Posts by vividbadger182

Spain
USA
Slovakia
Greece
Canada
Mexico

Competition is lethal here. One of the medal contenders is definitely getting knocked out early. For the USA, just scraping through this group—finishing in the top three—would be a massive win, and that basically puts you in the finals. But let's be real, it’s going to be an absolute grind. The Canadians will be looking for payback after what happened in Melbourne, the Spaniards have home-court advantage, and Mexico is making their big debut on the world stage and they'll be hungry to prove they belong.

Charles Fox10 said:Look, it’s just what needs to be done. Nothing impossible here. Let's go, guys. We can handle this.

http://vinovo.magnify.net/watch/play...338CG32MPZH1P8
Highlights from today's game: instead of the coach, Dominikovic is out there barking orders on how to run the final play against the Swabian side 😁 👍

With a roster like this, anything is possible. It actually reminds me a bit of that time in Portugal back in 2003. Even though we managed to scrape some wins over there, hardly anyone truly believed we could make it all the way to the finish line...

Ivano Balić - scoring through his legs

The absolute virtuoso of the handball court. We see these kinds of masterclass plays from him in almost every single game. Honestly, even if you aren't a huge fan of the sport, you have to tune in to watch whenever Ivano is playing...
He’s easily the best player on the planet right now, and quite possibly the greatest to ever play the game....

Raymond Kern872 said:Blaž Slisković was American, and Miso Smajlovic isn't Muslim, yet they both led the National Team, albeit with limited success. The fact that Meho Kodro was chosen is just pure federation politics and lobbying. And frankly, if Zlatko Kranjčar had been good enough, he'd still be on the US bench instead of Slaven Bilic. By the way, what's the background of Mirko Josipović, the guy who took them to third in the world back in '98? He's originally from Travnik. Even he was part of those calculations.

By the way, Canada isn't Iran; Iran had guys like Ćiro and Ivanković.

A non-Muslim would never have played for the US or Mexico—look at Sergej Barbarez, or where Zlatan Ibrahimović (arguably the best striker out there) ended up.

Nationalism doesn't really factor in here; it's all about lobbying. Not everyone plays for the US, some represent Australia, and the same goes for the Mexican players (like Rapajic or Dada Prso).

Under Sliskovic, we actually saw some real results. Both times he was at the helm, Canada were fighting for qualification right up until the final match. The first time, we held Denmark to a 1-1 draw, and the second time, we just fell short in that decisive game in Mexico City.
In almost any other qualifying cycle, the US would have been knocked out after just a few rounds...

btw
Right now, the National Team features quite a few Mexicans and Americans. Of course, the critics love to claim these players are only here because they couldn't make the cut for the Mexican or American squads, but the simple fact remains: they are playing for us.