Posts by frozentiger6

Our defense is playing like absolute garbage right now, man. This is exhausting.

Seriously, just play a decent sixty minutes of football for once. Is that too much to ask?

Seven goals conceded in ten minutes... unbelievable.

double 🙏

Adam Collins4 said:What happened, guys? I was eating dinner, so I wasn't really watching.

Zernick is out there on the field, getting shoved into the advertisements, the refs are totally biased, and Zernick tries to protest only to get slapped with a two-minute penalty.

What even is this? Come on, man, play some defense! Don't just stand there like a statue, for God's sake.

Spearman 😁

Give me a break, what kind of defense are we running lately? 🙄

Seriously, ref, you absolute joke—you just completely screwed over my uncle!

I swear, I am so done with this judge! What an absolute joke.

George

Pesic closed the curtains on this one 🙏

Sandra Wilson38 said:Look, we all tip our hats to Alilovic for everything he’s done up until this World Cup.
But if his own coach is saying he isn't mentally ready, then what's the point in even arguing? 🤷 We can just sit here and trash talk guys like Šol and Goluza if we want.

Then you look at Marko Kopljar—he never really did anything to impress me. And it's not like I wasn't watching him. I kept telling myself, "Give him a break, he's young, let's give him a chance." Then I recently find out the kid is already 25!?? 😲 😵

Marko Kopljar might be one of the best on the court during practice, which is probably why they keep waiting for him. But let's be real: Gobac isn't as clueless as he looks. He wants to move him along, but the kid burned through all his chances a long time ago. He lacks the guts and the mental toughness. That's my take. He’s never going to be a superstar.

As for Alilovic, his head has definitely been spinning lately—though I guess I'm the last one to notice. 😁 Just kidding, but seriously, I think his form took a hit from the chaos in Celje, losing Serdarusica, and the whole transition period. While Noka was on the team, he was playing brilliantly... then he gets the call from Lowen, the Celje folks mess with him over the transfer, and it all just piles up. He showed up in bad shape, and Sola, despite being an "expert," hasn't done a thing to fix it—maybe because he doesn't know how. Now, his confidence is totally shot. But knowing the stubborn Hercegovac, I think he'll dig deep and show some backbone when it counts. At least he actually has some, unlike certain others.

That said, his form is so bad right now that he might just fizzle out completely. But that brings up a massive question: why bring a goalkeeper to the World Cup who isn't in form? Why isn't Somic there? Where is Losert, or any of the veteran keepers? We don't have Sterbik, sure, but we have plenty of solid backups. Why are we bringing a third-string keeper from Chicago instead of someone like Mate Sunjic, who is leagues ahead of Pesic?

And so on, and so forth.

Sandra Wilson38 said:You guys are going to be absolutely stunned when you see Alilovic and Kopljar out there today. They are more locked in than ever. ☕

😁

Honestly, the constant bashing of Alilovic has crossed the line from criticism into just being pathetic. That guy single-handedly dragged us into the semifinals against that damn Danish team last year (and 😉 I’m not even talking to you specifically, just referencing the general vibe of the comments here).

As for Kopljar, he hasn't done anything worth mentioning, and he isn't about to start now.

The "French connection" kicks off tonight... if you know, you know.

Daniel Cooper11 said:We actually should've won by 12 goals🙂

Alright, looking at how today’s game went, we probably should have put up about 20 goals ourselves... if I'm doing the math right. At this rate, two more wins and we're cruising into the semifinals—unless, of course, Mexico decides to absolutely demolish both Poland and Argentina by like 15 points each.

Alright, now you’re probably going to go argue with the guy Sunjica thinks is an upgrade over Alilovic.

If you had mentioned Mike Basic, then we could talk... maybe we could just clone him at this point.

For his age, Mike still puts up an incredible performance in goal. Honestly, Gobac is struggling to find anyone with even half his experience to back him up, but I won't get sidetracked by that.

The Mexican team is slow and sluggish. If we drop a game to them, any hope for a medal is dead. It’s not just about losing points; if you're actually aiming for a podium finish, you simply cannot afford to lose to a squad with such limited upside—regardless of all the local rivalries and the inevitable tension on the field.

Yeah, Sunjic, 😁 😁

Looks like the crowd from the Rust Belt has decided to drift over to this forum too.

Joseph Clark37 said:The Americans are going up against Algeria, but when they face us, they’re going to play significantly better than they did in that opening match. They have that classic "underdog" complex: they struggle against weaker teams and barely scrape by, but once they face a powerhouse, they suddenly find an extra gear and overperform. We can't afford to be complacent. We need to stay sharp and give it everything we've got to shut them down so there's absolutely no room for an upset.

There's truth to that, but with the American team, the bigger issue is that their style of handball feels stuck in the past.

They don't even have a decent backcourt player, and relying on the wings and pivots is basically a gamble for them.

If they catch fire, they could take down even the top seeds, but... honestly, it all comes down to who they're facing if they're playing against a superior side.

Kids around three years old can't tell the difference between a soccer ball and a severed head, let alone what parents call a watermelon. But Dad? Dad's already convinced that if the kid becomes a pro athlete, he’ll be able to retire on a "respectable" pension.

And handball? What's the payout there? Forget about it. We’re just waiting for the next big superstar, some massive brand name, to come along.

Carl Garcia22 said:Back in Lubbock—which is just a small town of about 5,000 people—the Boy Scouts of America youth teams used to travel all over the place, hitting tournaments in the Czech Republic, Poland, Canada, Germany, and even down through the Midwest and South. Fast forward to today, and those same kids, born back in '92, are playing in the top-tier professional leagues and absolutely killing it. I’m convinced that any club with decent organization can produce results like that, regardless of where they're based.

Look, Lubbock has a legitimate handball academy, and that makes a world of difference. When you have an organization that actually knows what it's doing—especially in a town where the whole community lives and breathes sports—you see real progress.

Adam Collins4 said:There are a few new rules for this World Cup, some I’ve mentioned before, but the latest ones say there are now three timeouts... I don't really get Golužino's explanation for how that works, but whatever...🤣

He said you can request two timeouts in a single half...

Now, following that logic, there should be four total, not three...

Either they have three, and you just choose which half to call the second one in...

But I can't find any actual specifications on it anywhere...

My take is that you can call three timeouts whenever you want, but the first two are pre-allocated to each half.

Also, I'm not sure if you mentioned that the halftime break isn't 10 minutes anymore—it's been bumped up to 15.

The discussion has gone way off track. I wasn’t even trying to compare handball to soccer as sports; I was talking about how players treat their national teams. Look at how that winger gets treated like absolute garbage every single time, while all he says is, "I wish the guys the best and I wish I could be there with them." When Krizanac had one bad game, he didn't hold back when taking shots at the coach. It's different now—when a coach leaves someone off the roster for the World Cup or the Olympics who everyone thinks "has" to go, it isn't just the player getting grilled; it's his agent, the media, and basically half the country.

And as for the idea that handball is only played in a handful of countries? That's outdated too. Considering places like Russia or Canada didn't even qualify this time, it just goes to show that the quality of the game is steadily spreading out globally.

Soccer is obviously going to stay more popular for a long time, mostly because there is just way more money moving around in that world. But success isn't only about the paycheck.

Paul Jones7 said:Whoa, slow down there. You can't even compare soccer to handball. It’s apples and oranges. A foundation of pro players? The number of countries playing at a high level? Seriously?

Look, just getting to the World Cup or the EP is considered a win for them. Missing out isn't some massive disaster... Bilic will probably explain more later, or maybe Krizanac will step in.