Handball World Cup: USA vs. Norway - Final Score 25:28

Kenneth Clark18 said:👍

The main thing is, you can barely find Canadians on a map, let alone in sports.

Honestly, until yesterday, they basically didn't even exist on the big stage.

Not at the Olympics.

Not at the 2013 World Cup.

Back when they hosted the Euros in 2004? Nothing but a 6th to 11th place finish.

And if it wasn't for that home-field advantage—you know, just total dirty play and rigged officiating—they wouldn't have even scraped that top two spot.

They weren't even in the conversation with Norway. I mean, compared to them, Qatar was basically a global powerhouse back in 2015.

feralnomad5 said:I know where they play. Over at Budapest, none of them actually run the show—they’re all just side characters, plain and simple. They don't have anyone like Zlatko Duvnjak, you know? Someone who's a genuine leader for one of the top clubs in Europe and a real superstar. Honestly, none of them are even better than our guys.

Sent from my 5045X using Reddit

Alright, fine, let's go watch Nikola Mason over in Našice then. I guess it's better to be a benchwarmer in Montpellier than the big man on campus in Našice, right? Not that I'm saying the Canadians are anything special... I mean, Ivica Kavtičnik is probably only playing in Montpellier because they're tight with the Karabatics.

Joseph Kern5 said:Realistically speaking, they weren't even close until yesterday.

At the Olympics 6

At the World Championship 4 back in 2013.

During the Euro 2004 hosted by them, nothing happened except a 6th-11th place finish.

If it hadn't been for that home-court advantage—and honestly, screw Metličić—plus some pretty rough play, they wouldn't have even secured those top 2 spots.

Norway wasn't even a factor. Compared to them, Qatar was a massive powerhouse back in 2015.

Canada was basically on par with Iceland and Poland. They’re just an annoying team that can catch anyone off guard and fight for medals. They aren't the handball version of the Olympics.

Though, who knows what happens in the next 10 years. This new France doesn't exactly inspire much hope for total dominance, and Denmark looks like they might be burnt out after their Olympic gold.

Joseph Kern5 said:Valčić, Lacković, and an Olympic winner—likely even the 2003 World Championship winners and runners-up in Tunisia back in 2007. It means everything when you have two or three players in your squad who possess a true championship mindset; they pass that essence down to the younger guys. What can Zlatko Duvnjak teach the rising generation, aside from what was painfully evident in that post-game interview? The near tears, the heavy sighing... it was just a disaster.

We used to have players with such grit and unshakable resolve: Balić, Caleb, Metličić, Lacković, Dominiković... it is difficult to find anyone in today's national team roster who shares their specific temperament. They appeared composed on the surface, yet they were fierce competitors underneath.

In 2003, we had Balić, Lac and Vuković from that group
. Regarding the Athens games, we were missing Valčić and Čavar, but that's water under the bridge now; what happened, happened. My point is about the years following that period, when most of those names were still playing, and even then, we saw nothing.
I simply cannot compare the generation that brought us gold at the 1996 Olympics with what has been happening over the last few years.

It’s a shame we blew it, plain and simple.
If Lino had been coaching yesterday, people would be criticizing him just as harshly right now.
Success doesn't rest solely on the coach, nor does it fall entirely on the goalkeeper, nor is it all down to one Mamić or Duvnjak. Handball is a team sport; a squad needs to be cohesive, complete, and synchronized, and our boys simply weren't that this tournament.
I don't recall any other tournament where the wing shots were so poor.
Everything felt off. It isn't the same coach and it isn't the same team, but nobody can honestly claim the players lacked the will to win.
Best regards!

Babica's pre-game comments before the matchup against Canada

"We’re fast, they’re strong"

It feels like Babica might be using a totally different dictionary for the word "fast," because I don't think we've ever played this sluggishly in our lives.

