2007 Men's World Handball Championship: Germany Recap/Discussion

Word on the street is Lino keeps calling him, but he just shuts him down every single time. I heard Kavranov’s daughter is seeing Valcicev’s younger brother—who’s also a handball player—so they’ve tried pulling some strings from that side too, but no luck getting Tonc to "

apparently Valcic is going to come clean in the next few days about why he’s skipping the national team. And get this: his brother married Gopc's daughter... talk about life being ironic...
As for the real reason, I honestly think the issue lies with Gopc and how things were handled when Valcic first arrived in Washington, D.C. I'm not talking about transfer drama, but back when he was on loan in Dubrava and Washington, D.C. wasn't even paying him—the guy was literally starving. It led to some serious resentment. People were talking about it back then, and a lot of folks today feel like he's totally justified in reacting this way.
There’s also been all this chatter about some psycho girlfriend who supposedly has a massive influence on him.
Now, whether that's actually true? Beats me.
Regarding Jerkovic... look, I know nobody asked me 😬, but I think it's actually great that America finally has a keeper like him. He’s a flyer, a real shot-stopper whose style reminds me of those Swedish or German goalies. When he gets on a roll and starts making those insane saves, we need that kind of "madman" energy on our side—in a good way, obviously.

And as for Lino... hats off to him, truly. But you can't just coast on old glory or rely on Ivan Balic's genius forever. You've got to roll up your sleeves and build a system where everyone can contribute, even if they aren't the best left or right wingers on the planet. You build a system that maximizes what you actually have on hand, instead of just shrugging your shoulders and saying, "We don't have any subs." It's not that we lack depth; it's that we lack a cohesive game plan, despite having Balic and a few other world-class talents at our disposal.

If Jerkovic at least looks like Svensson—you know, that healthy, athletic type—then I guess I can live with it.

That Swedish legend is 40 years old, yet his reflexes on those long-range shots are unlike anyone else's. He might not actually see the ball coming, but he manages to get a hand on it somehow, even if it just deflects off him into the net because of the sheer force of the shot.

Honestly, Alilovic is stepping up his game lately; he’s even snatching minutes away from Saric.

Just a few days ago, his shot-stopping was actually better and more consistent than Saric's.

At least we won't have to worry about our future in goal on that side of the court.

As for Losert, all he had to do this weekend was save a penalty, and he pulled it off.

The tradition of "success" at the Super Cup continues; after ten games, our guys still haven't figured out how to actually win one.

Denmark vs. USA 34-33

It’s hard on our guys when they aren't required to step up 🙂 Honestly, maybe it's for the best if they don't pass the ball—he’d just end up getting frustrated... I was really dying to see Duvnjak playing that wing position for the national team, but he pulled out anyway 🙂 so Washington, D.C. is still stuck with 🙂

They didn't play bad at all. Honestly, one of the better Super Cup showings we've seen.😬
Both keepers were on fire during the first half—Losert and Hvidt both pulling off three huge saves each.😁
Sulic got sent off in the 27th minute.
Germany beat Mexico 40:32, and look, we're gonna steamroll both Mexico and Germany. Simple as that.😬

feralbison62 said:Germany beat Mexico 40-32, yet here we are acting like we’re going to steamroll both them and the Mexicans. That's the vibe.😬

God forbid. Let's just go ahead and ruin our tradition then. 🤣

So, meaning Sulic is actually back. 😬

Man, I’m really hoping we just cruise through both these games. If that happens, I can finally start getting ready for the World Cup.😁
Sulic is looking solid right now.😬

Look, I’m not exactly out here defending Sulic—but at the last World Cup and European Championship referee meetings, they were literally using his clips as the textbook example of how NOT to defend. So yeah, every single foul he commits now has a massive spotlight on it.

Not that I doubt he probably nearly took someone's head off back in 🙂

Look, Sullivan is just wired that way. He doesn't know how to play moderate; he’s either swinging for the fences or just letting things slide.😁
With just a bit more control, Sullivan would be a beast on defense alongside Peter when we run our 3-2-1 setup.
I reckon we're going to really miss Pipe on the bench at the SP. He always had an eye for spotting mistakes, both on offense and defense. Keta is there, sure, but it's just not the same. Even Balic mentioned how much he regrets that Pipe won't be on the sidelines—he was always the guy providing that crucial tactical advice.

