2013 FIVB Junior World Championship - Turkey - 22/08

    Europe eliminations:

    A- RUS, GRE, DEN, MNE, AUT

    B- FRA, BEL, POL, POR, LAT

    C- BUL, GER, EST, ROM, ISR

    D- SRB, ESP, SVK, FIN, CZE, CRO

    Tickets only for Groups' Winners.

    First Teams from every Group are Host.

    Pool in Serbia with hosts, Spain and Finland looks like the strongest. In the end I expect Serbia or Spain as pool winners, Finland as 3rd. There is question who'll lead Serbs and who'll play as it's almost sure that Žarković (OH, Hawaii University) wont play while Uroš is questionable. They should be boosted by return of Katić (OH, starting player in youth category). Little bit weaker looks pool in St.Jean D'Illac but France must win 1st place after humiliation in EC qualies. Just to remind this French generation was 2nd on Youth EC and 4th on WCH 2 years ago. Several players are playing in Ligue A (Rossard, Clevenot, Wendt, Falafala). It'll be interesting to see Belgians after 3rd place in Gdynia, some of their players "felt" senior volley this season, some of them (Lecat, Rousseaux, Van Der Velde) even played CL. Poles can't endaner them IMO despite Janusz, Piechocki, Orczyk and Muzaj were involved in Plus liga team rosters.


    In other pools we have clear favs in Russia and Bulgaria. I'm quite sure Russians will present new team as that is their policy, dunno what to expect from the Greeks as they were disappointing in Randers but should watch on them as Kokkinakis, Tzuimakas and Koumentakis are talented players. Bulgaria trashed Germans on EC twice so I don't see how they can finish below 1st place as other 3 teams in group are mega poor. :whistle:

    Serbia has new head coach, after 12 years Milan Žarković left Junior NT and new coach is Siniša Reljić. Currently he is coaching Budvanska Rivijera. He was asisstant coach on ECH in Gdynia. He confirmed to me that Uroš will play in qualies as well as Aleksa Brđović ;)

    Reljić called 16 players for preparations in Ivanjica:


    Setters: Aleksa Brđović, Saša Popović, Nedeljko Radović
    OH's: Uroš Kovačević, Milan Katić, Mihajlo Stanković, Aleksandar Gmitrović
    MB's: Aleksandar Okolić, Čedomir Stanković, Aleksandar Blagojević, Stefan Simić
    OPP's: Dražen Luburić, Luka Medić, Stefan Okošanović


    Reljić didn't change much. It was clear that Siniša Žarković wont play in Arilje due university obligations. Except him Reljić didn't call 1st choice on libero Lazar Ilinčić while 2nd setter Nikola Veljović has mononucleosis. Milan Katić is back after missing almost a year due serious injury. New face is Luburić, very good opposite from Vojvodina. There were some doubts on Kovačević and Brđović because Kolaković also called them for WL but after disgraceful tournament in Gdynia Serbia MUST qualify for WCH in Turkey.



    I see Nawrocki stays as Polish head coach, that's a good news for other NT's in their group.

    After 2 days I can only :obey: for my compatriots :obey: They came in Arilje w/o single day on preparations and took 2 sets to Finland and today played even match vs Spain. Opposite Andrić is a monster, even Maldonado said they didn't have solution for him. If they had 7-10 days to gel and work on physical side I'm sure they would be much better.


    Finland is a total joke without Seppanen, today they lost to Slovak youth team :rolll:


    Other pools went according to expectations :whistle:

    It's sad to see Finland tearing apart, losing to Slovakia, to Serbia with 20+ pts diff, 2 sets to Croatia... they have 3 players included in WL roster, libero Kerminen, MB Siirila and OH/OPP Krastins. Seppanen is injured, 2nd setter Karinen picked up injury in Arilje and they dont have 2nd setter at all. Sad the end for this generation :wacko: Biggest surprise in all pools is Croatia, it's unbelieveable what those guys did w/o single day on preparations. Slovakia is playing with youth team as they are hosting next Junior ECH next year and this generation has potential. So far Spain looks really good, Villena and Gonzales r doing good job while the Serbs have some ups&downs. Still, they proved as a good team, they can miss WCH with this squad.


