The 2013 men’s handball world championships kicks off Saturday for Croatia as they look to continue their streak of being in the medals at major tournaments. The tournament will be hosted by Spain, and given Europe’s domination in handball, 12 of the 24 teams are European. In the group stage, there will be four groups of six, with the top four from each advancing to the knockout round. The odds-makers have put France and host country Spain as the favorites, with Croatia given the third best odds, and Ivan Čupić likely to be top scorer. Čupić and Andrea Penezić were named Croatia’s players of the year last week. In addition to Čupić, Croatia’s other dangermen are Igor Vori and Blazenko Lacković.
“The hosts always play well and they have a very good team, I think that they will go far. France and Denmark are always strong and there are bound to be some surprises. The competition system has changed and it gives you no time to relax. You have to win every game after the group stage to become champions, and for that, you need both mental and physical strength. I think we have it and that we are ready for the next great achievement.”
–Ivan Čupić
The women’s team failed to qualify for their 2013 World Championships after failing to make the quarterfinals by one goal in the 2012 European Championships in December. Their leader, Andrea Penezić, missed out due to injury. Croatia will co-host the 2014 European Championships.
There has been a lot drama since the team earned the Olympic bronze medal back in August and this will be Croatia’s first tournament without Ivano Balić since the 2002 European Championships. The story according to Zoran Gobać is that they tried to contact Ivano to invite him to be a part of the squad, but Ivano never responded and was left out.
“We’ve tried to get in touch with him even via his club colleague Jakov Gojun, but there was no reply. Ivano told Gojun not to give his phone number to anyone from Croatia. The Croatian Handball Federation wanted to invite him, but how can we call a player that you can’t reach or who does not want to reply. The message is clear. No one is above the team.” -Zoran Gobać, Vice President of the Croatian Handball Federation. Balić claims otherwise.
“My Spanish number is on the internet and it’s not difficult to find. The same goes for my Croatian number. It will be hard, but it is what it is. I will be in Spain, and if allowed, of course I will attend some games. We have to see how our boys prepare, but we are amongst the favorites and can finish with a medal. I don’t know, they wrote me off, that’s how we ended things. The coach is happy, so I have to be happy as well.”
-Ivano Balić
Since the roster was announced, Croatia has played two friendlies against Norway, splitting the results. Croatia’s group consists of host and favorite Spain, Hungary, Algeria, Egypt and Australia. Croatia is all but assured to finish in the top three and advance, but they have a huge incentive to win their group to avoid quarterfinal matchups against France or Denmark. They begin the group stage on Saturday against Australia at 10:45 AM EST. The matchup against Spain, which could decide first or second in the group, will be their fifth and final group stage game. The knockout round begins on January 20th.
Live streams can be found at wiziwig.eu, coolsport.tv, or firstrowsports.eu
Ivan Čupić playing along with an English blogger
Looks like BeIN Sports channel will have a lot of the handball matches these next few weeks if anyone wants to check them out.
Gobac Goluza ruined what could have been couple of years of great hanball only in croatia at 30 you are considered old and Gobac is a poor mans Mamic if you are not on Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb you are not on National Team or if he is not your agent, i like young players but he better be as good as the guy he replaces and no one will ever replace Balic, Thanks for the good memories 2003-2010 Hanball died for me when Gobac and Goluza took over, Thanks to Losert Sola Matosevic Dzomba Sprem Kaleb Dominikovic Sulic Metlicic Balic Valcic brothers Zrnic Spoljaric Vukovic And current Vori Lackovic adn ill add Cupic Thanks. time to watch master players like Koplar Sterlek Duvnjak miss open shots and not O MY BOZE!
This is what I took from the Olympics
When Ivano Balic was in the game, the offense had much more of a flow and continutity. When he was out of the game, the players looked lost and the ball was stagnant. Balic probably got pissed off because his minutes per game were going down. If I were the coach, I would have done the same because of his age. However, I believe the coach cut down his minutes too much. There were many possessions during the match in which Balic was not a part of iand it potentially could have cost HR a better medal.
He is one of my all time favorite Cro athletes. He was once the best player in the world and one of the greatest leaders. Here is one example. Classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Pvv40v7os
It’s too bad this is the way it ends for him on the NT
Nice job Zach.
Now I just want more info on this women’s handball 🙂
Maybe Ivano Balic should stop being a baby and answer the call for the national team.