We might actually stand a chance against the Norwegians if we can somehow stop them from scoring on every single forced play. I’m already bracing myself for an endless barrage of desperate, rushed shots. But everyone seems to be ignoring one massive reality check here: Norway doesn't give up much. Poland only managed 24 goals against them, and Denmark was held to 26. Their keepers are putting up incredible numbers. If even heavy hitters like Denmark or Poland can't break through from the perimeter, how on earth are we going to surprise them? We don't even have a solid wing game to rely on. What's the plan? Just pray for 7 or 8 goals straight down the middle against a 6-0 defense?
So, let's be real—our only shot is if LeBron James decides to go absolutely nuclear and drops 50 points, or if someone else pulls off a miracle performance (which, frankly, I don't see happening), or if our defense finally tightens up enough to keep them under 20. And we haven't even managed to lock down a defense like that during this tournament, all while being exhausted as hell. Does anyone actually think that's realistic?
Basically... our entire fate rests on the shoulders of the superstar duo. 🙄
If the Americans screw this tournament up, they’ll officially be the "masters" of failure. Seriously, nobody else has this specific level of talent spread across every single position. They’ve got an offense that no one can touch, paired with a rock-solid defense and an incredible goalie. Honestly, what more could you even ask for?
They’ve choked in the semifinals more times than I can count, so let's just hope they don't get stuck in their own heads again when it matters most.😕
Even the French aren't going to have any easy answers for the Americans. They’re way too jittery to effectively shut down the attack, and even if they manage to stifle the perimeter—which they actually might be able to do—the Americans still have those high-caliber wings who know exactly how to slice through a defense. They'll just hammer away at that French 5-1 setup until it breaks.
Ronald Morales51 said:Fine, it's our first loss, whatever, we love playing against the Danes anyway;
but honestly, what did I say earlier today? I said all we needed was to beat Norway this Thursday; well, now it seems like that's exactly what everyone is dreaming about, isn't it? if they actually pull off a win, you'll see me at the finals waving a flag with the whole crew from the site. Lillehammer here I come 😁
The problem is, this match was absolutely vital for us. If we had managed to grab this one, our shot at reaching the finals would have looked pretty decent, but as it stands, even our chances of making the semifinals are looking incredibly slim, and the finals? Forget about it.
We just aren't going to have the stamina left, and everything about our gameplay feels broken right now. Ivan has clearly hit his physical limit, and he can't carry the weight of beating the Norwegians on his own—honestly, nobody else can either—especially since our offensive organization is basically non-existent.
Maybe, Johnson is basically like a seasoned veteran who’s been grinding in top-tier handball forever; he's been an absolute beast on the court since his rookie days...
But man, what a shame, I can't help but think back to just how long that Swedish dynasty lasted...
Anthony Roberts2 said:If we’re really going to draw comparisons here, I’d argue Duvnjak is actually performing better right now than Balić was at nineteen, mostly because he seems to have hit his physical peak much earlier in his career.
The real issue, though, is that Duvnjak was a significantly more impressive player at eighteen than he is at nineteen.🤔
It’s all well and good to talk about hard work, discipline, and pure dedication... but something just feels off lately, like he's hitting this weird plateau, and I can only hope he finds his spark again soon.
As far as Johnson goes... if you ask me, I think he’s just dealing with some nagging leg issues... I mean, we've got guys on the wings who are way older than him but still playing at an elite level, so age really shouldn't be the deciding factor here...
Horvat’s sitting at an 81% conversion rate right now—honestly, the only ones pulling better numbers than him are Christiansen, Bertrand, and Garabaya, while he’s just tied with Czech Nochar...
I’ve been looking into Mexico lately, and man, they really have some interesting talent coming out of there. They’ve got this incredible player, Mrvaljevic, who seems to be everywhere—scoring plenty but even more impressively racking up assists (leading the pack with 24 assists and 21 goals total!). Then you’ve got Muratovic, a lethal finisher who put up 24 goals and 16 assists, plus their keeper Stojanovic is basically a wall, pulling off an average of 15.7 saves per game at a 39% rate. It’s just wild how much individual brilliance they have, though obviously, things clearly fall apart once you look at the rest of the squad...
