FIBA World Cup: USA vs Spain 29:33

After that chaotic finish in our group, America managed to grind their way into the semifinals. We'll be facing Spain, who took first place in Group II ahead of Germany and Denmark—definitely a result you have to respect. In the other semifinal, it’s Norway against Germany. Whoever wins this championship gets an automatic ticket to the Olympics; everyone else is stuck dealing with a brutal, unpredictable qualification process. BTW, if Spain takes the gold, our only upside is hosting one of the qualifying tournaments. If Norway or Germany wins, we'll be traveling to Denmark.

Our national team actually holds a winning record against Spain, though it's worth noting we've only gone 3-2 in our last five meetings, and most of those were nail-biters. Last time we lost was back in 2014, missing bronze by just one goal at the European Championship, but before that, we grabbed a 27-25 win at the World Cup 2013.

Spain is led by the incredible Valero Rivera, who's currently the second-highest scorer in the tournament (41/53). Only Tomas (23/34) has cleared 20 goals, but they also have the dangerous Aguinagalde, who hits almost everything he throws at the net (16/20). Canellas, Entrerrios and Maqueda are burning through plenty of possessions; their shooting percentages aren't legendary this tournament, but they're still threats you can't ignore. Spain rotates heavily, but they have three players who haven't seen much court time yet (Del Arco, Mindegia, and Baena). Stevanović showed what a solid keeper looks like in the game against the Poles, and our next opponents likely have the best duo of goalies in the tournament. Perez de Vargas and Arpad Šterbik are sitting at 33% combined, splitting minutes pretty evenly. It's rare to see a day where one of them isn't on fire, so it'll be bad news if they both struggle.

On our side, I'll just mention the unbelievable Štrlek, who's sitting at a crazy 35/41. After several years, Marić is also adding a whole new dimension to our play, having scored 24 goals from 31 attempts so far. Our goalies are generally a step behind the Spanish ones (30%), but Stevanović is saving about every third shot (and even every third penalty), and if he stays at that level, he'll be huge for us.

If we just keep the guy on the bench, everything will turn out fine. Honestly, Štrlek is playing out of his mind right now, and Marić is looking sharp too. We could really benefit from giving Duvnjak more room to breathe on the court. Plus, after that performance yesterday, Šebetić is absolutely brimming with confidence. Karačić seems to have things under control, if Chokić can just find his rhythm and drop a few shots, and Zlajo? Well, he’s never really let us down when it counts. I truly believe the guys won't let us down, provided that the coach stays sidelined.

I honestly don't even know how to approach a prediction—or how to process my own reaction—after yesterday's performance; in all honesty, I’m still trying to wrap my head around where we actually stand after this stretch of the tournament.

It seems like when we’re playing well, we can effectively dismantle any opponent by breaking down their simple mechanics, but the moment we lose that rhythm, everything just falls completely apart. Still, seeing us bounce back like this after the matchup with France—and doing it with such style—really shows the kind of grit this team possesses; I’ll admit, I had my doubts about our heart for a minute there.

As for the game against Spain, history tells us that anything can happen, and we're about to find out if that pattern holds true today.

The blueprint for success is pretty straightforward: we have to dictate the tempo with our own style, build our lead through patient play, capitalize on those fast breaks, and—this is non-negotiable—our defense absolutely has to step up alongside Stepanović. That’s the bottom line.

Let's just stay focused and give it everything we've got.

ABOVE ALL!!!!

A massive victory has been secured, and you can feel the morale skyrocketing. Now, all that weight is gone; there’s zero pressure on the team, who were objectively the heavy favorites entering this championship.

The secret sauce: Put Alilović on the bench

a steady stream ☕

As weird as it sounds, the Spaniards have actually shown less than us during this European Championship. Their offense is just completely useless—they don't even have a single player truly dominating out there. Entrerrios played one decent game, Maqueda is contributing more on defense, Dujshebaev is basically a non-factor, Canellas is unrecognizable, and Garcia is just playing a supporting role, though he’s been solid enough. Tomas and Rivera on the wings provide their main punch, but if you shut down their transition, they’re stuck hovering on a weak perimeter trying to work things out with Aguinagalde, who is easily the only real asset on this squad. On the other side of the court, they are definitely stronger; it was their defense that dragged them into this semifinal, but losing Guardiola—who, along with Morros, anchored that tough middle—is a massive blow. Now Maqueda is trying to patch things up, but it’s just not the same. They have arguably the best goalie duo in Štrebik-de Vargas, but I honestly don't think they can beat us on defense alone.

