World Cup Handball: The Final Stretch

quietbison86 said:Based on how they're actually playing, the final really ought to be France vs. Norway.
But our reality? It’s just this brutal grind against the Americans.

I’m hoping I'm totally wrong about that.

Look, we should probably back that up with some actual logic... because right now, there's zero substance to it. Think about it—the way we view the Frenchies is basically the same way the Norwegians view us...

The French are just playing machines, doing just enough to stay in control of the score.

I guess Norway showed more fight against the French than the Canadians did. Their offense seems way stronger than our neighbors, and they seem to get those fast breaks and transition plays more often.

Man, look back at when we were playing in Poland—nobody gave us even a prayer of making the semifinals! Especially heading into that final round where we had to crush the home team by 11 points just to stay alive... and what happened? We pulled it off and marched right in! So, really, after seeing how things shook out in Spain, should we actually be sweating a team that only even made it to the tournament on an invitation?

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Ryan Sullivan9 said:Back in Poland, nobody gave us a prayer of making the semifinals either, especially going into that last round when we needed to blow past the home team by 11 points just to stay alive. And look what happened—we made it. So, after seeing how things went with Spain, why on earth should we be scared of a team that barely even scraped in on an invite?

Look, fear isn't the issue, but respect definitely is. We showed everyone what we could do against Spain, yet now everyone’s already written us off, acting like the final is already decided between them and France.🤔

I’ve noticed people on this board get way too obsessed with Norwegian handball. Personally? I can honestly say I’ve never seen a more twisted, ugly version of the sport. I hate it so much that I’ll probably find myself rooting for the Frenchmen for the first time ever. And I don't just mean they win—I want to see them absolutely crush those guys like mosquitoes.

The whole point of this "handball" nonsense is just hysterical, rushed execution on offense, all because they haven't figured out how to set up a damn defense. Because let's be real—if you don't play defense, you aren't eating tonight. Unless it was a straight fast break, they were basically just trying to force a shot within seven seconds. It’s always someone forcing a 1-on-1. There’s zero value in an assist or some fancy three-man combo play. I can't even remember seeing a decent 2-on-2, though maybe I missed one since I wasn't glued to the screen the whole time.

Honestly, if you want to get philosophical about it, this isn't even handball anymore—it’s just aggressive shoving. It’s like some hillbilly version of the sport... basically, "take three passes then just launch it or you're a coward." Like I said before, I'm rooting for France to absolutely crush this twisted way of playing. I seriously don't want to see this garbage become the mainstream standard for the game.
Some guy's gonna jump in here and claim we lost because of that handball style. And yeah, sure, it looks flashy, but honestly? I think pushing that pace just gives the refs way too much room to make whatever calls they feel like when it comes to offensive fouls.

Basically, I’m always against the Norwegians and that obnoxious style of handball they play. Sure, high-speed handball is what built the foundation for Danish handball, but at least that actually meant something—like, you know, having a few legit superstars on the court.

And here's the kicker: I mentioned this before, but some people clearly missed it—we actually knocked the Norwegians out during qualifiers. Now they’re sitting in the WC finals. It just goes to show how broken the qualifying system is, but honestly? It’s just gross seeing a team that couldn't even make the cut walk away with a silver medal.
It feels even more disgusting to think that if the Norwegians had knocked us out instead, we wouldn't have stood a prayer at getting a wild card, and we wouldn't be sitting in the semifinals right now either.

Yeah, true enough... but whether they got an invite or not, they absolutely earned their spot in the finals. Honestly, they probably wouldn't even be there if the Danes had made it through... I mean, the French are going to steamroll them, but hey, what can you do? Regardless of how they play handball, I don't see them staying relevant on the "big stage" for very long, despite all the hype everyone keeps talking about.

Brian Doyle6 said:And one more thing: I mentioned this before, but some people probably don't realize that the Americans knocked the Norwegians out during the qualifiers. Now they’re in the WC finals. It definitely suggests the qualification system is broken, but honestly, it feels pretty gross that someone who didn't even have the strength to qualify gets to walk away with silver.
It's even grosser to think that if the Norwegians had knocked us out, we wouldn't even have a 5% chance at a wild card, yet we would have somehow made the semifinals too.

