Handball World Championship: USA vs. Poland 22-24

Everything’s fine, we just had some bad luck, "better luck next time," "we were just exhausted," "keep your heads up"... blah, blah, blah.

Why doesn't anyone have the guts to just look them in the eye and say, "Look, you blew it"? You failed, this was a total disaster, and things seriously need to change.

Why is everyone always such a coward? And honestly, it's not even just handball—it's every single sport here in the States.

Jeremy Richardson said:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maQcNGNHPCg

There's zero chance of a resignation here, so why even ask? I guess the Americans just had better luck.

Can't even string a full sentence together.

Total bottom-of-the-barrel IQ.

Highlights:

- One bad bounce cost them a two-score lead
- Some higher power decided the winner
- They scored from a dead angle

😂 😂

This guy seriously doesn't feel even a shred of responsibility...🙄
He’s claiming we should have made it to the quarterfinals (even if we had to face handball powerhouses like Austria and Iran🤣), and then he goes on about how our offense lacked decisiveness... and all that other nonsense...


Anyway, whether he's sitting on the bench or the bench is empty, I guess it wouldn't have made any difference...

Kenneth Clark18 said:The guy can't even string together a basic complex sentence.

His IQ is basically that of a stray dog barking at traffic.

Highlights:

- One bad bounce cost us two leads
- Some higher power decided the winner today
- They scored from a literal dead angle

😂 😂

Even if they had enough damn luck to actually win.

Taylor Morales31 said:Yeah, we have enough damn points to win.

🙏

Total muppet show.

Honestly, with this performance, we won't even be playing against high schoolers anymore. It's basically just a second-tier league without any trophies left to grab. At least the US is making some progress.

Kenneth Clark18 said:Goluža was a decent player, but nothing more.

The problem is, the guy is just naturally dim-witted—there’s really no fixing that kind of lack of intelligence. Add a massive ego and an arrogant attitude to the mix, and you have what I consider the worst possible combination.

Lino took over the national team right when they were staring down the barrel of total collapse. Anyone who remembers the disaster against the Mexicans and Ukraine back in the day knows exactly what I'm talking about.

That said, I should point out one thing: this current roster isn't even remotely close to the quality we saw during the Athens games.

My previous comment already implied that.
We actually played Ukraine in 2001, not 2002. Not that it matters much; I'm not interested in being pedantic.

Edward Allen36 said:I wouldn't really compare soccer to handball; they’re two completely different beasts, especially when you look at the tactics involved.
Personally, I wouldn't be against John, or maybe even Vujović.

I happened to stumble upon an interview with John recently. Basically, he mentioned that he doesn't see himself as a coach or a manager because he lacks the nerves to sit on the bench and follow a game. Apparently, that kind of job just isn't for him.

graniteotter6 said:My previous post implied that.
We played Ukraine in 2001, not 2002. It doesn't really matter, though; I'm not going to nitpick.

Fair point, my mistake. Thanks for the correction.

Zlatan, Irfan... Patrick, Mirza? We're talking about absolute legends here. Pure gold. You really think they wouldn't be able to handle it? 🤷

Kenneth Clark18 said:The IQ of a dog barking at traffic.

There’s an old story about Goluža I heard back in 2008 or 2009 from two former handball referees. It might have already been chewed over here.
Basically, when Goluža came to play in Washington, D.C., people realized he wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box. Since even streetcars were a foreign concept to him, his teammates supposedly fed him this line that he couldn't step on the tracks because the electricity would shock him. He was apparently dead serious about skipping the tracks every single time. Same deal when he bought a car. You can drive over tracks, sure, but you have to go fast.
The man possesses a very, very modest level of intelligence.

I didn't catch the game—honestly, I didn't even realize kickoff was at 4:30, thinking it started later 🤦—so I can't really weigh in on their performance. That said, I can't deny I had this nagging, strange gut feeling that Poland might actually pull off an upset and move forward. It’s funny how that works. Add in a bit of that classic overconfidence, you know? Like, "Hey, we've beaten them in every knockout match, so we'll cruise through this one too." It turns out that kind of arrogance makes a loss feel much more bitter than we probably anticipated.

