2011 World Men's Handball Championship Preview: Croatia vs. France Once Again?

The 22th Men's Handball World Championship 2011 is about to begin!

 

The host country is Sweden and the cities WC-cities are: Malmo, Lund, Kristianstad, Goteborg, Skevde, Jonkoping, Linkoping and Norrkoping.

 

24 teams from all the world's continents are participating.

 

The Championship begins with preliminary round – four groups of six teams each. Continuing are two main round groups. Finals, and one of two semi-finals, are going to be hosted in Malmö Arena in the southernmost of Sweden. The second semi-final are to be played in Kristianstad Arena.

 

The defending champion is France, the team that won gold medal in Croatia, 2009.

 

I hope you all heard about handball before and that you will enjoy in this slide show! :D

Group A: The Group Of Death

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Bahrain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Egypt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Germany	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tunisia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

 

France 3 times, Germany 2 times and Spain with one world championship title.  This is definitely the group of death. This three teams are considered to be one of the best and specially France who is probably one class better than Germany and Spain.

Tunisia is capable of making a surprise here while Bahrein and Egypt will need a miracle.

The Biggest Star: Nikola Karabatić (France)

Prediction: 1. France  2. Germany 3. Spain  4. Tunisia  5. Egypt 6. Bahrain

Group B: The Most Interesting Group

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Austria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brazil	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hungary	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iceland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Norway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

This is probably the most interesting group on this years WC. Norway should take first place with Iceland behind them. The most interesting is that none of this team won the WC.

 

The Biggest Star: Olafur Stefansson (Iceland)

 

Prediction: 1. Norway  2. Iceland  3. Hungary  4. Japan  5. Austria  6. Brazil

Group C: Croatia = Barcelona In Handball

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Algeria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Australia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Croatia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Denmark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Romania	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Serbia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

Croatia is by far the strongest team in this group. Denmark and Romania will battle for second place while others will try to make a miracle.

 

The Biggest Star: Ivano Balić (Croatia)

 

Prediction: 1. Croatia 2. Denmark 3. Romania 4. Serbia 5. Algeria  6. Australia

Group D: Easy Group For The Hosts

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chile	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Poland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Slovakia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sweden	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

Poland and Slovakia might cause small problems to Sweden, who is ready to bring back the old glory.

Argentina and Chile are going to be on a fun trip to Sweden.

 

The Biggest Star: Kim Andersson (Sweden)

 

Prediction: 1. Sweden  2. Poland  3. Slovakia  4. South Korea  5. Argentina  6. Chile