    Poles introduced several new players, I really like opp Boladz and MB Bieniek but with Nawrocki as head coach it's waste of time. France did the same, 4 new players but Faure still relies on Le Provost picks, namely Rossard and Clevenot. Belgium was impressive in first 2 matches, they played on 100% despite very weak opponents but it's obvious they are lacking true opposite.


    Russia with 7 new players comparing to ECH in Gdynia including the best youth player Poletaev who is playing regulary. Greece looks powerful after return of 1st libero Zizis who missed ECH due injury. They have great attackers in Kokkinakis, Koumentakis and Tziuomakas and surely can challenge Russians tommorow. Austria missing key player Koraimann so they arent in the best composition but have good opp Blagojević. Montenegro or better to say this generation scored 1st win ever, 3:1 vs Denmark whose coach made some position changes.


    Pool in Sofia is the weakest one, simply it's not fair if you compare to other pools where you have at least 2 strong teams. I couldnt believe to see Germans had tough time to Israel, especially after winning 3rd set 25-5 :rolll: Bulgaria is w/o first opposite Ivanov, MB Georgiev is also injured but they have R. Penchev. Israel missing first choice setter Katzenelson

    Quote from Kaziyski

    Bulgaria just lost to Estonia :rolll: :obey: :aww:

    Now you have the first surprise that you were looking for :) Not many things depend on Bulgaria from now, tomorrow's game Estonia vs. Germany will show how important the end of Bulgaria vs. Germany on Sunday will be. With this performance, however, I am not really convinced Bulgaria deserves to travel to Turkey this year.

    Quote from YavorD

    Now you have the first surprise that you were looking for :) Not many things depend on Bulgaria from now, tomorrow's game Estonia vs. Germany will show how important the end of Bulgaria vs. Germany on Sunday will be. With this performance, however, I am not really convinced Bulgaria deserves to travel to Turkey this year.


    Having seen the games of Bulgarian team I wouldn't call it a surprise, not a big one at least. Still, everything depends on the team- 3-0 vs Ger and they are 100% qualified, 3-1-99%, whatever the result between Ger-Est is. But I think it's unlikely to happen.

    Quote from rugby


    Having seen the games of Bulgarian team I wouldn't call it a surprise, not a big one at least. Still, everything depends on the team- 3-0 vs Ger and they are 100% qualified, 3-1-99%, whatever the result between Ger-Est is. But I think it's unlikely to happen.


    It's a big surprise ;) Estonia won only one point in ECH qualies (defeat to Romania 2:3) and same squad came in Sofia :whistle:

    Quote from rugby


    Having seen the games of Bulgarian team I wouldn't call it a surprise, not a big one at least. Still, everything depends on the team- 3-0 vs Ger and they are 100% qualified, 3-1-99%, whatever the result between Ger-Est is. But I think it's unlikely to happen.

    Nope, if Estonia beats Germany for 3 points and takes their last match against Israel, we are 99% out. This is why I said it doesn't depend on Bulgaria now. I personally doubt Estonia can make it that far, but I am not sure if Bulgaria can beat Germany that easily either.

    Doh! Yavor, You're right. I forgot wins/loses come before set ratio. Anyway, I think that Germany will beat Estonia and later will probably beat Bulgaria too.

    Bulgarian clubs should stop pushing injured players to continue playing to come healthy for the NT. Also, the boys desperately need better physical preparation, just put them next to the Russians or Cubans at the same age and see the difference. We all remember the 100kg of muscle mass difference between Bulgaria and Russia on ECH2010 final that we lost.

    This system isn't fair at all. On one side u 4 team from Africa and on other Spain, Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria and Germany which wont play in Turkey. I agree volleyball should be developed on other continents but 2nd nad 3rd teams from ECH whose are stronger than 90% teams on WCH. :aww: