World Handball Championship: USA vs. Spain 27-25

Honestly, Goluža really just proved how clueless he actually is. You’re in a situation where a loss doesn't hurt you—in fact, it might even help—and you know the other side is in the exact same boat, yet you still send out the starters? It’s just reckless. Not only are you risking a season-ending injury for one of your key players, but you aren't giving them any much-needed rest either; you're just grinding them down for absolutely no reason. Any coach with even a shred of common sense would have rolled out the B-team just to give those guys sixty minutes of meaningful playing time. If they somehow pull off an upset, hey, great! At least you kept your top seven rested. And if they lose? Well, fine—you've successfully avoided a matchup against the French side later on.

The only reason we managed to scrape this win was because we lost Štrlek for the rest of the season—plus the fact that we didn't bother resting the A-team at all.

Henry Hernandez7 said:Are you watching the game too? ☕

Yes, I am, and what about you? You probably belong to that pathetic crowd that just whines about Balić and prays for our team to lose.
We’ll only get past the French if they even get the chance to step onto the field against us.

It looks like Goliath is some kind of religious fanatic who thinks he can rely on God to take down the Frenchmen.

Too bad we didn't make it to the finals.

I just wonder who’s going to be the first one to claim the French were terrified after the game.

driftingcanyon18 said:Go screw yourself, you idiot. I haven't read anything this stupid in a long time.
just have some decency and be ashamed of yourself

Reported.

It feels like there’s no point in even holding handball championships anymore. Why not just hand the gold to France and call it a day? Maybe we should just scrap men's international handball altogether. 😍

And another thing... 😁 those people getting worked up over how the American national team is being "respected"—or supposedly "respected"—give me the impression of people who, in any other walk of life, would be constantly scheming, cutting corners, or breaking their word just to get ahead. People who think they're being clever by playing dirty. 😁 That's the kind of impression you leave on me. 😍

Wasn't there some theory floating around before the tournament started about how we'd be massive successes if we could just scrape our way into the quarterfinals with this squad? 🤷

I swear, Americans flip-flop on their opinions more often than they change their socks ☕

Just as a quick refresher for anyone who forgot, France ended up taking fourth place back in Germany 😉

silverpuma90 said:Yeah, I did, so what about you? You probably fall into that crowd that just whines about Balić and prays for our guys to lose.
We’ll probably breeze past the French if they even get the chance to step on the field against us.

Honestly, my opinion doesn't even matter here; the real point is that beating a team that’s basically begging to lose isn't exactly a legendary feat.☕

Joshua Gomez54 said:That's it, we're definitely going to crush them.
Maybe the only downside to forcing this win is burning out our players for future games. They'll likely end up exhausted playing against the French or the Danes compared to just facing someone like Germany or Belarus.

The Japanese will absolutely run circles around us and laugh at us during those last ten minutes.

I mean, are these kids really supposed to go toe-to-toe with Dinart? 🤣

Listen, Stari Kljun—any coach with at least two functioning brain cells would have benched the entire starting lineup for this game. Honestly, they should’ve sent them straight to the nosebleed seats, given them two days off to fly back home and just deal with their own mess, all while leaving those absolute nobodies out on the field for the full sixty minutes.

Henry Hernandez7 said:It doesn't even matter what my personal take on this is, does it? What really matters here—what we absolutely have to drive home—is the simple, undeniable fact that scraping a win against an opponent who is actively trying to lose is nothing short of pathetic. How can anyone possibly call such a hollow, meaningless victory "fantastic"? It’s an insult to the game! ☕

Well, at least we finally got that game released! 🙂

analogmason16 said:Goluža really showed everyone just how clueless he actually is. You're in a spot where a loss works for you, and you know the other side benefits from a loss too, yet you still send out the starters? You're risking injuries and burning out your guys for absolutely no reason. Any coach with half a brain would have subbed in the B-team to give them some much-needed minutes. If they win, great. If they lose, whatever—at least you rested your top seven.

We ended up losing this one because we lost Štrlek for the rest of the season and didn't bother resting the A-team.

Goluža isn't exactly playing chess. He’s obsessed with being the hero and self-promoting. He feels the need to prove something to everyone, so he goes all-in on a game where it doesn't even matter.

Even in soccer, a team like FC Barcelona will bench their stars if the match isn't critical. You have to play the numbers; that's just part of the game. Only an idiot tries to run straight through a brick wall.

LONDON -- Eight female badminton doubles players were disqualified Wednesday from the London Olympics after trying to lose matches to receive a more favorable place in the tournament.

The Badminton World Federation announced its ruling after investigating two teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia. It punished them for "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport" in matches Tuesday night.

Like I said before, I would've just kicked the Spanish squad out of the tournament entirely.

The issue isn't just dealing with the French—we’ve got the Danes to worry about too—and frankly, our bench depth is nonexistent right now. Just tell me, who on earth is supposed to carry us all the way to the finals? Is it going to be that damn Lac, or are we really looking at Ivano watching from the stands while little Šprem tries to hold it down?

Jeremy Phillips54 said:LONDON -- Eight female badminton doubles players were disqualified Wednesday from the London Olympics after trying to lose matches to receive a more favorable place in the tournament.

The badminton World Federation announced its ruling after investigating two teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia. It punished them for "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport" in matches Tuesday night.

Like I said, I'd kick the whole Spanish squad out of the tournament myself.

Meanwhile, we were busting our asses just to get a win. Goluža calls THAT while we're scoring, Vori pulls off those insane lobs, Duvnjak refuses to pass to Vori for five straight minutes... you name it.

silverpuma90 said:Alright fine, we basically got handed a win on a silver platter.🙂

Jbg, if you actually watched that with an objective eye instead of just rooting for one side, it would've been pretty obvious.

rowdygull90 said:they end up going at 100% just to secure a specific result, even when it totally isn't necessary..

Honestly, "citius, altius, fortius" is supposed to be the whole soul of sports, right? 😉

But with all this nonsense happening today, modern sports have completely lost their magic and sense, feeling more like some shady stock market manipulation than actual competition. 🤦

rowdygull90 said:because you have to calculate your moves, it's just part of the game

>THE CONCEPT OF CALCULATION. What does calculation even mean? In any other context, calculation is just an accounting process used to figure out the price of goods and services.

Just look at the context above ☕

Anyway, to wrap this up, congrats to the guys on the win! 🙂

Don't you guys get that there’s absolutely nothing to celebrate here?

You're celebrating just because we weren't quite as dirty as they were. It was obvious from the start that we weren't playing for the win—we were just scraping by for a draw. All this did was hand them the victory, give us a brutal draw, burn through our roster, and end up with an injury to Štrlek. If we had at least played the final stretch with some actual intent, fine. But we were sloppy too; they just happened to be better at being sloppy than we were.

Honestly, they should have just handed them a 15-point deficit so they could at least be properly embarrassed. 🙄

The haters are just spitting on Keto even though he didn't lose anything. Honestly, it would have been the exact same result if he had lost. ☕ You fanatics really need to stop. ☕ I'll take a coffee and a croissant, please. ☕

Daniel Cooper40 said:Congrats on that, honestly. We weren't nearly as shady as they were. You could tell just by watching the plane that we weren't flying high for a win either; we were mostly just aiming for a draw.

I don't know, I guess Goluža really wanted that win, you could see it in him. He put that player from the Asian circuit in, but as soon as the kid messed up once—like, literally immediately—he was out. If that's what passing on opportunities to the younger guys looks like, then I guess that approach is pretty flawed. I'm not sure he would've acted like that if he had been playing it more safe...

It feels like we've seen this all before, I suppose. I wrote before the game that I'd love to see us go for the win, but without killing ourselves on the field. Maybe just rotate more and give the starters some rest if things are going okay, but I guess it doesn't matter what I write.😁