EC 2008 Norway - qualifiers draw

[Kristijan]

http://www.eurohandball.com/

2008 MEN'S 20 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
DRAW FOR QUALIFICATION

Date: 19 August 2006 Time: 13:00 hrs. Venue: Innsbruck (Olympiaworld)

Teams at the final round: 16 teams

Total entries: 39 teams

Qualified for final tournament: 7 teams: FRA (defending champion), ESP, DEN, CRO, GER, RUS (teams 2-6 in EURO SUI ‘06), and NOR (organiser)

Qualified for Play Off (from WCh GER): SLO, ISL, UKR, POL, CZE, HUN

The qualification round will be played in groups among the following teams:
AUT, BEL, BLR, BIH, BUL, CRG, CYP, EST, FIN, GEO, GRE, ISR, ITA, LAT, LTU, LUX, MDA, MKD, NED, POR, ROM, SRB, SUI, SVK, SWE, TUR

1. The qualification matches will be played in a total of seven groups, five groups with four teams and two groups with three teams.
2. From those five groups consisting of four teams, the first and second ranked team will qualify for the play off matches (9/10 and 16/17 June 2007).
3. From those two groups consisting of three teams, only the first ranked team will qualify for the play off matches (9/10 and 16/17 June 2007).

DRAW:

4 Teams in pot 1: SRB, SUI, POR, SVK (teams SUI ‘06)
4 Teams in pot 2: AUT, GRE, ROM, SWE (PO for GER ‘07)
5 Teams in pot 3: BIH, BLR, FIN, LTU, MKD (2nd in qualification groups)
5 Teams in pot 4: EST, ISR, LAT, NED, TUR (3rd in qualification groups)
5 Teams in pot 5: BEL, BUL, CYP, ITA, LUX (4th in qualification groups)
3 Teams in pot 6: GEO, MDA, CRG no participation

Procedure:

1. draw of the teams of pot 1 into row 1
2. draw of the teams of pot 2 into rows 1 and 2
3. draw of the teams of pot 3 into row 2
4. draw of the teams of pot 4 into rows 2 and 3
5. draw of the teams of pot 5 into rows 3 and 4
6. draw of the teams of pot 6 into row 4

Playing dates for the qualification round:

Round 1/2: 03 to 07 January 2007
Round 3/4: 10 to 14 January 2007
Round 5/6: 17 to 21 January 2007

[Kristijan]

http://home.eurohandball.com/report.asp ... 3&pha=1145

GROUP 1
1. SVK Slovakia
2. BLR Belarus
3. CYP Cyprus
4. MDA Moldova

GROUP 2
1. SRB Serbia
2. MKD Macedonia
3. ISR Israel
4. LUX Luxembourg

GROUP 3
1. ROM Romania
2. LAT Latvia
3. BUL Bulgaria
4. GEO Georgia

GROUP 4
1. AUT Austria
2. FIN Finland
3. NED Netherlands
4. CRG Montenegro

GROUP 5
1. SUI Switzerland
2. LTU Lithuania
3. TUR Turkey
4. ITA Italy

GROUP 6
1. POR Portugal
2. GRE Greece
3. EST Estonia

GROUP 7
1. SWE Sweden
2. BIH Bosnia Herzegovina
3. BEL Belgium

Again Serbia seems they are our destiny in the qualifiers. Played with them in a group before, in play-off matches as well. However, I'm pleased with the other two teams we got in the group, Israel and Luxembourg are teams we can beat I think.
Good draw for Montenegro as well I think. They can be 1st or 2nd in their group.
Bad one for Bosnia-Herzegovina, only one team from their group going to the play-offs and that will be Sweden for sure I think.

[Jakale]

GROUP 4
1. AUT Austria
2. FIN Finland
3. NED Netherlands
4. CRG Montenegro

Not exactly the best possible draw for us. However, I think we should be able to make it to the top 2 in the group. We have to have all of our best players, though. And hopefully we don't have to see that Teddy Nordling nonsense from last two years.

We have had some bad experiences with Austria during these past two years, but they are beatable. I don't know anything about Netherlands. Montenegro? Well, who knows what will happen? They are a new team and I think we get them first, so anything is possible.

[Bo$ko]

Well I think that Montenegro had a good draw!
They can be in top2 of course, I think me and Austria ... Finland and Netherlands
Macedonia will also be in play-offs...

