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

Susan Ward23 said:this news is ancient history 😁

That's The Point. 😉
Man, this exact thing has been posted seven times in the last three days alone, and someone even dropped it right here on this thread just yesterday. 😛

Look, if you ask me, Vori is easily one of the top 5 pivots of the decade... and don't even get me started on Mirza Džomba, he’s a lock for the top 3 right wings. Then you've got Balić, who's basically a top 3 center player, period. And defensively? Dominiković and Špoljarić are definitely in that top 5 bracket. I'm not gonna sit here and try to rank them 1, 2, 3 or whatever because everyone's got their own opinion, right? But man... if we actually had a decent goalie back then, we would've been unstoppable... just absolute legends...

Man, if we’re talking about a whole decade of play, I could honestly get behind just about everything said here... I mean, seriously. For me, Vori is easily one of my top three pivots, right up there with guys like B. Gill and Roland Urios... turns out I've got a type, I guess...
Even with guys like Knudsen, Schwarzer, and then that Jurecki kid who popped up out of nowhere... plus Evdokimov now, or whatever Semvec is calling him lately...
And honestly, Petar Metličić is easily in my top 5 for the decade... that's just set in stone at this point...

Ugh, honestly, these prices... they’re totally sucking up to me like I'm some kind of god who's the absolute best at every single position, blah blah blah... seriously...

When you talk about defense... man, you gotta look at guys like B. Gille, Dinart, Jorgensen, Johny Jensen... and honestly, there were plenty of others who were absolute specialists on that side of the ball. I’ll just leave that part open-ended though... let everyone else weigh in based on their own expertise. I'm not gonna be out here arguing with anyone...

hehehe, looking at the sports news—what an absolute clown Goluža is. Honestly, if we don't kick him and Gobac out right now, we’re going to end up looking even more clueless than Goluža himself.

Quote of the day:

"We managed ten saves today and pulled off a win by 4 or 5 points. If we had just made that extra push against them... Our defense was solid from the jump, we just needed a bit more support from the keeper, otherwise we definitely wouldn't be standing where we are." A couple lines later, when asked about his struggles managing the roster, he gets all serious again: "It's easy to sit there talking 'if this happened' or 'if that happened'..." Author: Slavko Goluža.

Sean Gonzalez95 said:If we're talking about a whole decade, I could totally get behind all that... I mean, Vori is easily in my top 3 pivots, right alongside B. Gille and Roland Urios..
Even though you've got guys like Knudsen, Schwarzer, and then Jurecki who came out of nowhere later, or Evdokimov like everyone else keeps mentioning..
And for me, Petar Metličić is a locked-in top 5 of the decade, no question about it..

But honestly, all this talk about him being the absolute best at every single position, blah blah blah... it just gets on my nerves..

For defense—you've got B. Gille, Dinart, Jorgensen, Johny Jensen.. man, there are plenty of others who were total defensive specialists too.. I'll leave that open so everyone can pick based on their own taste, I don't wanna argue..

The way I remember him was how our commentators would always say he had a knife between his teeth whenever they played against Norway🤣but hey, truth be told, the guy played some damn good defense🙏

Kimberly Smith69 said:What a piece of work.

Honestly,👎
If I recall correctly, his statement was basically: "Thanks for the send-off, now get ready for the parade." Unless, of course, he actually thought qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympics with him at the helm would be considered some kind of massive achievement.🤷 I find it pretty amusing how none of the reporters bothered to mention Goluža shoving Balić when he wasn't getting the spotlight, or how that grim look and Valčićev's reaction seemed to trigger some rather unpleasant remarks from the coach himself...

And I have this nagging feeling that Gobac will probably end up twisting things around, making it look like his comments about Balić being to blame for the failure were just an attempt at "positive shock therapy"—as if he actually succeeded in that.🙄

Jonathan Booth5 said: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’s the roster for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Keta could pull double duty as player-coach—plus he'd be the perfect water boy for Balić, just like he was back in '03.

Look, let's face it—these guys aren't exactly in their prime anymore, so they can't exactly go toe-to-toe with twenty-year-olds. At this rate, you might as well have thrown in Horvat from Indianapolis too.

You get absolutely slaughtered when you dare suggest that Balić is nothing more than a spoiled prima donna. I made the mistake of voicing that exact opinion once—it was obvious as hell—but I am never putting myself in the line of fire like that again. Not when people are just looking for any excuse to tear you down.

Michael Martinez86 said:You get absolutely slaughtered the moment you dare suggest Balić is just some pampered prima donna. I made that exact claim once myself, and let me tell you, the backlash was relentless. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention, but I'm not making that mistake again if it means being lectured by the masses.

I'll go first. Balić isn't spoiled. Goluža is the one who can't handle reality—specifically the fact that he is completely out of his depth coaching this national team. This isn't some local club in Missouri, and the national team isn't some playground for his ego.

Balić is temperamental, sarcastic, prickly, and stubborn. Those are exactly the kinds of traits you need to survive in a private mafia-style organization like the US Handball Federation.

