The USA Men participated in their second straight World Championships this past January and finished in 26th place with 3 wins and 4 losses. At first glance this doesn’t look like a great tournament result. After all, at the 2023 World Championships the U.S. made the main round and finished in 20th place. But, while the end result was a lower overall ranking, the body of work this time was, in my opinion, clearly better. Here’s a look at how the U.S. did in all 7 matches.
Match by Match Review
- Preliminary Round
- Portugal – USA 30-21 (15-10): The outcome of this match was never in doubt, but the U.S. made the eventual 4th place Portuguese work the whole way.
- Norway – USA 33-17 (13-7): This was clearly the worst U.S. performance of the tournament… But, after Norway lost their first match vs Brazil, was there any doubt that the hosts would do everyting in their power to right the ship and take out their frustration?
- Brazil – USA 31-24 (10-12): The U.S. led at the half and the match was tied at 18-18 with twenty minutes left. A remarkable performance against a Brazil side that edged out both Norway and Sweden for a QF slot. While Brazil dominated the final twenty minutes playing a world top 8 team to a standstill for forty minutes was a great confidence booster. One that hopefully serves as a stepping stone to an eventual 60 minute result against a top side.
- President’s Cup
- USA – Japan 27-25 (15-13): While Japan was missing some key players many players on their roster had just played in the Olympics this past summer and had been part of Japan’s successful Asian qualification. Not a top European side, but an experienced side that had played some big matches. The U.S. trailed early, but came back and led most of the way. Most importantly, they took control of the match in crunch time.
- USA – Cuba 27-26 (14-15): Against their continental rivals the U.S. played a subpar match and even fell behind 4 goals (15-19 early in the 2nd half. But, the U.S. didn’t panic and eventually took a 24-23 lead with 9 minutes. Again… the U.S. was the better team in crunch time. Poised, they found a way to win when they weren’t having their best day. And, that’s what confident sides do.
- USA – Bahrain 30-28 (15-14): At the 2023 World Championships Bahrain defeated the U.S 32-27. The match was not a blowout, but Bahrain was clearly the better side. This time around the U.S. was the better team and (we have a theme here) the better team in crunch time.
- 25th Place (President’s Cup Title Match)
- Poland – USA 24-22 (11-13) (10-8) (3-1) : Heading into this match the U.S. was a 7.5 goal underdog and the odds of an outright victory were 13-1 against. Poland is no longer a top European side, but their handball history is decidedly superior to the U.S. But, none of that mattered and the U.S. held a lead in the 54th minute only to see the match end in a regular time draw (21-21). The U.S. then came up short in the penalty shootout. Sure, I would have preferred a title, but all things considered, that’s a solid performance.
Overall Team Assessment
Over the course of two weeks the USA Men played 7 teams of varied experience and talent levels. We didn’t know it going into the tournament, but based on the final rankings of the teams participating, Group E (Portugal (4th), Brazil (7th), Norway (10th) and the USA (26th)) was the strongest Preliminary Group in the Tournament. And, then against peer nations in the President’s Cup, the U.S. won all three of their 3 group play matches and played to a draw in the President’s Cup final, only to lose on penalties.
Betting lines are by no means official, but it’s telling that the U.S. covered the goal handicap spread in 5 of their 7 matches, only failing to cover versus Norway and Cuba. And, in two cases, against Japan and Bahrain they won matches relatively comfortably agains teams they were expected to lose to by 3 or 4 goals. By these numbers, there is no debate… The U.S. repeatedly exceed expectations.
How did the U.S. do it? Well, here are some of the reasons that I think are behind the team’s success.
- Solid defense: The U.S. gave up an average of 27.7 goals/match. The IHF doesn’t provide a handy ranking for this metric, but a quick review of match scores for the teams the U.S. played shows that the U.S. held their opponents to fewer goals than their average. While some of this might be attributable to the somewhat methodical U.S. offense, keep in mind that same offense also had it’s fair share of turnovers. In fact, if one takes out the resultant fast break goals, the U.S. set defense (dare, I say it?) approaches the defense played by some of the top teams. It approaches… it’s not quite there yet. But, if one is trying to understand how the U.S. was tied with Brazil with 20 minutes left… it’s good defense combined with fewer turnovers on offense.
And, the defense starts with a center block of Domagoj Srsen and Patrick Hueter with Drew Donlin and Paul Skorupa filling in with no real drop in performance. Yes, 4 big, physical guys that are largely interchangeable and familiar with each other’s play. Throw in Ian Hueter and Abou Fofana playing pretty good “2” defense as well and it’s very capable defense - Reliable wing scoring: I’ll be doing a more indepth position by position review, but right wing, Sean Corning and left wing, Sam Hoddersen provided consistent scoring both on the wing and fast breaks
- Crunch time leadership: Center back 1a, Ian Hueter and center back 1b, Alex Chan kept the team poised in crunch time. Games the U.S. might have lost in the past due to mistakes, are now games we are winning.
- A core group with several years of shared experiences: Back in 2018 at a PANAM Games qualifier, I saw a backcourt of Abou Fofana, Ian Hueter and Gary Hines make short work of a Canadian side that had beaten the U.S. a few months earlier. More players have been added and roles have changed, but a talented core group has now been together for several years… and, it shows. We aren’t the team that has to figure out how to play and work together a week before the tournament. We are the the team that already knows what to do.
When determining an overall grade for this U.S. team I guess one could simply say 26th out of 32 teams and think C-, at best. And, for sure, I would love for the U.S. to be a side that makes the Main Round, the Quarterfinals and play for medals. But, I think it’s more appropriate to take the talent level of the team into account and match it to expectations.
Overall, this is a team with some talented athletes. Competitive, pretty good athletes, but no individual athletes with the talent that makes them can’t miss, top club professionals. However, when you combine these individuals into a team, the sum is greater than the individual parts. And, it is why their performance repeatedly exceeded expectations and is a performance that I think deserves an A+ grade overall.
Coming up: I’ll provide a more indepth position by position review and I’ll also start looking ahead towards 2028.