Handball journeys

As the tournament draw is unfolding in a few hours time. As the neutrality of your humble blogger needs to be professionally clear. Before and after the matches I shall present in a diligent and professional manner match reports, interviews, impromptu poetry etc. For obvious reasons I want Spain and France to do well.  During the matches there shall be no sign of biased support. Only the respect and sharing of the same passion and respect with all the fellow reporters, fans, officials and players. One gets to know all type of people. You tend to get on with the vast majority of them through your knowledge, your educated manners, your passion and your honesty. The devil is in the detail. Less is more as well. Like in business practices. It is no different. If anything it is even more important than in business. I will be applying for the media accreditation this time around. I will also be looking for a more formal endorsement because the Granollers experience back in 2013 was

Malheureusement les ambitions du palmier vert du Mont-Duplan ont du faire face à une réalité préparant  à la loterie d'un tour préliminaire de la EHF Cup en septembre 2019 mais je ne sais pas si je pourrai voyager. Finir 4 è me ce serait mieux mais ce n'est pas gagn é ! Car un dossier pour la Champions pourrait alors voir le jour.

Well done to Vardar.  I suddenly remembered in Munich the Vardar fan and photographer supporting the Macedonia handball federation. Parrondo has achieved a huge thing with Vardar and his assistant has now made history by being the first lady coach winning gold at the Final Four in the men's competition. I was expecting Sterbik and Nenadic to secure a comeback in the second half. It wasn't to be for the likes of Lekai and Nagy. I have to say Vardar played so well as a team and their hunger was faultless. Their joy at the end was really beautiful to see. 

40-35. It finished. Both keepers were below par. Kielce should have done better when Barcelona were down to 4 players. Palmarsson was sublime in his distribution. The young winger Ilic was fairly impressive. Julen could not play because a new star in the making whose last name starts with a...K... has replaced him as line player. The referees made some strange decisions for the 2 min suspensions. It was not a classy match by any stretch. Dika Mem was awarded Man of the Match but I am not a huge fan of his gameplay. One of his goals early in the second half was really special. Some of the combinations by Kielce were really good. In half an hour it will be the gold medal match.  

When one thinks that he has seen everything in handball, you see two semis with a lot of talking points. Sterbik was having a 65% saving rates when he got injured following an unsolicited collision with a Kielce player. Kielce should have been out of sight but Vezsprem were fairly ineffectual.  And as you were under the impression that the tie was turning to Kielce's favour the Hungarian side managed to  wrap up the match in the final minutes. As for the Barcelona match all my sympathies go to Noelia Quero who must be devastated. I was chatting with family members when the second half was being played. I watched the second half again and I am still at a loss as to how Xavi Pascual's side squandered a 7-goal advantage and a 4-goal advantage going into the last eight minutes. Fascinating stuff. Much more exciting than the tiny final taking place in Madrid... We shall see which former Ciudad Real player will be the trophy's winner, as a manager, this year. I have to say t