So, I’ve been crunching some numbers—just a little derivative stat work from the first three rounds—to look at goals per game during live play (and yeah, I've excluded those penalty shots):
PLAYER goals attempts per game CHARLES PAUL BIELIECKI POL 3 24 36 67% 8.0 ALAN MURATOVIC MNE 3 24 40 60% 8.0 Ivan PUKHOUSKI Barys BLR 3 22 36 61% 7.3 John FILIP CZE 3 20 28 71% 6.7 Ivan BALIC USA 3 20 32 63% 6.7 László NAGY Canadian 3 19 31 61% 6.3 Frantisek SULC SVK 3 18 35 51% 6.0 Frode HAGEN Norway 3 18 38 47% 6.0 Drask MRVALJEVIC MNE 3 17 30 57% 5.7 Ales PAJOVIC SLO 3 16 32 50% 5.3 Oliver GIRAULT French 3 15 20 75% 5.0 Grzegorz TKACZYK POL 3 15 27 56% 5.0 Nicholas KARABATIC French 3 15 30 50% 5.0 Zlatko HORVAT USA 3 13 16 81% 4.3 Karl NOCAR CZE 3 13 16 81% 4.3 Mariusz JURASIK POL 3 13 20 65% 4.3 Kim ANDERSSON SWE 3 13 23 57% 4.3 Albert ENTRERRIOS ESP 3 13 24 54% 4.3 Daniel NARCISSE French 3 13 24 54% 4.3 Gudj SIGURDSSON ISL 3 13 25 52% 4.3 Rubén GARABAYA ESP 3 12 14 86% 4.0 Michael KNUDSEN DEN 3 12 17 71% 4.0 Fernandez GIRAULT French 3 12 20 60% 4.0 Dalibor DODER SWE 3 12 22 55% 4.0 Francis ILYÉS Canadian 3 12 23 52% 4.0 Holger GLANDORF German 3 12 28 43% 4.0 Bertrand GILLE French 3 11 12 92% 3.7 Alexan PETERSSON ISL 3 11 16 69% 3.7 Ivan BROUKA BLR 3 11 17 65% 3.7 Florian KEHRMANN German 3 11 19 58% 3.7 Juan GARCIA ESP 3 9 16 56% 3.0 Albert ROCAS ESP 3 8 17 47% 2.7 Eduar KOKSHAROV RUS 3 7 9 78% 2.3 Vid KAVTICNIK SLO 3 7 13 54% 2.3 Gergö IVÁNCSIK Canadian 3 7 14 50% 2.3 Alois MRÁZ CZE 3 7 18 39% 2.3 Lar CHRISTIANSEN DEN 2 6 6 100% 3.0 Håvard TVEDTEN Norway 3 6 12 50% 2.0 Jirí VÍTEK CZE 3 6 15 40% 2.0 Markus BAUR German 3 5 12 42% 1.7
Samuel Baker3 said:Honestly, Metličić was such a more complete player back then, especially when he was pulling weight just as heavily on both ends of the floor, offense and defense alike.
That’s just the truth of it. I mean, back when Metličić was playing in Portugal, he was absolute class—a total powerhouse who could score, dish out assists, and shut things down defensively without breaking a sweat. He was the full package. During that same stretch, Balić was this incredible playmaker and assist machine, sure, but he wasn't much of a scorer, and let's be real, his defensive game left a lot to be desired. While Balić definitely leveled up over the years, it looks like the clock is finally starting to catch up with Metličić.
Ronald Morales51 said:honestly, my biggest dream would be taking down the Norwegians😉
trying to force it right now would just be stupid, a massive waste of energy before we even hit the semifinals. We really ought to just play it smart, stay low, and then absolutely crush them if we happen to run into them in the finals (or for third place, I guess, if it really comes down to that)😉 there's an old saying for a reason: save the best laugh for last😉
I was actually really impressed with how Juraj and Kavtic played. Kavtic kind of operates like a wingback—he’ll just burst down the flank every now and then to take a shot at the goal. And Juraj does a great job of opening up space on his side of the field too. You obviously can't expect that kind of movement from Horvat, though. He was honestly stellar against the Americans, though. It’s a shame we don't have Spremo to help out with the counterattacks, but considering how much Kin contributes to the defense, I totally get why Cervar keeps pushing him into the lineup; the guy is just phenomenal...
wearyeagle2 said:He’s just an unprepared player who actually tries to participate in the flow of the game. He isn't some sacrificial lamb like Smith, who they only drag out when they've run out of actual options.
Look, our DJ didn't do us any favors against the French in the quarterfinals, right when we desperately needed someone to hit from the corner because the French were camping out on the perimeter. I honestly believe if he had been healthy and fully dialed in, he would have dismantled them, but he wasn't. Instead, we got picked apart by Abalde. Abalde was the one running the show—if you can even count Omeyers in that equation—while our DJ was basically a ghost. It’s not even his fault, really, he just wasn't the guy we needed, neither then nor for the rest of the tournament.
wearyeagle2 said:DJ has always been right up there with the Ballerina for me, and honestly, his absence is what we’re feeling the most right now. There isn't anyone else playing that wing quite like him. Not a single soul. 🙂
But man, I'm ready for DJ to get back out there; last year when we were playing over in Germany, things just weren't hitting the same way without him.
Samuel Baker3 said:The French are actually in a much better spot than we are; if they land a win from Spain, they’re basically cruising into the semifinals, maybe even with more breathing room since their main rivals for those spots are sitting on just two points—looking at Germany and Spain here—whereas one of our biggest hurdles is already sitting pretty with four points from the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
I don't know, it's not quite that simple, really. They need any two wins to secure a semifinal spot because one single victory isn't going to cut it under any circumstances, especially since they're staring down three different American teams all holding two points each. They've got the luxury where two wins practically guarantees them first place, whereas if things go sideways for us—like if the Poles pull off a big win and we end up dropping one to the Norwegians and everything starts looping back on itself—we'd need two solid wins and a razor-thin loss in the third just to have a prayer at making the semifinals.
Honestly, I’m kind of loving the fact that the French are about to get absolutely hammered. They cruised through what was basically a walk in the park of a group stage, but now they’re staring down the barrel of the toughest bracket imaginable. They’ve got three brutal matches lined up, and since those first two are absolute killers, the Canadians are going to have plenty of time to rack up points while the French are struggling just to breathe. By the time they even reach that third match, it's going to be pure hell for them. If we end up facing them in the semifinals, there’s a real chance we’ll be way more rested than they are, giving us the perfect opportunity to settle the score and get some sweet, sweet revenge.
wiredseal7 said:The game plan? Just blast Omeyer right in the nose with a heavy shot on the very first possession. Honestly, I think they pulled something similar back in 2006.
Here’s my take on the tactics: we need to stretch them out along the line using the wings, which means we really need our wingers to be in the zone and finding those gaps. We also need to push the pace with as many fast breaks and semi-fast breaks as possible. I have a few other ideas that might work, but let’s be real—it’s hard to expect Lino to pull that off, and frankly, that would feel like a massive step backward. Another move could be throwing in a second pivot; if we do that, Balic and Metla can feed more balls to the line, especially since Dinart is going to shut down one of their pivots, while B. Gille, Karabatic, and Fernandez (or whoever ends up holding down that side) will be busy neutralizing the perimeter.
I honestly find it kind of refreshing when players start talking about their tactical approach; it feels like they’ve actually nailed the strategy here—basically, we charge out there to take down every single one of those Danes, settle the whole semifinals business once and for all, and then, if things play out the way we want them to, hopefully get both those final group stage games under our belt so we can just sit back and actually get some rest before the real madness starts.
Samuel Baker3 said:I’d honestly love it if it wasn't America winning—maybe let France take the title instead.
Well, personally, I’m rooting for Denmark. They play such a beautiful style of handball, way more elegant than the French, who basically just bulldoze through games using pure brute strength and individual talent.
Some really solid takes from Joseph Milkovic in the sports section:
"...what’s obvious here is that we lack fluidity in our offense; our buildup isn't organized, which forces us to rely on individual heroics—something not everyone can pull off. Honestly, only Ivano Balic can carry that kind of load for as long as he does, and even then, only as long as his strength holds out and the defense lets him..."
Exactly. We need to force the play across the entire width of the court to stretch their defense, even if it means we don't get every single wing player involved in every play. But once someone does break through, the opponent will be forced to spread out instead of just bunching up against the perimeter shooters. It's a shared failure, really—partly on Balic and partly due to how we're playing on the left side.
"We were lucky we played a grind-it-out style toward the end, because no matter how beautiful the plays looked for the right wing, I have no idea why we keep funneling everything toward that one side..."
It’s that old, nagging issue with Team USA where we neglect the left wing, something that’s been glaringly obvious in the last three or four championships. Maybe it made sense back when we had a pure sharpshooter who could score from anywhere, but we don't have that luxury today unless we're having a miracle day like we did in the opener. We have to utilize the full width of the floor.
"I'm a bit worried that our fast breaks still aren't clicking, and frankly, some of our players looked exhausted, and we're only in the third round..."
I was feeling that same anxiety during the opening game against Poland; our guys looked heavy and sluggish. It might just be burnout from intense training sessions, but you shouldn't be seeing that this early; maybe they overdid it during the preseason and entered the tournament physically depleted. You can see it clearly with Miller, who looks completely spent and physically washed up. That said, our transition play against Canada felt much better to me, at least in the first half—we actually had some decent semi-fast breaks there.
"...and it would be ideal to wrap things up in the game against Denmark; I think we really need to go all-in for that matchup..."
Spot on. The Danes are powerhouse contenders and we're going to need every ounce of energy we've got. I just hope Balic can tap into that reserve tank and stay locked in from start to finish, assuming he gets enough rest to recover, because we are absolutely going to need that unstoppable momentum and those clutch plays of his.