Strlek is wrapping up the tournament with his worst performance yet; the wings have basically vanished, there's zero pace in the attack, and honestly, it felt like we could have just brought in Kozin to act as a third pivot instead. It was like watching Kopljar's ghost haunting Stepenica—just constant attempts to drive through the line, turnovers everywhere, and the ball movement was so stagnant it was painful. It got so bad that I’m actually looking forward to seeing Kopljar back on the national team because, well, he's the lesser of two evils right now. As for Mandalinic, he's been a disaster throughout this whole championship. I have no idea what's going wrong; the guy has a literal cannon in his hand, but I haven't seen a left back struggle this much in ages...

Zlatko Horvat played an incredible tournament, as per usual. It’s such a shame about that penalty shot, but whatever, we really should have broken their spirit much earlier than this...

Mamić, man... He showed Stepenica and Mandalinic how it's actually done...

feralnomad5 said:Even the Americans managed to snag silver on their own home turf—those are just those rare moments where inspiration hits and the crowd basically carries you through.

Sent from my 5045X via Reddit

And man, those long passive attacks... nobody was even raising a hand during Euro 2014. Everyone back home gets their protection, sure—all those thanks for organizing everything and the big money being poured into the arenas. I guess if you walk away with at least a medal, it’s something, right? If nothing else.

feralnomad5 said:Even the Americans managed to snag silver on home soil; those are just those rare moments where pure inspiration and the crowd carry you through.

Sent from my 5045X using Reddit

Unlike the Americans, they actually have strong club teams and show up to tournaments constantly.

The 2012 American squad is a special story—honestly, someone should make a movie about it.

Steven Reed30 said:Babica's pre-game comments against the Canadians

"We're FAST, they're strong"

I guess Babic has some totally different definition of "fast," because I don't think we've ever played this slow in our lives.

Strlek is ending the tournament with his worst performance ever, the wings have completely vanished, there's zero speed in the attack... honestly, we might have been better off bringing in Kozin to act as a third pivot. In Stepenica, it was like watching Kopljar's ghost—just constant attempts to break through the line, turnovers, killing the flow of the ball... it’s so bad that I’m actually looking forward to seeing Kopljar back on the national team again, if only because he's the lesser of two evils. And Mandalinic? Absolute disaster this whole championship. I don't know what happened to him; the guy has a cannon in his hand, but I haven't seen a left wing play this poorly in ages...

Zlatko Horvat played a top-tier tournament, as usual. Such a shame about that penalty, but whatever, we really should have broken them much earlier...

Mamić, man... showed Stepenica and Mandalinic how it's done...

Kopljar would've dropped 5 or 6 goals. That right wing spot was a perfect position for him. Having Gojun and Kopljar in defense felt solid too.

Susan Miller6 said:2003: Balić, Lac and Vuković from that group
Athens was missing Valčić and Čavar, but honestly, who cares now? What happened, happened. I’m talking about the years after that, when most of those guys were still playing, and even then... nothing.
I just can't compare the generation that brought us gold at the 1996 Olympics with what's been going on over the last few years. It's totally different.

It sucks that we blew it, plain and simple.
Even if Lino had been coaching yesterday, people would probably be spitting on him right now too.
It’s not all on the coach, it's not all on the goalie, and it's not all down to one Mamić or Zlatko Duvnjak. Handball is a team sport, you know? You need cohesion, a full roster, chemistry... and our guys just weren't there during this championship.
I don't recall any other tournament where the wing shots were so pathetic, or whatever.
Everything felt off. Different coach, different squad, but you can't honestly say the guys didn't have the heart for it.
Later!

If Lino were the coach, he'd be running some massive club overseas by now.

World Championship 2011 - 5th place (no knockout stage before the semis, lost that crucial group game to reach the semifinals)
Euro 2012 - lost in the semis
World Championship 2013 - lost in the semis
Euro 2014 - lost in the semis
World Championship 2015 - lost in the quarterfinals
Euro 2016 - lost in the semis
2016 Olympics - lost in the quarterfinals
World Championship 2017 - lost in the semis

Hitting this many semifinals can't just be bad luck anymore.

