellous mentality so I bet heavily on handicap markets when it all started going to hell so I managed to earn some money even if all my initial bets were on Croatia to win.

This was really bad and as I said to you in telegram at one point after about 10 minutes in second half, if it were available I would give a try for market Croatia not to score until end of the match :) I have never seen one of the top squads so toothless in the attack. We played this like some of those countries without professional handball players, same ones we were complaining they have no place to be in World Championship.

@tyKiwanuka
Have you watched Germany yesterday? I expected over in that game vs. Poland and they played a very low under. Usually when teams have nothing to play for they give them selves extra leave in attack on the expanse of defense.

I watched a bit and the result and the fierceness of both teams didn't surprise me tbh, because....

a) There is some rivalry in handball, but also in general between these two countries, because they are neighbouring states. This is probably more valid for the polish side, but still a german team never wants to lose against Poland (and Austria and Netherlands and France, you name it).
b) I don't know any german NT in any sports that does not give 100% even in a meaningless game in WC/EC/Olympics; it's just in their DNA and what they are expected to do and what they expect from themselves as well (see for example their record in third place matches for football WC's); and even the commentators were going kind of crazy as if this was some final ;D. Albeit germans often have some problems with their national identity and it's even frowned upon to state and show you are proud to be a german, these guys (and girls) still give their everything for the country, but it's not "allowed" to be a patriot publicly.

---

Anyone still has any doubts that Denmark will win the title easily ? Odds are still 3+ ......

At one point, I thought that girls, Croatian handball players who recently won a bronze medal at the European Handball Championship, would also play better.  ;D
It's actually funny that in a TV commercial before this competition, a girl, a Croatian handball player from that European Championship, actually says: "Guys, play like girls."  :D
Who would have thought it would be almost prophetic ?
This is the worst game and the worst result of the Croatian men's handball team, probably in history, and fundamental changes are needed.
I thought that after the match with Argentina it could not be worse and unfortunately it was even worse.
After this match, it seems to me that Denmark is again the main favorite for gold .
What do you think?

Still not sure about Denmark getting the gold medal. Somehow in handball it always turns out that teams which have perfect score in groups lose one game in quarter or semi finals and end the tournament. By that logic Norway should now be first favorite :) France had some strange performances but they were the best against top teams and are always dangerous. Spain has also shown some very good plays and are legit candidates for medal.

Too bad Spain and Norway are playing each other so one of them will be out of tournament very soon. Denmark should win against Egypt easy unless referees pull out some home team shenanigans. Hungary was very good so far but France should be better due to bench length and experience. Sweden should win against Qatar I guess but this pair is by far weakest in my opinion and all other teams will be happy to play against winner of this one in semi finals.

Swedes didn't really impress me. If Qatar manages to keep it low-scoring, they have a good chance of progressing.

I agree about the other pairs, Denmark should be the clearest favorite. Hungary is good but I really like this France team and I think they have more depth and options. Spain - Norway is the toughest one to call, Sagosen might be the difference there.

Did you guys watch Egypt - Denmark? What a game, I don't remember ever seeing so many bad decisions and mistakes in the crucial moments for both teams.

This game was a perfect example of what I was talking about before. Every nation usually has a bad game in the tournament and sometimes it is better to get it done in group stage when you still have time to make it right. Denmark was lucky today that their bad game did not result with them getting out of tournament. Now Denmark is my number one favorite for the medal :)

I just followed the game in the beginning, both teams were tying until 9 points then Sweden started to increase the gap to 12-9. At that point I was pretty sure Swedes gonna do it since they were playing way better, but 35-23 that was disappointing..
I regret not following Egypt - Denmark, it seemed interesting :-\

I really dislike how handball rules fluctuate throughout the game. It must be hell for the players to have one set of rules for the first 59 minutes and then a completely different set of rules for the last minute.

All favorites qualified for the semis, although both Denmark and France struggled more than expected. Norway did not have any chance after losing Sagosen and to my surprise, Sweden breezed through their game.

Let's see who will go to the final. I'm tipping France and Denmark.

I agree with the France. Spain has played some really good handball and Denmark had double overtimes so not so sure about that game.

This competition has been quite profitable for me so far and hopefully it will continue in a same way. I am playing following double today:
France 1x, France is better team and H2H is very favorable for them. Sweden has been playing whole competition without many important players and this should be enough for them. I predict 4th place for Sweden. I would have gone with straight win for France or even handi but they are also missing 2 important players so I went with more secure option.
Spain +2.5, Denmark has H2H in their favor but Spain has been great during whole tournament and I except them to capitalize on tired legs in Denamrk squad. That stomach flu + double overtime should leave Denmark a bit shaken.

That double has odds of just above 2, enough for me. I will also play Spain to win on some lower stake ticket, probably coupled with some player under/over markets.

Did anybody watch the game? I was unable to, I saw the Swedes won, the statistics says that the French goalkeepers had only 3 saves in the whole game. That's practically impossible ;D

Did the Swedes play so well in attack or were French goalkeepers really that bad? I can't recall ever seeing a game in which both goalkeepers combined have less than 10% saves.

