Champions League 2009/2010

Quote from Armel

OK, you're right about that.
But there are many things bothering me in that matter.
First of all, it looks like the flares had been burning quite a few time. In Tours, you can be sure that others fans would have kick the guy's butt and his flare out of the gym before security had to move a finger.
Second, most of the fans kept singing all of the time. I can understand they are fans, but I know that in Tours, fans would have been too ashamed by this behaviour to keep singing.
Third, the bulgarian TV kept showing the mood in the Hall in a way that I found kind of compliant. I had no chance to hear what kind of commentary they put on it, but I'm really wondering whether they were expressing regrets or not about the situation. And I don't know what Parvanov said on the TV and to the referees but somehow I did not have the impress that he was really mad about the people who used the flare.

Now, maybe I'm all wrong. Maybe people reacted quicker than it looked, maybe I missed a moment of deploration from the crowd when people got aware of the flare, maybe they came back to singing right after the problem was solve, because there was nothing else to do.
But I must say than to me it did not really look like a handful of idiot behaving stupidly, but quite more like a whole crowd finding it more or less acceptable.

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Yes, you are right in many of your pts. These hooligans are the biggest and strongest in the public and it is not so easy to kick their butt, believe me. I had problems years ago with CSKA hooligans, there was battle ( in the first meaning of the word) between them and Levski hooligans, and I was in a bus right in the middle of the battle. They threw rock and broke the bus, we were lucky to be unharmed back in this day. It was like battle between orcs and Uruk-Hai in the Lord of The Rings. This was more than 10 years ago, they have evolved almost to humans right now, but almost. I don't know why this is so accepted in the public, but we live in the Balkans and in transition, deadly combination. Thanks to Darvin's law these problems are gradually fading, but I have no estimation of the date after witch we will be like in France (an old democracy with big traditions)

All we need is just a little patience - the main motive. We are conservative people and we believe in the evolution

I mean - the hooligans evolution, one small, but powerfull minority in the fans group

Quote from mateo

good for Resovia that they menage to win despite "flare affair" . IMO u have to be a complet idiot to fire a flare in a hall but that's not disscussion for this topic and for this time

eh i didn't like Resovia today. left wing work pretty badly i must say. normally both Akhrem and Wika are more effective , they made too much mistake today. however Resovia's MB played better than ussual xD

i was eager to see Todorov in action cus i've heard lots of possitive comments about him. he played very well in attack some of the spikes were really impressing but he could play better in the block i didn't count much kill block on his side. i please-somebody feed this guy he is like a twig xD and am i the only one or he is similar in phycical appearance to Kazyski

Edit: haha Todorov 5 blocks, i need to make appointment with my optician

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Todorov was the main reason for Resovia's 12 errors in attack, they kept running away from the block and cast their pointers to the void, especially Oivanen, who is otherwise very nice player

I can't wait to see Todorov playing for a team with good reception. He will be scoring 10+ points every game

Definitely deserved victory for Resovia, they were concentrated (and quite better) in most parts of the game. The only thing I don't agree with is the comment about the overall attacking percentage of Wika and Akhrem this season. If you look at some statistics from the last several games in the Polish championship, you would notice that both of them go between 35 and 50 percent and rarely pass the 50% border. I don't know why, they are both very good attackers, but in the last weeks when I have been following their stats, both Wika and Akhrem do not appear to be that efficient. Redwitz was an extremely important transfer for the team, he makes them a great team. I remember Resovia from 2 years ago when they came to Bourgas to play with Lukoil Neftochimik in the Challenge Cup; back then with Ilic, Garbych and Mitrovic they were completely beatable (even though they had Pawel Papke whom I adore as a player). Now with Redwitz and Oivanen this is another team. They knew their main goal was not to lose in Bulgaria, so that's how you can explain the very little number of mistakes they made. Not all of them risked at the service line, but it was enough to keep the pressure at CSKA and to decide the game at the end. To summarize, a much better team took what they deserved. Unfortunately, I don't think the return game will be as interesting as this one.

About the fans, I also got pissed! This is another game, not football, played indoors, a historical moment for modern Bulgarian club volleyball, you can't simply destroy the pleasure of it by doing something like this. For me, there is no excuse for the fans who did it, I think they should not be invited by the fan club to watch volleyball ever again, because they only see a chance to do something stupid!

