Men's World Grand Champions Cup 2017

  • I didn't stay up


    stay up until 8.40? That would have been heroic :lol: :P


    Ps Lanza saying in the post-match interview that we missed so many serves (I don't know how many, actually) because we need to take the measure of this big arena, and then the light on the ceiling, and bla bla bla... BUT IT'S NOT AN ALIBI' :what: :aww: :aww: I wouldn't believe Blengini was raised by Velasco if I didn't know it :S
    Pippo, I'm a fan of your, but a sentence like that is almost unforgivable.

  • I would have blamed lanza if they didn’t close out the 2nd set. 3 consecutive errors near the final stretch is a just a big NO at this level...

  • Waking up to find a 1-1 and 20-19 and assist to the victory of the set was quite good ^^ Let's see what we can do now... It's more than I expected anyway xD


    Ps poor Pippo, I gave him zero credit when he asked to challenge the in/out on his serve at 23-23 in the third, instead it was definitely in!
    But when the commentator said 'let's see if he can do another ace, that would be special' I immediately knew he was going to made an error xD

  • And now we fall asleep again... This time I saw more Italian demerits (like Vettori refuse to dig an easy ball!) than Brazil merits (I mean, Brazil played good but we helped them too much)

  • Wow congrats ITA! Good riddance

  • Like what I said before... if Italy's opposite is functioning then they have a chance no matter how "weak" their outside hitters are as they say. This is a great day for Vettori to wake up to. This is definitely not Brazil's best serving day. That really helped Italy a lot. :rolll:

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

  • Congrats Italy! After that disastrous first set, I really didnt expect they could grab even a set! Giannelli played so so so well!
    However, once again, italian serves are unwatchable! They miss so many serves by a laaaarge margin!


    It is almost always so funny to listen italians speak english :)


    In the other hand, I wouldnt be surprised if Italy manage to lose against Japan. They are so unstable :whistle:

  • so far Brazil with 4 points, Italy with 2, and USA and Iran with 3. Brazil only needs to beat USA and Iran to grab the gold.


    Italy has 3 points and Iran 2 (but a match less), actually. It ended 3-2 for Iran yesterday.
    And I was doing the math thinking you were wrong, then I realized you were taking for granted that Brazil will beat Japan :D (and i guess that you were thinking of 3 points victory...)



    Anyway, that for the moment is the Italian peak of the summer :lol:
    And this prove how little we achieved, if our best result is only beating Brazil 3-2 (which is a great achievement in itself for everybody, but in itself is nothing compare to won a medal or even a quarterfinal)


    Block 11-9 for Ita, serve 8-7 for Brazil, spike 59-54 for Italy, errors Italy 41 Brazil 25 ( 12 action errors vs 4, 28 serve errors vs 21)
    I don't know how we won with that amount of mistakes :what:


    Notice that in the 4th and 5th set Balaso didn't play, first time in the summer I guess.
    I'm not sure I do agree with that but it's true he is not playing very well since the ECh... back then Blengini should have let Colaci play, today I don't know...

  • This USA starters is deadlier than yesterday’s. Micah is feeding the middle like crazy from the very beginning as early statement to IRI superb middle vs ITA. Matt as an OH is as good as his OP prowess, if not better. Jendryk has improved a lot since WL. And Patch is killing it in the right

  • oh yeah, i forgot that it was a tie-breaker. so, the race is still on between italy and brazil. i am torn apart by this because Brazil is my bias but I want Italy to win something this season because I want Gianelli to feel validate. he is doing all the works he can but Italy just don't have the luck.

  • I guess that with more than 40 errors when the opponents do less than 30 is hard to win also for Brazil, not only for Italy.
    Yesterday Italy 42 errors vs Iran 22, today Brazil 41 vs Italy 25.


    Edit, it's the right opposite! We did 41 errors and Brazil 25!
    I can't explain how we won this anyway :what:

  • Matt as an OH is as good as his OP prowess, if not better


    Wow, is a very long time we don't see him playing OH in the NT!



    so, the race is still on between italy and brazil.


    At the moment USA seems to be in the best position, though. Even if they are the only one that have already faced Japan, the team that everybody willing to win the tournament has to beat because probably the direct opponents will beat them as well.
    And unlike Brazil Italy still have to play vs France.



    I want Gianelli to feel validate. he is doing all the works he can but Italy just don't have the luck.


    Me too! :heart:
    It's 2 years that between Italy and Trento he doesn't win nothing :(
    Anyway, he is still struggling with the intesa with the opposite and didn't always performed well this summer, to be honest.



    More numbers about Bra-Ita


    Attack 57% vs 51%
    Wallace 15 attacks with 52%; Lucarelli 15 attacks with 53.5%, 1 ace and 1 block; Mauricio 58%
    Antonov 52%, Vettori 51% (21 attacks), Lanza 50% (19)


    Reception
    36% Vs 35%
    Colaci 47%, Mauricio 45% (I don't know if positive or perfect)


    Block
    Bra 9 va Ita 11
    Wallace and Vettori 4 (the opposite rocked in blocking!), 2 Giannelli, Piano, Bruno. So good job by the setter as well. MBs where are you? :P


    Serve
    Bra 8 vs Ita 7
    Mauricio and Antonov 3; Lucas, Vettori 2
    Errors: Ita 28 vs Brazil 21
    Vettori 8, Lanza 7, Antonov 6, Mazzone 4, Giannelli 3
    Lucarelli 5, Lucas and Wallace 4




    Quote

    Italia: Lanza 21, Piano 6, Vettori 27, Antonov 14, Mazzone 6. Giannelli 4. Colaci (L), Balaso (L), Spirito, Randazzo, Buti. Non entrati: Sabbi, Ricci, Botto. Coach Gianlorenzo Blengini.
    Brasile: Mauricio 14, Lucas 8, Wallace 19, Lucarelli 19, Mauricio Souza 4, Bruno 2, Tiago Brendle (L), Renan 1, Raphael, Isac 6. Non entrati: Otavio, Douglas, Hoss (L). Coach Renan Dal Zotto

  • At the moment USA seems to be in the best position, though


    And they suddenly lost a point, what a terrible prophesier I am!



    EDIT: And now they've lost the tie break!
    So, congrats to Iran, they are the only team undefeat after the second day! I wasn't expecting that after their WL performance! (And after being 2 sets behind today, and with a quite clear pro-USA score)

  • Ebadipour is becoming a cerebral player. So consistent since day 1. Lucky for Skra for acquiring this talent. Congrats to IRI for holding their ground from 0-2. Not to add they came from a 5-setter game yesterday. Good job!

  • Is USA Team taking seriously this tournament? I saw Anderson played OH. :what: I had a little hope we could get ride with this other choker, but here he is. We can't win anything without an high ball/out of system spiker and Russell is the only one. Patch needs to make more experience: next year there's the WCH. I don't get the point of trying Anderson on the OH position.