2014 FIVB World Championship - Poland - 8/30

Quote from SimplySpyke

Uriarte is not bad...but Raphael is much better

I don't agree on the 'much' part, but everyone has their own opinion.

But I insist, I would like to see Bruninho having to set with our mediocre reception/defense and mediocre attackers.

Quote from LDvolley

I don't agree on the 'much' part, but everyone has their own opinion.

But I insist, I would like to see Bruninho having to set with our mediocre reception/defense and mediocre attackers.

You are overestimating Brazil ....
the reception of Brazil is no longer the same as minimum 3 years ...
Won in 5th set against Korea without Bruno and was losing against Cuba if Bruno had not entered.

who said ngapthe is leader of FRA? it's rouzier, of course. he's their sideout guy.

out of 8 teams eliminated, all 3 african teams (2 norceca, one asia, one s. america, one europe). maybe for next edition, fivb should limit africa to 2 slots?

Quote from ossubtus

who said ngapthe is leader of FRA? it's rouzier, of course. he's their sideout guy.

and he's doing his job on good level - best scorer and one of the most effective OPs after First Round. We'll see how will he deal with Poland (he knows our guys from PlusLiga), Serbia, Argentina and Australia.

Anyway teams from Pool D will have a bit easier task than these from Pool A. Fortunately Italy collapsed and USA didn't convince. Iran is the biggest threat, France would be bigger, but Grebennikov has little problems...

It's really hard to pick up the best 3 from this pool. I want to see Poland in next round, but it won't be easy. France, Serbia, Iran and USA are main contenders for these places except our NT. I don't give chances to Argentina and Australia and I don't think that Italy can deal with it, they showed their weakness in first round and it'll be so hard to be back in game for them, though lack of Zaytsev can help, but it may have also detrimnetal effect...

USA will be first opponent, John Speraw said that he doesn't know our NT we have break, so they should have prepared everything for tomorrow evening.

Meanwhile in Pool F Russia with Brazil are clear favourites, it seems that Germany with Canada will fight for 3rd spot, though Bulgaria still can mess up if they can play against Germany, Finland and Cuba like they did against Russia.

i've been tremendously impressed with rouzier since a monster performance in the match against BEL in the world qualifiers, even though FRA lost.

btw i also thought that maybe BEL got unlucky in being in such a tough group. maybe they'd advanced in another group, they certainly are not much lower than FIN.

Quote from ossubtus

i've been tremendously impressed with rouzier since a monster performance in the match against BEL in the world qualifiers, even though FRA lost.

btw i also thought that maybe BEL got unlucky in being in such a tough group. maybe they'd advanced in another group, they certainly are not much lower than FIN.

Agree, Belgium could've advanced from every other group, they should beat Australia in that shape, China or Cuba. They had their chances especially against France and USA - a win in one from these games would have given them a ticket for Second Round and goodbye and big blow for Azzuri, but it didn't happen eventually...

and their place was because of this draw...

what was the criteria to untie ITA and BEL, they were even in points and sets won/lost ratio. was it head-to-head result or # of wins?

Quote from ossubtus

what was the criteria to untie ITA and BEL, they were even in points and sets won/lost ratio. was it head-to-head result or # of wins?

In case of tie in points first is win-loss, Itlay had 2-3, Belgium 1-4 Belgium with win against France or USA would have had one point more than Italy with the same win-loss, so Italy would be out

well, i don't feel that BEL should have advanced and ITA not, after all, BEL only had one victory (against PR). i think BEL should have been in another group…

actually, had BEL or FRA beaten ITA, ITA would have been out too… : -) so many possibilities in that group.,,

Quote from volley17

I don't agree with you. Yosifov is our best blocker at the moment, has solid attack and has made numerous aces. Too bad he's out for the tournament Milushev did serve great at the beginning, but made errors afterwards and as expected found it hard to attack.

Basically, Yosifov looks extremely boring to me, while Milushev did provide some entertainment. I think that had Vitya not collided with Dima under the net in the first set, the Bulgarian fairy-tale vs Russia would have ended in straight sets. In any case, Konstantinov's plan was to use attack from four as much as poss so the MB had very "blocking" role anyway

Quote from volley17

Sivozhelez's presence is reception is felt, but I do think that Spirik can do a good job if he wakes up on the right foot. I also liked Ilinykh in attack yesterday, made some difficult balls, same for Savin, who doesn't seem under pressure as a newcomer.

Savin and Ilinykh look to me like people who started playing volleyball a bit too late, i.e in their late teens. They are physically more powerful than Spirik and Birukov but technically definitely not as good. (Just take a look at how Savin serves and receives.) Thus, theoretically, they should have not been used together as the reception would just go nuts. My feeling is that Voronkov's idea of having both Ilinykh and Savin on court was driven by the stats; he just wanted to increase the % of successful attacks at any cost.

Sivozhelez is definitely not a better receiver than Spirik or Birukov and he is the worst attacker among Russian OHs. Where he is very good at is what is called block-defense, i.e. he does collect all these deflections very well and this is what was indeed missed in the game vs Bulgaria where Skrimov scored an unbelievable number of points this way. Secondly, Sivo is an excellent and a very cold-minded server. His true importance for the team is the mobilizing spirit that he inevitably brings. You just feel double motivated when you realize that your OH will never spike in and everything depends on you and only you

Quote from powsoff

Basically, Yosifov looks extremely boring to me, while Milushev did provide some entertainment. I think that had Vitya not collided with Dima under the net in the first set, the Bulgarian fairy-tale vs Russia would have ended in straight sets. In any case, Konstantinov's plan was to use attack from four as much as poss so the MB had very "blocking" role anyway

Aww, that's extremely, extremely optimistic of you With the same certainty I can guarantee you that had Muserskiy fallen on the ground instead, Russia wouldn't take a set against Bulgaria

ouh, it looks like Russia/Brazil are kicking some arses so far

I think i will watch now France vs. Argentina. Could become the most "interesting" match this afternoon.

Sorry for the noob question, but why did Brazil have the maximum 9 points why Russia only has 8? Did they not have the same set ratio losing 3 sets total?

Re Russian team, I still think Spiridonov is a must due to Sivozhelez's absence for improved reception, if Pavlov is playing below his standards, do you think Voronkov should let Moroz play instead? I haven't seen his quality of play so far in this tournament.

Absolutely tragic Bulgaria! I see nothing or no one that I can praise. It looks like a quick and easy 3-0 for Brazil.

Argentina 1 - 1 France. France's playing with much less pressure than in the first set, and Argentina's volleyball is very inconstant rignt now. N'Gapeth is on fire, while Conte has been put off the court ...

Quote from YavorD

Absolutely tragic Bulgaria! I see nothing or no one that I can praise. It looks like a quick and easy 3-0 for Brazil.

How about Gotsev out, Milushev in? Lucky sub!

3rd set for France. Thanks Earvin N'Gapeth, he has been determining ! He has scored 17 points already in this match !