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Unbelievable

He's back at it again. Typical. 🤣 Of course, the moment a woman dares to voice an opinion, she's immediately labeled as being in love. 🤣

Regarding the names listed above (missing Renato Sulić, by the way), yes, I agree—it would be incredibly difficult to match the sheer physical conditioning of someone like Karabatić or Narcisse today. But what really stings is how that specific generation was scattered far too soon. It would have been wonderful to see them all together one more time.

Kimberly Smith69 said:(image) Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

Unbelievable

Udovičić 😍😍

Michael Martinez86 said:You get absolutely torn apart for suggesting Balić was a spoiled prima donna. I actually dared to say that once myself, and let me tell you, I won't be making that mistake again if I want to avoid being grilled. It’s just too obvious to ignore.

I guess even I have to admit he was spoiled. 😳
Honestly, I've been hearing for ages that he's incredibly lazy, which is why I've never really liked him much, but you have to give the guy credit for his massive talent. 😁

Balić snubbed Goluža's congratulations because of the referees
Yeah, sure, if you really think that's why 🤣

Alex Cook said:I guess the saddest part of this whole thing is what we've already talked about dozens, maybe even hundreds of times in this thread and plenty of others about handball—it just hurts when a generation that had everything needed to be the most decorated team ever only walks away with two modest golds. I mean, let's be real, two is modest. Like I mentioned earlier, if you have a tournament running every two years, it's much easier to maintain consistency. If the FIFA World Cup happened every two years, maybe a team like the Netherlands would have definitely snatched a title back in the 70s. There are endless examples of this if I go too far off-topic. You have the best right wing, the best center back, one of the best pivots, and some of the best defensive players on the squad... and all you get is two golds? Yeah, we Americans are never satisfied, but I suppose we deserved more.

In America, you won't find anything better than this national team. The level of talent, intelligence, and expertise in this group is so high that what Lino achieved with them is basically the gold standard. I think when people hold onto unrealistic ideas about the team's overall quality, they're mostly just dreaming.

It’s the same story in every team sport, from handball and soccer to basketball and hockey. Everyone involved—the players, the coaching staff, and the logistics—has to operate at a much higher professional and moral level.

Daniel Cooper40 said:Ivica Balić turned down Goluža's congrats because of the referee
Yeah, I guess you could think it was because of that 🤣

And honestly, everyone seems to be overthinking this one. Reading through the comments, I almost thought there was a physical fight on the court, but maybe nothing out of the ordinary happened that we haven't seen before.

Morgan Rodriguez57 said:I just don't get people who worship Ivica Balić or Červar...

Ivica Balić is basically a spoiled prima donna. He’s the guy who refuses to fit into a team dynamic, forcing every single coach to pull their hair out just trying to keep him in line. Only a handful of coaches actually have the authority to pull that off...

And Červar? He's nothing more than a political puppet for the GOP. We saw how they treated handball back in the day—treating athletes like disposable pawns to install their own guys... and the lack of results was immediate. People love to bring up old medals and trophies, but if you ask me, that's a total fluke because we had a roster capable of winning actual gold...

The national team last played decent handball during the era of Čavar and Klajić. Everything since then has been a disaster. America lost that signature, fluid, inspired style of play. It all devolved into failed individual improvisations without a shred of a real plan....

Rotten fish starts at the head. The GOP and other special interest groups need to get their greedy hands off the sport. Once competent people take over, maybe we'll see some success again. If not? Just watch the whole thing slide into irrelevance...

Are you actually following the sport, or are you just pulling your "knowledge" from Jergović's columns?

So what, would Ivica Balić have just shoved Goluža if he was actually pissed at the referee🙂?
That whole explanation just doesn't sit right with me...
Honestly, feels like more of the same spin coming from Gobac and Goluža.

It's always the refs' fault, isn't it?
😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Lisa Ward52 said:Even I have to admit he’s spoiled. 😳
Basically, I heard rumors ages ago about how incredibly lazy he is—which is why I don't exactly adore him—but you really have to hand it to the guy for his massive talent. 😁

I've gone on record multiple times specifically highlighting what a freakish phenomenon he is on the court—honestly, we've never seen anyone play like him—but the second I dare mention his problematic attitude or the way he's constantly clashing with coaches, a dozen women swoop down on me like a flock of vultures. It just goes to show how intoxicated they are by that "charming rogue" persona of his. They want to fight any objective observer who refuses to canonize him as some kind of basketball saint or a flawless icon that everyone involved in the sport—or even just casual fans—should be bowing down to. It's honestly ridiculous.

Lisa Ward52 said:Honestly, even I’ve gotta admit he’s totally spoiled...😳
I mean, I’ve heard rumors about him being incredibly lazy for ages now, which isn't exactly why I'd want to grab a beer with him, but you can't deny his massive talent 😁

Look, being a bit lazy isn't the same thing as being spoiled... man just moves like I do right after my alarm goes off... jogging around during warmups in beat-up sneakers... looks like his entire world just collapsed on him... but once he actually gets into the game? He's not lazy or entitled at all...
The whole "hard worker" thing compared to someone else is a completely different conversation altogether...

^I agree.

You are making assumptions about his character, claiming things that only someone who actually knows him could say with any certainty.

And yet, when you started poking into his private life, nobody called you out on it.

It is quite impressive how you twist the facts.