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

Robert Doyle8 said:Alright, can someone please explain why our perimeter guys at 6'10" (Knight, Stepancic) feel the need to drive inside and get slaughtered at the 6-foot mark when they could just be picking apart 90% of the league from deep? Are they actually deaf, or does anyone care to tell them?

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They’re just too lanky—they need more room to build momentum, so they take a longer stride and end up right in the thick of it at the 6-foot mark...

Some genius told the Lady, Jesus, and their little apostle on the bench that we should be defending this with a deep zone...

Given their performance, the final score is nothing short of remarkable. Shall we now mislead everyone in the locker room and simply hit the reset button?

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Thirteen minutes of Norwegians playing on pure adrenaline, and then they just absolutely tore us apart—up 10-5 by halftime. They’re incredible; easily the best handball team in this tournament. Honestly, I saw it coming. I was hoping we’d show some life, maybe actually put a decent offense together... but nope. We're barely hanging on for dear life. They look like a high-speed Ferrari on offense, while we're out here looking like a rusty old Mack truck.

Cindric is absolutely nothing.

Zero offensive ideas—did the Norwegians press harder? Maybe. But once Duvnjak lost his cool, everything fell apart. It was looking solid at first, then just went south.

Adam Williams2 said:Man, during those opening minutes, the ball was moving exactly where it needed to. The wingers were pulling wide, we were crossing through the middle, and the ball was finding our pivots nicely. It actually looked like we were playing real soccer. But now? It’s just mindless dribbling and wasted movement. We're trying way too hard to force things that aren't there.

This has been our Achilles' heel since the very first game.
We keep acting surprised when it happens, almost pretending it's some freak accident. In reality, we've seen this exact pattern play out five or six games in a row now.

Kyle Campbell4 said:I mean, how on earth are they losing? I guess Charles said we were the favorites...
Unknown

Took you long enough to finally post that, huh?

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Honestly, we should probably call the cops on Stepancic and Cindric. They're straight-up criminals, I guess.

But man, that signature says it all. It’s just your classic American semifinal setup—once you make it that far, the result is basically already decided. If we were facing some powerhouse like Mexico, we'd be lucky to even stand a chance, maybe.

Robert Doyle8 said:🤣

We are absolutely going to pull this off because we just dismantled them recently. Honestly, their fans are completely demoralized and nursing massive inferiority complexes after such a string of crushing defeats. ☕

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On the other hand, we certainly have our own baggage to deal with, considering the sheer number of semifinals we've choked on over the last twelve or thirteen years. To this very day, we have suffered through three heartbreaking semifinal losses.

Kyle Torres60 said:What specifically have the refs screwed up so far?
They haven't even clarified—was that Strlekov goal actually illegal or not?

Yeah, it was—but then again, maybe it wasn't, since Cindric was clearly in the crease messing with the goalie...

Between the Norwegian's positioning, those penetrations (where the same guy breaks through right after the first DV play), two penalties against the Norwegians plus one for us, and having a perfectly good goal for them wiped off the board...

All things considered, there have been way too many mistakes for a full game, let alone just one half...

Look, missed calls on strides or double-moves might happen, but penalties, lane violations, and giving away a valid goal? That shouldn't be happening at this elite level...

It actually started off pretty strong since we were playing such disciplined positional football, but then the exact thing everyone was bracing for happened—they just outran us, and that was the end of it. 🤷

Edward Allen36 said:Cindric is a total non-factor.

There was zero creativity in the offense. Sure, the Norwegians applied more pressure, but Duvnjak lost his cool, and the momentum just evaporated. It actually looked promising at first.

In my opinion, Jotic is the superior player. But we won't really see that until Cindric retires. Once he's out of the picture, Jotic will finally get a real chance to step up when he's in his 30s.

Luke " saboteur" Stepancic is the sole reason we’re taking these Ls. Honestly, I can't tell if he's just clueless or something else, but what he's doing makes zero sense. I'd much rather see Metlicic step in; he'd be a massive upgrade, 100%

Handball is turning into a track meet more chaotic than soccer. You score a goal and immediately face a fast break—what even is that? The Danes started this trend, and now everyone’s just copying their playbook—except our guys, who basically just specialize in committing offensive fouls. They need to scrap this quick restart from center court immediately.

Germany just fell through, just so you know

Another missed chance at the finals 🕺

It’s such a shame, honestly. They don't have any standout talent, and their playstyle isn't exactly elite either—just constant, frustrating scoring droughts...

So, we basically let Germany run all over us just so we wouldn't have to face the French in the next round 🤣 I mean, what can you even say at this point? Our guys are absolutely gassed from trying to play offense—they’re running around like headless chickens and by the time they actually try to get back on defense, it's already too late.

Norway is honestly a joke; they’ve got a decent transition game, but that’s about the extent of it. Once we get our defense organized and settle into a rhythm, it's going to be a total stalemate, especially since our offense has been struggling lately. Still, I don't see those guys scoring more than eight or nine on us in the second half.

This is a bit off-topic, I know, but since this thread is heating up and I can't find a straight answer anywhere online, I figured I'd ask. Does anyone actually understand when a foul is called on offense versus defense? It’s so confusing. Sometimes there's constant grabbing and pushing, yet one play gets a whistle and the next one doesn't. Can someone please break it down for me?

mellowotter36 said:Another missed chance at the finals 🕺

Total Damage, honestly—they don't have better players, and their play isn't even better than this half-baked mess we're seeing...

Just because you're sitting there watching from your couch doesn't mean they aren't playing better. They are. And if something doesn't change, they're gonna absolutely wreck us. Anything that happened after the 13th minute just completely knocked us out of rhythm, while they started bullying us without mercy. Something needs to change ASAP or we're gonna get slaughtered like we're facing the Canadians.

mellowotter36 said:Another missed opportunity in the finals. 🕺

It's a shame, really. They don't have superior talent, nor do they play any better than the rest...

Well, obviously they don't have better players.
And here we are, acting like those Norwegian titans are unbeatable. If you spend even an hour looking into it, you'll realize that about 90% of their roster doesn't even see meaningful minutes at their club level back home.