2018 Volleyball Nations League (VNL)

  • Italy probably won't qualify to Final Round. There was a good atmosphere in Italian team in the first round . Zaytsev was humble, Juantorena was even a bit too much supportive, Giannelli was excited to find someone who can score , everybody was sharing photos...
    Then Italian media did the same mistake again, trying to show the team is only about Zaytsev. It affected Giannelli,who tried to avoid Zaytsev in the fisrt Canada match. It affected Zaytsev, who turned into his diva attitute and started the play 'blame game ' with his mimics and reactions. I think this is where he lost Juantorena this week, there was a disagreement between them in Canada match , if you pay attention you can see they are avoiding each other in celebrations in contrast to first week .
    Adding to Blengini's absolutely stupid preparation plan to already fragile atmosphere, the future of Italy at least in this VNL doesn't look good. Blengini is trying to kill already dead tired guys ,without giving them necessary rest time. They are very lucky no one got injured
    It is inevitable atmosphere will worsen in Modena round, where media will play their role to maximum and trying to show us volleyball is a sport that can be played only by Zaytsev ,others are only there to witness and be blamed if something goes wrong.
    Now there will be also Lanza's comeback which will further complicated the atmosphere.

    Wow, would you mind to elaborate?


    I don't know why but Zaytsev has always come across as a cocky person to me. There is something very diva-ish about him. Ngapeth has the same aura, but his diva aura is more friendly-like (I really don't know how to say this). But with Zaytsev, it is all about him.


    The only tolerable ones on the Italy team are Gianelli and Juantorena.

  • It has been a weekend with so many upsets! Germany beating Poland, Argentina beating Italy and China doing the same againts France.


    It is really ridiculous how teams like Brazil, Italy and Argentina travel almost around all the world, while France just travels around Europe :!:


    Of course, the players arent the guilty ones, but FIVB should find a fair deal for every team.
    Argentina played a superb match, they were really motivated (atmosphere looked great in San Juan). They didnt deserve to be at the bottom of the ranking as a winless team as Korea.
    Anyway, it is also true that italian players arrived really tired to Argentina. From small Kraljevo they travelled to Belgrade, then to Rome. From the italian capital city, they took a 14 hours-flight to Buenos Aires, where they waited 7 hours in order to take another plane (one hour and a half) to small San Juan.


    And tomorrow, they took a plane at 6am in order to come back to Buenos Aires, wait 8 hours there, then take a plane to Frankfurt (where the other italian players, for example, Spirito will join the italian NT), another 6 hours of waiting and finally, a plane to Tokyo.


    It makes me remember when many female players complained about long trips in the extint Grand Prix.

  • I find it amazing what Antiga has done with Canada, he deserves a ton of praise. On paper, player for player, they are a very average side, arguably in the bottom 5 of the 16 teams, yet they find themselves tied for 4th thus far! They were impressive at the Olympics, but remember they relied heavily on Schmitt and Perrin. So far in the VNL, they are beating very strong teams like Italy, Iran, and Argentina (in Argentina). They are doing this with a good setter in Sanders, a good OH in Maar, a solid MB in Vigrass, a solid Libero in Bann and then a bunch of very very average players like DeRocco, Sclater, Hoag, van Berkel, etc. They play as a team, consistently execute the quick attack through the middle, and play well defensively. Again, on paper, this is a bottom 5 team in the VNL, but on the court so far they have been very impressive and a pleasant surprise. Big credit to Antiga!!! The future also looks bright as they have high-players like Vernon-Evans at OPP and UCLA MB Gyimah, who in my opinion has the potential to be world class, and will definitely join the national team program in the next year or so.

  • ^ Canada has been one of my favorite teams for a while now. I think it's safe to put them among the best NTs out there these days; even with a limited group, I don't think they belong in the bottom 5 of this current crop of teams in any way. We've been getting a glimpse of what they could become these last few years (I still remember when they first beat Russia in a tournament), and now I believe they're finally getting to a point where they rank among the best. Hoag left a decent group of players before he retired and now Antiga, who I still think was fired way too quickly from Poland, is making them soar. I actually believe in Antiga's work and think he can do great things with these guys.

  • I just watched the Zaytzev-Juantorena drama on court. Wow! They really behave like that. The camera man and commentator were having a feast on them. Based from the captured moments, Zaytzev committed an error then Juantorena made a remark. Based from Zaytzev gesture, he was pissed with arms wide open. Then Colaci mediate subtly, smiling and acting like hitting Zaytzev like dude don’t blow this up. Then they were like cold ex-lovers the rest of the match.


    I live for this stuff. Zaytzev is indeed a star. Maybe Juantorena told him he’s 346% more Italian than him :lol: :lol: :lol:

  • Starting from 1:26:30 , Juantorena is saying something then turning back that makes Zaytsev angry.I think that was about his general attitude because Zaytsev wasn’t celebrating the last points with teammates



    Is it possible to give Juantorena,Zaytsev,Colaci and Antonov a rest at the same time ? Because this is what Blengini is doing right now

  • It makes me remember when many female players complained about long trips in the extint Grand Prix.


