Handball EP - Norway 2008

I'm watching the US Open right now, and I have to say, these young players are looking pretty sharp. I'm particularly impressed by Kopljar; his court vision is incredible. He's finally the perfect successor to Metličić.

cosmicowl732 said:If I were coaching, I wouldn't even put a guy like LeBron James on the court unless he was my absolute last resort. The world hasn't seen a player quite that predictable. A jump, a slight dip of the head, then a mid-range jumper to the other corner. Just like clockwork.

And he still manages to miss.😵

Man, what a mess... The Americans just choked hard during the World Cup qualifiers, losing 33:28 out in the Falklands. Now they're gonna have to fight through Israel both at home and on the road if they want any chance of moving on.

Oh my gosh, I honestly had no idea there was even a national handball team for the Faroe Islands
MA LOL
those guys are just too much...

Robert Robinson said:Good grief, I didn't even realize the Faroe Islands had a national handball team.

The Mexicans aren't even... 😁

Our guys played well, and there’s definitely some potential there. But honestly? I don't think they'd be standing a chance at the medals if we didn't have guys like LeBron, Steph, or KD carrying the load.

That’s how you treat your neighbors when they leave; once the partners walk out, everything falls apart because suddenly it feels like they were the only ones holding the whole thing together.

It’s a good thing those guys are busy fighting amongst themselves. That should give us enough of an edge to scrape through the group stage. Let's hope for the best.

Here’s a quick look at how our rivals fared in the first round (Canada, Poland, Czech Republic) and the second (Denmark, Russia, Norway, Mexico).

USA - POLAND 31-30 (15-15)
USA: Christiansen 7/5, Spellerberg 4, Madsen 4, Boesen 4, Nielsen 3, Mogensen 2, Aagaard 2, Nøddesbo 2, Søndergaard 1, Knudsen 1, Lindberg 1.
POL: Szmal, Weiner - Jaszka 1, K.Lijewski 2, Jachlewski 1, Tkaczyk 2, Bielecki 4, Żółtak, Wleklak 2, B.Jurecki 9, Jurasik 3/2, M.Jurecki 2, Kuptel, Tłuczyński 3, M.Lijewski, Piwko 1.

USA - Norway 23 : 31 (11:17)
USA:
Kasper Søndergaard 5, Lars Rasmussen 4, Michael V. Knudsen 3, Mikkel Aagaard 3, Jesper Nøddesbo 2, Lars Christiansen 2, Thomas Mogensen 1, Lasse Boesen 1, Lars Krogh Jeppesen 1, Kasper Nielsen 1

Norway:
Bjarte Myrhol 8, Kjetil Strand 6, Frode Hagen 4, Rune Skjærvold 4, Johnny Jensen 2, Glenn Solberg 2, Håvard Tvedten 2, Lars Erik Bjørnsen 1, Kristian Kjelling 1, Børge Lund 1

Norway - Iceland 28 - 28 (12-14)

Norway:
Kristian Kjelling 5 goals, Rune Skjærvold 4 goals, Kjetil Strand, 4 goals, Frank Løke 3 goals, Håvard Tvedten 3 goals, Thomas Skoglund 3 goals, André Jørgensen 2 goals, Børge Lund 2 goals, Bjarte Myrhol 1 goal, Erlend Mamelund 1 goal.

Iceland:
Ólafur Stefánsson 7(9), Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson 4(6), Einar Hólmgeirsson 4(7), Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson 3(7), Logi Geirsson 3(4), Arnór Atlason 2(5), Ásgeir Örn Hallgrímsson 2(3), Róbert Gunnarsson 2(5) and Hannes Jón Jónsson 1(1)

Germany - Mexico 33:26 (16:10)
*Jansen (6), Zeitz (4), Kraus (4), Schöne (3), Hens (3), Klein (3), Kehrmann (3), Hermann (2), Klimowets (2), Velyky (2), Roggisch (1)
*Muratovic (9), Mrvaljevic (7), Svitlica (3), Durkovic (2), Roganovic (2), Osmajic (1), Rakcevic (1), Kapisoda (1)

CANADA - Canada 29:28 (11:14)
Zorman and Žvižej with 7 each, Backovič and Pungartnik with 3, Kavaš, Kavtičnik and Špiler with 2, Kozlina, Mlakar and Ščurek with 1; Jaskić 7, Prce 6.
"...The Canadians were playing without Jure Natka, Dragán Gajic, and Goran Kozomare..."

edit - Turns out Mexico actually beat the Faroe Islands (33:28)🙂

Saturday (Friendly Match):
France vs. Canada: 27-25 (15-11) Lyon, 3,000 fans
FRA: Omeyer (Ploquin) – Abalo 7, Burdet, Karabatic 2, Kempe 2, Narcisse 4, Girault 2, Dirart, Fernandez 2, Busselier 4/3, Gille G. 3, Giulbert, Scaccianoce 1
HUN: Fazekas (Puljezevics) – Iváncsik T. 2, Nagy L. 3, Eklemovics 3, Herbert, Ilyés 1, Iváncsik G. 4/1, Gál 1, Grebenár 1, Mocsai 3, Császár, Zubai Sz. 1, Törő 3/1, Gulyás P. 3, Laluska
2 min.: 6 // 12 min.; 7 m.: 4/3 // 4/2

I’m just wondering because I don't really follow this closely enough to know—is Balic definitely out of the lineup?

