2023 IHF Men's World Handball Championship

[slackovic]

When I compare this championship with FIFA World Cup in Qatar, I see that there are by far less upsets here than it was in Qatar. I guess that the difference in the quality of the teams participating is much bigger here than in Qatar.

It was partly that in the beginning but not anymore. It is just the nature of the game, it is much easier to pull upset in football than it is in sport like handball. When you have a shot on goal from each team every minute, quality usualy comes out on top while in football you can always park the buss and hope for the best.

There is also nothing similar to red card in football. Here if you get red card you still get your numbers back couple of minutes later while it is almost a game over when it happens in football early enough.

Yes, I was talking about games in the beginning of the championship. Now from quarter final and on I expect much tighter games and there is no more a strict favorite in any of the games. And yeah, football and handball are totally different sports but I was comparing them with intention to show that it's much "easier" to win a bet in handball than in football. But because od that odds on favorite winning are much smaller in handball than in football.

In terms of quality, there were far more one-sided matches in this tournament when you compare it with FIFA 2022. Although 32 teams took part in the Football World Cup, not even one of them could be considered as walkovers. Even lowest ranking teams such as Cameroon won matches against top teams. On the other hand, in this tournament the lowest ranking teams (such as Saudi Arabia and Uruguay) went down by heavy margins. BTW, both the tournaments (IHF World Cup and the FIFA world cup) had same number of participants (32). 

Like Trofo said, it's just the nature of the game. But that's why football is (at least for me) much more attractive sport than handball. I'm not saying that playing handball is easy, far from it. I think it's more difficult sport with many kicks that go unnoticed by the referees.

[snipie]

In terms of quality, there were far more one-sided matches in this tournament when you compare it with FIFA 2022. Although 32 teams took part in the Football World Cup, not even one of them could be considered as walkovers. Even lowest ranking teams such as Cameroon won matches against top teams. On the other hand, in this tournament the lowest ranking teams (such as Saudi Arabia and Uruguay) went down by heavy margins. BTW, both the tournaments (IHF World Cup and the FIFA world cup) had same number of participants (32). 

Like Trofo said, it's just the nature of the game. But that's why football is (at least for me) much more attractive sport than handball. I'm not saying that playing handball is easy, far from it. I think it's more difficult sport with many kicks that go unnoticed by the referees.

I believe we cannot compare football to handball for many reasons but we all know that the popularity of football is bigger and for me, the rules of handball are better and stricter than football. Although it is only 30 minutes, but it is 30 minutes of playtime not wasting time like football. Whenever a player is touched he continues playing at the opposite of football where he was trained to give a show about how a lot he suffers from a touch...

[Sithara007]

The semifinals will start in approximately 14 hours from now. I am not expecting any surprises from the first match (Denmark vs Spain), but the second match is going to be much more exciting. Sweden will be the favorites to win the second semifinal, but France is not a weak team. We have a real chance of upset during the second semi final. And France has the momentum with them, as they defeated Germany by a good margin (35-28) during the quarter-final stage. Sweden had to fight really hard during their QF clash against Egypt (26-22).    

[slackovic]

The semifinals will start in approximately 14 hours from now. I am not expecting any surprises from the first match (Denmark vs Spain), but the second match is going to be much more exciting. Sweden will be the favorites to win the second semifinal, but France is not a weak team. We have a real chance of upset during the second semi final. And France has the momentum with them, as they defeated Germany by a good margin (35-28) during the quarter-final stage. Sweden had to fight really hard during their QF clash against Egypt (26-22).    

I don't think the bookies agree with you that Sweden will be the favorite because they gave France a little more chance to win the game. Odds are 1.95 on France to win and 2.30 on Sweden to win. I actually agree with them because anyone who follows handball knows who is France. I don't remember the last time France didn't fight for the medal.

We have another interesting pair and it's Egypt vs. Germany. I think that Egypt could win this one even though the bookies give slight advantage to Germany. Odds are 1.80 for Germany and 2.55 for Egypt.

[Trofo]

Time has come for me to drop the big bet on handball. I don't think they got favorites right today and I see a lot of value in backing underdogs to cover handicap.

Spain +5.5 @1.65 seems like free money to me. Yes Denmark is better, they will probably qualify and refs will help them if it is close game but this is semi final and it should be close game. 6 goals is quite a lot and I think Spain should cover this.

Sweden +2.5 against France @1.6 also seems to good to be true. If there wasn't for that pesky Godfridsen injury I would play Sweden ML here. They were my first favorites after seeing them play and I am taking handicap on them for sure if they aren't bookies favorites.

