Handball World Cup - Group B (USA, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Mexico, Argentina)

I really hope you're right about this, because from what I can see, there's a massive push going on to get those Scandinavians in here.

Those Northern thugs are going to rig everything so that Sweden and Denmark move forward—mark my words, don't even bother hoping otherwise.
Today, Denmark barely scraped by with a win, and Sweden pulled off their victory thanks to some questionable officiating. I fully expect tomorrow that every Viking deity and the entire handball mafia will be conspiring against America. 🤣😁

Joe Biden, you simply cannot afford to lose here—not on their turf, and certainly not with their referees calling the shots. Let a little bit of that gritty American grit take over... Too badyou won't get a damn thing ☕

Let the Danes and the Swedes keep rigging everything; give it another year and my brothers from the North America and I will be the ones fixing the semifinals too. I just hope the officiating actually keeps up with the nonsense this time.

dustypanther6 said:Let the Danes and the Swedes keep rigging things—give it a year and we, along with our brothers from the North America, will be the ones pulling the strings in the semifinals. I just hope the officiating actually matches the level of this nonsense.

Exactly, precisely 🙏
Has anyone even bothered to file a formal protest regarding tomorrow's officiating?

Gregory Ramos3 said:His average was sitting right at 32% leading up to today's game🤷

I'm pretty sure he'll stay that way tomorrow, too🙏

granitefox15 said:When there's a penalty on the Mexicans, the Swedes get like three power plays—you can practically see them coasting through their passive offense within ten seconds. But when it's on the Swedes? The Mexicans get zero. Zilch. Nothing. And then they call a passive play in the literal final second of the suspension 😂 honestly, it’s beyond a joke.

Handball is honestly a worse sport than water polo. At least in water polo, you have fewer players and one defense to deal with, so you don't have to worry about the refs actively sabotaging you, but in handball? Forget about it.

Objectively speaking, the Americans are stronger by a margin of +6 or +7
but we haven't even seen them play at Madison Square Garden yet.

Exactly, that's the point. There was that one time they were short-handed and managed to just hog the ball in their offensive zone for nearly two minutes straight.🤣 🤣

I honestly wonder why they haven't implemented some kind of offensive shot clock or restriction in handball—much like what we see in basketball or water polo. Wouldn't such a rule significantly help prevent these kinds of situations from occurring in the first place?

dustypanther6 said:If the Danes and Swedes keep rigging everything, we’ll probably find a way to fix the semifinals too, ourselves and our neighbors from the North America alike. I just hope the officiating actually keeps up with the chaos.

Not a chance in hell. We’re far too busy trying to trip each other up to ever pull off a coordinated scheme like that. 😂

Think about it—if Americans and our neighbors actually managed to get on the same page and pull a fast one on the Danes and Swedes, everyone would immediately label us as nothing but a bunch of low-life scammers and cheats. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they slapped us with sanctions right then and there.😂

There isn't a single person over there with half the backbone we have. Next time someone tries to use Sweden as some kind of gold standard for competence or success, I’m going to lose my mind.

They can barely add two and two together; looking at their stats during the World Cup is like watching a group of toddlers playing video games while you're left wondering how anyone could possibly run things this poorly.

casualskipper8 said:There is absolutely no chance. At this point, all we can do is sit back and watch ourselves tear one another apart. 😂

Suppose, by some freak accident, Americans actually sat down and reached an agreement to pass the buck to people in Denmark or Sweden—if we managed to shift that blame onto them, they’d immediately label us nothing more than bottom-tier Balkanite thugs, thieves, and scammers. It wouldn't even surprise me if they tried to slap us with sanctions next.😂

There isn't a single one among them worth their salt. Next time someone tries to hold Sweden up as some gold standard for success or competence—honestly? I’ll personally see to it that they get sent straight to hell.

They clearly can't add two and two together—it’s absolute madness. Looking at the statistics from the World Cup, you’d think the whole operation was being run by a bunch of dim-witted kids who were just handed a computer to play with.

No, it isn't necessary for the key officials from both federations to sit down at a table and hammer out some grand strategy on how to screw over the Danes and the Swedes—because, frankly, this situation is absolutely intolerable. We, as the organizers, should just focus on our own efforts—for instance, making sure the heating in the rooms where those Scandinavian bastards are staying "accidentally" fails the night before the match. 🤣

At this moment, we find ourselves facing a common enemy. 😂😂 We have to screw them over at any cost—it’s that simple. If a 7-7 draw serves our interests, then that is exactly how we play the game, regardless of whether the Danes or the Swedes find it unacceptable. Why should we care about their preferences? Let's be realistic: we aren't exactly sitting at the big table in the European Union anyway, and frankly, neither Denmark nor Sweden carries much weight on the global stage. 😂

Ryan Moore68 said:Look, if we’re acting as the organizers here, we really ought to put in some extra effort—you know, maybe just "accidentally" let the heating die in the rooms where those Swedish guys are staying the night before the big game. 🤣

Yeah, that’s really gonna wreck them... though, let's be real, they're pretty much used to dealing with that tropical heat anyway. 🤣 🤣

The Danes have snatched another victory thanks to some questionable officiating 🙂
It’s not like we haven't seen this movie before.

Gregory Ramos3 said:Yeah, they're going to get absolutely wrecked by this... It’s not like they’re used to anything other than tropical heat. 🤣 🤣

There's no way they're getting any sleep when it hits 14 degrees Fahrenheit outside. 😂

casualskipper8 said:They didn't even give Lindbergh a two-minute suspension when the Americans were down by one. Then, on the next play, the Americans get called for a non-existent offensive charge, and the Danes score immediately. Honestly, there were five or six clear calls going straight to the Danes.