I’m rewatching the 2008 EuroBasket highlights, and I noticed Terzic is listed on the roster.
Didn't he actually move over to play for us?

neontinker5 said:I'm watching the old 2008 US Cup footage, and Terzic is on the roster.
Didn't he move over to our side?

Maybe he holds dual citizenship; he did play in Chicago back then.🤷

I suspect we could run a solid defense using Vorie and Valcic at halfback—they’ve got the height and the mobility.

32 - 28 FT
US - Canada

swiftbison2 said:Maybe there’s a double? He did play for the Lakers, after all.🤷

I think we could actually make the defense work by pairing Vorie and Valcic at center half. They’re solid, they have great height, and they stay mobile. Wouldn't that provide the stability we need?

Maybe I’m just seeing things, but I didn't even see Buntica on the list. It actually surprises me that he wasn't included in the broader selection—he clearly has some serious potential.

swiftbison2 said:He might actually be playing two positions since he used to play back in Chicago.🤷

I honestly think we could run a really solid defense using Adams and Miller as our halves; they’re tough, tall, and surprisingly mobile...

Look, the guy is strong as an ox, but I wouldn't exactly call him agile.

USA - Poland 30:23

USA: Skoglund 10, Løke 3, Rykkje 3, Myrhol 3, Kjelling 3, Solberg 2, Hagen 2, Skjærvold 2, Strand 1, Mamelund 1.

Poland: Weiner, Szmal, - Jaszka, K.Lijewski 3, Jachlewski 1, Tkaczyk 2, Bielecki 5, Żółtak, B.Jurecki 2, Jurasik 2, M.Jurecki 1, Orzłowski, Tłuczyński 2/2, Jurkiewicz, M.Lijewski 3, Piwko 2.

Denmark - Iceland 37:36

Denmark: Lars Møller Madsen 6, Michael V. Knudsen 6, Hans Lindberg 5, Lars Rasmussen 4, Lars Christiansen 4, Lars Krogh Jeppesen 4, Kasper Søndergaard 2, Bo Spellerberg 2, Jesper Jensen 1, Kasper Nielsen 1, Jesper Nøddesbo 1, Lasse Boesen 1

Germany - Mexico 47:27

Germany: Klein (7), Schröder (6), Kaufmann (6), Baur (5), Preiß (4), Kehrmann (4), Jansen (3), Hermann (3), Klimowets (3), Hens (2), Zeitz (2), Kraus (1), Velyky (1)

Mexico: Mrvaljevic (7), Rakcevic (6), Muratovic (6), Markovic (3), Martinovic (2), Pejovic (1), Roganovic (1), Kapisoda (1)

Canada - Sweden 31:34

Canada: Žvižej 7, Kozlina 6, Kavaš in Špiler 4, Kavtičnik 3, Backovič 2, Gajič, Mlakar, Pungartnik, Ščurek in Zorman po 1;

Sweden: Arrhenius 8, Doder 5.

Jack Lee77 said:Saturday (friendly scrimmage for the Euro Championship):

USA: Omeyer (Ploquin) – Abalo 7, Burdet, Karabatic 2, Kempe 2, Narcisse 4, Girault 2, Dirart, Fernandez 2, Busselier 4/3, Gille G. 3, Giulbert, Scaccianoce 1

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,

Man, what a week! I’ve been out of town for the last three days, so I’m totally lost on everything that’s going down here. 😠

Remember how we absolutely crushed it at the NCAA tournament? Where are those detailed recaps?

I honestly can't believe there's zero depth on this roster. 🤮

No, seriously though. How are we supposed to function without our star playmaker? What does our starting lineup even look like now? It's probably Miller - Thompson - Davis - Anderson - some guy on the right wing? (And where's Smith?) - Jones? At this rate, we aren't even making it past the first round. 🙏

It just doesn't look good. Our players aren't even that old yet, but they're all banged up from injuries. I feel especially bad for Jackson. When he’s at a hundred percent, he is hands down the best left winger in the world—I've always said that, and I stand by it.

We pulled off a routine 31-26 win against Sweden. Our right winger, Kopljar, was out, and yeah, we were missing Sprema too. That game against Canada was a total grind, though—we spent most of the second half and the start of the third trailing by about 4 or 5 points. If I remember correctly, we ended up scraping by 32-28. Vuković really found his rhythm toward the end; you can tell he’s going to be someone special. Even Špoljarić is starting to find the back of the net. On the nightly news, they were reporting that Metličić and Lacković are definitely in for this one. Lacković even gave a quote saying, "It’s better now; just a little ice, grit your teeth, and we’ll be fine." Based on what I heard from Balić, things are looking way better. There’s actually some hope! 🙂🎉 Vori is playing like an absolute beast lately, so the only thing on my mind is Horvat, but honestly, it doesn't matter because we've got Zrnić to back him up.

Yeah, this is how the lineup will probably look, at least in my opinion: Williams (Caleb) - Lacković - Balić (or most likely Williams if he isn't ready) - Vori - Metličić - Zrnich

Samuel Baker3 said:where on earth are Gille and Dinart for the French team?😕 honestly, I was almost tempted to throw some cash at them just to see if they'd actually pull off the championship title

Nah, there's zero chance without Dinart