Handball journeys

Based on the games I have seen live whilst at the arenas (as a fan or media photographer) at the World Championships GER/DEN 19 MVP: Hansen - Denmark Left wing: Jondal - Norway Left back: Sagosen - Norway Centre back: Melvin Richardson - France Right back: Jorge Toledo - Brazil Right wing: Ferran Sole  - Spain Line player: Bjarte Myrhol - Norway Goalkeeper: Sego - Croatia

Based on shot efficiency and actual goals scored it is no surprise that the following is the All Star 7 for the WM 2019. Denmark remained unbeaten and won all their matches by a generous margin.They were impressive. I only saw them once live. Norway have some skillful players. I am not sure why they could not handleDenmark again and why they lost by such a large margin in the final. MVP:  Mikkel Hansen – Denmark Left wing: Magnus Jondal – Norway Left back:  Sander Sagosen – Norway Centre back: Rasmus Lauge – Denmark Right back: Fabian Wiede – Germany Right wing: Ferran Sole Sala – Spain Line player: Bjarte Myrhol – Norway Goalkeeper:  Niklas Landin – Denmark

Superbe victoire au panache et au mental. Une grande pensee pour un prompt retablissement a Cyril Dumoulin car la rupture des ligament croises c'est terrible. Je ne suis pas sportif mais je le sais neanmoins. Une medaille de bronze. Une medaille mondiale de plus pour le hand tricolore. Je n'ai vu que le score via l'app #handball19 mais  quel stress ! We all pray for you Cyril.

Unfortunately we will be missing Spain vs Egypt, Croatia vs Sweden, France vs Germany and Denmark vs Norway. I hope fellow supporters will have a good time in Herning. It is however time to get back to London. The fortnight has flown by. I am genuinely tired and I had a good time. All good things come to a halt. My pictures were not as good but not too bad for a first hands-on experience. Two reasons : my equipment is not state of the art, the lens is not designed for close sports action. I also get quite excited and got nervous about the dust issue, which I hope to understand and solve on my visit to a photo shop in London tomorrow. I should get to Balham in order to watch Croatia vs Sweden but broadcasting rights in the UK are very blurry, which means I could struggle with any live streaming.

I am very worried about France chances. Magnus Landin, Svan and Lauge are constant threats and are fairly effective. Tactically there is a huge mastermind challenge to ensure that the offensive Danish prowess be reduced to the bare minimum. There is a need to diversify the attacking set play by France so as to suprise the opposition including the impressive Niklas Landin. Ideally you would like the same sort of performance as in the EHF 2014 final in Herning. Motivation is key. I remember how France got hold of the match in Zagreb for the bronze medal match last January. However France should not develop the game plan as the one during the fateful Olympics final in Rio back in 2016. Allez les Bleus. We want a 'fab' day. This semi-final ended up as a nigthmare for France. Denmark were amazing and their conversion ratio insulting. There was no real contest. French attacks were easily curtailed. So many attenpts blocked ! Ludo suffers as w

Stellar harbour Stellar idea of what drives mad A sole soul let down as a lad No sight of British cover to be had Grey prospect of huge raid a tad  Derailed by inner forces. Too bad To get bogged down in a set. So sad That we lost sense of belief. Clad A new semi story. Eternal pad. Cold surroundings will get the nod. Berlin, 24 January 2019 2019 – 2019HJ110 [interrupted] We can feel a growing tension in the media center. Denmark are huge favourites as France did not play very well so far. Neither high scorers nor top keepers are statistically on the French side. Olympic champions against reigning world champions. A privilege in a stellar harbour.

When the poem goes to beer Fabric or cloth we get through water Brisk or sunny the weather no matter Stomach suffers from weather and bladder [...] [incomplete and interrupted] Berlin, 24 January 2019 2019 – 2019HJ110 Then comes the sudden chase for the Hofbrau Munchen in Hamburg. Where thirst is worse than illness Beers to the plenty Sightseeing of Hamburg looking like Helsinki by night Reflective night landscape

France's History It looks fairly pretty good and amazing. Sweden, Romania and Russia in their heydays would have hardly done better. Denmark is very close to Hamburg so there will be a lot of Danish fans in the arena Landin appears to be in good shape. Oris has done well in this tournament Hansen (53 goals with a 65.43% conversaion rate) is Denmark's leading scorer Then you have Lauge as 22nd player with 34 goals, being a 70.43% conversion rate However the first French player is number 34 and it is is Kentin Mahe with 29 goals and a conversion rate of 63.04%. Men World Championships 2019 Germany/Denmark  Semi Final  vs Denmark 2017  France                     Semi Final  vs Slovenia   Won 31-25        World Champion 2015 Qatar                        Semi Final  vs Spain        Won 26-22        World Champion 2013  Spain                       Quarter Final vs Croatia  Lost 23-30 2011  Sweden                   Semi-Final  vs Sweden   Won 29-26          World Cha

After a 4-hour train journey from Koln to Hamburg where sleep was a good thing to do and an unexpected shuttle ride to the Koln Hbf owing to an accident affecting our coach driver, we got to Hamburg main station and then we checked in at our town center hotel. I had the right idea to go and check the place. You will be amazed to see all the familar faces. I wonder how they managed to be so quickly at the premises. It took me roughly an hour using the S3 and stopping at Stellingen. Then it is roughly a mile walking up the small hill with icy patches surrounded by a run down industrial waste site and a main highway. We are close to the Hamburg HSV stadium. The irony is that it looks flashy whereas the handball club went bankrupt and unfortunately disappeared a couple of years ago. I will be able to get near the playing area for the France semi-final, which is great. However for the Germany match I will have to use my match ticket. This shows that I must grow/improve so as to establi

Semis will be France vs Denmark / Germany vs Norway. France looks the most vulnerable side to me. We did play today's second half with a very young talented side but the motivation seemed elsewhere.  I was unable to see any match from unbeaten Denmark.  If Sagosen were to perform and the Norwegian keepers to keep at bay all the German attacks then Germany may struggle.

