2014 CEV U20 European Championship - Czech Republic / Slovakia - 08/29

    There is huge gap between Russia and Poland on one and other teams on other side. And difference between Russia and Poland is big. Turkey lost 2:3 but Poles won 24 pts more! That explains everything.


    I wont comment Hitzal and his tactics. Keeping the best attacker on bench is a nonsense, I don't think they r in good relation at all. Gunes is mediocre player, lot of oscilations but biggest disappintment for me is Enaboifo. I expected him to dominate at this level, he experienced senior volley and he is just - average. No responsibility at all, no thinking, he is just spiking hard no matter what is opponent doing.


    France is doing great job, they left Serbs on only 8 (!?!?) pts in 1st set :obey: I knew this Serbian generation is the worst since ex-Yugoslavia but they r trully poor.


    Belgium is nothing, losing 0:3 to Czechs is a joke. Except Kindt they dont have even solid attacker, Van de Velde is invisible, Depovere also bad... absences of Vandecaveye, Stuer, Konings and De Pape r just too big :whistle:


    Slovakia is weakest team here, I dont see how they can win point in next matches. Russia is space shuttle, incredibile team.


    By the way, did you watch Slovenian MB Jernej Vrhunc, he seems to be a very talented player, also I didn't know he could receive :what:


    I am curious about Italy-France match since it will be decisive match for semis, I bet on French team. :whistle:

    Quote from Kaziyski

    Turkey :rolll: 22:18 to 22:25 :obey: :rolll:


    Turkey is doing its best in order not to reach semis :aww: Only good news is that Yasin is playing as starter finally and he scored 15 points with 50% attacking ratio :thumbup: Now hopefully Poland would beat Czechs tomorrow. On the other hand Slovenia's performance was surprising today. I am still shocked that Belgium's only win was against us :white:

    Hmm Poles can choose rival in semifinals after Russia's loss. The best thing is that they are playing @20:00 CET while Russia, Italy and France r playing earlier. Even one set is enough for Poland to secure 1st place but if Russia finishes as 2nd they can lose 0:3 and send Czechs on Poletaev & co. Somehow I'm sure Poles will choose opponent in SF, it would be suicide to play vs Russia before finals.


    After 3 horrible matches Serbs r one step from reaching next round, they need to beat Slovakia tommorow. This chance they cant miss. Belgium and Romania playing for nothing, meaningless match.

    Quote from Kaziyski

    Hmm Poles can choose rival in semifinals after Russia's loss. The best thing is that they are playing @20:00 CET while Russia, Italy and France r playing earlier. Even one set is enough for Poland to secure 1st place but if Russia finishes as 2nd they can lose 0:3 and send Czechs on Poletaev & co. Somehow I'm sure Poles will choose opponent in SF, it would be suicide to play vs Russia before finals.


    After 3 horrible matches Serbs r one step from reaching next round, they need to beat Slovakia tommorow. This chance they cant miss. Belgium and Romania playing for nothing, meaningless match.


    They cannot choose nothing. With 4 win and 11 eleven points while Czech Republic have 8 and only 2 win, Poland is sure of 1st place.

    I just sam what incredibile comback France Made :obey: They were trailing 1:2 and 16:21 and managed to win 4th set 25:22 :obey: what a team :thumbsup: So Russia and France r semifinalists from Nitrata, Italy and probably Serbia will battle for 5th place

    Italy did the job of the tournament and missed the semifinals due to the defeat to France. How unfair life can be! I think they deserved a semifinal spot. Slovenia is the real surprise of the tournament. Lucky or not, they are in the semis.


    By the way, this is the same Bulgarian generation that failed numerous times at ECHs, maybe even once at a qualifier, can't remember for sure. By failure I mean mediocre game, early flights home, fight spirit only at times, but overall lack of class. The middle blocker Krasimir Georgiev is the only one with some real chances of good senior volleyball. I hope these results and defeats won't burden his future too much. We're looking forward to the next generation(s), but the situation doesn't appear too promising.

    7th: Turkey - Serbia
    5th: Italy - Czech Republic
    Small Final: Slovenia - France
    Final: Poland - Russia

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    It is a pleasure to watch this russian team, they play so great !!


    I think some players should go to small russian team to get some playing time, because sitting on bench whole season like poletaev did last year won't help their development


    Volkov so promising as well, doing a wonderful job till now

    I didn't watch a single match. My computer simply didn't allow me to do that. Anyway, I'm proud of our guys as they made it to the final. Doesn't matter if they lost it in straight sets. Not a shame at all, losing to Russia as they're the strongest, guessing from your posts. Can someone tell me how Piechocki were doing throughout the tournament? And if there is any connection between this younger Volkov and the older one?