[slackovic]

Time has come for me to drop the big bet on handball. I don't think they got favorites right today and I see a lot of value in backing underdogs to cover handicap.

Spain +5.5 @1.65 seems like free money to me. Yes Denmark is better, they will probably qualify and refs will help them if it is close game but this is semi final and it should be close game. 6 goals is quite a lot and I think Spain should cover this.

Sweden +2.5 against France @1.6 also seems to good to be true. If there wasn't for that pesky Godfridsen injury I would play Sweden ML here. They were my first favorites after seeing them play and I am taking handicap on them for sure if they aren't bookies favorites.

Yeah, those are really good odds when you know teams in handball. The problem with the bet on Sweden is that they are playing against France. And at least those of us who are Croatians know what France means in handball. I will probably go with France with that 1.95. I know that Sweden play good but we are talking about France here.

You don't bet on other games? You think that Egypt can't win against Germany? Somehow I don't think that Germany is team that it once was...

[Trofo]

Yeah, those are really good odds when you know teams in handball. The problem with the bet on Sweden is that they are playing against France. And at least those of us who are Croatians know what France means in handball. I will probably go with France with that 1.95. I know that Sweden play good but we are talking about France here.

You don't bet on other games? You think that Egypt can't win against Germany? Somehow I don't think that Germany is team that it once was...

That is not the France we remember, this France can be beaten. Not a certain thing but I feel like Sweden deserves at least even odds and bookies don't see it that way. That means those odds have immense perceived value for me and I am taking a big bet. First one already passed even though Spain was on the ropes couple of times, they were rushing the attacks and loosing balls way too often.

I don't bet on the games that have no meaning, who cares where you finish in 5-8 places rundown. You are not getting direct spot in Olympic tournament but you are getting qualifiers on all of them. I would only consider over goals bets on those games but I did not like the margins today. Germany has a really strong Handball league, same as France, that is why they will always have solid team, even if we don't know their players that well.

[Sithara007]

I don't think the bookies agree with you that Sweden will be the favorite because they gave France a little more chance to win the game. Odds are 1.95 on France to win and 2.30 on Sweden to win. I actually agree with them because anyone who follows handball knows who is France. I don't remember the last time France didn't fight for the medal.

We have another interesting pair and it's Egypt vs. Germany. I think that Egypt could win this one even though the bookies give slight advantage to Germany. Odds are 1.80 for Germany and 2.55 for Egypt.

I went with the odds from Stake.com. They gave better odds for Sweden.

But in the end, you were proven right. France had a relatively comfortable victory against Sweden and tomorrow the final will be played between Danmark and France. Ludovic Fabregas won his duel against Eric Johansson. Danmark also had a close match against Spain. The Spaniards fought back really hard during the second half (13-11). Alex Dujshebaev almost took Spain to the finals with a total of 5 goals in this match.

The odds for final are as follows:

Danmark vs France: 1.50 vs 2.80

[Daniel91]

Another interesting world handball championship is coming to an end, but we are seeing the same teams again in the finals of the competition.
Before every world or European championship, we already know in advance which national teams will fight for medals and which national teams have no chance for a medal, which is not good for the attractiveness and interest of this competition.
In fact, there are very few countries that are competitive in handball at the highest level, unlike football.
Handball rules should also be simpler for spectators, and some rules from basketball could be introduced, such as the time limitation of attacks.
It is common knowledge that the American market is the most important for any sport due to financial reasons, and until handball solves these problems, it will not be interesting for the American market.
20 years ago, we had a short dominance of Croatian handball, then a longer dominance of French handball, and now the time has come for Danish dominance in handball, and I give them a better chance in the final.

[slackovic]

Sorry, I was away from the forum for a couple of days so I couldn't comment on the games. Well... My prediction that France will again get a medal came trough. In handball France is always France. Even if they are not a team they once were, they are still playing good and beating them is never an easy task. Sweden felt the power of France in the semi final game where they were trailing few goals behind for the duration of the entire game. I'm not counting that 3-2 lead they had at the very beginning. After that France took the lead by scoring four goals without conceding and won the game in the end. The other semi final game was similar, only Spain never got to lead.

As for today's final game, I think that Denmark could win and once again become the world champion for the third time in a row. I guess the bookies agree with me because the odds are 1.58 for Denmark to win and 3.05 for France to win. Odds that France will win looks tempting as they are France, but somehow I don't think that they have what it takes to beat Denmark.