I was very sad when the Spain match ended and I saw Viran shy away from a radio interview in the mixed zone. I am not surprised as I would have done the same thing. He was sad, gutted to have missed the equaliser. There were a lot of opportunities to get a better result against Germany.  Despite being a photographer I was getting a bit annoyed by some decisions by the Swedish referees. I left hastily the media center and thanked the volunteers but forgot to wave goodbye to the local media manager. Wearing the commemorative shirt was not a good omen.  Germany managed to win despite using their second string fringe players. Spain missed an opportunity to end on a high in Germany. Spain's last game will be against Egypt on Saturday at 17:30 hours at the Jyske Boxen Arena in Herning. I shall not be there unfortunately. Vamos Hispanos. Raul Entrerrios tiene balones bajo control. Aporta mucho al balonmano espanol.  It was so obvious in Croatia last year and it is a joy to see h

We do not tire to identify all the France - Croatia encounters in handball. A Croatian paper made an inventory of all the key matches, those which live long in our memories. 1st half : The first half was a bit dull and neither team played very well. France were resolute in defence. Adrien Di Panda was keen to show a strong defensive display to disrupt the Croatian set up. Karabatic failed in many shooting attempts. Luc Abalo scored a couple of good goals. A lot of my pictures are flimsy and blurry ; it's a pity. France let in a couple of goals from the left wing. Allez les Bleus ! Supporters we need your support.

Gustavsson is a very experienced player and played most of Iceland's matches. Left back Gudmundusson (20) and the center back Jonsson (19) and left winger Elisson (16) are the highest scorers out of 168 goals over seven matches. I predict both teams to score in the mid twenties and Iceland to win 28 - 25 The players from Iceland are taller on average whereas the Brazilian players are heavier. Twelve minutes before the start one photographer comes in and it means that I have to move even if the seat is not reserved for the first two matches. My camera looks so simple compared to that of others. I would be happier if someone could solve for me the dust problem. It could be a product defect as it occurred fortuitously and came out of the blue. I do not why because it did not fall anywhere. 1st half My predictions were terrible as Iceland conceded quickly a 5-1. They regrouped and started the chase midway through the first half. The change in keeper gave more confidence to th

Hello dear handball friends, I asked at the media center and neither they could not find my bank card nor my EHIC card. A request for replacement cards was made. Frederic Brindelle and Bruno contacted Stefan the local media manager for the Hamburg media list and there is nothing else I can do. G ave away my match ticket for today to Lorene at a friend's price so I hope I will get a photographer seat for the Germany vs Spain match. The answer is no at the moment. Gutted. I thought my suggestion would help and in the end neither have I a seat upstairs nor behind the goals as a photographer. I got told subsequently that I would be in position no. 32 but it is not 100% certain until I see it on the list. I want to keep the match ticket and told Lorene so as I collect them. I cannot see any formal amendment to the list but I trust the media representative whose first name I have already forgotten. Really ill at ease. I had to plea to the lady that asked me twice to put the net bac

Brazil - Iceland will be an opposition of styles and should be entertaining. France - Croatia shall follow and it is a good match to prepare a semi-final against a Nordic giant (Denmark, Sweden or Norway) depending on our relative performance with Germany who are playing Spain later tomorrow. What the future holds is a mad dash on Sunday to watch remotely the 3rd place match and the final. Last night Duvnak was dismayed by the decisions from officials. Wiede had a 100% scoring rate. Stepancic created and converted a lot of goals again. Sego made a lot of saves to keep Croatia alive on various occasions. Silvio Heinevetter only played a few mins as he did not unsettle the Croatian attacks. I will be giving my match ticket to Lorene in the hope that I can get a fotografplatz seat for the Germany vs Spain match. I will ask the chap at the media center early in the day. Bring on more handball. Handball is much better than football as the whistling  by the fans in the arena aime

I got up with a fright and I handled the ire fairly well. I actually lost my French bank card and the European Health Insurance card on the way to the main tribune seat last night because I cannot recall toying with my half empty wallet too often. I called the Lanxess Arena with no success. I also asked at the expensive cafe whose history includes reference to Napoleon Bonaparte. Never mind. Hopefully no unauthorised transactions performed. We walked alongside the Rhein river. A vast number of gooses were playing in the parks behind Deutz and Messe. We discovered some church designs close to Swedish and Austrian traditions. I enjoyed the cathedral's interior design. It is said to date back from 1880 ! Mosaics were impressive. There were no St Bruno statues. We also checked out at Farina where the manager gave us pricing information as to the different sizes for the original eau de cologne. Temperatures were dropping fast and the wind was

Spain played very well. Gedeon Guardiola, who has not yet been able to sign the Handball 2013 shirt as I was far too timid and Joan Canellas were very good both defensively and offensively. I was annoyed by a late photographer. He had two small cameras and another one with a very large lens. I was a tad impolite as I showed my disconfort and unhappiness in the way he interfered with my location and the resulting blatant damage to my pictures. I managed to exchange a few words/glances with Aitor, Gedeon and Julen. MUCHAS GRACIAS. I failed in my impromptu picture of the Spanish handball federation chairman with his two acquaintances as I was too feeble and excited at the same time. I saw Noelia having her picture taken with Gonzalo. An absolute masterclass, maybe for a repeat of what happened in Croatia next time around. The following are some of my best images from the exciting match despite the unease amongst the media.