The Slovenian team in handball at the Rio Olympics fights for the semifinals

The Slovenian team in handball at the Rio Olympics, leaded by Veselin Vujovic is about to make a historic success in Rio.

The Olympic Games in Rio enter in its final phase. This is the day for the handball quarterfinals, the most exciting being the clash between Denmark and Slovenia scheduled firts in the Olympic program. Whether you are a sports fan, handball fan or you simply like to bet on sports in Brazil, this match is something you should not miss.

Slovenia at Handball Rio 2016 tournament

Slovenia was the first team to book the quarterfinal in Rio. If somebody asked them before the tournament to choose an opponent of the other group for the quarterfinals they will certainly not chose a priori Denmark. Yet, the game that the Danish team showed at this tournament seems to make them in the end a desirable opponent for any of the quarter finalists.

So far, the performances of the Slovenians in Rio left us with amazing impressions. They have a team spirit, they play dynamic, fast, handball, they demonstrated super-creative attack and strong defense formations. Beside the tight match with Egypt and the duel against Germany where they lost 25:28, the Slovenians show a game according to which many would already put them in the semifinal. If this happens then that would be a historic success for the Slovenian handball, as well as for this generation of young Slovenian players. They already made a great breakthrough with the placement among the top 4 selections on the World Championship in Spain in 2013. An Olympic semifinal would be practically be a dream-come-true for the Slovenians. 

• Can Hansen&Hansen take everything in his hands?

• Blaz Janc is surprisingly the Slovenian top scorer

• Veselin Vujovic prepares special tactics against Denmark

Surprisingly, the top scorer in the Slovenian team is the young Celje Pivovarna player Blaz Janc whose games on this Olympic tournament definitely convinced us that he was the right person to replace Gasper Marguc. Veselin Vujovic was criticized when he included him in the team but the youngster proved that those critics were totally unjustified. He showed us some wonderful games these season in the EHF Champions League and there has certainly much to offer in the time to come

On the other side Vujovic is using all the possibilities for replacements in his team.
After changing the left back Nik Henigman with the Celje playmaker Miha Zarabec, he made two more changes in the team. He first brought the young goalkeeper Urban Lesjak on the place of Matevz Skok and then changed Dean Bombac key player in the Pick Szeged team this year, with his right back from Zagreb David Miklavcic. What all these “peculiar” changes will amount to, is yet to be seen.

Denmark’s Olympic performance not surprising after all

Denmark, as internet betting sites in Germany report, were considered to be one of the main contenders for the throne. Yet, unlike the Slovenians who are certainly the pleasant surprise on the Rio Olympics the Danish team is probably the biggest disappointment. They lost both of the clashes with European handball teams in Rio and managed to pass through with the victories against Argentina and Tunisia as well as pretty difficult one against Qatar with 25-26.

However handball fans with history should certainly not be surprised by this Danish performance. Namely, what is peculiar about the Denmark is that when the Olympic Games are concerned they have never ever played a good tournament. This “dementia” of the Danish handball team seems to continue at the Rio Olympics too.

The two bright point in the Danish team on this championship are certainly Mikkel Hansen, IHF world handball player for 2015 and the Olympic top scorer Lasse Svan Hansen, but whether they will be able to carry Denmark to the semis is difficult to predict. The unstable defense is also having serious impact on Niklas Landin who still cannot show his world class on these Olympics. In general there are many things to be improved in the Danish squat if they want to see themselves in the semis.

The betting odds of the match

Before the start of the Olympics, online sportsbooks in Australia such as Sportsbets placed Denmark on the second place of the favorites for Olympic gold medal. Surprisingly, beside the “fluffy” games of the Danish team in Rio sportsbooks like Bwin still consider the Danish to be favorites against Slovenia in the quarter final. And the difference is not small. They offer betting odds of 1.72 for the Danish to win the match while the Slovenians are evaluated on incredible 2.55. But how much of this favorizing is justified, is something we will find out today afternoon.