I knew they got knocked out in the qualifiers, and I guess the wild card is just something invented to "popularize" handball. 🤣 It’s exactly the same deal as in basketball.

Kenneth Clark18 said:Look, I always figured they just knocked them out in the qualifiers—this whole "wild card" thing is clearly just a gimmick to boost handball's popularity.🤣 Just like they do in basketball.

Not quite—they actually introduced the wild card after Germany missed out on WC 2015. They bumped Australia under the excuse that Oceania lacks a confederation to send reps to the WC (even though they could for years before that), then pulled a wild card move and handed it straight to the Germans. That same year, some Arab teams dropped out, and instead of picking an Asian rep, they gave the spot to Iceland. They’re doing the exact same thing this time—using a phantom wild card just to fill a slot because apparently, nobody knows how to organize a proper European playoff to grant an extra spot.

Honestly, the World Cup is just a massive joke when you consider this is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport.
I get why they do it for long club seasons to chase sponsor money, but hosting a "World Championship" is just pure nonsense that says everything about how little this sport actually matters.
Even what happened in Qatar proves just how much of a circus this whole thing is.

The French national team looks pretty dominant, but honestly, they don't seem to have that same edge at the club level. I mean, even with a massive budget, Paris Saint-Germain just can't seem to break through to the finals.

Brian Doyle6, huge congrats on that bronze! You guys really seized the moment and snatched up a well-deserved medal. Regarding all that talk about the Germans and Icelanders cutting corners to get into this last championship—well, look, the Germans actually missed out on the Europeans just a year ago after getting knocked out by Mexico in the qualifiers. Then, during the qualifiers for Qatar, they got taken down by Poland. Honestly, for a powerhouse like Germany that pours so much money into this sport, missing two major tournaments back-to-back would be a total disaster, so they cooked up this whole excuse where the IHF refuses to recognize the Oceania confederation... even though, as I mentioned, Australia has been showing up to the World Championships consistently since 1999. So, instead of letting Australia play, Germany stepped in as a replacement, though God knows what kind of criteria they used for that! Naturally, the Icelanders filed an official protest with the IHF because their ranking was actually higher than the Germans. Then, just a few days later, the IHF drops the news that the UAE pulled out of the tournament (and man, I’d love to know why—it definitely wasn't because of the money, right?). And what does the IHF do to replace the Emirates? You guessed it: they slot in Iceland! It's just pure chaos, honestly, a total circus

My take on everything that went down today:
I'm stoked about the bronze, but honestly? The way we pulled it off left a bad taste in my mouth.
We really are our own worst enemy. It’s that damn American upbringing—that whole "work hard, stay humble, don't stand out too much, and definitely don't challenge the status quo because we're just a small nation that should settle for scraps" mentality.
Instead of absolutely crushing our own limits during The match, we showed up playing at maybe 50% of our actual potential.
Though, I gotta say, seeing Duvnjak acting all smug after we went up by 7 or something—basically thinking "what can these kids actually do to us?"—was pretty satisfying.
If you ask me, Vujovic is spot on for dropping Duvnjak from the roster. He’s got that same "me-first" privatization syndrome you see with Zorman, and thank God Vujovic finally cleared him off the agenda.

To be real, I expected you guys to be up by a few goals at halftime because I know how solid your defense can be. But I also knew you couldn't sustain that intensity, especially not less than 24 hours after that brutal semifinal. Honestly, our play was so pathetic at points that I stopped believing we'd even pull it together. Some people on the forums are clapping right now, saying we showed that "German grit" of never giving up, but that’s total bullshit to me. I’m convinced we only actually started playing real handball once the exhaustion kicked in and killed the nerves and the tension that comes with them. And yeah, let's be real: you were physically spent in those last 10 minutes. If everyone had had equal rest, we wouldn't have been able to pull off that comeback.

