World Cup Handball: The Final Stretch

Why on earth did they cram all the quarterfinals into a single day? And in three different time slots, no less. 🤮 Oh, sure—because splitting the semifinals over two days was clearly too much to ask. 🙏

You spend years waiting for the knockout stages to come back, they finally bring them back in 2015 with a pretty mediocre schedule, and now they "fix" it by making it even more of a mess. 🙏 Honestly, the people running this show are absolute geniuses.

electricorca112 said:Just being real here: where on earth did you get the idea that we should broadcast a game that would basically overlap with our own coverage? 🤔

The only thing it'd clash with is some pre-game show. Not that I really checked—I don't usually bother watching those pre-game shows anyway since they're totally useless to me... so yeah, I completely forgot about that crap.

Samuel Scott54 said:Look, names like Karabatić, Omeyer, Abalo, Guigou, Sorhaindo, and Narcisse... they aren't exactly breaking news at this point.

First off, L. Karabatić hasn't even been a staple on that squad for that long, and honestly, Abalo barely plays anymore—he spends way too much time out on the wing for Porta. The rest of them are fine, I guess, but there’s just a massive influx of new faces coming through (think Remili, Fabregas, Porte, and looking ahead, we've got Mah, Nyokas, and N'Guessan...).

Chris Fisher3 said:The only thing is, it would overlap with part of the pre-game show.

And if things end up in a tie, what's your take on how they handle it? 🤔

Does everyone just walk away with a point, and nobody moves on to the semifinals? 😬

So, here’s the deal: we’ve got this nail-biting, dead even matchup that could set up a massive showdown against an American opponent in the semifinals—and get this, it kicks off three and a half hours before our game! But then, on the flip side, there's this absolute blowout featuring the heavy favorites that overlaps perfectly with our own kickoff. Honestly, it's a total mess what they're choosing to broadcast between Canada and Norway

electricorca112 said:So if things stay unresolved... what's your move then? 🤔

Everyone just gets a point and nobody makes the semis? 😬

Just move the whole thing back to the States and let them settle the game here. It’s not rocket science. This way, you aren't even broadcasting a potentially massive game. Then again, I bet most viewers couldn't care less about handball anyway—they probably don't even know what it is, other than knowing Omeyer and Karabatić are playing in France and we're up against the Spaniards. They don't even know who our legendary seventh player is... 🍿

Looks like the final standings for the teams that failed to make the quarterfinals)

9 Germany
10 Denmark
11 Belarus
12 Russia
13 Egypt
14 Iceland
15 Mexico
16 Brazil
17 Poland
18 Argentina
19 Tunisia
20 Saudi Arabia
21 Chile
22 Japan
23 Bahrain
24 Angola

Yo. The Norwegians are already staring...

The Norwegians are absolutely crushing it—and honestly, it doesn't look like this group is bouncing back anytime soon.

The Spaniards are shaking in their boots watching these Norwegians 😬

The Norwegians seemed to be sitting in the penalty box for half of the second half, didn't they?🤣

Even then—it’s not like the Americans have a clue how to capitalize anyway.😁
They play with two extra men on the floor and still can't stop the bleeding. What's the point?🙏

And just like that, the Norwegians are in the top 4...
I’ve got mixed feelings about them, honestly, especially since they actually lost to us in the qualifiers. If the roles were reversed, we would've been handed a wild card on a silver platter.
The fact that they even made the semifinals just goes to show how absolutely broken the qualification systems are in this sport.

The Norwegians have already secured their greatest triumphs on the world stage.

Goalkeepers are underperforming—despite solid defensive play from both sides.

edit: turns out I was just being overly critical of a lucky break 😁

Just made a couple of key saves.

I look at this and just think, good grief... I can't even imagine what these people would try to pull with us 😲

Let's go, Swedes. It's getting intense...

I support Francić, but I think we’re heading for a lot of trouble. I’m honestly worried we might end up having to watch the finals on TV.

mellowtinker2 said:I look at this and I just think... man, I wonder what they would do to us. 😲

That's right, unfortunately. It's France vs. Sweden—we're watching high-stakes handball right now. 🙏

They’re incredibly fast and decisive, both sides. Dangerous and efficient across the board, and they've got plenty of ideas and solutions. I guess it's 13-14 for the Swedes right now.

Both sides are just rushing headlong into counterattacks, forcing them whenever they get the chance, but the defensive unit is sprinting back too slow. Our guys are just way too sluggish for this style of play. I guess that Swedish efficiency from the perimeter is actually impressive, though we can only dream of playing like that. They’re picking apart the defense like a senior citizen on crutches; it's enough to make anyone lose their mind.

Let's go, Swede 👋

Wait, didn't we push the Frenchmen into retirement a few years back? 🤣 What a half-time...