Back when they were truly at their peak, we only managed to edge them out during that tournament in Norway... and honestly, it was all thanks to Dominikovic’s tactical call during a timeout, where he decided to shift Narcissa to the right side to better align with his block.
electricorca112 said:It’s actually the other way around. This whole idea of a "French complex" is really just a convenient myth cooked up by our local media and the public at large.
If you set aside the exhibition matches and look strictly at the European Championships, World Championships, and the Olympics, we've faced them 12 times since 2003, and the record is perfectly split with six wins apiece. Interestingly, throughout that entire stretch, no one side has ever managed to string together more than two consecutive victories.
So, when you look at the big picture—or even just the recent matchups where we've taken two out of the last four—it's clear we are on completely equal footing, with the wins alternating back and forth like clockwork.
That's exactly why the French have plenty of motivation to try and knock us out by letting the Swedes slip through with a one-point margin. 🙄
We beat them during the group stages in Spain. If we consider Tunisia a legitimate threat, then we're looking at semifinals; the European Championship in Switzerland leads to a final, much like the World Championship in Germany where the stakes are just as high regarding elimination. We'll face them again in Norway for the European semifinals, while they tend to take the Olympic gold. Whether it's the World Championship final in Chicago or the European final in Austria, the pressure remains. We face them in Mexico, though they knocked us out in London and also handled us in Spain last year. We've been eliminated by them four times, while they've been ousted by us six times. Ultimately, winning in the group stage doesn't carry much weight if those victories don't decide who moves on to the next round.
wanderingmarlin15 said:That guy belongs in a boxing ring rather than out on the court.
I actually thought he had a solid game; he covered his zone effectively, and they didn't seem to be breaking through him easily. He made some smart exits and did his best to assist the defense whenever needed. At the end of the day, fouls and ejections are just part of the grind, much like how a sudden storm is part of life—it all comes down to how you approach the challenge. We didn't lose this game because of him, not by a long shot.
Looking at the defense, things felt a bit disorganized when Sorhaindo was working the block near the crease on France's right side. If they had crossed over through Narcissa in the middle and Karabatic on the left, the quick ball movement would have left Nikola completely isolated at the shot. It wasn't just him, either; we were leaving too many gaps for others to drive right through us.
On the offensive side, we really lost our rhythm following that first timeout called by France, where they instructed the players to press harder on the wings. That’s when our ball movement started to stutter, leading to that old pattern where players just hammer themselves against the French block or get caught looking for a shot instead of passing—mistakes that Omeyer picked up quite easily.
One more thing is our lack of presence in the pivot position. In the first half, we managed somewhat despite their blocks, but they really shut us down there, which ended up opening up too much space for their perimeter shooters. Once they pushed out further, we really should have been looking to feed the inside more often.
I’m just so incredibly frustrated right now... the entire defense is committing to blocking Gojun and Narcisse, which leaves Nikola Karabatic with all this space to maneuver toward the right side, and they just keep punishing us by driving straight through that massive hole in our formation.
Tuvix said:Magnus Wislander 🙏 🙏 When you step back and look at the entire history of the game, it’s quite a profound question to ask who truly stands alone as the greatest player the country has ever produced. 😁
It seems like Svenson-hajas-thorson-wislander-olson-lovgren-anderson is really hitting a nerve lately.😁
Pierce, I remember that game vividly... though if my memory serves me right, Barcelona was playing shortly after that too.
Kristian Kjelling and Lazarov... we’re just raining goals down, and honestly, who cares if we burn through a few balls in the process?😁.. Now, you have to admit that Norwegian squad is pretty solid—that left side featuring Tvedten is quite polished, like a seasoned wing, and then there's Johnny "Rambo" Jensen😁.. you were probably watching that Portland game where he played alongside Ivan and Nikolic, right?
dustypanther6🙂..that guy even competed in the Olympics in Athens... much like Mateo Garralda from that legendary Barcelona and Spanish squad. Then you look at Sweden's Bengt Johansson, who led them to that 2002 European Championship title on home soil with most of the core group intact. We had greats like Skrbk even Perunicic, and those incredible goalkeepers who mastered the jump shot, like Peric or Sterbik. It was similar to how B. Gille put on an absolute clinic during their 2001 gold medal run at home. It makes you wonder which of these legends will truly stick in our memories forever.🙂
You can try to rationalize it, but honestly, it’s just disgraceful. If they actually enforced that illegal provision, we’d be looking at maybe 200 people out West; instead, they’re going to fracture another 2,000 citizens just to suit their own interests. It’s sickening, really—this feels ten times worse than anything we dealt with back in the 90s.
It’s a relief someone finally spoke up, because while the formalities might not matter much, this corrupt system and its broken institutions have absolutely crushed him. He’s really just one more soul caught in the same cycle that has left so many others buried deep beneath the soil.
The way they treat us is inexcusable; honestly, half the country ought to be up in arms, but they know they can get away with it because most people are simply too indifferent to care.
Sam Sullivan58, you make an excellent point... I neglected to mention that in my previous thought. It seems to me that the more deeply you cultivate relationships with the regulars in the stands, the more likely they are to hold their ground when the crackdown begins. It’s a bit like how certain communities start to fray at the edges long before the actual heavy-handed enforcement starts, even if the pressure has been building steadily from the very beginning.