I specifically want to congratulate ACH Bled on the fight against Macerata. I don't think they will qualify, but just look at the score tonight, their victory is great

I am very happy that Olympiacos also won tonight. It came for me as no surprise, I predicted the winner and IMO I think they have the best chances among the two Russian and Greek teams to reach the FF, but it's too early for celebrations yet.

ACH and Macerata was the best game that i watched in this week ....congratulations to all players of ACH..they are very young but they figth fot the game untill the end...Sket, Jakopin, Kamnik, Vincic are very good players..and all from slovenia, so maybe in the future Slovenia NT can be a good team...Martino Matteo played a great match too.. imo he was not playing very good in this season, but today he showed his potencial..I don't think that ACH will qualify but was a pleasure to watched a game like this..

Other game that i liked a lot was Trentino and Roeselare...i thought the game would be easy but Roeselare played very well...Verhanneman was the best player of this game, and i think that teams of italy russia turkey should pay attention in this player..he is very good in attack...

About Todorov, i only watched some moments of the game of CSKA, but he jumpes a lot and has a great attack...

I watched the tie-break between ACH and Macerata,Slovenian game was music

YavorD, the game was pretty close at the end and their experience and our lack of coach decided it. They are better team, but not much better. Much better are Trento, SKRA, Olympiacos, Cuneo, Dinamo Moskva.

Very precious win for Resovia. I'm glad, that flares lit by Bulgarian "fans" didn't disturb our players and they managed to win. I was worrying about it, because of this quite long break after the "flames and smoke" show I've seen such incident only once in Greece and I hope I won't see it any more, cause it is nothing but crazy and stupid.
Resovia's middleblockers and Akhrem didn't have the best day, but e.g. Maiyo - CSKA main force - made a lot of mistakes as well and at the end Resovia one without big problems. The result is really great. I hope Resovia will achieve certain victory also in Rzeszów.

CSKA has to pay 10 000 Euro (is this much? I'm not sure...), because of the scandalous behaviour last Wednesday. Bulgarian fans who bought tickets won't be able to watch 2nd match in the hall- this is the second part of this punishment.
By the way - CEV rules are crazy: in such case as this in Sofia, when game can't be continued because of some incident - the match has to be repeated another day. No matter what the result was So, generally it is worth to risk (we are losing, so let us burn and light something and we have another chance...). It shouldn't be like that. Fortunately, this time Resovia was able to finish the game and didn't need to play once more.

Quote from Konrad

CSKA has to pay 10 000 Euro (is this much? I'm not sure...), because of the scandalous behaviour last Wednesday. Bulgarian fans who bought tickets won't be able to watch 2nd match in the hall- this is the second part of this punishment.

According to the CEV news, Sofia might also be banned from european cup next season, just like Iraklis after misbehaviour of fans against Patron. I don't know whether not allowing bulgarian fans to go to Poland is good (I mean, if these are the same who light the flares, it's well deserved, but if these are only volleyball fans being punished in place of football hooligans, then it's really sad), but the 10 000 € fine surely is deserved.
About, the 1 season ban, I don't know. Surely CSKA Sofia should not get a wild card for the next IECL , but unlike Iraklis, this is the first time there are some problems with Sofia. I don't think the team should received such a punishment now.

Quote from Armel

According to the CEV news, Sofia might also be banned from european cup next season, just like Iraklis after misbehaviour of fans against Patron. I don't know whether not allowing bulgarian fans to go to Poland is good (I mean, if these are the same who light the flares, it's well deserved, but if these are only volleyball fans being punished in place of football hooligans, then it's really sad), but the 10 000 € fine surely is deserved.
About, the 1 season ban, I don't know. Surely CSKA Sofia should not get a wild card for the next IECL , but unlike Iraklis, this is the first time there are some problems with Sofia. I don't think the team should received such a punishment now.

I don't think banning CSKA from EU competitions will be fair. Last year Iraklis fans caused much bigger problems and still they weren't banned. What CSKA fans did was definately wrong, but they weren't hostile towards neither the visiting fans(although they were very few), not the visiting team.
As for the wild card, CSKA kinda payed for it past 2 years- their owner is sponsoring the Challenge Cup, so I guess they'll get it next year too as long as he is still sponsoring CEV.