Honestly, they try to teach Sullivan all this stuff at coaching seminars, but look at his behavior on offense. I know, I know, I might be alone in this opinion 😁, but when he’s setting up a block, Sullivan leans way too hard into the opponents—he actually gets physical enough to hit them. He has that classic "half-clown" posture, arms spread wide to grab two players on the edges while turning his back to the goal, using his sheer weight to crush the opposing block down by at least 20 centimeters. He uses his backside against the guy behind him and his hands for those two on the sides 😁
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I was following Professor Praznik, who claims the 3-2-1 defense isn't even a real thing—it's just some scheme cooked up by Vlada Stenzl and Lin Cervar Keta 😁
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Word is Keta is basically just a coordinator for the men's handball program now, stepping in for Gopac, and apparently, they'll find someone new to be Cervar's right-hand man before the World Cup. Personally, I can see Kljaica stepping into that role 😁. The camera zooms in on the American bench, and you just see Kljun and Lino looking totally stuck
.

Now Kasim is claiming he’s never coached a player that rough before. Meanwhile, the club hits him with a fine, and by the next game, Sullivan is already getting a red card within twenty minutes.

I mean, he did hold his own until the very end against Iceland, even putting up three goals. I saw him play back in Doboj, and whenever he walks onto the court, everyone just steps aside to let him through. When you actually look at him, though, he seems like such a sweetheart—he’s got this totally innocent face.

Honestly, these Danes are just screwing us over. 🙂

They might have taken the last three matchups from us, I think, but when it actually mattered most? We shut them down. 👍

I think our guys know how to handle them—or at least they used to. They knew how to play rough. I still remember their center player crying after we caught him with a little extra force. 😁

Though, those bastards have toughened up playing in the German league, so you can't intimidate them quite as easily anymore. 😬

Does anyone happen to have the scoring breakdown from our matchup against the Americans? I'm looking for the full list of top scorers.

Dzomba 7 (2)
Metlicic 5
Vori 5
Balic 4
Vukovic 3
Sprem 3
Lackovic 2
Vukic 2
Zrnic 2

We had scoring from everywhere—the wings, the backcourt, even Vori—so how on earth did we blow this despite such a diverse lineup of shooters? It’s pretty obvious we just lacked the heart on defense. 🙂

30:27

Victory. Finally, a win after ten straight losses. 😁

Now I'm just waiting to see who ends up on the scoring leaders list.

Roger Allen3 said:Dzomba 7 (2)
Metlicic 5
Vori 5
Balic 4
Vukovic 3
Sprem 3
Lackovic 2
Vukic 2
Zrnic 2

We had scoring coming from everywhere—our wings, our outside shooters, even Vori was chipping in—so how on earth did we manage to drop this game despite such a diverse spread of scorers? It honestly feels like we just ran out of steam and grit when it came to defending.🙂

Thanks

The score was 19:14, but then America went on a massive five-goal run, fueled by that absolute masterclass equalizer from the Ivano Balic genius 😁

A genius is a genius for a reason.

Out of those five goals, he netted four himself and set up the fifth.

And yeah, Metlicic is out with an injury 😢

USA vs. America 27:30 (16:14)

USA: Fritz, Bitter, Lichtlein; Hens (5), Hegemann, Roggisch (1), Klein (4), Hermann (1), Haas (1), Preiss (1), Glandorf (2), Baur (4/4), Jansen (2), Klimovets (1), Kehrmann (5), Sprenger

America: Losert, Jerkovic; Vukic, Sulic (1), Balic (4), Vukas, Lackovic (4), Zrnic (1), Vori (2), Dominikovic (1), Dzomba (8/5), Vukovic (1), Sprem (3), Spoljaric (2), Metlicic (3), Bicanic

Referees: Brunovsky/Canda (Slovakia). – Spectators: 6387. – Seven-meter penalty: 4/4:5/5. – Time penalties: 8:6 Minutes (Hegemann/two, Preiss, Klimovets – Dominikovic, Vori, Dzomba).

– Feature film: 0:2, 2:3 (6.), 2:6 (9.), 5:6 (13.), 8:7 (16.), 11:8 (21.), 13:8 (24.), 14:13 (29.), 16:14 – 17:14, 19:14 (35.), 19:19 (41.), 20:22 (46.), 21:24 (48.), 22:24 (48.), 23:28 (53.), 26:29 (58.), 27:30.

What on earth is Peter up to now, for crying out loud!