I will watch Spain - Denmark, I expect a great high-scoring game there. Maqueda over 2,5 looks like great value.

I have watched whole game and it was combination of multiple factors. France defense was nowhere near their best, then their goalkeeper managed to keep first ball out of the goal around 25th minute and by that time all Swedish players were full of confidence and taking shoots as they please. Sweden was also leading all the time by at least 3 goals difference which does wonders for shooting percentage :)

Denmark and Spain played a very good match.
Denmark led the whole game but Spain also had their big chance at the end of the game.
For such an important and uncertain match, the Spanish team made too many mistakes and as a result came the defeat of Spain.
It will be very interesting to watch the final between Sweden and Denmark.
Nobody expected much from Sweden because a lot of their players could not play in this competition, but they surprised everyone.
Can they surprise Denmark in the final?

Denmark is from another planet compared to Spain but the Spanish were very difficult to beat until the very end.
It will be a very interesting final between defending champions of Denmark and Sweden. On a funny side, I wonder how was it even possible to play this tournament considering that handball is not the kind of game that can be considered covid-free.
https://www.insidethegames.biz/media/image/196474/o/Handball+semi+final+pic+-+Denmark.jpg
https://www.insidethegames.biz/media/image/196475/o/Handball+semi-final+pic+-+Sweden.jpg
Hug me please.

What are you looking at today? Both France and Sweden are portrayed as heavy outsiders.
I have to admit that a combo of Denmark and Spain to win looks interesting though, gives total odds of over 2.5. Not sure what to bet on, I'm honestly thinking of skipping it altogether.

If you have some ideas, shoot ;D

I am not sure about games today. I have played Spain to win since they were better than France so for and I opted for over 54.5 in the final. That is a double but for medium stake. That way even if it looses I can still say that I finished the competition in the green.

I also have a low stake ticket on following player over goals:
Wanne 4.5+
Hansen 7.5+
Petterson 1.5+
Sole 3.5+

The same could be said for basketball or football, players are simply forced into close contact - but in all these sports regular tests are done before each game - and anyone who is positive cannot play in the game. It is a real shame that such competitions are played without spectators - but that is the reality of this time.

---

As for the final, Denmark is a big favorite in bookmakers - but I wouldn't underestimate Sweden so much - they're not in the final by accident. It will be a clash of neighbors, and we will see who will have more strength and luck after all the games played.

The Danes are the obvious favorites in the finals, although my sympathies are with Sweden. I would prefer to watch a low scoring game with strong defenses instead an all-you-can-score fest. It is really a miracle that Sweden managed to reach the finals with so many players missing from the squad. This will be a battle of two excellent goalkeepers but I believe the Danes will come out victorious with a margin of 4-5 goals. 

Sweden is quite good in this tournament but they drew to both Slovenia and Belarus. Denmark played really well against all teams in the tournament bar Egypt, I think that it's fair to give them the title of strong favorites.

I think they are a better team with more depth, therefore I went for their win with a 2,5 handicap. Sweden already did a small miracle by reaching the final, I think it ends here.

interesting thread since this is not a well known sport in my country and bookmaker rarely offer these type of matches.
let's see if there is an impact by covid19(case of positive etc) , since like other competitions there are big chances introduced by the plague :( .

And finally, as expected, Denmark is the world champion again  :D
Overall, they showed the most in this tournament, but it must be said that they had a lot of luck against Egypt in the quarterfinals, but when they survived it, after that they were unstoppable.
Goalkeeper Landin was fantastic and saved the Danish team many times in the final and in previous games.
Hansen is the best player in the championship and in the final I was personally surprised by Holm who began to play in the second half as a substitute and decided the game with 4 consecutive goals.
Bravo Denmark!

I agree that Denmark was overall the best team in the competition. They defended their title with style.

I was most impressed by the Swedes though, they played great handball without some of their best players.

We have Olympic qualifications soon, 6 teams are still unqualified.

I was most impressed with Spain. Everybody was saying old team and not giving them much chances but they played good handball and fallen just a bit short against Denmark. Sweden was really good while they played fast handball and taking chances before opponents defense completely settles. I am still undecided if Denmark managed to stop that in the final or Sweden intentionally opted for more "safe" approach and gifted easier game to Denmark.

Hansen as a best player, not sure about it. He was important for sure but he had some really bad games like the one against Egypt. He gave away a lot of free balls directly to the opponents and almost managed to gift the victory to Egypt with that stupid red card in last seconds. If the best player has to be from Denmark I would give it maybe to Gidsel who came from nowhere and had a great championship.

My Swedes didn't win but they played an excellent game nonetheless. They came up against an excellent Landin while Palicka was not on the top of his game. he was even substituted in the 2nd half. As we know, the better defense wins close handball encounters.

During the first half, Denmark was in a 6-0 defensive line and Sweden was able to pass the ball around and combine pretty well. In the second period, the Danes switched to a 5-1 line and this changed Sweden's gameplay. Gottfridsson was isolated and they had difficulties creating chances for their wingers. Too bad. Still, the better team won.