It’s hardly a shock—those Scandinavian women pulled off similar stunts at the last European Championship. That kind of play might fly in the women's game, but in men's handball? I highly doubt it.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit I was being blunt when I said our forwards are mediocre at best.
We can talk about defense all we want—whatever—but if our goalie can't stop guys cutting in from the wings, a couple of fast breaks, and a penalty, then forget about any medals.
We could play defense perfectly—I don't care how good we are—but if these guys in goal aren't snatching 15 saves a game, we aren't winning. Either we win games only because our core starters play all 60 minutes, or we just burn ourselves out and limp into the quarterfinals exhausted, just like last time.
I never said our keepers weren't good. I said they aren't elite. They can't magically stop 15 shots if the defense isn't playing solid. You need those 5 or 6 top-tier guys who can pull off 15 saves regardless of what the defense is doing.
I was grabbing drinks with one of our guys from the national team this weekend, and he told me straight up—he’d sign any contract right now if we had actual gold at the World Championship, provided we actually had a real goalkeeper.
He isn't signing anything under these conditions, though. He’s convinced we’ll finish first again, just without the easy wins.
The reality? It's frustrating. Nowadays, every single team gunning for a medal has at least one elite keeper—some even have two. We just have mediocre ones. That's why we won't be cruising through the tournament again; our goalies can't even maintain a 15-save average on an off day, let alone match what the other teams are doing.
Roger Allen3 said:Fast breaks aside—Vukic is sitting right behind Dzombe and Vori as our third top scorer in this tournament with 15 goals. I just hope Lino finally stops playing favorites, much like how Horvat handles things on the other side. Zrnic has proven he’s a total mastermind on the court; he's a professor out there.
Look, gold is gold—and they don't have any. They know they took both wins right when we were running on fumes.
I actually respect them quite a bit—maybe even more than the Spanish—which is why I'm so pissed that we lost to them again. This time it was a total blowout. Sure, we can make excuses because it’s just a Super Cup, but it just shows we struggle against their style.
So, I basically agree with you regarding those two losses. But like I said, we’ve got the World Cup and Olympic gold under our belts, and they don't. End of story.