Like I said at the start—I'm thrilled about the medal, but probably not for the reasons everyone thinks.
There are two reasons:
1. This is my first REAL medal. Those home-turkey ones have always felt questionable to me.
2. I’m actually hoping this is the end of our inferiority complex against the giants. The Spaniards, Danes, and Germans were all headed home before the semis; why should we be shaking in our boots against them in future tournaments when we’ve proven our level with a World Championship medal?

p.s.
I’m not one to worship players, but Bezjak won me over years ago. He wasn't exactly shining this tournament—maybe had one decent game—but those last 15 minutes against the Americans proved why I fell for a true 👍

And one more thing:
I’ll take my next ban with total pleasure, since I’m clearly sacrificing myself to raise the quality of this forum 😁
My father-in-law puts it this way:

Patriot said:It's an American issue. We're getting better mentally now that we aren't stuck with Zorman, who was class (had 4 Champions League appearances), and Skok just isn't on Škof's level anymore. Our offense is sluggish; we've got these tall guys out there who can't shoot for crap...

So I tell him:
Forget about your precious Zorman already—if you love watching him so much, why don't you just take him home!!
Honestly, I'm thrilled Vujovic finally dumped those losers who thought the national team was their own private playground.
If you ask me, you've got that same "Zorman syndrome" over in Duvnjak, where he’s constantly screaming on the court—why don't they just pass him the ball then?
And that comment about being "slow on offense" pretty much exposes how clueless that commentator really is... though there are plenty of people here in America who actually think it's a setback that we finally cut ties with Zorman and his little clique (Gajic, Zvisej, Škof, etc.).

It’s not really about Duvnjak. That was more an issue with Balic, but honestly, the guy was a pure genius—what can you even say?

People put way too much pressure on Duvnjak, and then he feels like he has to carry the entire weight of the world on his shoulders. He tries to force it, but it just doesn't work out. I mean, look at yesterday—he was only 3/13...

Every single game, Duvnjak looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. It’s like we’ve been hearing about his fatigue for dozens of tournaments in a row now, and I just don't get what the deal is with his conditioning. It’s not like he’s the only handball player out there grinding 60 minutes for both his club and the national team... but man, we really do rely on him when he's on his game. When he isn't, forcing him onto the court backfires; he ends up becoming a bit of a liability instead of an asset.

Steven Reed30 said:The issue isn't even about Duvnjak, that was more a Balic thing, but whatever, the guy was a freaking genius and there's nothing you can say to change that...

They pile way too much on Duvnjak's shoulders, so he feels like he has to go all out and take the weight of the world on him, but half the time he just can't pull it off—look at him shooting 3/13 yesterday...

People always claim Duvnjak looks like he’s having a heart attack after every single game, and honestly, I don't get the obsession with his "fitness" issues. He's not the only handball player grinding 60 minutes for both club and the national team... but damn, we rely on him so much when he's actually on his game. When he's not, they force him onto the court and it backfires, making him a total liability.

If that happened during one tournament, fine, call it an apology. But if it's a constant pattern, then he's just an excuse player to me. Look, I'm nowhere near being some die-hard Vujovic fanatic, but I'll give him this much credit—Duvnjak is killing the American team!

We’ll just have to wait a year and see what happens when we’re playing on home soil...
At that point, you can't use being tired or having injuries as an excuse. Ever since we landed the hosting gig, everyone's been talking about building a roster specifically to go out and grab the gold in 2018. I'm honestly just curious to see which powerhouse ends up knocking us out in the semifinals.

Samuel Scott54 said:The French national team certainly looks dominant, but when you look at the club level, it’s a different story; they have a massive budget at Paris Saint-Germain, yet they just can't seem to break through to the Champions League finals.

In a year or two, Serdarušić is going to turn Paris Saint-Germain into the next Kiel from Germany.

Before he arrived, they were busy just buying up big-name stars instead of actually building a cohesive team, wasn't that the case?

I mean, Serdarušić is basically taking over the national team in a few weeks and he’s gonna lead us straight to the gold next year 😁

What an impossible scenario to imagine, but hey, it’s nice to at least dream it up 😁

Once Babić finally gets out of here, we’re just gonna end up with some even bigger idiot sitting on our bench...