I can't wait for first games

[Picek]

I can't wait for first games

I didn't read your newspapers for some time..
did you elect the main coach of the team?

[Bo$ko]

Picek , we didn't choose coach ! I think that concurse is to Sep 10th so then we will know our team and coach... I think that Pero Milosevic have to be our coach!!!

[Jakale]

GK
Jan Ekman Hammarby IF (SWE)
Christian Segersven HC West

LW
Robin Karlsson BK-46
Fredrik Udd SIF

LB
Ville Kangas SIF
Johnny Hiltunen Nik/Hak (NOR)
Joona Raerinne Arsenal

CB
Jac Karlsson BK-46
Kristian Jansson Kolding IF (DEN)
Andreas Rönnberg HBR Ludwigsburg (GER)

RB
Patrik Grönberg SIF

RW
Jon Blomster HC West
Antti Valo Cocks

PIV
Jyri Welling Cocks
Tommi Sillanpää LHC Cottbus (GER)
Joona Hertola HC West

So here is the team for the preparation tournament. I would say that there are no real surprises here. Westerlund is bringing in Raerinne and Hertola to add size to the defence, but I don't think that either one will make it to the qualifiers. We have some important players missing from the team. I don't know Patrick Westerholm isn't in the squad, but I hope he'll be in the final team. Marcus Sjöstedt is injured at the moment. I think we'll try and survive without Teddy Nordling this year.

[Kristijan]

Here's the Macedonia squad for the Doha Cup in Qatar and Carpathians Trophy in Romania.

GK
Borko Ristovski (Algeciras, Spain)
Kiril Kolev (Metalurg, Macedonia)
Daniel Dupjacanec (Mladost, Macedonia)

LW
Stevce Alusevski (Vardar, Macedonia)
Goce Makaloski (Metalurg, Macedonia)

RW
Aleksandar Jovic (Vardar, Macedonia)

LB
Rade Stojanovic (Gold Club, Slovenia)
Aco Jonovski (St. Gallen, Switzerland)
Filip Lazarov (PLER, Hungary)

CB
Naumce Mojsoski (Vardar, Macedonia)
Velko Markovski (Vardar, Macedonia)

RB
Kire Lazarov (Veszprem, Hungary)
Lazo Majnov (Vardar, Macedonia)

PIV
Vanco Dimovski (Gold Club, Slovenia)
Aleksandar Zarkov (Metalurg, Macedonia)

[Jakale]

The Finnish team for the qualifying matches:

Goalkeepers Team Age cm / kg match/g
Christian Segersven HC West 31 194 / 105 60 / -
Jan Ekman Hammarby IF (SWE) 39 187 / 87 23 / -

Left Wing
Robin Karlsson BK-46 23 182 / 77 9 / 37
Teemu Tamminen Cocks 19 190 / 83 - / -

Right Wing
Antti Valo Cocks 23 184 / 85 9 / 26
Fredrik Adamsson BK-46 26 183 / 82 27 / 54

Left Back
Ville Kangas SIF 20 195 / 100 4 / 1
Joona Raerinne Arsenal 20 204 / 100 3 / 2

Center Back
Jac Karlsson BK-46 20 189 / 78 9 / 29
Kristian Jansson HC Fenix 20 184 / 85 8 / 10
Andreas Rönnberg HBR Ludvigsburg (GER) 23 189 / 81 12 / 30

Right Back
Patrik Grönberg SIF 23 189 / 96 11 / 5
Olle Stenius IFK Kristianstad (SWE) 27 191 / 95 22 / 32

Pivot
Jyri Welling Cocks 32 191 / 96 63 / 87
Joona Hertola HC West 20 196 / 97 2 / 2
Tommi Sillanpää LHC Cottbus (GER) 28 188 / 94 73 / 107


Well, it's not looking very promising for us this year. The team is very young and very inexperienced. There are some surprises. First of all, Joona Hertola is there and not his brother, Teemu, who is considered to be more talented. Joona is bigger, though, and the coach Thomas Westerlund probably knows him better from the youth team. I was a bit surprised that Johnny Hiltunen is not in the team, but he has been having problems with his club team. Olle Stenius is a little bit unpopular choice for the team, but Westerlund likes to have him in defence.