I also think that ban from the tournament would be too big punishment for a flare - there were no fights, no violence. We should ban the person, responsible for the flare from the hall.

Quote from raylight

We should ban the person, responsible for the flare from the hall.

Yes, of course. But it is the club, which is responsible for such events. Those people took the flares into the hall, which shouldn't have happened.

Kazan is out!

And CSKA Sofia is out.

Resovia - CSKA Sofia 3:0

easy win

Resovia played much better than in the first game in attack and dominated most of the time. Unfortunately CSKA didn't win the third un-important set to lead the game to victory, they were weak psychologically (lack of team experience). Resovia really deserved to go to the next round. CSKA were lucky to get there (12 teams) since they are home team.

Todorov's final stats:

50/90 in attack, 4 aces, 35 blocks for 29 sets. The most consistent middle blocker in the CHL i think (every game with blocks >= sets, and after the second game with Tours - with 50+% in attack). He was again the best for his team in attack and blocking. I hope he will go in a big team (Why not SKRA? ) to develop further his quality.

P.S. Ollympiacos - I thought that Zenith will go in the next round with a lot of efforts, but these 32:, 2:3 with Trento were the mark I underestimated. Really strong Greek team

We have one MEVZA team on Final Four in Lodz

I want to say that ACH Volley Bled is inspiration for all young teams and it is the proof that the sponsors of Levski - Siconco are STUPID. In 2009 Levski won the title (beating CSKA Sofia) and had may be the tallest team in Europe (two players at 207, two at 212, everyone except the libero is over 200 cm) and also the players had the harmony and they know how to defend really well (like Volley Bled). Siconco sold 3 of the national players - Gaydarski (best blocker of champions league 2006/2007, bronze medal from WCH 2006, WCup 2007, ECH 2009), Ananiev (the MVP in the only victory over Russia in 2009 WL) and V. Bratoev who made some amazing performances in the ECH (especially against the Netherlands) .They also sold Uchikov - may be not our best opposite, but very tall and very powerful. Still we have the second NT setter G.Bratoev, the second national libero - Aleksandrov (best digger in the world qualification against Netherlands Portugal & Czech Republic) and talented young players. The lack of faith in the team is just STUPID. This happens when you are anti-sponsor - you get money of transfers and have no other goals for the team except to produce players. In the long run, this will kill the talent factory, because with weak championship there is no fire to turn them into steel. The policy of the Slovenians should be example not only for Levski, but for every team with young, talented players.

Quote from raylight

Resovia played much better than in the first game in attack and dominated most of the time. Unfortunately CSKA didn't win the third un-important set to lead the game to victory,

Very good match and nice easy victory by Resovia. I'm especially glad with 3rd set, when Resovia was playing with second squad and won. Polish teams often lose in such cases (when they don't need to win), but not this time:)

Congratulations to ACH volley Bled...they won the game against Macerata with a very young team but they never gave up the game...After the 3° set i thought that they were not able to win 4° set, but they fougth till the end and got the victory...i really like teams like these, with young players but with spirit of winner..ACH and Hypo Tirol will be a good match to watch, but i hope that ACH can reach the final 4.. i'm a little disappointed with Friedrichshafen because they have a nice team..

Good game for Rooseleare, but trento is very strong team...Huantorena played a great game yesterday..trento and resovia will be a great match...let's see what resovia is able to do..

Olympiacos got to the next round, so i would like to see a full gym in greece, because all the matchs that i saw of olympiacos the gym was almost empty...

I still can't believe what happened in Macerata in Innsbruck last night If there was anyone to tell me that both Lube and Friedrichshafen will be eliminated, I would declare him crazy To me the convincing 3-0 win of Tirol is the greatest surprise, I didn't suppose VfB will go home that early in the tournament. For the immense development of Bled I don't have to say anything, but I really didn't think they can beat twice even the not-so-well-performing Macerata this year.. Now it looks kinda weird that one of these teams will make it to Lodz in the end.. but that's volleyball I am only sorry that Friedrichshafen didn't make it to the next round because they are indeed a very strong team, I don't know what happened last night..

Also, congrats once more to CSKA for the historic qualification in the play-off phase. Resovia is far too strong for our club teams, but I hope that this might change soon We will see what CEV will decide about next year's participating teams and especially the wild card holders!