Handball in the OL

Snow

Somewhere down the lane, a licky boom boom down
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I know you guys don't know much about it since you're mostly British, Irish, Indian or American but you really should start to take note of it a bit more since it's actually a good spectator sport. Now you guys (GB) didn't do to well, which is understandable, and that's why I was easy on the gloating.

This post might make you a bit interested since it covers the sport from an amateur POV (and also happens to feature our greatest player).

In the game yesterday GB was excellently supported despite the heavy loss. Very good first half from you guys but it lasted shortly I'm afraid.
Quarter finals start tomorrow at 11 o'clock with Iceland vs Hungary (Group A winners vs 4th in Group B). There shouldn't be poor match from now on. Croatia are favorites and the way we've been playing I expect a medal, most likely us in the final vs them. Wouldn't put it past any team that reaches the semis to win it though.

http://sportsonearthblog.com/2012/08/07/meet-olafur-the-coolest-guy-at-the-olympics/
 
Am i right in thinking that it's not even a funded sport in the UK, and the only reason we have a team this year is because it's our home olympics?
 
Hal9000 said:
Am i right in thinking that it's not even a funded sport in the UK, and the only reason we have a team this year is because it's our home olympics?
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Pretty much. I know one of our guys was or is a plumber and that the sport's equivalent of an FA was founded just 6 years ago. Done pretty well just to be competitive I suppose.

Agree with Snow that it is a great spectator sport, I watched the Iceland v Sweden game last week and it was terrific. But I don't believe after the Olympics anyone in this country will follow it. It's a bit like basketball to me. Great to watch when you're there but not many in the UK will staunchly follow it. We tend to stick with the sports we had a hand in inventing. We won't see Team GB in Rio in my opinion.
 
Its an OK watchable little game but its hardly going to take off as a serious sport anytime soon. Just another trivial game that most people will briefly watch every four years.
 
It looks like an absolute piece of piss tbf.

Apart from the goalkeeper who seems to be on a hiding to nothing there. Best off just sticking the fattest person you can find in there and hope they block off most of the goal.
 
It's just slightly less dull than basketball. There's too many goals, too few ways to tackle as is so often with hand related sports.
 
alastair said:
It's just slightly less dull than basketball. There's too many goals, too few ways to tackle as is so often with hand related sports.
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Too many goals? Don't you teach golf? 18 holes times 4 equals to 72 holes. That's not too much?

I didn't know you watched football for the lack of goals.

There aren't few ways to tackle. Goals aren't scored every minute. That's because of the defense.
 
Annoying. Much better in the 2nd half. Why weren't the other 5 players not just sitting back whilst Snorri took the pen. Made no sense.
 
The commentator here called it when the pen was given - frustrating.
 
What happens if still drawn at the end of extra-time? Is it penalties?

Apparently more extra time - 2 x 5 mins.
 
You're not GLOATING, You're not GLOATING, You're not GLOATING ANYMORE!! You're not gloating anymore!

Was a cracking match in fairness.
 
Cracking because Iceland was poor. I'm not disappointed at the result. I'm angry. It was so poor. Defense was really poor, some men weren't thinking at times. Last game from our captain was a very poor one.

It will be Croatia beating Denmark in the finals now. No chance that Hungary will take a medal I reckon despite beating this match. They weren't doing many great things. Goalkeeper was on fire and that one guy with the long hair made some shots from far out.
 
Agreed you guys were poor but it's the 2nd time I have seen Iceland come up against a keeper who made some outstanding saves. And this is only the 2nd time I have ever watched Iceland play in Handball.
 
Snow said:
Cracking because Iceland was poor. I'm not disappointed at the result. I'm angry. It was so poor. Defense was really poor, some men weren't thinking at times. Last game from our captain was a very poor one.

It will be Croatia beating Denmark in the finals now. No chance that Hungary will take a medal I reckon despite beating this match. They weren't doing many great things. Goalkeeper was on fire and that one guy with the long hair made some shots from far out.
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That man with the long hair is one of the world greatest handball player. Every team does as much as they can, Iceland was nicely controlled by us and Fazekas was on fire.

You were lucky to come back at the end of the second half.

Hungary is capable of winning a bronze or a silver if they carry on like this.
 
cinc said:
That man with the long hair is one of the world greatest handball player. Every team does as much as they can, Iceland was nicely controlled by us and Fazekas was on fire.

You were lucky to come back at the end of the second half.

Hungary is capable of winning a bronze or a silver if they carry on like this.
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Definitely not lucky. Iceland is a better team than Hungary. It was obvious how nervous the Hungarian team was. Barely scored the last 15 minutes of the 2nd half. Iceland's biggest flaw in this tournament was missing too many 1v1 chances.
Hungary deserve their win though. They played the game tactically correct, exploited our weaknesses.
That long haired fella is what was missing from our team. A shooter (don't know the English word for that position) that can do things on his own if needed. Imagine Denmark without Mikkel Hansen. Ólafur Stefánsson stopped being that players some years ago and is more of an assist man because he's not as agile. Aron Pálmarsson should be this man but he's young and goes missing when he's needed at moments like in ET. Otherwise he's brilliant.

Hungary edged it fair and square. No reason to be bummed about the ref or nothing. Most annoying part was to let on an injured player who hadn't played at all in the match come and take the decisive penalty only for him to miss. The defense didn't sit back as well but were all over the place like headless chickens. So fecking stupid. Too boot Snorri got 2 minutes and therefor Hungary started the ET with 6 against 5.
 
mjs020294 said:
Its an OK watchable little game but its hardly going to take off as a serious sport anytime soon. Just another trivial game that most people will briefly watch every four years.
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Other than in Continental Europe.
 
I am sure Stefansson would have not missed the last 7m.
 
Iceland is a better team person by person, but just as Barcelona is better than Chelsea, with the right game plan and attitude a team can beat a better team with relative ease.

Hungarian teams are famous to get nervous in lead (back in 2000, Hungary has lost from a 6 goal lead in the women's olympic final against Denmark, losing the last 15 minutes 14-4), but other than that period, you really didnt have anything on us.

I think Iceland went in to the game with too much confidence.
 
cinc said:
Iceland is a better team person by person, but just as Barcelona is better than Chelsea, with the right game plan and attitude a team can beat a better team with relative ease.

Hungarian teams are famous to get nervous in lead (back in 2000, Hungary has lost from a 6 goal lead in the women's olympic final against Denmark, losing the last 15 minutes 14-4), but other than that period, you really didnt have anything on us.

I think Iceland went in to the game with too much confidence.
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Iceland is actually also quite famous with being nervous with a lead. Last WC we threw away 3 sure wins like that.

If we didn't have anything on you there wouldn't have been double overtime. Iceland was in the drivers seat at the most crucial part of the game. Should have been two goals up with 5 seconds to go. But it wasn't to be.
I think Hungary scored after few seconds in all three halves when they started. Says a lot about our defensive game today.
 
cinc said:
Handball is the only team sport where I like women's games a lot more, I've travelled to a lot of places to watch Hungarian teams (the NT and Ferencvaros).
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It's one of those games which makes me slightly sad to live in Britian. I'd love to watch Handball, Basketball and Ice Hockey more.
 
One more thing... 6 Iceland players should have been standing in defense when 7m was about to be taken. Just as preventive measure to fast break...
 
mjs020294 said:
Its an OK watchable little game but its hardly going to take off as a serious sport anytime soon. Just another trivial game that most people will briefly watch every four years.
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In UK you mean? What sport is bigger on a global scale besides football and basketball? You've got more nations very good in handball than you've got in rugby or cricket. Netherlands have recently become good at it. Iceland has about the same number of pros in it as in football. At least not far off.
 
It seems like the defenders always just wait for the other team to take a shot. On the very odd occasion someone does try to get the ball, it seems to always be given as a foul. Every attack ending in a shot isn't as exciting as I'd have expected.
 
mjs020294 said:
Its an OK watchable little game but its hardly going to take off as a serious sport anytime soon. Just another trivial game that most people will briefly watch every four years.
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When you were born in a county where cricket is a serious sport and live in a country where baseball is taken seriously, you're not the best position to judge a sport's seriousness.
 
Scrumpet said:
It seems like the defenders always just wait for the other team to take a shot. On the very odd occasion someone does try to get the ball, it seems to always be given as a foul. Every attack ending in a shot isn't as exciting as I'd have expected.
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The key is to force the opponent to shoot from a bad position.
 
cinc said:
No one, other than the goalie can be on the ground inside that when the ball is in play. If a defensive player steps inside to gain advantage, that should be a penalty every time, while the attacking team will lose the ball.
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Isn't that what the first solid line is for? With the different colour inside it? I mean the dotted/dashed line that is about a metre beyond it.
 
Scrumpet said:
It seems like the defenders always just wait for the other team to take a shot. On the very odd occasion someone does try to get the ball, it seems to always be given as a foul. Every attack ending in a shot isn't as exciting as I'd have expected.
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There aren't many different basic defensive formations. It's how you deal with the opposition. You can have the men take turns following the guy on the line. Have only one on him the whole time. There are a lot of different runs going on with the attack, mostly on the line. A man from the corner might be running in and what have you. A small mistake is enough to concede a goal because these guys are clever passers.
If you watched Iceland - Hungary earlier you might have seen the Icelandic linesman pretty nullified whilst the Hungarian linesman had a lot of free space.

I'm not the best to explain it really. I don't follow it much anymore besides just the results and the national team. Long time since I played it myself and I was a goalie. Cinc seems to know it better and also has the lingo down in English.
 
I don't get handball. If you've got an indoor court with goals, why not just play football? Just seems like a playground game to me. Good for a laugh but I can't take it seriously. Looks like a piece of piss to score.

Mind you Basketball bores me senseless so I think it's just something about passing a ball with your hands. Any retard can do that.
 
So ignorant and stupid to say that about any sport that "any retard could do that". We could be talking about shit, literally shit, and you would devalue the discussion with shitty phrases like that.

Loads of sport I don't get. Can't fathom why baseball or cricket is popular but I don't keep harping on about it. Stick with the football forums if it's the only sport you like.
 
cinc said:
Hungary win, yay!
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Damn United's multi-national fan-base :lol:

Despite my roots, I've seen about two and a half games of handball ever (all in these games) but even so that was frustrating to watch. Your boys looked dangerous everything they went forward, and some of the saves were Friedel-esqe in the second-half.

Best of luck with the rest of the competition.
 
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