Champions League 2009/2010

  • Ervin Ngapeth is incredible young player, really big feature awaits him :drink:

  • Pretty bad performance by CSKA tonight. :down: I thought a mixture of weak team spirit and crowd fear made it a piece of cake for the home side. The veterans disappointed me too much, our coach should've changed them for some other players. Peev is way too old to play in important CL matches. He's okay in the championship but here he missed many balls. We had poor reception which resulted in sending balls into Unicaja's field every now and then. Maiyo showed more skills as the match progressed and he scored 10 pts (best scorer). But as I already said red veterans were the saddest part so I hope to see other players like Boyko Bonev and Nenchev next time around. :|

  • Unicaja ALMERIA (ESP) vs. CSKA SOFIA (BUL) 3:0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-22) stats
    TOURS VB (FRA) vs. Zenit KAZAN (RUS) 1:3 (25-20, 25-27, 23-25, 23-25) stats
    Panathinaikos ATHENS (GRE) vs. CoprAtlantide PIACENZA (ITA) 3:1 (22-25, 25-22, 29-27, 25-20) stats


    In spite of a pretty good performance, TOURS VB did not finalize its quest and eventually had to leave the way open to the Russians of Zenit KAZAN tonight on home soil. Alexey Cheremisin was the best scorer of the match with 22 points, whereas David Konecny and Earvin Ngapeth topped the count for the hosts with 21 and 20 respectively. In the first set, TOURS VB displayed some great blocks to stop the attacks of the opponents and Ngapeth performed strongly in attack. The remaining three sets were extremely tight and TOURS VB left the court with some regrets since the French did not score the decisive rallies to have a try at last at the tie-break. After four legs Zenit is still undefeated and progresses mightily along the way to the Playoffs, whereas TOURS VB will have to battle with CSKA SOFIA and Unicaja ALMERIA for the second spot. French coach Eric Ngapeth said after the match: “The victory tonight was within reach but the major international experience of the Russians ultimately prevailed”.


    Looking for staying alive in the competition Unicaja ALMERIA resumed tonight to the “Moses Ruiz” competition hall as if the team was going to play a final match. The Spaniards started off quite nervously, but the local guys promptly reacted to set the pace all the way through. Setter Josh Howatson was decisive as he cleverly distributed balls among his spikers. The third set was extremely tight. CSKA SOFIA didn’t give up, the score turned around continuously but with 80% of efficiency in attack for American Matthew Denmark Unicaja eventually closed the match in three sets. Spanish coach Carlos Carreño said: “We attained our objective, all the players played at a very high level, including the ones that normally don’t play too much, and now we have to continue to perform that way, even though we have a difficult match against Zenit KAZAN coming up next week”. Bulgarian mentor Aleksandar Popov added: “I do not have much to say, Unicaja tonight was simply much better than us”.


    The “green” supporters created an amazing atmosphere tonight in Glyfada and helped out Panathinaikos in seizing the game against CoprAtlantide PIACENZA of Italy (22-25, 25-22, 29-27, 20-25). There were many supporters for the first time this year in the “M. Liougkas” competition hall since the Champions League match came right before a real derby featuring the girls of Panathinaikos and Olympiacos PIRAEUS for the 1/8 finals of the GM Capital Challenge Cup. Both teams were full of anxiety at the beginning of the match. Panathinaikos played better up to the mid of the set with Agamez in great shape but PIACENZA took advantage of the errors coming from the hosts to clinch the set 25-22. The second set began just like the first. Good blocks built up a provisional lead for Panathinaikos but the Italian team came back with Marshall and the score after the first technical time out moved up point by point. Many errors came from both sides in the serving area but with the clever tactics of setter Zagumny Panathinaikos tied the set count. Christofidelis opened the third set with a couple of aces and a furious Italian coach took a time out to wake up his guys. Score had some ups and downs, when after two ties at 23 and 25 and some amazing Volleyball actions, Panathinaikos prevailed at 29-27. The fourth set is just for… history! Panathinaikos displayed the right mix of energy and passion. On the other hand, PIACENZA lost the concentration and also the opportunity to stay alive to qualify for the Playoffs. After the end of the match, Greek coach Stelios Kazazis said: “Congratulations to all my players. We overcame the problems and defeated for a second time a club with a huge history in Europe”.

  • Again the same against Unicaja, the only difference is that Tours are stronger team, with brilliant tactic and defense. The only one from Bulgaria, that played on high level was again Teodor Todorov with 7/13 in attack despite the great french defense and with 4 blocks, with setting, with block that helped for counterattacks and so on. CSKA had reception, but lacked good serve, lacked TACTICS and mentality for most of the players. The victories are not accident, but CSKA depends too much on the home advantage :sos:


    Some stat of Todorov:


    32/61 attacks,1 ace, 25 blocks for 20 sets, 58 pts total with 23 BPs

  • I liked the game of Gaumont from Tours, Ngapeth was brilliant in reception, but his spike efficiency was altered by the reception (he got the most serves), may be there was some tactic after all ?(

  • CSKA depends too much on the home advantage :sos:

    I agree with that. Most of the bulgarian players looked lost on the court, not knowing exactly how to handle the game.
    I think the main reason for that is that Tours played more cleverly than in Sofia. They used better spikers (Alexandre Gaumont-Casias instead of Marc Schalk) and a quicker setter (Loïc De Kergret instead of Loïc Le Marrec). Therefore they were less under the pressure from the bulgarian MB, and I think Tours's spiker were more aware of the fact they'll have to deal with a very high block, so even if they were blocked 11 times, they did far less mistakes than in Sofia. They also received better, which was enough to put Sofia in a position were they were less confident, and slightly drop the game.


    What I can tell is that Sofia's play today was sometimes very good, but not consistent enough to defeat a team like Tours. On the other end, Tours did just what they had to do to make Sofia's play lack this consistency.

  • CSKA have problems against quick setting, like against Zenit. They were leading 1:0 and 19:16 when Ball entered the game (all others were already in, but that didn't helped them with the second setter) and the game changed. I like this guy Loïc De Kergret not only as a player or his hair, but as a Human. He seems nice guy, when Tour came here, he gave interview and showed respect for Bulgarian volleyball. Noble man :)

  • I liked the game of Gaumont from Tours, Ngapeth was brilliant in reception, but his spike efficiency was altered by the reception (he got the most serves), may be there was some tactic after all ?(

    Alexandre was a bit deceiving for the beginning of the season, but it looks like he has come back into great shape since a couple of games. He was good last saturday against Sète, and he was brilliant tonight. The fact is that De Kergret is also using him very well, especially in pipe.
    I think Sofia made a mistake focusing on Ngapeth because he is a better receiver than Gaumont-Casias. Maybe they wanted to keep Ngapeth from spiking, but Gaumont-Casias in a good shape is not easier to stop. I think it would have been easier to put Gaumont-Casias out of his game than Ngapeth. But maybe I'm wrong...

  • Good victories by Skra over Radnicki Kragujevac and Jastrzębie over Copra Piacenza. Skra was already qualified to the next round, so they play like they didn't want to get tired (difficult game in Plus Liga against Resovia this weekend). But Jastrzębie's win is especially precious - they won second five-sets game in the CHL and against another strong team (although Piacenza isn't in really good shape). So, Jastrzebie is still in the game. After their three first matches in CHL it was difficult to beleieve. Now - everything is possible. :)
    I'm disappionted with Resovia, which lost its first game agaisnt average Paris Volley. It had to come to the first defeat, but why against Paris ?:huh:

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

  • ok Copra, now that you have showed to all Europe how can you be ridiculous, go home and concentrate on Italian League!
    shame!!!!!
    what a nervous...be eliminated with players like this is just unbelievable for me...overall because in Italian League we're playing bad but we're third!

