Well, let's make a thread for team ARG after a long time.
No list for WL yet, just a large group of players from argentine league working currently with the coaching staff. European based players will integrate soon.
Among the most important news is the retirement from NT of Javier Filardi after the coach told him he won't be called for WL/Olympics and the comeback of Libero Alexis Gonzalez after retiring from NT 3 years ago.
Here I have translated some interesting statements from Velasco taken from an interview he gave recently, it talks about some new young players (Bruno Lima -OPP-, Jan Martínez -OH-, Nicolas Lazo -OH-, all of them successful in junior and youth WChs last year) and some general thoughts about argentine vball as well. Full article (in spanish) here: http://www.feva.org.ar/noticia…asculino_noticias&id=1305
About planification for WL/OG: "This year we won't have Team A and Team B as in the previous two years. Or rather, Team B is composed mostly of players under 23, plus some players of the roster for the World League that will not travel, but should be kept in activity at the prospect of being called up for the Olympics. Like every year, I saw all the Argentina League matches and almost every game of international leagues where Argentine players are. (...) In the past two years I have tried many players. This year instead, I'll work with a smaller group. But there are some situations where we still need to clarify ideas. One of these is the role of the opposite, where we are training Bruno Lima, who will play the Pan American Cup in that role. As well we are also training Nicolas Lazo after having seen him play very well in two finals of the championship. We are also looking a little closer to Jan Martinez since for the Games in Rio you can go only with 12 players and therefore one of the 4 OH must be able to replace the Libero if necessary. But being such a young player we not want to rush him. The players have already been part of the team over these two years and we'll take the final decisions shortly. I think the national team is not necessarily a list of the best players in general, but one of the best players for the specific role they should play in the competition."
Then he talks about Filardi, and how he told him that he wasn't to be part of the squad this year, etc
Finally, about Argentine League: "I think in Argentina a very good volleyball is played. Individual technical quality of the players is very good, as well as the organization of teams in serve change and break phase. It is clear that physical strength and power are lower than in other international leagues, but that is because of the characteristics of our athletes and does not happen only in volleyball. However the work done by the clubs and the staff of the junior and youth teams in recent years has paid off and we have many taller and stronger players than we had in the past. It is also clear that the great distances that teams have to travel by bus to play the championship does not allow for the physical training to be at maximum frequency. (...) I have seen great progress in many aspects of the game and also in the fact of having more players using power in the attack hit. I, like many of my colleagues in Argentina, think that in Argentina was abused the use of "soft hand" spike to "secure" the attack. It is a solution that players must know and use, but only in cases where it is not possible to use the power. I think there are two aspects in the game where both national team and clubs can improve. One is the aggressiveness and the quality of the serve, either jump or float, and the other is in the increased use of the pipe (attack zone 6, second line) as a combination of attack, both after reception and in counter-attack."