I’m just catching wind of some talk among the bettors, and I honestly can't tell if the rumors are legit. Is it actually true that we've been handed 13.5 million dollars while the folks over in Poland only saw a measly 1.5 million? 😬

Jeremy Richardson said:There’s this story about Goluža I heard from two former handball refs back in 2008 or 2009. Maybe it’s already been chewed over here.
Basically, when Goluža came to play in Washington, D.C., people realized he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Since even streetcars were a foreign concept to him, his teammates supposedly convinced him he couldn't step on the tracks because the electricity would shock him. Apparently, he was dead serious about jumping over the tracks every single time. Same deal when he bought a car. You can cross them, I guess, but you have to be incredibly fast.
The guy is just extremely, extremely dim.

😲🙏😂😂

Thanks for making my day!

Robert Doyle8 said:It might be time for Poland 22:24 to finally knock us out. They seem to be gaining momentum as an underdog, playing without the weight of heavy expectations or a desperate need for results. Meanwhile, we are on a downward slide; our goaltending is subpar, and Duvnjak hasn't delivered anything noteworthy. There is little point in debating this further:

A three-goal margin for Poland 22:24 ☕

tapatalk/good old 4.9.5

Perhaps it is premature, but I must place my bets. ☕
Had they not faltered at the finish, I would have correctly predicted the margin.

tapatalk/good old 4.9.5

Honestly, it might be best if we just lose both games from here on out.

Then, I guess, winning the European Championship would become an absolute necessity if we want any shot at Rio.

We could smell the trouble coming way back during that first game against Austria

Thirty seconds left on the clock—we're up by three and we have possession
Ten seconds left—suddenly, we're down by one

It’s the exact same script playing out today... a man advantage, a slim lead, and then just a total, complete meltdown

Honestly, even if we had sat down to design this bracket ourselves, we couldn't have engineered a more ridiculous draw. All this downtime and dodging the heavy hitters... it's an absolute disaster

There’s really no excuse for this performance, especially since today was actually against a respectable opponent. Everything leading up to this felt like nothing more than glorified scrimmages against bottom-tier teams,
And then we go ahead and lose to Poland, who are basically on their way out. People start making excuses about fatigue or having a shaky goalie, but honestly, what were we thinking blowing a two-man advantage like that?! Who is even responsible for that mess?
It was an embarrassing showing, and now I’m just sitting here wishing the Brazilians hadn't knocked us out already.

I wasn't exactly expecting us to walk away with a medal, but man, given how the bracket fell... I can't help but wonder, what if we had faced the Swedes, Iceland, or Denmark earlier instead?

I’m pointing the finger directly at Karačić. I mean, how do you even concede a goal like that when you have a two-man advantage? It’s just inexcusable.

It’s a bit like how that saved penalty was essentially the turning point against Brazil.

Just some quick math for everyone:
The Poles should probably feel pretty proud that they were the first nation to move on. The second one fell against an Arab nation—one of the home teams.
The first French and Spanish nations can also claim some pride. Meanwhile, the fourth Scandinavian nation, located just below the main three on the map, is left feeling a bit diminished, which I suppose makes the other three Scandinavians feel a little downcast too. Then there's the pride found within the former Yugoslavian states, who were knocked out by the second Slavic nation and the absolute powerhouse of handball, though they certainly fought hard until the end.

It’s pretty rare for us to put up 22 goals or more in a single stretch—we've actually only hit that mark in 9 games over the last 7 years.

Looking back, those were five times against the French, once against the Mexicans, and then we had matchups with the Danes and the Spanish, and now here come the Poles.🙏

graniteotter6 said:I’m pointing the finger straight at Karačić. How do you concede a goal like that when you have a two-man advantage? That's the bottom line.

It's just like how that penalty save was our saving grace against Brazil.

A little bit of math:
The Americans can be happy and proud that their first nation made it through. The second one fell against an Arab nation—a home team.
The first French and Spanish nations can also hold their heads high. Meanwhile, there's a slightly less proud fourth Scandinavian nation sitting right below the other three on the map, leaving the rest of Scandinavia feeling pretty down. Then there's the pride found in the former Yugoslavian nations, which were knocked out by the second Slavic nation and the top handball powerhouse, though they fought hard until the end.

🤣🤣