They got lucky with a massive head start against Germany (honestly, I think the Germans would have taken it if they had faced off in Group 3), then scraped by a Canadian team that was offensively terrible, and barely managed to edge out Sweden, who also lacks any seriously high-level offensive solutions.

In the second group, the Danes dismantled them easily, proving just how aimless their offense really is (thanks to an incredible performance by Landin, of course). Then they barely survived a struggling Canadian team that actually led and kept things even for all 60 minutes, and finally, they just barely scraped past the Russians, whom they completely neutralized.

I don't think they'll have it nearly as easy against us as they've had so far. In my opinion, their current form and overall performance don't even warrant a semifinal spot, and if our guys come out with the same 70% intensity we saw against the Poles, we're going to sweep them right off the floor.

European Championship 2012: 31-27 for us
Olympics 2012: 30-25 for us
World Cup 2013: 27-25 for us (for 3rd place)
World Cup 2015: 29-28 for them (for 3rd place)

It'll be good to see some old familiar faces again. ☕☕☕

I just wish they’d fight hard instead of basically throwing in the towel after 20 minutes against France—if they just give it their all and leave everything on the court, I guess nobody could say anything bad, even if they end up losing

I’ll be rooting for you guys—honestly, any team that manages to walk into a deciding game and dismantle the home crowd with a 14-goal lead deserves nothing but respect. I'm crossing my fingers that you pull off the gold. Good luck! 👍

northernbadger2 said:As long as they actually fight instead of just folding after 20 minutes like they did against France, I don't care. If they give it their all and lose, nobody’s gonna complain.

It won't be like the France game. There's this weird mental block that hits them the second they see France on the schedule—it's like some unexplainable psychological glitch that only happens with those guys.

Worst case scenario? Something like the Norway game, losing by maybe 2 or 3 points.

Honestly, Spain doesn't look that intimidating to me, especially with their perimeter shooting. If we can shut down their wings, we should be able to find plenty of openings.

I’m not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet, but the US has made it to the European Championship semifinals for the seventh consecutive time (in this incredibly intense handball tournament). It’s truly a massive achievement!

George Robinson43 said:I'm not sure if anyone brought this up yet, but the US has made it to the European Championship semifinals for the seventh straight time (in this high-stakes handball tournament). Seriously impressive stuff.

Finally hitting that lucky number seven
🎉🎉 🎉
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Does anyone else remember that game against the Spaniards when we were up by one and defending that final possession? We gave up a goal just seconds before the buzzer, and then he just nails it from center court 😍

That took place back in Austria in 2004

We’re gonna take them down—it might be close, but honestly? I wasn't impressed by their play at all. They basically lucked their way into the semifinals if you ask me. But hey, what does it matter? I’m already bracing myself for the inevitable heartbreak when we lose the championship to Germany anyway. 🙄

Roger Allen3 said:Does anyone remember that game against the Spaniards where we were up by one and defending the final possession, only to concede a goal seconds before the buzzer and then have their guy sink one from half-court? 😍

Is that the one where everyone started swarming the scorer's table because Červar was screaming that the Spaniards were trying to steal the win? 😁

They’re going to run right over us.

Once we get through this, I’m basically just rooting for the Norwegians in the finals because I think we can definitely take them down!

Daniel Cooper40 said:Are you talking about that moment when things got heated at the scorer's table and Červar was shouting because he felt the Spaniards were trying to steal our victory? 😁

Exactly. It was that European Championship in Canada where we had the chance to complete the triple crown—winning the World Cup, the Olympics, and the European gold. But the Canadians intentionally targeted Metličić, and they ended up breaking John's arm, which kept him out of even the bronze medal match. It wasn't until much later that the Frenchmen finally managed to pull all those titles together.

Took a quick look at their keepers' stats from those "big" matchups—against Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.

The numbers against Denmark were definitely the standout.
Šterbik pulled off 21 saves, sitting at about 45%.

Against Germany, they went 13/35, which is 35%.

Then there was Sweden, where Perez had to step in because Šterbik was out with an injury.
15/37—that's 41%.

Bottom line... we need our goalies hitting around 30-35% just to stay in the game.