    2001: Italian champions beach volley 4x4
    2002: Italian League Serie A2 - Italian Cup Serie A2
    2004: Italian league's runner up - Cev Cup's runner up
    2006: Top Teams Cup - Italian Cup's runner up
    2007: Italian league's runner up - Cev Cup's runner up
    2008: Champions league's runner up - Italian league's runner up
    2009: Italian League
    2009: Italian Supercup
    2010: Cev Cup's runner up
    2013: Challenge Cup
    <<We're always with you, and we will never leave you alone!>>

  • I forgot to add, that Brazilian Pedro Azehna, who replaced Igor Yudin in Jastrzębie (absence because of injury) did his job well :thumbup: He showed, that he manages to play not only as a substitute, but also as a first six player, if necessary.

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

  • At last Kostadin Stoykov with good game for his team ISTANBUL B.Sehir Belediyesi- MVP of the match


    http://www.cev.lu/mmp-cgi/show…ate=p_prj_game_stat&key=0

  • Piacenza-Friedrichshafen 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-22)


    germans made best players have some rest, so quite an easy game for my eliminated team...
    now we will go in Cev Cup...let's see if we can gain some respect in Europe or still make laugh

    2001: Italian champions beach volley 4x4
    2002: Italian League Serie A2 - Italian Cup Serie A2
    2004: Italian league's runner up - Cev Cup's runner up
    2006: Top Teams Cup - Italian Cup's runner up
    2007: Italian league's runner up - Cev Cup's runner up
    2008: Champions league's runner up - Italian league's runner up
    2009: Italian League
    2009: Italian Supercup
    2010: Cev Cup's runner up
    2013: Challenge Cup
    <<We're always with you, and we will never leave you alone!>>

  • НИЕ СМЕ ОТ ЦСКА, ША-ЛЯ-ЛЯ-ЛЯ!!! :drink:


    Спасибо, друзья, but CSKA was destined to win this game! Even though it was Zenit reserves we proved no one can stop us at home. Actually that's a con being strongly a home side but we took what we wanted. :win: Tonight some great play by our hitters Maiyo and Stefanov and terrific Nickie Nicolov in the center where he seems to be the perfect piece. Our crowd was once again outstanding and i wanna thank them, too! :dance4:


    I'm not quite sure but if Tours loses its last match in Almeria, CSKA qualifies for the playoffs. Is that right? :roll:

  • Both Greek teams played fantastic games tonight :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

  • What an amazing evening in the Championsl league!!!!! For the first time ever in the modern history of CL Bulgaria has a team in the second round of the tournament :woohoo: Yes, Zenit played with kids, but who cares since we qualified :dance6: I can't really explain how happy I am, I've been waiting for that moment since 2000 when I started playing/watching volleyball and I can't believe that this has finally happened :obey: A bunch of thanks to Unicaja, whose players actually did half the job for us!!!! I am very very happy :)



    Честито на ЦСКА и всички, които стискаха палци тая вечер :)

  • First of all, let me appraise my favorite player from CSKA - Teodor Todorov. Although he played only 1.5 sets, he scored 4/6 in attack, 2 blocks, 1 ace (7 serves with no error). His total stats are:


    36/67 2, 27, 21.5 (spike pts/tries, aces, blocks, sets). One of the best middle blockers and spikers this year, with potential for great results in the future. Be afraid, Brasil ;)


    Second of all - congratulations for the fens of all teams, who fought hard tonight, no matter if they will continue their quest or not in Europe. All brave teams deserve respect!


    CSKA won against the second team of Zenith, the big difference was the absence of Ball and Alekno and the 3000 Spartans in the hall!


    P.S. Trento can not win single set in tough games without Matey, not good!


    Too many ! :lol:


    Честито, Българи! Тази победа е за всички вас :super:

  • Congratulations to all teams that made it to the next round!!
    And especially to Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. They both qualified through very difficult pools. I wish them luck to the play-offs.



    Final Four of CL will be in Lodz.


    Is this official?
    Will Skra qualify automatically to the Final Four and there will be 12 teams to the play-offs? Or there will be 16 teams to the play-off, like last year?