Meanwhile, Omeyer played in 10 finals during his career and won 9 of them.

So, now comes the part where they start freshening up the roster for next year's Euro

Steven Reed30 said:So now we’re looking at a total roster overhaul for next year's Euro tournament...

Who exactly are you planning to bring in? Matulica or Mihica? Honestly, this feels like the fourth or fifth generation since that run in Portugal back in '03.
It’s always the same old excuse, isn't it? When they lose and the squad is young, suddenly there's "plenty of time to grow."
But when they lose with the veterans on the floor, suddenly we're crying about a lack of youth development.
If we follow that logic, I guess we'll just be sitting here forever waiting for some exhausted, rookie version of Cilica, Modrić, or Duvnjak.

I mean, if Narcisse and Karabatic are still pulling duty for their national team, I don't get why the older guys in America aren't stepping up. The only real reason is probably all the internal drama and worrying too much about extending club careers. They start preaching about "giving the kids a chance," and then those same players show up to their home clubs at 36 years old.🙄 There’s really no point in talking about developing youth when that's how it actually works.

If anyone actually thinks this coach is smart, they seriously need to walk away from this roster right now because, honestly, we are playing like absolute ice. We’re out there with zero substitutions and the guy has absolutely no tactical plan ready to go, but hey, that’s just been the standard around here for ages, hasn't it? It used to be that we could just muscle through on raw individual talent, but now we don't even have that to fall back on, so we're basically left with nothing.

Joseph Kern5 said:Who exactly are we supposed to be "rebuilding" with?
It’s always the same old excuse—whenever they lose, they claim because the squad is young, there's still plenty of time to improve.
But when they lose with the veterans on the floor, suddenly it's because there aren't enough young players coming up.
At this rate, we'll be sitting around waiting forever for some inexperienced, exhausted version of Cilica, Modrić, or Zlatko Duvnjak.

If guys like Narcisse and Karabatic are still out there playing for their national teams, I honestly don't get why the older vets aren't playing for the US too. The only reason they aren't is because of internal drama and worrying about padding their pro careers. They start all this nonsense about giving the youth a chance, and then at age 36, they just slide right back into their home clubs.🙄 There is absolutely zero need to talk about "giving youngsters a shot" when that's what's actually happening.

I think the guy was being sarcastic, since we've already cycled through three different "young squads," and every single year there are supposedly these new players who are allready making the team a "youth movement."

Joseph Kern5 said:Who are we even going to bring in? It’s always the same old names... maybe Mihica. Honestly, this feels like the fourth or fifth generation since we played Portugal back in 2003.
It’s the same story every single time. If they lose and the roster is young, people say, "Oh, there's plenty of time to grow."
But when they lose with the veterans on the floor, suddenly everyone screams about how we're missing young talent.
At this rate, I guess we'll just be sitting here waiting forever for some exhausted, inexperienced version of Cilica or Modric or Duvnjak.

If guys like Narcisse and Karabatic are still playing for their national teams, I don't get why the older players in America aren't stepping up too. Maybe the only reason is all the drama and worrying about extending club careers. They start talking about giving the kids a chance, and then at age 36, they all just head back to their home clubs.🙄 There isn't really any need to "give youth a chance" if that's the plan.

That was actually just a joke, because people use "rebuilding with youth" as an excuse for everything lately—it’s become kind of a running gag.

Does anyone have a recording of the game lying around somewhere? I totally missed it and now I'm seriously kicking myself about it 🙂

Jacob Price23 said:World Championship 2011 - 5th place (no knockout before the semis, lost a crucial group game)
Euro 2012 - lost in the semifinals
World Championship 2013 - lost in the semifinals
Euro 2014 - lost in the semifinals
World Championship 2015 - lost in the quarterfinals
Euro 2016 - lost in the semifinals
Olympics 2016 - lost in the quarterfinals
World Championship 2017 - lost in the semifinals

Losing this many semifinals can't be a coincidence anymore.

