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

Nathan Barrett32 said:HAHAHA, I just walked through my front door and saw the score—the USA absolutely crushed Sweden by five goals! Can you believe that? Talk about a blowout! 🙏 🙏 🙏

I finally hopped onto the broadcast right around the middle of the second half—man, I missed such a wild ride!

When I first glanced up at the top of the screen and saw that score—SWE ARG 13:17—I honestly thought my computer was glitching out or something! Like, I was staring at it for a good second thinking, "Wait, is there a bug in the system?" because it looked so wild to me!

Looking back at the whole thing once it finally wrapped up—honestly, I wasn't even surprised—those Swedes just spend way too much energy running around in circles!

Keith Rodriguez27 said:hmm, reminds me of someone... 🤔 😬

The people you're thinking of were actually the last ones standing at the competition before 😬

Daniel Booth37 said:Believe me, nobody here is really following the World Cup. It’s honestly no more of a big deal than when it was hosted right here at home. Even in yesterday's edition of the Metro, there wasn't a single word about the tournament, just some standings meant for people placing bets.

And the fact that things are basically free over there is common knowledge. Though, the economic crisis has brought a few small silver linings—like how you don't have to pay for restroom access in shopping malls anymore$1.75, since it's all free. A beer at a local pub is $17, so I certainly hope the journalists were brought in with decent daily stipends.

If I lived in Sweden, I’d probably carry around that two-liter plastic bottle with the funnel attached just to use as a pen.

Daniel Cooper11 said:Man, if I lived in Sweden, I’d totally carry around one of those big two-liter plastic bottles with a funnel just to use as a pen—pure chaos, right?

🤣

Casey White13 said:The guys you're thinking of were literally the last ones at the tournament before 😬

close enough 😁 🤣

but seriously, just imagine if the cowboys actually pulled this off—what a freaking circus that would be 🤣🙏

everyone would be 😕 😕

Give me a break—now even the Gauchos have picked up handball? If someone had actually believed thirty years ago that they’d become a global powerhouse in basketball, people would have laughed them right out of the room. 😁
At this rate, we might as well expect Nicaragua to beat out the Canadians in water polo next. 😁

The idea of a Mexican victory is basically a pipe dream at this point.

And honestly, props to the Gauchos... that home crowd really knew how to turn up the heat.😁

I've been hearing that they're actually getting pretty serious about their youth handball programs over in Argentina lately.

It’s actually a massive win for handball as a sport, too... finally giving teams from outside of Europe a shot at playing a meaningful role in the game.

There’s a high chance of a total meltdown in our third-place group if we beat Mexico today. I’m assuming both Romania and Algeria will take down Australia, and if Romania beats Mexico in the final round, three teams will end up tied on points. At that point, they'll look at the goal differential from their head-to-head matchups.

Here’s how things stand right now;
Mexico - Algeria 25:24
Algeria - Romania 15:14
Mexico - Romania ??

Goal differential;
Mexico 25:24 (+1)
Algeria 39:39 (0)
Romania 14:15 (-1)

Basically, if Romania wins by two, they move on. If they win by just one, all three teams would sit at a zero differential. In that scenario, Mexico would likely advance, though Algeria has their own math to work out. They could sneak through if Romania wins by +1, provided it’s a low-scoring game like the Algeria/Romania match. (I assume if everyone hits zero, they look at who scored more total goals.)
If it ends up being a tie where they use overall goal differential instead, Mexico is currently leading (+10), but Algeria could overtake them if they crush Australia. The only thing that ruins this math is a draw, an Algeria win against Denmark, or some massive upset from Australia against Romania or Algeria.

I’m thinking the tiebreakers go like this: total points, head-to-head results, goal differential, and then just whoever scored more goals overall.

Adam Collins4 said:I think the tiebreakers are: points, head-to-head, goal difference, then total goals scored.

In the end, America totally messed up the math.😁

So, it looks like me, Mexico, and Denmark are moving on for sure. Mexico is locked in with 1 point, we're currently sitting at 1 too, and Denmark has 2. Algeria will definitely take fourth if they beat Australia.

Group D is pretty much settled. The only wildcard left is South Korea fighting for third. They’d need to beat Slovakia by five goals and pray Argentina loses to Chile. If Argentina loses by 2, South Korea needs a 4-goal win, and so on. As for the point carryovers, if Argentina advances, they have 2 points (it's fixed), Poland also has two (though they could get more if they beat Sweden), while Sweden is at zero right now (same deal as Poland).

If we go ahead and set up the next Group J lineup right now, here’s how the potential point totals could shake out:

Denmark (2, 3, or 4)
America (1, 2, or 3)
Mexico 1
Poland (2, 3, or 4)
Sweden (0, 1, 2, 3, or 4)
Argentina (2), South Korea (0)

So, you're telling me the Romanians don't even stand a chance at beating the Mexicans?

Nah, because we're sitting on five of them with those two points.

Nicholas Morales48 said:If we set up the next Group J right now, here are the possible point combinations:

Denmark (2, 3, or 4)
America (1, 2, or 3)
Mexico 1
Poland (2, 3, or 4)
Sweden (0, 1, 2, 3, or 4)
Argentina (2), South Korea (0)

😕

graniterider15 said:😕

How on earth can Sweden have 3 or 4 points?

Look, if Chile beats Argentina, then South Korea moves on because they already beat Sweden, which puts them at 2 points, right? Then a tie against Poland gives them an extra point, and a win would be worth 2 more...

Is Chile going to take over Argentina? Give me a break.

We’re taking an L against Denmark today. My gut tells me we'll lose by five. We just don't have the depth for anything meaningful at this tournament. And by "meaningful," I mean making the finals—that's the only result that would actually satisfy us.

There are seven Argentines playing in Spain right now—several of them even in La Liga—plus two who are making things interesting over in Italy, and one holding it down in Germany, likely in a lower division... When you have a handful of players competing at the top level in Spain, it proves they aren't exactly total losers. At the end of the day, you have to look at the results: they cruised past the home team and held their own against the Poles despite losing on goal difference. It’s pretty obvious they’ve actually learned how to play.

Kyle Torres60 said:it's actually great for handball as a sport—finally seeing teams from outside of Europe start playing a meaningful role.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I simply have to get this off my chest regarding handball outside of Europe.
A friend of mine was telling me about his time spent living in the States; he asks some local guy—a guy of Czech, Polish, or maybe Slovak descent, something like that—where the local handball club is located. He assumed that because there are so many people in the US with European heritage, particularly those from the North America or Eastern Europe, there had to be a club somewhere. Well, wouldn't you know it? The guy tells him there isn't a club, but offers to grab a ball so they can play one-on-one. My friend is stunned, though he did appreciate the man's enthusiasm to go out and shoot some penalties or whatever... Ten minutes later, the guy shows up carrying some sort of small ball that looks more like a tennis ball, and that's it—they're just standing there hitting the ball against a wall with their hands. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This is what they were playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt8NRwvNwk4

I suppose that’s what passes for "handball" in America, whereas actual handball is about as developed over there as synchronized swimming is in Albania.🤣🤣🤣

Then there is that movie Machan, which is supposedly based on a true story where characters from Sri Lanka learn to play handball and head off to a tournament in Germany.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Qje...eature=related
The Australians seem to share a similar level of enthusiasm.😁DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD