European duel at eye level?
For the first time, 32 teams will take part in the Women’s Handball World Cup. A handful of them can be counted among the favourites. Many more teams belong to the category of underdogs. In principle, this applies to all nations that do not come from Europe. Then there are the mediocre national teams hoping for an explosion of performance at the championships.
In the last category belong the selection teams from Serbia and Poland. Qualifying for the main round should not be a major problem, as the top three countries from the group of four in the preliminary round will advance. Russia will probably advance as the top team. Cameroon, on the other hand, should be heavily outclassed and will almost certainly finish bottom of the group.
In our estimation, Serbia and Poland will fight it out for second place. This means that the points from this direct duel will be taken into the main round. A win is a must for both teams if they want to hold their own in the second group stage. At the betting providers tested, the odds between Serbia and Poland for a forecast point to a very close match.
Slightly lower odds are offered on a success for the Serbian women. However, such an opening match also has its pitfalls. It will depend on which team can get rid of their nervousness. We think that in the duel between Serbia and Poland, a bet on a victory for the Polish team could be a little better in terms of the odds.
Serbia – Statistics & current form
The Slovenian coach of the Serbian women is a jack of all trades and an absolute expert when it comes to Eastern European handball. In the meantime, he has also taken on the task of coaching Siofok KC in Hungary. Uros Bregar will not be able to complain about boredom at the moment.
High workload for Uros Bregar
How long he will have to have his club coached by the co-trainers depends largely on how long the Serbians stay in the World Cup tournament. The main round is the minimum target, but more should hardly be possible for the 2013 runners-up, although they still managed to make it to the quarter-finals in Japan in 2019.
The team is currently in a state of flux. Many experienced players had to give way and so Uros Bregar also has some young ladies with him. In the German Bundesliga, there is still one very experienced Serbian playing. Goalkeeper Kristina Graovac from Bayer Leverkusen is expected to play the leading role at the World Cup in Spain alongside Jovana Stoiljkovic and Kristina Liscevic.
The Serbians’ preparation went well, but this should not be overestimated, as their last opponents did not qualify for the World Cup. After all, they won six of their last seven matches. But that does not mean that the odds on a Serbian victory in the duel between Serbia and Poland should be played blindly.
The Serbia squad:
Durasinovic, Risovic, Graovac – Radojevic, Liscevic, Mitrovic, Kojic, Jovovic, Kovacevic, Jovanovic, Stoiljkovic, Kocic, Stamenic, J. Agbaba, Petrovic, M. Agbaba, Janjusevic, Lovric – Coach: Bregar
Poland – Statistics & current form
The Polish team is first baking small rolls before the World Cup. The Polish women are only in the World Cup because of a wildcard. Their goal is to win the preliminary round and advance to the main round. Norwegian coach Arne Senstad knows that it can’t be much more than that.
Humble Polish women
A win against Cameroon in the first group stage should be a firm plan. However, the Polish team is not that far away from the Serbians. German handball fans were able to get a first-hand impression of the Polish team’s strength last week when Poland played against the DHB ladies, Spain and Slovakia in a four-nation tournament.
Germany and Spain were too strong for the Polish team, but against Slovakia there was a 35:24 victory. Arne Senstad’s team was particularly strong on the offensive, so we can imagine that bettors in the Serbia-Poland clash could do quite well with a prediction of many goals, perhaps as many as 60.
Currently, however, there are only three wins from the last eight international matches. That sounds like it will be difficult for playmaker Kinga Achruk to lead her team to success. From Germany, left winger Dagmara Nocun, who is under contract with TuS Metzingen, is well known.
The Poland squad:
Placzek, Zima, Maliczkiewicz – Niewiadomska, Achruk, Roszak, Zimny, Gega, Rosiak, Plominska, Nocun, Matuszczyk, Szarawaga, Kobylanska, Nosek, Balsam, Gorna – Coach: Senstad
Serbia – Poland Direct comparison / H2H Ranking
Since December 2013, the Serbian and Polish national teams have crossed paths in just five matches. Most of the time it has been close between these two teams and the direct comparison in this period is narrowly in favour of the Serbian women with 3:2 victories. The last time the two teams met was in the qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup.
In the play-offs, Serbia laid the foundations in the first leg in their own hall to secure their ticket to the World Cup. They threw the Polish women out of the hall with a 14-goal difference. Poland subsequently won the second leg 30:27, and it can be assumed that the Serbian women did not play with the utmost consistency.
Serbia – Poland tip
The Serbians have had a successful preparation, but they have only played against teams that are not qualified for the World Cup. Therefore, the successes of the Serbian women are understandable.
Poland has chosen at least two difficult opponents in Germany and Spain. Despite the defeats, these matches should not have made the Polish women worse. However, Arne Senstad’s team is also only competing with a wild card at the title matches. Overall, it remains very complex to find the right tip between Serbia and Poland.
The last two meetings were two years ago, but they could be the key for our betting in this duel. When things got serious, the Serbians won with a 14-goal difference. With the necessary bite – which the selection from the Balkans should certainly have at the World Cup – we think the Serbian team is slightly stronger and that’s why we have decided to play the betting odds on a success for the Serbian ladies between Serbia and Poland.
