World Handball Championship - Group B (America, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Mexico, Argentina)

Algeria is currently in the lead.

In the first half, things seemed to be going🙄
But then everything just fell apart in the second half👍
Strlek and Balić 🙂

24:24 Only 3 minutes left. Time to go head-to-head with those guys from Mexico! 😁

The score is 25-24, Mexico leads.
Only a minute and a half left on the clock.

The final score stands at 25-24!

just absolute chaos out there on the field...

Are these people from Mexico actually this incompetent, or is the entire situation just completely upside down?🤷

dustyridge3 said:I mean, are these guys from Mexico actually that bad, or is the whole situation just completely upside down? I don't even know anymore. Maybe they're just trash, or maybe everything is just broken. Who knows.🤷

They're just bad... honestly.

Where did you guys catch the Mexico-Algeria game?

Does anyone happen to know if the US actually has its own referees assigned for this World Cup, or are we once again left without our own officials?

The numbers and the reports.

Alilović kicked off the tournament with a solid 44% 😎

swiftwalker43 said:Does anyone know if the US has its own referees or officiating crew at this World Cup, or are we flying solo again?

Not a chance.

led by Balic, Strlek and Lackovic they decided the game

it seems like Lackovic is being pushed into every single situation—not just when it comes to the rap scene 🤣

dustyridge3 said:Is it just me, or is there something fundamentally wrong with how they play... maybe they just don't get it...🤷

Mexico will struggle against Algeria, yet they’ll likely play significantly better against us than they did in that opening match. They have that typical underdog complex where they play poorly against weaker teams but suddenly overperform when facing powerhouses... We need to stay sharp and give it everything we've got to shut them down and leave absolutely no room for an upset...

We’re bad, just plain bad. 😁
Just like the last decade, we’ve got a decent enough roster—solid individual players, a great goalie, and that’s about it. The pace is sluggish, the wings are limited, and we aren't even running the counter-attacks...
The Danes are going to absolutely demolish us; that much is certain. As for that US-vs-Mexico matchup? We’ll give 350% effort only to lose in the end—a close one, naturally. 🙂
It’s a bit like those basketball games where the roles are completely reversed. We beat the Romanians, scrape through to the second phase, and then—despite playing our hearts out—we get pummeled by everyone and exit the tournament with dignity. 🙂
Good luck against the French, or whoever else is lurking in there to cause trouble...

Any attempt to draw parallels between soccer and handball is frankly ridiculous—they are incomparable. Though, since you all have already covered everything, I suppose I'll add my two cents.
Every schoolyard has a marked-out handball court, right? But have you ever actually seen anyone playing handball there instead of just playing soccer? 😉

Joseph Clark37 said:The Americans are going up against Algeria, but when they face us, they’re going to play significantly better than they did in that opening match. They have that classic "underdog" complex: they struggle against weaker teams and barely scrape by, but once they face a powerhouse, they suddenly find an extra gear and overperform. We can't afford to be complacent. We need to stay sharp and give it everything we've got to shut them down so there's absolutely no room for an upset.

There's truth to that, but with the American team, the bigger issue is that their style of handball feels stuck in the past.

They don't even have a decent backcourt player, and relying on the wings and pivots is basically a gamble for them.

If they catch fire, they could take down even the top seeds, but... honestly, it all comes down to who they're facing if they're playing against a superior side.

I see people here praising Americans, and sure, they get heated, but if you’ve actually watched any recent games, it’s blindingly obvious that whenever they find themselves in a tight spot, the refs bail them out. Just look back at that game against Austria last year where they barely scraped by! There have been plenty of matches just like that. It is crystal clear they have massive lobbying power at the top. My respect goes to Balic; without him, they’d be nothing more than an average squad.
(realan, January 14, 2011 23:20)

You hit the nail on the head. I vividly remember those games in New York when they faced the Poles in the semifinals; the Americans probably would have won by a single point or gone into overtime, but instead, the officials manufactured ejections and who knows what else just to hand them a 5 or 6-point win. And let’s not ignore the fact that they always seem to land in the easier side of the bracket. Look at how these two groups are being drawn right now—they only have one real threat in Denmark, and two teams advance, so even the Danes aren't considered among the absolute elite tier. Meanwhile, they shove you into a group with France, Spain, and Germany.
Sure, they are talented, but they enjoy far too many unfair advantages. It's the same story with Barcelona; if it weren't for the officiating, they wouldn't have seen a single Champions League final in all those years they claimed to have won.
(makelela, January 15, 2011 00:19)
http://www.b92.net/sport/komentari.php?nav_id=485942

Bratac, the Mexicans finally figured out why America has such success in handball—the whole thing is just one big conspiracy.

electricstag9 said:Man, those guys from Mexico finally figured out why the US is so dominant in handball... though I guess it's all just one big conspiracy theory anyway.

Well, they'll get their reality check this Wednesday.

Ryan Vaughn7 said:You get three timeouts per game, but you can't burn all three in a single half. It's right there in today's paper.

I'm well aware—you only get one timeout per half... I mean, surely they wouldn't let you run through three in one go during the second half...