Handball European Championship - Men

[ivanhoe]

Croatia - Montenegro 1st half under 26,5 goals pick WON

I know only a few of the forum members follow handball, but it is, besides football, basketball, tennis and water polo, national sport here in Croatia.  It is a fact that we are not the team we used to be quality wise, but we have more depth than Montenegrins. Montenegro will be without a couple of first team players due to injuries. The game is played in Graz, Austria and Croatia should have more than a decent support there. 

Why under ? Our coach Cervar has always based his philosophy on defence and it won`t be different this time. Montenegrins, due to a lack of quality and the injuries mentioned above, will probably put accent on defence too - especially in the first half in which they will want to stay as close as possible.

I see Croatia winning in the end but it it`s not going to be a walk in the park imo. Low stakes. GL.

Edited January 12, 2020 by ivanhoe

[ivanhoe]

Montenegro +1 - Serbia  pick 1   WON

Montenegro has a solid team, they have a very good coach who is a real leader and has the authority, a personality that players like and will follow him whatever happens. In a match vs Croatia I saw that the team spirit and cohesion is on a decent level. 

On other side we have Serbia who has more quality but I have to say that recent period has been rather chaotic in Serbian handball association and atmosphere is far from perfect.To cut the long story short, I believe we'll see a close match and I wouldn't exclude a draw as the final result. 

Edited January 12, 2020 by ivanhoe

[ivanhoe]

Latvia - Netherlands over52, 5     WON

These two have played quite a few matches revently and each of them ended under this line. I'm exepecting a bit different attitude from both teams offensive vise simply because they have nothing to lose and will try to win the 1st match on the championship. 

Edited January 12, 2020 by ivanhoe

[ivanhoe]

Montenegro +3,5 - Belarus 1   LOST

I`ve written about Montenegro before. Solid team, good coach and even more motivated after their 1st victory ever on European championship. Belarus on the other didn`t impress me vs Croatia though I have to admit they`re organized and talented side. Individual quality is on Belarus` side. This is a decisive match - a team that wins this qualifies for the 2nd round. I believe Montenegrins will stay close till the end.

Iceland - Russia +2,5    2      LOST

Odds have dropped on Iceland, but Russia won`t be such an  easy prey for them imo. Iceland is not the team they used to be at their peak though they beat Denmark in the opening game and that was a big surprise - at least for me. I believe we`ll se a close game and wouldn`t rule out another surprise here. Low stakes though.

Croatia - Serbia  over 56,5     LOST

Defence is Croatia`s trademark but I wouldn`t be surprised to see goal fest tonight. Yes, there is always rivalry between these two sides but the relationship between the coaches and the players is really good so I don`t expect a lot of fouls and I think we`ll see a bit more open game than usual. I mustn`t forget to say that Croatia has already qualified for the next round (will take maximum of 2 points in the newly made group)  and Serbia is out. Croatian coach Cervar said he`ll use players who didn`t play so much in the previous matches and that might another factor that`ll go in favour of my bet. I`m quite sure Croatia will win today and for those who like to try bigger odds I would recommend to try X at half time, or half time / full time  2/1. Low stakes of course.

Edited January 13, 2020 by ivanhoe

[ivanhoe]

Austria - North Macedonia +1,5       2    LOST

Macedonia mustn`t lose to progress to the next round. It`s not going to be easy that`s for sure - the match is played in Austria and support will definitely be on the hosts` side. I still believe Lazarov and his teammates have enough quality to take something out of this match.

Edited January 15, 2020 by ivanhoe