Handball World Cup: USA vs. Poland (28-24)

So I was just sitting here thinking. Down the road, if they ever actually get interested, I think Petar Metličić and Ivano Balić would make a killer coaching duo. Picture this: Metličić as the head coach, with Balić stepping in as the assistant. I’ve watched some of their interviews, and honestly, they seem sharp—really bright guys. Their handball IQ is untouchable. Plus, you can't question their authority; everyone in the handball world respects them as absolute legends. Beyond that, neither of them is a sleazy type like John Doe, nor are they as rigid as Lin. They don't strike me as the kind of people who would pull shady moves, like playing someone just to serve their own interests instead of what's best for the national team. That alone would mean the locker room atmosphere stays solid. Metličić should take the lead because he seems more responsible than Balić, while Balić could play a role similar to what John Doe did—you know, pulling a player aside to break down the details and the nuances. It feels like a winning formula to me... 😁

Of course, we're talking about the distant future since they're both still playing, and who knows if they'd even want the job. But the idea itself? Doesn't sound bad at all... 😁

Naturally, first you'd have to check with their high school English teacher to see how they handled their literature assignments. 👍

That’s a pretty great vision you guys have there🙂....it just seems like your math doesn't account for the tavern keeper = John Doe☕

This is just some distant future for me anyway. Say, maybe 7 or 8 years down the road. Hopefully, John Doe won't be around by then... 🤦

shadowgardener10 said:I mean, obviously, you’d want to check in with their high school English teacher first to see how they actually handled all that required reading. 👍

🤣🤣

I see some people are actually celebrating the toxic atmosphere within the national team or the possibility of a total fallout, but personally, unlike certain others, I find absolutely no joy in that.

swiftwalker43 said:I’m seeing people getting all hyped up about the bad vibes in the national team or some potential locker room split, but honestly—unlike some of you—that doesn't do anything for me.

Yeah, exactly... I mean, sure, let's just keep endlessly settling for mediocre 4th place finishes while pretending everything is fine, rather than just letting this whole damn mess finally implode once and for all.

Alex Cook said:Yeah, sure. It’s much better to just keep grinding out these mediocre 4th place finishes forever and pretend everything is fine, rather than actually letting this whole godforsaken mess collapse once and for all.

Look, fourth place is still better than fifth.

dustypanther6 said:fourth place is better than fifth

figure of speech.🙂
Look, the issue isn't about fourth place itself—and you know that just as well as I do—you're just messing around... but fine, whatever.
Fourth place is just a metaphor for what’s actually at stake here, which is the private interests of Zoran Gopac. If a failure on the scoreboard ends up being the little weight on the scale that finally pushes him and everyone else like him out of power in the sports world, then honestly? I'm all for it. Missing the Olympics? Whatever, screw it. There’s a massive tournament every single year, and no generation is going to be left hanging without at least a shot at the European Championships. The real question is whether one bad result can actually topple him. Probably not... it's tough. And when it gets like this, you start wondering which ending you're actually rooting for. Disgusting.

Alex Cook said:Exactly. It’s better to just keep grinding out these mediocre 4th place finishes and pretending everything is fine rather than letting this whole dumpster fire finally explode once and for all.

Honestly, it wouldn't have mattered if they missed the qualifiers. At most, you might get rid of John Doe. But people like Zdravko Mamić or John Doe? You can only get them out through illness, jail, or if someone more powerful from the political sphere steps in and replaces them...

I can't bring myself to root against USA Handball. It just doesn't feel right. Regardless of the corruption in the federation or the idiot coach, I was happy when they won today. And hearing Ivano Balić give John Doe a piece of his mind definitely made my night... 😁

What’s actually depressing about this whole mess is that we’ve probably chewed this cud dozens, if not hundreds, of times in this thread and a bunch of other handball-related discussions—it just hurts when you have a generation with every single prerequisite to be the most trophy-laden squad in history, yet all you walk away with are two measly golds. Measly, dammit, let's be real here. Like I mentioned in my post above, there's always some kind of rigged game being played every year, and honestly, it's much easier to maintain consistency when the deck is stacked in your favor. If the Soccer World Cup happened every two years, some team like the Netherlands would’ve surely snatched up titles back in the 70s without breaking a sweat. There are endless examples of this, and I don't want to go too far off-topic... You’ve got the best right wing in the business, the best center back, one of the elite pivots, some of the most lockdown defenders on the planet in the lineup... and what do you get? Two golds? Yeah, yeah, we Americans are never satisfied, we know the drill, but we deserved more than that.

