Handball Europe: America vs. Norway 23-23

🙂

Writing this at halftime during the Denmark vs. Poland game (it’s sitting at 17-13). If things don't turn around soon, we're basically looking at needing a win against the Norwegians—and if that happens, they're out of the semifinals entirely.

Even if the Norwegians drop this one, they’re still pretty much set to clinch a spot in the Olympic qualifiers. Honestly, I have no idea how much that goal is actually weighing on them right now. All I know is their defense is absolutely lethal—they completely tore Dance apart.

Our odds:
Against Mexico, we were missing Sulić, Horvat, Caleb, and Lacković from the lineup, and Balić only managed about 20 minutes on the court. That could end up being a huge deal.
The starting lineup for Norway has an average age of 33.
The pressure is really on for the Americans now that they're playing on home turf.
The pressure is real, especially since making a semifinal is basically uncharted territory for them.
The Norwegians don't really have one standout superstar right now; for some reason, Kjelling—who’s easily their most famous player—is barely getting any playing time.
The bench is looking pretty thin right now. Between the fatigue setting in and having solid subs only for left wing and pivot, we're definitely feeling the squeeze.
Almost the entire starting lineup is playing up in Scandinavia.

Norway:
goalkeeper:
The standout guy on this Norwegian squad has gotta be their goalkeeper. Ege So, who was the guy who put up an insane 29 saves against the Russians? Because in the other two games where he played the full duration, he was averaging about 14 saves per match. Crazy stats.
Pivot:
The Norwegians have got the defense locked down, but man, they really don't have anything on us when it comes to the best pivot in the game. Jensen He's 35 and has only managed one goal during this tournament so far. Still, he's a solid sub if you need him. Loke He’s averaging about 3 to 4 goals every 24 minutes. Plus, Myrhol is getting plenty of playtime too.
Left wing:
He's easily one of the top scorers on the roster. Tvedten But let's be real, more than half his goals come from the penalty line. Against Poland, he barely even saw the floor—only played 17 minutes and went 0 for 2 on shots before Skoglund came in to sub him out. And Skoglund, who hadn't even touched the court before that, ended up going 4 for 5.
Left wing:
The top scorer is playing right here. Hagen The guy's dropping 5 or 6 goals like it's nothing. Honestly, it’s kind of weird seeing him play this much given how they usually handle things over there. Kjelling Who is this guy? He’s only been on the court for like ten minutes and he’s already dropped two goals. He absolutely lost his mind during that game against Poland. Strand Dropped 9 goals.
Mid-range exterior:
It’s pretty standard. SOLBERG He plays a ton of minutes, but his scoring is all over the place—one day he’s up 3-0, the next he’s totally cold. Lund steps in for him every now and then.
Right wing:
They're skinny and they've got nothing. Lauritzen Which one’s actually getting full minutes? He's all over the place too (could be 3-0, could be 0-4-1).
Right wing:
I'm here. Skjaervold The guy who averages two goals a game and stays on the floor the whole time.

The starting lineup:

Goalkeeper - Ege Steinar FCK Copenhagen 188/1 35g.
Against Denmark, 60 minutes on the clock and 14 saves. Not bad.
Against the Russians—60 minutes on the clock and 29 saves. Tough grind.
Against Mexico, 20 minutes left and we're already down three. This is rough.
Against Poland—47 minutes in and we've only got 15 stops? Man, this pace is killer.

Pivot - JENSEN JENSEN Johnny Flensburg Handewitt 174/283 35g.
vs Denmark, 33 minutes in, and he’s sitting at 0 for 1 from the field. Rough start.
Against the Russians—32 minutes in and they’re sitting at 0/0 shooting. Absolute disaster.
vs Mexico, 23 minutes in, and he’s already missing half his shots. What a mess.
vs Poland 33 min 0/0 shooting

Left wing - Tvedten Håvard Nature House La Rioja 120/393 29g.
Against Denmark, he put up an 8/10 shooting performance over 59 minutes, including 6 from the penalty line.
Against the Russians at the 25-minute mark: they're sitting at 6/9 shooting (including 4 from the penalty line).
Against Mexico—45 minutes in, they’re sitting at 5/9 from the field (including 3 from the penalty line). Tough start.
Against Poland, about 17 minutes in, they're sitting at 0 for 2 from the field. Rough start.

Left wing - Hagen Frode Drammen HK 181/541 33g.
Against Denmark—53 minutes in—he’s sitting at 6 for 12 from the field.
Against the Russians—49 minutes in, they're sitting at 9 for 19 from the field. Rough.
vs Mexico. 44 minutes in, shooting 3 for 7.
Against Poland, they're sitting at 3/3 from the field at the 37-minute mark. Pretty clinical.

Middle back - SOLBERG Glenn Drammen HK 115/239 35g.
Against Denmark—36 minutes in—he’s shooting 3 out of 4. Not bad.
Against the Russians, he’s sitting at 0 for 1 after 38 minutes. Rough.
Against Mexico, we're sitting at a 75% shooting percentage through 45 minutes. Not bad, I guess.
Against Poland, 51 minutes in, and we're sitting at 0 for 2 on shots. Rough.