[LTU_btc]

As for today's final game, I think that Denmark could win and once again become the world champion for the third time in a row. I guess the bookies agree with me because the odds are 1.58 for Denmark to win and 3.05 for France to win. Odds that France will win looks tempting as they are France, but somehow I don't think that they have what it takes to beat Denmark.

Denmark proved again today that they're biggest force in handball now, winning 3rd World Championship in a row. They took early lead and kept it till the end. Powerful start was one of key points today, when score become 2:6, it forced France coach to take very early timeout. France didn't lead for whole game, only thing that they managed to do, equalising score few times, but in decisive minutes Denmark were confident.

[Trofo]

As for today's final game, I think that Denmark could win and once again become the world champion for the third time in a row. I guess the bookies agree with me because the odds are 1.58 for Denmark to win and 3.05 for France to win. Odds that France will win looks tempting as they are France, but somehow I don't think that they have what it takes to beat Denmark.

Denmark proved again today that they're biggest force in handball now, winning 3rd World Championship in a row. They took early lead and kept it till the end. Powerful start was one of key points today, when score become 2:6, it forced France coach to take very early timeout. France didn't lead for whole game, only thing that they managed to do, equalising score few times, but in decisive minutes Denmark were confident.

Denmark never looked under threat yesterday and took this final in impressive fashion. What to say about Lauge, minimal minutes and no goals until yesterday and then he scores 10/11 against France in final. Even pivot positions don't get conversion like that.

Now it feels even worse about how Croatia finished the competition. We had this Denmark on ropes and were playing quite poorly most other games.

[slackovic]

As for today's final game, I think that Denmark could win and once again become the world champion for the third time in a row. I guess the bookies agree with me because the odds are 1.58 for Denmark to win and 3.05 for France to win. Odds that France will win looks tempting as they are France, but somehow I don't think that they have what it takes to beat Denmark.

Denmark proved again today that they're biggest force in handball now, winning 3rd World Championship in a row. They took early lead and kept it till the end. Powerful start was one of key points today, when score become 2:6, it forced France coach to take very early timeout. France didn't lead for whole game, only thing that they managed to do, equalising score few times, but in decisive minutes Denmark were confident.

Denmark never looked under threat yesterday and took this final in impressive fashion. What to say about Lauge, minimal minutes and no goals until yesterday and then he scores 10/11 against France in final. Even pivot positions don't get conversion like that.

Now it feels even worse about how Croatia finished the competition. We had this Denmark on ropes and were playing quite poorly most other games.

Yeah, I thought that France could be more of a threat to Denmark but it didn't happen. I tried my luck with that high odd but I guess it was that high for a reason. So Denmark managed to become the world champion for the third time in a row. Congrats to them and for Croatia I wish that handball in Croatia won't follow the path of the basketball national team.

[casperBGD]

~snip

Now it feels even worse about how Croatia finished the competition. We had this Denmark on ropes and were playing quite poorly most other games.

yeah, that was only draw for Denmark, and only match that was even close for them, all other they won in a good fashion without much doubt
nevertheless, it was a good odd to bet on them, and I used it for finals (didn't bet earlier), although did not watch the match in the end

anyway, congrats to Danes on 3rd title in the row

[Sithara007]

~~~
anyway, congrats to Danes on 3rd title in the row

LOL.. turned out to be a pretty much one-sided match, as Danmark won with a big margin (34-29). I don't know whether Sweden could have performed better in case they had won the semi-final match (they lost the 3rd place match as well, to Spain). International Handball Federation organized this tournament pretty well, as it is not a small task to schedule all the 112 matches (for comparison, the 2022 FIFA world cup in Qatar had a total of 64 matches). My only disappointment is that teams outside Europe (apart from Egypt perhaps) didn't performed well this time around. Anyway, see you all in 2025!

[slackovic]

LOL.. turned out to be a pretty much one-sided match, as Danmark won with a big margin (34-29). I don't know whether Sweden could have performed better in case they had won the semi-final match (they lost the 3rd place match as well, to Spain). International Handball Federation organized this tournament pretty well, as it is not a small task to schedule all the 112 matches (for comparison, the 2022 FIFA world cup in Qatar had a total of 64 matches). My only disappointment is that teams outside Europe (apart from Egypt perhaps) didn't performed well this time around. Anyway, see you all in 2025!

/snip

Well, since handball is mostly a European sport, it's to be expected that European teams play the biggest role in the World Championship. Anyway, congratulations to Denmark, France and Spain on winning their medals. It will be interesting to see how Croatian handball will look like in the European Championship next year.