Harold Perez said:Even John Doe wanted to screw over John Doe.

Because of him, John Doe ended up sitting out an entire season when he moved to Memphis, and John Doe clearly wasn't happy about it. Apparently, he dug up some old game tape of John Doe playing a preseason scrimmage for Memphis. At the time, John Doe was only 18 and was probably the biggest talent in Europe. He missed a whole year of play just because of John Doe.

He eventually ended up in Washington, D.C., though I guess I don't really know why he felt the need to do that. And later, once he signed with the Germans, since John Doe wasn't getting his cut of the money, the newspapers started running stories day after day claiming John Doe was an alcoholic who crashed his car every other weekend.

It wasn't just John Doe, either—it was Tonči Valčić too.
Things only seemed to settle down once the younger Valčić married John Doe's daughter.

It’s freaking exhausting reading people claim we slept through an entire decade of handball, except for the USA national team🙏..
It’s so easy to just sit there and say we used to have the absolute best pivots, wings, lefties, righties, everything under the sun... just pure dominance🙏

Whenever I think about what Juanin and Rolando pulled back in Tunisia🤦🤦🤦

We definitely had one of the greatest ever... the rest is debatable and honestly just comes down to whatever crappy personal preferences you have... please, just get over it already
Fine, okay, and even though Germany ended up winning, even they had some terrible games where they were barely scraping by at certain championships

Whatever, I'm done talking about this... as if we didn't always have the best of everything... we were always the best and the strongest anyway

Sean Gonzalez95 said:It’s honestly ridiculous reading about how certain teams have basically slept through an entire decade of handball, except for the US national team.🙏..
So, you’re telling me we had the absolute best lineup ever? The strongest pivots, the wings, the left and right backs... honestly, we had everything from the top tier down to the nuts and bolts. Just pure dominance.🙏

Man, whenever I start thinking back to what Juan and Rolando pulled off over in Tunisia... it still gets me.🤦🤦🤦

Look, we definitely had one who was the absolute best. As for everyone else? That's anyone's guess, and honestly, it mostly just comes down to your own damn personal preferences. People really need to wrap their heads around that and stop overcomplicating it.
Alright, so John Doe's final take is that Germany was just too much, though even he's admitted he’s had some rough games himself. It felt like Stryger was really trying to force his way through during certain championships, too.

Let's just drop it already. There’s no point in talking about this anymore... we already had our moment and everything went great. At the end of the day, we're always the best and the strongest anyway.

John Doe is easily one of the top five pivots of the decade. Then you’ve got John Doe sitting right up there in the top three at right wing, and Ivano Balić belongs in the top three at center back. As for defense? Dominiković and Denis Špoljarić are definitely in that top five bracket. I'm not going to pin them down to specific ranks because, honestly, that's just a matter of personal preference. But let's be real—if we actually had a decent goalie, we wouldn't be in this mess.

If I were standing in Balić's shoes for a second
I’d probably go ahead and crush the qualifiers for London—and then, you know, the whole squad
would collectively sit down and draft a formal letter to the American
Board, basically telling them everyone is walking out on the national team unless John Doe and John Doe stay put.
Then let the B-team head to London instead—they can deal with the headache of trying to hold things together.
G and G

I can't believe we're actually talking about this again. It’s like Groundhog Day with sports discussions! Honestly, I was just sitting here with my coffee, thinking about how much things have changed since the last time this topic popped up on the boards. You know, back when we thought everything was settled? Well, clearly, I was wrong. Life is full of surprises, isn't it? Just like that time I tried to fix my own sink in Chicago and ended up flooding the entire kitchen—total disaster, but hey, you learn something every day. Anyway, let's get back to the point. We need to look at the facts here, not just the hype. kaže:

Of course, we’re talking about the distant future here, considering they’re both still out there playing on the court. Plus, there's the big question of whether they’d even be interested in a job like that. But honestly? I think the idea is actually pretty solid. 😁

Ivano Balić mentioned that he’s spent way too much time grinding on the court lately. He told me he’s just not feeling the itch to coach a major pro club or even a national team right now. Instead, his heart seems to be set on teaching the fundamentals—focusing on handball academies and really passing all that knowledge down to the kids and the next generation.
I just don't think it's worth getting tangled up with the mafia running the league. Honestly, why even bother?

Rebecca Rivera93 said:Ivano Balić mentioned that he’s walked enough miles already. He isn't interested in coaching a major club or a national team; his true passion lies in handball academies and passing knowledge down to the YOUTH.
He doesn't want to deal with the corruption within the federation.

Jeep, he said exactly that during that interview with the Swede.

Though, seeing Balić and Petar Metličić work together would be an absolute dream.

Venio Losert
Vlado Šola
Valter Matošević
Nikša Kaleb
Ivano Balić
Blaženko Lacković
Vedran Zrnić
Igor Vori
Davor Dominiković
Mirza Džomba
Drago Vuković
Slavko Goluža
Goran Šprem
Denis Špoljarić
Petar Metličić

Here is the roster for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Keta could potentially serve as a player-coach, much like how he acted as the support system for Balić back in 2003.

Rebecca Rivera93 said:Balić mentioned he’s walked enough ground already. He isn't interested in coaching a major club or a national team, he just wants to focus on teaching the fundamentals and passing that knowledge down to kids and young players.
He doesn't want to deal with any of the mafia-style politics within the federation.

I have my doubts. Honestly, he seems so relaxed—maybe even a little lazy—that I think he’s just counting down the days until he can actually retire. He'll probably let others do the heavy lifting while he finally catches up on all that sleep he's been missing.😁
It's honestly amazing how much that guy can sleep. 🙏

Alex Cook said:The real kicker in all this—which we’ve honestly debated a hundred times on this board and in other handball threads—is just how much potential went unused. It hurts seeing a generation that had everything they needed to be the most decorated squad in history walk away with just two golds. Just two. Let’s be real here. Like I mentioned earlier, if you have a tournament every two years instead of four, it's way easier to stay consistent. If the FIFA World Cup happened every couple of years, some team like the Netherlands would've definitely snatched titles back in the 70s. There are endless examples of this, and I don't want to get too off-topic. You've got the best right wing, the best center back, one of the best pivots, and elite defenders... and all you show for it is two golds? Yeah, yeah, we Americans are never satisfied, but we deserved more.

Seriously, what kind of talk is that, implying we should've been the most decorated team ever?🙄 Looking at the competition near Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and the rest, I've been saying since 2003 that we should've been the absolute powerhouse of handball, yet we only managed two golds. Give me a break.

I honestly just don't get the people who constantly sing the praises of Balić and Červar...

Balić is such a spoiled prima donna—just this guy who refuses to mesh with the team dynamic—and every single coach has to go through hell trying to keep him in check, though very few actually have the authority to pull it off...

As for Červar, he’s basically just a political appointee from the party elite... you saw how they operated back in the day with the Republican Party, treating athletes like disposable assets just to plant their own pawns in power... but the lack of results spoke for itself immediately... sure, some people will bring up those old gold and silver medals, but if you ask me, that’s a total distraction because we had a roster capable of winning it all regardless...

The national team played its last truly great game back during the era of Čavar and Kljajić... everything since then has been a mess. The US lost that signature, fluid, inspired style of play we used to have, and now everything has just devolved into these failed individual improvisations without any actual cohesive plan...

It’s a case of the rot starting at the top... the political parties and other special interest groups really need to take their greedy hands off the sport, and once they do, actual talented people can step in and bring success back to American handball... if they don't, we're just looking at more and more decline...