European Championships 2015 - hosts Italy and Bulgaria

  • Poor Estonia, heartbreaking :( they were really close to do a BIG UPSET! Estonian libero was really good throught the whole tournment.
    Anyway, nobody expected such a score! Serbia will be swept by France if they keep playong like this. What a pity Italy lost against France...

  • german guys obviously know that they have to perform now, in order not become the complete laughing stock of world volleyball. Complete dominance so far against Belgium.

  • What did he do?



    Although not on the court itself, he was giving instructions to the Dutch team/staff, obviously trying to help them to win. Also, he was the one to provoke Vermeulen and complain about the substitute of Ivanov, the second libero. I wasn't there, it seemed like Vermeulen wasn't going to complain alone. This is everything else but fair play.


    It is obvious this Serbian team is out of sync. They were in great shape during the summer, reached, luckily though, the WL finals and now, for no apparent reason, have failed to prepare well for the ECH. Mediocre performances versus both Slovakia and Estonia, none of these teams possesses the necessary class to punish them, however. I am even astonished they beat Finland 3-0. But they have some great team spirit nevertheless and might enjoy a great day when no one expects. France are still the favourites, but Serbia will have a different focus tomorrow.

  • When I started watching the match and I found Estonia leading by two set I was absolutely surprised! And the second 14-25! What happened? :what:


    I expected Serbia to bring it to the tie break, but at the end I had to cheer for Estonia and their wonderful fans (not as wonderful as Finland, they'll kill italians tonight!), and I was so sorry they lost :(


    BTW, did Nikola sent some serves in during the first two sets? Because I counted only errors :wacko: When he had to serve on 14-12 of tie-break I thought 'that's gonna be a ace', but Nikola proved me wrong :lol:



    What a pity Italy lost against France...


    That is a pity for sure, but Serbia has this annoying tradition of create problem to us... I'm not saying I prefer Russia because I don't (especially after the women ECH xD), but still...

  • Italy is one of the most perfect opponents for Serbia, me too I prefer Russia over them. It's true that now our route to the final is a lot more difficult, but this team wants a gold medal, so I prefer to lose earlier rather than getting another silver or bronze.

  • Although not on the court itself, he was giving instructions to the Dutch team/staff, obviously trying to help them to win. Also, he was the one to provoke Vermeulen and complain about the substitute of Ivanov, the second libero. I wasn't there, it seemed like Vermeulen wasn't going to complain alone. This is everything else but fair play.


    Instructions to the dutch team??? who does this guy think he is????




    On a side note.. Law of Volleyball: whenever a match between two teams of different levels goes to 5th set, the higher level team ALWAYS wins. This never fails! it's much more frecuent to see an upset in 3 or 4 sets.

  • Quoted from "YavorD"




    Although not on the court itself, he was giving instructions to the Dutch team/staff, obviously trying to help them to win. Also, he was the one to provoke Vermeulen and complain about the substitute of Ivanov, the second libero. I wasn't there, it seemed like Vermeulen wasn't going to complain alone. This is everything else but fair play.


    Almost too weird to be true, even for Heynen standard :rolleyes:
    But he is in good form tonight again. a lot of talking and antics...


    2:0 for germany, but dominance has gone. 31:29


  • Easy, setter :whistle:
    Also I don't like decision of playing with two defensive ,short OHs.


    You're right right. Serbia's game is so predictable. They have 3 very good MBs, but they only got 14 balls in 5 sets. It's insane. OK, tonight their reception was below average but even when a reception was good, Jovovic kept sending the ball to Atanasijevic or to the OHs.
    Estonia read Serbia's game quite easily, hence the 12 blocks and many more touches and easy defences.


    Also, I can't understand why Grbic kept N. Kovacevic in the game. He was the worst Serbian player tonight. Too many attack and service errors, low quality receptions.

  • To me, the reason for the lost second set by Belgium is called Matthias Valkiers, Depestele's absence play a role. This is not the Belgian team from the WCH or the one that used to beat France on a couple of occasions. I see only Deroo. They look quite limited, in my opinion. Too bad they beat Slovenia, another unexplainable result because the Slovenians are better. And would've made Germany sweat a lot.


  • So you are saying the Bulgarian team and audience did not see what actually happened? ;)

    No, i just wanted to state that this rates very high on the "Open-Upwards-Heynen-Weirdness-Scale"..... 8)