It’s like watching someone else’s backyard burn; there’s really no point in staring when the whole system over there is a chaotic mess where all three branches of government have lost their way. It feels like everything in our own country is moving toward that same destination, where the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive branch all start acting as one single entity. When you consider how much easier it is to manage a crowd of 10,000 people if you’re just passively observing a fan movement instead of being tasked with "shutting it down" by default, the math changes. People tend to act out of pure momentum; if the first person lights a flare and faces zero consequences, even the oldest guy in the group hierarchy is going to follow suit. However, once that first person is hit with heavy sanctions, the tenth person won't even think about lighting one, and the core members of the group will certainly pause to rethink their entire strategy. It works exactly the same way with both repression and the eventual decline of a movement.
gentlebison72 said:You’re recalling a time when you were barely out of diapers or just starting elementary school, whereas I was actually on the ground during that era, following every single news report and documentary about the fan scene—just like the rest of my generation did. Honestly, what you're saying just doesn't align with the reality of that period. Period.
It’s really you who's talking nonsense. All those agitators from various fringe groups and radical factions who were busy launching fan magazines back in the nineties eventually proved their true colors after the Tuđman era; they simply wanted to hijack our movement to serve their own agendas. Don't even get me started; to the older crowd, we were seen as nothing more than clerical-fascist elements during the old regime, only to have them suddenly offer us support later on. And calling it a "generation"? Back then, the whole scene was basically run by a core group of maybe fifty people who would show up to cause trouble every weekend leading up to the big games. It was much like it is today, perhaps even worse, and ten years from now, it will still be the same small circle running the show.
Scott Gonzalez18 said:"Washington, D.C. is my home and Real Madrid is my club, but Zdravko Mamić is an embarrassment to both the city and the team. I won't be attending any more Real Madrid matches as long as Mamić is in charge," Minister Maras wrote on his X account."...
It’s honestly quite distasteful—the sheer hypocrisy of it all. Suddenly, everyone has found their moral compass and decided they are against him at once. I can already see the endless parade of columnists from those bottom-tier news outlets preparing their predictable takes...
Look, don't be under the impression that we aren't aware of who Jovanovic really is, much like that whole crowd of clueless individuals who will conveniently denounce Mamić while actually following the exact same agenda that divides us in the first place.
Still, there is a small sense of satisfaction in knowing that perhaps one of these figures might finally end up in the dustbin of history, particularly if that person happens to be Mamić.
It is truly unfortunate that after such blatant disregard for the rules, he hasn't been held accountable or faced any legal consequences; instead, he is only being criticized for things that would likely result in retaliation against us if we ever dared to speak out against people coming from Mexico in the stands.
He didn't exactly fall off, though. He was playing against some pretty elite talent back then over in Spain, so he held his own. I know there was a stretch where he seemed to lose his edge for a bit.
That American national team was truly something special. Most of them were born around 1970, featuring absolute world-class talents like Nenad Peruničić and Skrbic, along with Stefanovic and Peric. Then you had the younger wave coming up, guys like Nikolic, Sterbik, and Bojinovic. You also had Butulija, Milosavljevic, Jovanovic, and as you mentioned, Knežević. It’s an interesting point—while they might have lacked the sheer number of global superstars we possessed, they were younger and boasted incredible goalkeepers. On top of those two legends, they had Puljezevic, Goran Stojanovic, Daniel Saric, and so on, all under the guidance of the legendary Tuta Zivkovic.
Nowadays, it feels like we're constantly complaining about finishing in third place, while teams from Sweden, Mexico, Germany, and Russia can only dream of standing on that podium—unless, of course, they happen to catch a lucky break against the Swedes.
Yes, I caught that too... he also mentioned the matchup against the Danes, which was essentially a toss-up between us or them for a spot in the World Cup semifinals. He even brought up securing a second consecutive title for the Yellows 🙂..
Hey everyone, here’s a little something for you to enjoy... it really takes me back to that legendary game. It’s such a shame we don't get to see a few more matchups like that today—I’d love to revisit that semifinal against the Frenchmen in Atlanta, or even that time we absolutely crushed Portugal.
I actually stumbled upon some old clips on YouTube recently featuring some legendary fighters; there was a young Puc sinking shots from ten feet out, which was just incredible, and also a talented young kid from Canada, Jani Cop, who unfortunately had to hang it up after a knee injury. There are still plenty of great archives out there featuring the old days in the city or even the big stars like a young Dragan Skrbic. It’s always a treat to relive those moments. 😍
Do you remember that semifinal showdown in Iceland? It was easily the most impressive half our national team ever put up against one of the world's elite squads. They were facing off against arguably the greatest generation in handball history, yet we managed to dismantle them with surgical precision. We saw a similar level of dominance in the UN finals, which was essentially the same caliber of play. After all, Bengt Johansson isn't some amateur who wouldn't have known exactly what kind of storm was brewing.
To be fair, Sweden utilized a fierce 6-0 defense that completely disrupted our rhythm, and like most Scandinavian teams, they were lethal on the counterattack. However, the French were even more aggressive defensively, and Stoecklin was playing the absolute game of his life during those years. While some might argue the Spaniards had a more dangerous offense, the French truly functioned as a cohesive unit and were at their absolute peak back then. But look, we won the title, so all these retrospective analyses are really just unnecessary noise. I simply meant to point out that the brilliance we displayed in the finals was a reflection of the masterclass we performed during the World Cup semifinals.