As for the games, Westerlund considers Montenegro as the clear favourite to win the group. He also thinks that Austria and Netherlands are beatable, but we could be the surprise team in this group.

[alin]

Does it matter if a team gets first or second place in the group with 4 teams ? In the playoff matches they will get better seeding or not ?

[Kristijan]

I think it matters, but what about those groups with only 3 teams, where only the first placed team goes to the playoffs.

[alin]

Macedonia is with full squad ? Is kire lazarov healthy ?

[taki]

Macedonia is with full squad ? Is kire lazarov healthy ?

With Kire Lazarov, but without the full squad. There are several injured players. Although I fell we should finish in the top 2 of the group. Playmaker position in Macedonia is a problem with both Mojsovski and Mirkulovski injured.\\
There were problems with the team so we will see if we will manage to put that a side.

[harder_faster]

is rightwing philippe bosere part of team macedonia?

[Bo$ko]

I think it matters, but what about those groups with only 3 teams, where only the first placed team goes to the playoffs.

I always thought about this??? Does anybody know something about this? There are 9 free places for Euro 2008 Norway, 12 teams from this qualifications + Qualified for Play Off (from WCh GER): SLO, ISL, UKR, POL, CZE, HUN ...

Is there any possibility that in play-off play for example SLO vs. ISL? And if not who from this qualies will catch those 3 places for pot 1 ???

Thanks

[mester]

Finland - Montenegro 26-28/12-11/

[Picek]

congrats to our Montenegrin neighbours for their first ever win in an official game as an independent country..

[Jakale]

I think it matters, but what about those groups with only 3 teams, where only the first placed team goes to the playoffs.

I always thought about this??? Does anybody know something about this? There are 9 free places for Euro 2008 Norway, 12 teams from this qualifications + Qualified for Play Off (from WCh GER): SLO, ISL, UKR, POL, CZE, HUN ...

Is there any possibility that in play-off play for example SLO vs. ISL? And if not who from this qualies will catch those 3 places for pot 1 ???

Thanks

I think those 9 teams will be in 1 pot. Then the 3 others will be the kind of teams who have previous experience from major tournaments or who have been doing well in the qualifiers in the previous years.

Anyway, congratulations for Montenegro on beating us!

It sure was an interesting match, and exciting until the end. And we were much better than I expected, too!

[martinmk]

is rightwing philippe bosere part of team macedonia?

No he is French as I know. BTW Macedonia won 35-25 over Luxemburg but our players looked demotivated and I'm disapointed of their play in the 1st half. In the end when the reserves got their shance they made 11 goals difference, before that we had 3 to 5 goals advantage. The playmaker position is a problem for us but I hope our team will play better in the next matches.

[Bo$ko]

Congratulations MONTENEGRO !!!

Nice start and nice historical result !!! We didn't play well, I knew that a long trip will make our players play not very well but everything is OK. Deserved win !!!
Goran Stojanovic was superb, confirmed his class, also Rade Mijatovic other GK was excellent , other guys good, Kapisoda and Dobrkovic
Finland really suprised me, great team... They can catch 2nd place m why not?
Refeeres they for each possible thing gave 2 min to MNE

[harder_faster]

is rightwing philippe bosere part of team macedonia?

No he is French as I know.

well i guess only he himself knows that. but thank you.

[Bo$ko]

Jakale, it would be great if you can put some links of this match or photos ... thanks

[Kristijan]

Congratulations crnogorci for your first win I'm sure that you+Austria will go further from this group.
Btw,how our Vardar Skopje hero Mladen Rakcevic did ? Hope he helps you alot on the way to the EC 2008.

About our game against Luxembourg, it wasn't so easy as the final score says. We made the 10 goals difference in the last 15 minutes. Before that we had alot of technical errors, but that's OK because we didn't have any friendly match before this game, so the players needed a time to find their real form. But I'm sure we'll win the 2nd match in Luxembourg as well on saturday and hope Serbia beats Israel twice, to help us to win the 2nd spot in the group.

[ts__]

What do you think about Sweden - Belgian today? Do you have any information about injuries and missing players?

[Bo$ko]

Mladen Rakcevic was very good in match, he and Ratko Djurkovic did well as pivots...
Thank you Kristijan and Picek