Surprised that Dujshebaev has not been mentioned among the very best in these discussions. He is top 5 player ever.
Talant, of course. His sons haven't hit quite the same levels.Are you talking about Talant or his sons?
He and his sons should have played for Russia!
Spain have been among the best teams in the world since the late 90s or something.
Never been dominating like Sweden and France have at times, but typically up there among the teams that can win tournaments.
And they got a solid league. So they will be among the top teams going forward as well. Even if handball is expanding quite rapidly so competition is just getting harder and harder.
Their league most certainly isn't solid. It's Barca and that's it, every other decent international level Spaniard leaves and plays in one of Germany, Hungary, Poland or France. But as a country, they produce an insane amount of talent, the most important factor being that they pump out great coaches left and right. They have been a good side starting with the team built around Talant, Masip, Garalda and Baruffet. Their current generation is in the twilight of their careers, but the talent pool is so big it's hard not to see them remain at least on par with other top teams like Denmark, France, Sweden, Croatia, Norway etc.
As for the tournament, absolute abomination, and a travesty. Really hard getting excited about games in which you don't know the roster on the morning of the game. As a Croat I selfishly really had little interest in watching a team that was missing the #1GK and 4 of their best players in Dule, Karacic, Cindric and Stepancic.
Don't know about Denmark tbh.
They have insane depth, and a good few star players.
But they are the biggest chokers on earth imo.
2013 Final loss to Spain, 2014 Final loss to France (At home no less) Huge defeats in finals.
2020 Olympic final against France, they came out horrible, and only saved a bit of their rep in the end.
Ever since that final they have been bad imo - This Euro was not a test at all untill they met France and Spain - And against France they threw a big lead like idiots, and they were dominated by an "inferior" (on paper) Spanish team that had the read them like an open book.
The problem is the coach - Unlike Wilbek, he has no clue what to do when things arent going as planned. (Wilbek was a master at this)
He has no plan B at all - He is a great coach when things go his way tho.
Like who rests your players against France, and get them totally out of their groove.
And against Spain, he was so passive - Hansen played like shit, and Gidsel was completely shut down, Lauge played like shit.
Yet he puts in Mensah instead of Lauge, who has the completely same style of play, and he lets' Hansen and Gidsel play all game.
No Kirkeløkke or Mensing, no let's just go with what hasn't worked all game with no urgency - He also waits waaay too long with the timeouts.
Let's be honest, with all the covid cases for other teams, this tourney was Denmarks to loose.
At least they got a Bronze, as the EC has been a hard tourney for us since 2012. Yeah silver at home in 2014, but loosing huge to France in the final is not a pass from me.
Sweden while not better on paper, have this insane ability to find f***ing Thanos within themselves and overachieve.
Spain the same, they might play boring, destructive handball, but it works, they are masters at destroying their opponents game.
France never had these major losses in finals, and continue to get into Semi Finals and Finals with an ageing squad.
Only Croatia have struggled outside the 2020 Final.
I don't understand Norway tho - And not sure I agree with @Havre that they are better on paper than Denmark in everything but goal - Find that opinion quite astonishing tbh.
Sidenote, I think Sweden still did well, even tho they did not play well in the prelim.
They swept their main round.
Just look at Denmark in 2012, they had two losses and a win in their group stage.
But swept the main round and won.
Denmark absolutely demolishes Norway best on best almost everytime.I think Norways six best players, on paper, both in attack and defence is quite spectacular (especially now when Barthold has so seamlessly replaced Jøndal). Especially in attack (which is what I mentioned) - where depth is also very very good. Obviously not suggesting Norway is miles ahead of Denmark, but I do believe Norway should be slightly better than Denmark - even if they are not. Not sure what is astonishing with that when you got players like Sagosen and someone like Reinkind wouldn't even play with everyone fit (arguably our 3rd best right back - even if Tønnesen has struggled to get back in shape after his injuries). I get why some might disagree, but even if you did disagree not sure if anyone would say Denmark are miles ahead either.
For whatever reason it doesn't work though. While 2+2=5 for Sweden it is 2+2=3 for Norway. As a team Norway is much less impressive than they are player for player.