World Handball Championship: USA vs. Spain 27-25

Maybe our medal count would look better if we actually bothered to crunch the numbers, but honestly, who cares about medals? At the end of the day, some version of this nonsense tournament happens maybe twice a year anyway.😬

steelharbor9 said:It’s been quite some time since we played a match as compelling as that one against them in London.

That was merely one out of ten matches; after all, we managed to beat the Frenchmen in Mexico, yet here we are being grounded by this group at the Olympics.

The truth is, their style simply doesn't suit us—not when we're facing the sheer strength of the French or the blistering pace of the Danes.☕

Brian Campbell36 said:Goluza and Gobac 🙂are

Their integrity...

🤣 🤣 🤣

Brian Campbell36 said:Why didn't he play with that kind of headspace back at the 2012 Summer Olympics?

I mean, if you're truly elite, you perform across the board—it shouldn't just be one standout game followed by a total slump.☕

Kopljar is basically a stepping stone player here; the whole idea was to move him up to a bigger club than Washington, D.C.—and hey, Gobac knows how the business works.

Look, you've got this one guy whose quality is all over the place—he plays differently depending on whatever mood he's in during a tournament. Those perimeter shooters... well, if they aren't firing on all cylinders, they're just sitting ducks.

Instead of having a clear path straight to the finals, we're staring down the World Champion Americans and the European champions Dance. And honestly, it gets worse. We're heading into this fight against the absolute best without our left wing, which means we're relying on Šprem to hold down the line. If they end up calling up Ninčević, it probably means Lacković is out of luck for this tournament, especially since Goluža already burned through one of his substitutions today. Way to go, Keta! 🤦

Frank Turner72 said:Why did he just have to nail that shot in the 59th minute to take the lead? I mean, who could blame him for missing? He’ll probably mess up half those kinds of shots against the French anyway.

Yeah, right—and Šterbik almost went looking for a place to hide behind the post, preferably on the outside. He basically left the entire net wide open. Honestly, anyone watching the game sees it clearly—just like how it's been obvious for the last decade or so that some very strange things happen at these European and World championships.

I've been saying this for ages.

I still remember the 2007 tournament in Germany; the refs basically "fixed" the game against the French, and then those same officials, guided by some sort of "invisible hand," turned around and "fixed" the match for the Germans against the French.

So, the Germans came out first, the Poles were happy enough in second, the French took fourth, and we—despite playing the best handball of that whole tournament—ended up fifth.

Legend Caleb once mentioned that after the France-Germany game, where the Germans used the refs to steamroll the French (exactly how they treated us earlier), he was in an elevator with b Gil, who was complaining about how the referees and the Germans had absolutely massacred them. Caleb just gave him a cold response:

"Whose fault is it? Why didn't you bring your own referees with you?"

And that sums it up perfectly.

The Spaniards are the hosts, so they're expected to make it to at least the finals. As for us, we're lucky if we even hang out with the big players, let alone walk away with a medal—nobody's luckier than us, I guess.

What happened in Portugal was a total freak occurrence, and who knows when we'll see anything like it again.

That's all. : W

amberhound62 said:Rather than having a clear path straight to the finals, we find ourselves staring down the world champion Americans and the European champions Dance. And that isn't even the half of it; we’ve lost our left wing, meaning we are heading into a fight against the absolute heavyweights with Šprem holding down the flank. Even if they decide to call up Ninčević, it would imply that Lacković is effectively out of the running for this tournament, especially since Goluža burned through his substitution options today. Way to go, Keta! 🤦

I am willing to put my life on the line if we don't make it to this semifinal;

Spain-Russia
Denmark-France

Give me a break with all this whining—suddenly everyone’s against the French or against Dance... Like, how exactly do you want them to win the championship? You want the other teams to just murder each other until we're the only ones left standing?? And then in two or three years, you'll be right back to complaining about how we lucked our way into a title or whatever.

silverpuma90 said:We just steamroll over the French. We’re never going to get the real truth about what happened once that whole "incident" moved from the stands down to Gobac and everyone started playing nice and acting like everything was fine.

The way Spain defended during those 40 to 50 minutes? That’s exactly how France is going to play against us for 90% of the match.

Raymond Anderson4 said:The way Spain sat back and defended for those forty or fifty minutes? That’s exactly how France is going to play against us for ninety percent of the match.

And yet, we still can't seem to get our own defensive shape right.☕

Sam Ortiz6 said:Oh, please—everyone’s suddenly a critic. You wouldn't want to go after the French, you wouldn't want to go after Dance... So what's the alternative? You want them to win the championship by just watching everyone else tear each other apart until we're the only ones left standing?? And then, in two or three years, people would probably complain that we somehow lucked our way into a title, or whatever.

You're 100% right. That's just how we are—Americans.
No matter the circumstances—it's never good enough for us.

Whoever it is—it's never good enough!

Like I said before the game even started, picking a harder bracket isn't the tragedy here. The real tragedy is killing yourself on the field for a game that doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things.🙂 The players are completely spent. We’re seeing a massive wave of "mechanical" injuries, and we probably lost Štrlek too, and for what exactly?🤷
When you actually sit down and look at the facts, you realize that having a "tougher" draw is the least of our problems... But hey, as long as we get to feel proud and beat our chests about how we're more righteous than the Pope himself, right?🙂

This Brian Campbell36 guy is easily the biggest pessimist on the planet. Why don't you go write about soccer instead? Manchester United has never looked more pathetic than they do right now.🙂

My one major gripe here is that he didn't give the bench much breathing room. Because of that, the starters ended up getting unnecessarily worn down. We even lost Štrlek to the sidelines. And honestly, the guy just can't seem to stay healthy lately. 🤦

Atlanta '96.

Our first gold.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about... then you're just proving my point. Winning stays with you.

If you do know—then you already know I'm right.

neonfalcon16 said:My biggest beef is he barely rotated the bench, so the starters just got run ragged for no reason. And then we lose Štrlek. Man, that guy is basically a magnet for injuries.🤦

So what actually happened to Štrlek?

boldhound8 said:It’s exactly what he said before the game started—it isn't some huge tragedy if we draw a "tougher" bracket. The real tragedy is killing yourself off just to win a match that doesn't even matter much in the long run.🙂 The players are completely spent, there's a bunch of "mechanical" injuries, and we probably lost our star player, all for what, exactly?🤷
When you actually sit down and look at the facts, you realize that having a harder path ahead of us is probably the least of our worries... But hey, at least we can feel proud and beat our chests about how much more honorable we are than the Pope himself.🙂

That's the thing. I guess you could forgive a tough draw, but because of Golužin's stupidity today, we've worn out our starters and now we're stuck without a left winger. Šprem is just too inexperienced and, honestly, not quite skilled enough to step in and go toe-to-toe against the French or the Danes on his own. We can't just rely on one wing, which means Goluža will likely call up Ninćević, and that means losing Lacković for the rest of the tournament. I think a lot of the commentators don't realize that we made a massive tactical blunder today. If the Spaniards really wanted to let us win, they would have let our bench players in instead.

Drew Edwards8 said:So, what happened to Štrlek?

He suffered a fractured metatarsal in his hand, so he's out for the rest of this championship.

Sorry if I'm asking something that’s already been covered—I did a quick search but came up empty... does anyone know where I can find a full replay of the game, or even just the second half? Thanks!

Honestly, reading some of these comments makes me cringe. X-(
This stands as one of the greatest victories in American handball history!

Drew Edwards8 said:So, what happened to you, Štrlek?

He broke his hand just trying to cheer on the Frogs and the Dance teams!