    These long trips still exist and they've gotten worse for some nations...except for China and most Europeans, of course due to the obvious shorter distances between Asia and Europe in comparison to the Americas. In the case of China, among the total of 6 weeks they will play 5 of them at their home country :whistle:


  • Therefore, why doesn't each team have 26 players in the wide roster? It is wrong that 5 players must be banned. :thumbdown:

    My favourite roster of Chinese (in 2022)
    male NT:
    S - Yu Yao-chen, Chen Lei-yang
    OP - Jiang Chuan, Dai Qing-yao
    OH - Zhang Jing-yin, Yu Yuan-tai, Liu Li-bin, Fu Hou-wen
    MB - Zhang Zhe-jia, Peng Shi-kun, Li Yong-zhen, Jiang Zhen-yang
    L - Yang Yi-ming, Yang Tian-yuan


    female NT:
    S - Yao Di, Diao Lin-yu
    OP - Gong Xiang-yu, Sun Xiao-xuan
    OH - Li Ying-ying, Wang Yi-fan, Wu Meng-jie, Zhuang Yu-shan
    MB - Yuan Xin-yue, Wang Yuan-yuan, Zheng Yi-xin, Liu Yu
    L - Ni Fei-fan, Xu Jia-nan

  • I find it amazing what Antiga has done with Canada, he deserves a ton of praise. On paper, player for player, they are a very average side, arguably in the bottom 5 of the 16 teams, yet they find themselves tied for 4th thus far! They were impressive at the Olympics, but remember they relied heavily on Schmitt and Perrin. So far in the VNL, they are beating very strong teams like Italy, Iran, and Argentina (in Argentina). They are doing this with a good setter in Sanders, a good OH in Maar, a solid MB in Vigrass, a solid Libero in Bann and then a bunch of very very average players like DeRocco, Sclater, Hoag, van Berkel, etc. They play as a team, consistently execute the quick attack through the middle, and play well defensively. Again, on paper, this is a bottom 5 team in the VNL, but on the court so far they have been very impressive and a pleasant surprise. Big credit to Antiga!!! The future also looks bright as they have high-players like Vernon-Evans at OPP and UCLA MB Gyimah, who in my opinion has the potential to be world class, and will definitely join the national team program in the next year or so.

    There are other players in the pipeline too like Eric Loeppky that have tons of potential. Youth volleyball is at the highest level it has ever been at in Canada and our coaches and development programs are only getting better. And I don't think you're giving Sanders, Bann, and Vigrass enough credit. All are world-class at their position

  • So it turns out Wallace is traveling with Brazil for Russia (and the remaining weekends). Evandro is the one that's out. if I'm not wrong, the squad for week 3 shall be:


    S: Bruno, William
    OPP: Wallace, Alan*
    MBs: Isac, Lucão, M. Souza, Otávio*
    OHs: M. Borges, Douglas, Leozinho, Birigui*
    L: Thales, Murilo
    ---
    *Replacing Evandro, Éder and Lipe.


    Birigui is a 19-yo player that took part in the friendlies against China. He's gonna make his debut with the NT next weekend. I think he's only traveling with the team because Rodriguinho suffered an injury a couple of weeks ago, but good for him.
    ---
    I give up trying to format this post. :wall:

  • Watching the last set of POL-GER and I'm quickly reminded as to why I grew to dislike this Polish team: Kubiak. He might be a fantastic player, but most of all he's a fucking asshole.
    Seems like the rest of the team likes to celebrate a point looking through the net too.

  • For Iran, Salafzoon's not bad. I think he'll be better than Marouf when reception gone wrong. I feel he's hitters are adjusting to the set than with Marouf. He just have to be more aggressive with the second touch than just settiing solely. It adds unpredictability when he can do it more often. He just have to sharpen his killer instincts and read the defense without giving away some hints you are doing a dump or tips.


    Salafzoon made his debut in the national team back in 2008 when he was apparently 16. and he didn't improve since then. I would try someone else as the 2nd setter.


    btw Kolakovic replaced him with Taher Vadi for the 3rd weekend in Russia. he also sent Mohammad Mousavi home replacing him with youngster Toukhteh. the youngest player in this edition of Nations League. he is supposed to be talented.

  • Watched USA vs BRA replay. BRA seems to be more annoying playing on home court. the way Lipe was screaming at the reff at the end of the 1st set makes me wish he suffers a career-ending injury.

    The team as a whole is actually much calmer this year imo, Lipe is their only issue. He's absolute cancer. I still hate that they called him back.

  • The team as a whole is actually much calmer this year imo, Lipe is their only issue. He's absolute cancer. I still hate that they called him back.

    There was some nice gesture when the players from both team were talking to each other on the net while waiting for the reff's decision and when Wallace crossed the net to say sorry to Micah. I agree. Lipe is so fucking annoying. I thought he was supposed to retire after Rio.