Right wing - LAURITZEN Jan Thomas Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 247/549 33g.
Against Denmark—37 minutes in—shooting 3 for 5. Not bad.
Against the Russians... 30 minutes in and he's sitting on a 0/0 shooting percentage. Rough start.
vs Mexico. Finished the 60 minutes shooting 4/7.
Against Poland, we’re sitting at a 1/3 shooting percentage through 29 minutes. Rough.

Right wing - Skjaervold runa Stord TIL 102/212 33g.
Against Denmark, he went 0 for 1 in shooting over 60 minutes. Tough break.
Against the Russians—60 minutes played, only managed 2 out of 5 shots. Rough.
vs Mexico 0 min
Against Poland, 54 minutes in, shooting 2 for 2. Not bad.

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Others:

Pivot - MYRHOL Bjarthe HSG Nordhorn 55/88 25g.
vs Denmark 28 min 1/1 shooting
Against the Russians—hit 3 out of 3 in 13 minutes. Pure efficiency.
vs Mexico 11 min 0/1 shooting
Against Poland, 21 minutes in, and we're sitting at 0 for 1 on shots. Rough start.

Pivot - Loke Frank Grasshopper CZ 126/468 27g.
Against Denmark, he's sitting at 4/4 shooting through the 16-minute mark. Absolute clinic.
Against the Russians, we're looking at 24 minutes in and they're shooting 3/4. Not bad.
vs Mexico 24 min 3/3 shooting
Against Poland, 23 minutes in, they're shooting 4 for 4. Absolute clinic.

Backcourt left - LUND Borge THW Kiel 136/262 28g.
Against Denmark, hitting 2/3 of his shots at the 24-minute mark.
Against the Russians—31 minutes in—it’s 1 for 1 from the field.
Against Mexico—shooting 2 out of 2 from the field in those last 15 minutes. Pure clinical stuff.
Against Poland, 16 minutes in, and we're sitting at 0 for 3 on shots. Rough start.

Left wingers— Kjelling Kristian Portland San Antonio 94/332 27g.
Against Denmark—3 minutes in and he’s already 0 for 3 from the field. Rough start.
Against the Russians, he went 2 for 2 from the field in the first 10 minutes. Not bad.
Against Mexico, 17 minutes in, sitting at 4/7 shooting.
Against Poland, 9 minutes in, they're sitting at 1/4 shooting. Rough start.

Left wing - Strand Kjetil Fuchse for Berlin—69 out of 351. That's about 28g.
Against Denmark, five minutes in and he’s already 0 for 2 from the field. Rough start.
Against the Russians—about 8 minutes in, they’re already sitting at 50% shooting. Rough start.
vs Mexico... 1 minute left and he's 0 for 1 from the field. Rough.
Against Poland, we’re sitting at 9/12 shooting through the first 30 minutes—and yeah, three of those were from the penalty line.

Right wing - BJORNSEN Lars Erik Holstebro 27/34 25g.
vs Dan -
vs Russian -
Against Mexico, we went 2/5 from the field over 60 minutes. Tough break.
vs USA—

Goalkeeper - EREVIK Ole SC Magdeburg 80/0 25g.
vs Dan -
vs Russian -
vs Mexico 39 min 11 saves.
vs Poland, 12 minutes in, score is 0-0. Still scoreless.

You guys totally screwed up the thread starters, but whatever, I guess some people actually still care about tradition here.☕😁

The Norwegians... This is going to be a total nightmare from every angle. They’re powerhouse athletes, they’re playing on home turf, and we are basically screwed. At the very least, we need Balić and Metličić to play like they're in their prime today, a rock-solid defense (like the one we had against the Poles), and our goalkeeper needs to pull off at least 40% saves to even stay in this.

But honestly, none of that matters if the refs decide to let the Norwegians get away with everything just like they did during the game against the Poles. It’s not even about officiating anymore, it’s not even about handball... It’s just rigged. If that happens, they’re going to beat us senseless and then embarrass us by 10 goals.

Hey there, Mungos and everyone else... this is how we kick off the thread! ☕

I haven't caught their games yet... but honestly? They aren't exactly superstars. Plus, they're getting older, and they're already playing their third game in just three days! From what I can see, they have almost no depth on the wings, and they don't even seem to have a standout player who consistently performs during the season...

So, it really comes down to their defense and having home-court advantage.

I honestly think we’ve got a decent shot at making the semifinals tomorrow... though, if I’m being real, pulling that off with this specific roster and everything else going on would be nothing short of a miracle...

Right now, Canada is up 12:11 against them, and the Poles just managed to scrape a point... logically speaking, we should be able to beat them too, but I really don't want to get ahead of myself or start overanalyzing things right now...

I’m hoping for the best, but we'll see what happens tomorrow. If things go our way, maybe we could even face the Frenchmen, which would give us a chance to finally settle the score with them...

Compared to how physically ready they are, their grandfathers would look like superheroes.😁

It’s obvious we’re better, we just have to prove it out there on the court.

