While perusing ESPN360.com, I came upon the World Handball Championship match from this past Sunday, Feb. 1, between Croatia and France. I'm interested, so here's a recap of the game, with some comments and observations that I'm coming up with as an outsider watching the sport for the first time:
Initial observations of the sport: It looks a lot like a mix between soccer and basketball. The court's set-up is very similar to soccer, with a net and a goalie at each end. Players carry the ball and must throw it into the net to score. The defense appears to have more in common with basketball. Penalty points also work a lot like soccer, with a one-on-one shots between the goalie and the shooter. It is a 60-minute game played in two halves.
Handball is aggressive, requires skill and tact, and is obviously very popular in Croatia where the match was held; The arena in the Croatian capital Zagreb was packed with over 16,000 wildly excited, noisy spectators.
The Olympic Champion French national team won the match, with a final score of 24-19. Croatia had beaten France 22-19 in their Jan. 27th matchup.
The two teams were pretty well-matched early on in the game, going point-for-point for much of the first half. However, Croatia led 12-11 at the end of the first half.
The match continued much the same, until about the 50th minute when France started to pull-ahead. The French offense showed patience, giving them a 2 point lead with 7:10 left to play and a score of 20-18.
The Croatian offense kept a fast-pace throughout the match, but it failed them when faced with the French defenders. Croatia scored their final point with 5:15 to go.
Trailing by 3 with 4:00 to go, the Croatian offense made some rushed plays and missed some key shots. Ultimately, France's aggressive defense and shooting accuracy won the game.
"I was hoping that we would play against Croatia so that we could get revenge for the defeat we suffered against them in the group," said French Player Jerome Fernandez to the AFP. "That match did not show the strengths of our squad."
Links:
*photo from www.javno.com
Handball is a wild sport, and incredibly popular in part of Europe. That said, I doubt I'd ever sit down and watch it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I never thought I would sit down and watch it either. I don't really have the attention span to even watch a full basketball game and I'm not much of a soccer fan, but I actually found it really interesting, and was surprised by the incredible athleticism of the players. It helps that the crowd was pretty wild throughout the game...it's contagious.
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