Chris Lopez59 said:It honestly makes me happy thinking about the trouble the Americans might run into. After cruising through what was basically the easiest group stage imaginable, they’re headed straight into the gauntlet. They have three brutal matches lined up, and since those first two are going to be absolute killers, the Canadians will have plenty of time to rack up points while everyone else struggles. By the time that third match rolls around, things could get pretty hellish for them. If we end up facing them in the semifinals, wouldn't it be great if we were the ones coming in fresh while they're completely exhausted? It feels like a perfect chance for a little payback.
The Americans are actually in the exact same boat as us; if they can just pull off a win against Spain, they’ll be sitting pretty in the semifinals. And who knows, maybe they'll even land in a slightly easier bracket, considering their main competition currently sits at two points—looking at you, Germany and Spain. In our situation, one of the biggest threats is already sitting on four points, thanks to EP - Norway 2008.
wiredseal7 said:? We ended up facing some pretty mediocre teams like Sweden, Iceland, and Belarus. (Actually, we barely scraped past Sweden with our bench players). Now they’re finally hitting the tough matchups, and I wonder if they might actually get knocked out early since they're grouped with such an awkward side.
I’m really hoping we get a chance to settle the score with their coach and that dirty group of players who follow right after the Canadians.
The game plan? Maybe just hit Omeyer hard in the nose on the very first play. If I recall correctly, they pulled a similar move back in 2006.
It wasn't Belarus, it was Slovakia
That Iceland team absolutely crushed them at the World Championships a year ago, but here at this tournament, they've clearly learned from their mistakes and won't let that happen again; honestly, I think they have a much better head coach than we do.
According to Balić, they are the roughest team out there, and I tend to think his opinion carries the most weight.
If it isn't us winning it all, I'd personally love to see France take the title.
The Frenchmen absolutely dismantled the Icelanders by halftime, leading 17-8. It looks like they finally learned the hard way that you can't just stick to that 5-1 defense against them, especially after getting carved up on the wings during the last championship; now they’re trying a 4-2 setup, but honestly, they look completely lost
ESPN is running a combined broadcast for this game, featuring both the Canadian and Belarusian commentary
The Spaniards managed to pull off a win against Germany, though it was a nail-biter with an eight-point gap appearing just seconds before the final whistle
Terry Fisher2 said:It looks to me like the French are basically playing with just six guys on the floor. You've got Girault, Fernandez, Karabatic, Narcisse, Abalo, and B.Gille; the only others really contributing in defense are Dinart and G.Gille. Since they don't really have a right wing available because Abati and Burdet aren't playing, it leaves them pretty thin. They might end up overextending themselves. They look like a fantastic pick for the semifinals, don't you think?
So if they actually showed up with B.Gille and Dinart in the lineup, shouldn't we be calculating our chances to avoid them in the semifinals?
They ran into similar issues during the last championship, didn't they? They had to swap Abati for Fernandez on that left side—who is actually right-handed—because they were using the exact same pool of players, and that's ultimately how they ended up knocking us out in the quarterfinals.
Chris Lopez59 said:Kelentric is actually an outstanding keeper, but they just don't call him up; instead, they'd rather go with Somić, who doesn't seem particularly motivated.
If you add Jerković and Alilović to that mix, you basically end up with four average European-level goalies. From what I've seen of Somić playing for the local club here in the States, he doesn't look any worse than those other three, right? Honestly, we haven't really had elite, world-class keepers on the level of someone like Howard or Meyer, so does it truly matter which one is guarding our net?
It’s always such a toss-up to predict how things will play out during this tournament, and can we really say if Lin Cervar made the right call by selecting this specific group? We could easily walk away with the gold, or we might find ourselves failing to even make it out of the group stage.
Chris Lopez59 said:For the French team, Bertrand Gille and Dinart are absolutely vital. Honestly, though, Gille seems more essential when they're playing defense. Karabatic has shown he can step in and fill that gap brilliantly if needed, but you can't deny how incredible Gille’s speed is in that 5-1 defensive setup. When he and Dinart work together, they were really the only duo capable of shutting down Balic, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know. Dinart is just on another level.
The backbone of France is definitely B. Gille, Dinart, Karabatic, and—for those of us who fear him most—Omeyer. If they end up missing those first two, the French won't stand a chance; even Omeyer will have a hell of a time carrying the load alone.
By the way, remember how we acted like fools last time, constantly aiming shots at the far corner against Omeyer? He just snatched everything away.
But isn't that Gille playing the left back position instead of the wing😕? At least that's my take on it.😁 He actually plays pivot for them on offense. If the rumors are true and they aren't going to be on the court, that's honestly the best news we could hope for. They might be the only two players out there who actually understand the game well enough to coordinate and actually stop Balic.
The Americans had B. Gille and Dinart on their side 😕 ,and honestly, I was half-tempted to just throw some money their way just to see them clinch the title,
Brandon Castillo4 said:That final play was just brainless. Taking a completely irrational shot from way out there? Honestly, we expected much better than that. That NBA team set up their offense in nine seconds, yet our guys couldn't find anything in thirty. That’s why they lost, plain and simple.
I mean, what kind of "set play" was that anyway? The guy at the perimeter just pulled the ball back and zipped it to the first man who moved toward him for a quick shot, especially when the defense was playing at such an elite level.🙄
But honestly, the most tragicomic part of the whole night was watching the players bickering amongst themselves during the timeout before that last possession, all trying to point fingers about whose fault the defensive breakdown was.🙄
Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about the state of this team and the authority of their coach?
It’s really important that we don't end up facing just the Frenchmen in the semifinals, isn't it? If they stick to that old tournament format, we might just find them sitting in that other group instead.
I have a feeling this matchup against the Canadians might actually be a much tougher test than our game against the Mexicans. While there’s certainly more of a heated rivalry when we play Mexico, I honestly think we are finally on the verge of seeing the US start bringing home medals in tournament series, which is really the ultimate goal, isn't it?
We probably won't see those kinds of results coming out of Denver anymore, because let's be honest, Rudi is still the best coach in the world, isn't he?