The key is definitely the defense; if we stay fresh enough, we can force them into bad shots and pick them apart on the break.

On the flip side, if we get stuck playing static, we're gonna give up easy goals by overworking our 6-0 defense, and we probably shouldn't try to shut down Egea too hard, because that might backfire.😁

Looks like the refs are trying to hand the win to the Canadians by tossing two of their guys out at once—it's 14:13 for Canada at halftime.😁

Just watching how Canada is playing against Norway here.
We can pull it off tomorrow, assuming they don't have another bad night.

electricnomad11 said:The refs are clearly trying to hand them the win against the Canadians by tossing two Canadian players out at once. 14:13 for Canada at the half.😁

If they had at least finished that fast break to make it 15:13.

Man, Ege is basically carrying like 50, maybe even 70 percent of the load for the Americans. This guy already racked up 11 saves in the first half. I mean, sure, that lone Kozomara managed to catch him in the body three times from the line, but still... his goalkeeping is just phenomenal. As for the American offense, they're pretty much stuck just passing to the line. It works for them, though—Lund dropped 5 goals. And that left back, Hagen, bagged 3; he’s a real pain because of those sudden shots. The rest of their attackers? Forget about it.

Lapajne is guarding the net well, which means our guys better step it up too. If they stick to a 6-0 defense against us, it could actually be a solid game for Ivan. Otherwise, Lacković is going to have to slide in on the right side and take those 7-meter shots, just like the broom does. That's what's working for Natek and Kavtičnik right now.

If it wasn't for Ege, and if the Canadians hadn't missed those easy shots at the line, the Europeans probably would've been up by about five.

Terry Fisher2 said:Man, Ege is basically carrying like 50, maybe even 70 percent of the load for those Norwegians. The guy racked up 11 saves in the first half alone. Sure, that little outlier Kozomara managed to nail him in the gut three times from the line, but still... his goalkeeping is absolutely phenomenal. As for the Norwegian offense? They’re incredibly limited—it’s just constant passing to the line. It works for them, though; Lund dropped 5 goals on us. And then you've got that left back Hagen (3 goals), who's a total pain because of those sudden shots. The rest of their attackers? Forget about them.

Lapajne is guarding the net solid, which means our guys better step up and play decent ball too. If they decide to sit in a 6-0 defense against us, it could actually be a great game for Ivan. Otherwise, Lacković is going to have to slide into that right side and start shooting from the 7-meter line, just like how the broom does it. That's what's working for Natek and Kavtičnik right now.

If it wasn't for Ege, and if the Canadians hadn't blown those easy shots at the line, the Europeans would probably be up by about five.

That's exactly what scares the hell out of me.
A rock-solid, pretty aggressive 6-0 defense paired with an elite goalkeeper.
When you add our pathetic backcourt, zero cohesive plays, and wings that are totally isolated into the mix, you get the exact formula everyone has used to beat us so far... the French twice, the Danes three times...

Ege fell apart completely in the second half.

Come on, Škof, lose it.

The Norwegians are absolutely struggling against the Canadians right now. Their offense is a total disaster; the Canadians are picking them apart like they’re little kids. They keep trying these crazy low passes in the attack, but it just ends up hitting a wall. 35-year-old center back Solberg is having a rough one, and Kjelling looks completely lost in space. To make matters worse, their best player from the first half, pivot Loke, is OUT WITH AN INJURY, and the wings are basically invisible. Lacković, Balić, and Metla are going to have plenty of room to work with tomorrow, so they better capitalize on it. Meanwhile, Pajović and Natek are just carving them up—they're getting to the 7-meter line without breaking a sweat.

what's the current standing for the Canadians?

So, Janez is pulling it off. Tomorrow we face the Norwegians, then the Canadian Dance, and that little Cro-Slo friendly duo keeps moving forward.

31-24 53 min.

The Canadians are putting up a hell of a fight defensively. The Norwegians aren't exactly giants, and they're looking a bit weathered out there—they just can't seem to break through.

As for the starting lineup, Jensen, their first pivot, has been pulled for the bench. Loke is in now, though I mentioned earlier he was dealing with an injury.

Another sub coming in. For some reason, Tvedten isn't seeing much time at left wing; instead, we've got Skoglund stepping in, and he only really played against the Poles. Something definitely feels off here. Everything else stays the same as my first post.

It honestly sucks when we run headfirst into an aggressive, physical, and super mobile defense that the refs just let slide... everything starts falling apart because things aren't flowing the way we planned, and suddenly everyone's getting on edge, forcing shots, and just straight-up panicking. We saw this happen against the Danes and the French too, which wasn't really the case before... back when we were playing the Germans, they stayed totally composed through the whole game.
If they can just play with some discipline, stay calm, and actually show some patience, they should be able to make a real run...

We've got 26 hours of rest while they only get 22. That's it—a minimum +4 advantage for us. 😁

This one’s for the pure red.

Way to go, Canada! They shut it down 33-29, leaving the Americans absolutely stunned by what just happened 😁