Player Ratings – Netherlands vs Spain By Chris O’Reilly The Netherlands made history on Sunday night in Kumamoto, winning their very first World Championship after 60 minutes full of nerves, drama and some tremendous handball in which they beat Spain 30:29. Here are the ratings for all players involved in the Japan 2019 final and the two head coaches, with …
Head-to-head – Netherlands vs Spain Chris O’Reilly sat down with Nagore Odriozola and Laura Agena, creators of Spanish women’s handball website Playmaker, on the eve of the World Championship final between the Netherlands and Spain, to analyse and compare the two teams in key areas in an attempt to figure out who has the edge? One team will make history …
Assessing the contenders for the crown By Chris O’Reilly After 90 matches in 11 gruelling game days, we’re down to the final four at Japan 2019. Just 120 minutes separate one of these teams from World Championship glory, but whose weekend will it be? Let’s take a look at the teams before Russia take on the Netherlands and Norway face …
Kumamoto Chronicles: What a difference a day makes By Chris O’Reilly 24 little hours. That’s all it seems to take for the world to turn upside down at this championship. In the space of 24 hours, we’ve seen Denmark going from exciting dark horses to dumped out of the running for the semi-finals; goalkeeping performances in one arena which make …
Power Ranking – Half-time at Japan 2019 By Chris O’Reilly After a gruelling week of preliminary matches, filled with surprise results, physical battles and nerve-wracking endings, we move on to the main round of Japan 2019 with 12 teams still in the hunt for gold. We take a look through the contenders and rank them based on how they’ve performed …
Player Ratings – France vs Denmark In a do-or-die battle, it was Denmark who prevailed to survive Group B and progress to the main round with a deserved 20:18 win. Japan 2019’s group of death claimed its biggest casualty in the form of defending champions France, who must now face the ignominy of the President’s Cup on Sunday. Here are …
Player Ratings – Germany vs France France have finally arrived at Japan 2019 as their 27:25 win over the previously perfect Germans means their World Championship title defence lives on, at least until Friday’s showdown with Denmark. Here are the ratings for all players involved and the two head coaches, with everyone rated on a scale from 1 (the worst) …
Kumamoto Chronicles: Tales from the first two rounds By Chris O’Reilly We’re just three days into the Women’s IHF World Championship 2019 and with a few surprises, dramatic conclusions and plenty of teams displaying the potential to be medal contenders, Japan 2019 looks set to be very a memorable championship. In a weekend with shock results sprinkled around the groups, …
Kumamoto Chronicles: A new bear in town By Chris O’Reilly My colleague Peter Bruun paid tribute to former Russia coach Evgeny Trefilov on Wednesday with “You big, roaring bear, I am gonna miss you!” But as we arrived in Kumamoto today, we discovered a new handball bear is here to assume the mantle. Step aside, Evgeny, the beloved local mascot …
OPINION – He is a coach, who almost everybody has something to say about. Evgeny Trefilov, head coach of Russia’s women’s handball team, announced his retirement from active duty not too long ago. It marks the end of a coaching career that has been successful, colorful and controversial at times. The roaring, Russian bear deserves a farewell. By Peter Bruun First …