The Danish players don't even get flagged for two-minute penalties—they’re practically saints. They don't get called for offensive charging because apparently, they don't do that, and don't even get me started on their possessions that drag on for two minutes.

I wonder who the hell is delegating these referees... it's like they have a list of names to screw over.

You don't need five or six calls; two would suffice if they actually happened at the right moment. I was watching via a stream for the last 15 minutes. I didn't catch the "offensive charge" clearly since the video froze—but that turnover against the keeper followed by giving the ball back to the Danes so they could score? Yeah, I saw that.

Venta yanked his hand away from the ref and stormed off toward the locker room in pure fury.
And the refs? Just ice cold.

Seriously, what kind of absolute trash does a person have to be to mess around with someone else's hard work and sweat like this??

Gregory Ramos3 said:Yeah, that’s going to absolutely destroy them... though, granted, they are used to dealing with tropical climates. 🤣 🤣

We really need to come up with a plan here. 🤣
Jokes aside, we Americans always strive to make sure our major championships run flawlessly when it comes to logistics—I still remember an anecdote from a coach back during the old Yugoslavia days at the World Championship in Tunis in 2005. He mentioned that there was this one tiny little heater in the locker room made of wood, and the players would all huddle around it just to stay warm like a bunch of desperate partisans. 🤣 🤣

Ryan Moore68 said:Look, it’s not like the big shots from both alliances have to sit down at some mahogany table and map out a grand scheme to screw over the Danes and the Swedes just because this whole situation is getting ridiculous. If we’re acting as the organizers, we can just "accidentally" let the heating fail in the rooms where those Scandinavian guys are staying the night before the big match. 🤣

Right now, we’ve got a common enemy 😂😂 and we need to take them down by any means necessary; if playing for a 7-7 draw works perfectly for us but leaves the Danes and Swedes high and dry, then that’s exactly how we play it, especially since we aren't exactly heading for the European Union anytime soon, and honestly, neither are Denmark or Sweden—they aren't exactly heavy hitters in that crowd anyway. 😂

It always brings me back to that World Championship in Germany back in 2007. There was this whole news report about it where they put the American team up in a hotel that looked like something straight out of an Alan Ford comic strip.

I think Dominic actually said, "I can't even sleep in this bed, my legs are hanging off the edge, I might as well just sleep on the floor." 😂😂😂

The end justifies the means, and hey, the Americans finished fifth. 😂

Jeffrey Fisher61 said:We really shouldn't let the refs mess things up for us tomorrow—if we can just hold a 4 or 5 point lead going into the final five minutes, they might actually be able to close it out👍

I’m hoping what was said today implies that Mirko can actually pull this off. We aren't asking for much here; if he manages a 30% save rate, that would be plenty🙏

Easier said than done, I suppose.

Ryan Moore68 said:Look, we really need to come up with something here 🤣
To be honest, we Americans always go out of our way to make sure every major championship runs like clockwork when it comes to the logistics. It reminds me of something a coach from the old days back when they were competing in the World Cup in Tunis in 2005—he mentioned how the locker room had this one little heater that was basically just a metal grate over some wood, and the whole team would just huddle around it like a bunch of die-hard football fans trying to stay warm during a blizzard. 🤣🤣

😂😂😂

casualskipper8 said:I can’t help but think back to the World Championship in Germany back in 2007. There was a whole reportage on it—they stuck the American national team in a hotel that looked like something straight out of Alan Ford.

I believe Dominic actually said, "I can't sleep in this bed; my legs are sticking out so much I might have to just sleep on the floor." 😂😂 😂

The end justifies the means, after all—the US finished fifth. 😂

What you really needed back then was someone like "Number 1" to lift the team's spirits with statements like: "Listen guys, if you want to win, you simply cannot afford to lose." 🤣

I can't recall a single championship since 2003 where the refs didn't absolutely screw us over in at least one game...

There was this one brutal match against the French, where all that heavy-handed hacking from Gil, Dominic, and their defense was totally allowed—it barely even felt like handball anymore. Meanwhile, the French guys were walking away with maybe 4 or 6 minutes of penalties total... honestly, if that isn't proof of how broken this sport is, I don't know what is.

It’s a shame, really—I grew up loving this game, so it's hard to just walk away from it, unlike water polo, which I couldn't care less about. And man, basketball has been a struggle to follow too, with the officiating being just as inconsistent and biased...

But what they're doing to us in handball—and it's not just us, look back at that whole mess with the Germans during the World Championships in Germany...
The whole thing is just a farce.

If anyone actually wants to fix this, the leaders of the handball federations—the ones who aren't tied to those Northern Gypsies (that's what I call them)—would have to pull a real power move. They'd need to infiltrate the IHF and EHF and tear them down from the inside.

Or, Option B: just walk off the court when the refs start playing butcher. That would set a real precedent. We should stop showing up to tournaments until things change, and we should do it with conviction. But having a backbone is what matters most.

This is the worst part—we've spent the last decade just letting some heavy-set Swedes and Danes push us around.

Ryan Moore68 said:What you guys really needed back then was Number 1 stepping up to set the tone with some profound wisdom like, "Look, fellas, if we're actually planning on winning, we can't afford to lose."🤣

"if you want to win, you shouldn't lose" 🙏 🙏 🤣