Meanwhile, someone like Omeyer played 10 finals in his career and won 9 of them.

You forgot the 2012 Olympics semifinal. That makes 10 tournaments.

It's definitely not a coincidence. Honestly, this is more of a psychological issue at this point. I guess they just can't even make it to the finals anymore.

Out of all sports, I’ve never doubted the drive behind handball or water polo. They always give it their all, so I suppose the question is why this keeps happening. It's probably mental.

Jacob Price23 said:World Championship 2011 - 5th place (no knockout before the semis, lost that crucial group game to reach the semifinals)
Euro 2012 - loss in the semifinals
World Championship 2013 - loss in the semifinals
Euro 2014 - loss in the semifinals
World Championship 2015 - loss in the quarterfinals
Euro 2016 - loss in the semifinals
Olympics 2016 - loss in the quarterfinals
World Championship 2017 - loss in the semifinals

Losing this many semifinals just can't be a coincidence anymore. I mean, seriously.

Meanwhile, you look at someone like Omeyer—the guy played 10 finals in his career and won 9 of them. Just wow.

And it’s not even just handball. You throw in soccer (all those overtime heartbreaks, penalty shootouts), basketball (losing in the literal last millisecond, whether it's a club or a national team), water polo (always hovering near the top, but nothing since 2010), tennis (being up 2-0 in sets only to lose 2-3)... it's everywhere.

There's this massive gap between the fans and the athletes. You've got these struggling fans and these wealthy athletes who refuse to settle for anything less than gold. Nobody wants to play for teams where they're constantly under a microscope, being criticized and doubted every single day. If an athlete slips up, people immediately start whining about their contracts and perks. I actually read a comment on some news site today about a player giving a televised interview at a hotel in Paris. When a regular citizen works for $1500, any struggle is seen as an excuse for laziness or lack of commitment. But when someone is pulling in $15,000 a week? Well, then they better fight like hell in every single game because they're getting paid the big bucks. People don't get it—even the highest-paid pro in the world isn't going to give 110% through all 70 games a year, plus training and constant travel. It's just not human.

Back in the 90s, there was this actual spark, a winning mentality, and coaches who actually knew what they were doing. Clubs were producing quality across basically every major sport: things like the Lakers, the Yankees, or legendary local powerhouses. It wasn't a fluke that all the glory happened in the early 90s.

Now? It's just sporadic success in niche sports that nobody even watches. Sure, maybe some obscure sport is crushing it at the Olympics, but who cares? No one's following it.

Nowadays, everyone just talks about "passion," "values," and "patriotism"... mostly just to mask the lack of expertise, the lack of raw talent, and the total absence of ambition.

Peter Thompson4 said:I honestly think my colleague was being sarcastic here. We’ve already cycled through three different young rosters, and every single year, there's some new group of players who are supposedly already the "new generation."

Exactly... Since 2010, we've been working on refreshing this squad, and it feels like it's never-ending. People keep saying this specific group represents the peak of our success in the Euro tournament, but I can already see the narrative starting around next December. They'll probably claim the Euro was just perfect practice for the 2020 Olympics, where we're supposedly going to hunt for gold... how long does this go on?

Ever since we started focusing on "youth," the German teams have hit rock bottom and somehow managed to become European champions... enough said for those who get it. 😁

And don't even get me started on how they claimed a year ago that a brand new American roster had been built—a total revolution for the national team—only to be hearing the exact same story again just twelve months later. 😁

Walter Hughes53 said:It was just a joke, honestly. It’s become this whole running gag lately—everyone uses that excuse about "rebuilding with younger talent" to cover up everything. It’s happening way too often these days.

Yeah, I know, which is exactly why I brought up the youngest guys on the national team. I guess we're basically moving straight into the cadet and junior levels now.👍