2013 European Championship - Germany and Switzerland

    Thanks Kondzio for all those stats :drink:

    :what:
    Wow...I wasn't home all evening and only saw the beginning of TUR-BLR...I'd have never thought that France would beat CZE :white: But looking at how the match went, Czech team lost that match completely in their heads, or rather France won it in their heads. Turning a match around from 0:2 and 11:20 is something you see once in 10 years. On the other hand, something like this is extremely exhausting mentally, so I think Belgium won't have any problems tomorrow.


    As expected, CRO-NED was another very close match...and I am scared of Croatia as opponent. This year for the first time, they are not just a bunch of good players but really a team. German players are nearly bursting of self-confidence after preliminary and I am scared that it could turn into overconfidence. It will be a very very hard match probably (and again I won't be able to watch :wall: ), advantage of Germany could be of course the audience but also that they had two free days and could prepare very well.


    I was always sure that Italy would beat Poland, but Serbia should be the end for them if they can play anywhere near their normal game.


    Turkey-Russia will probably another very hard-fought match, Turkey looked better today than during preliminary but Belarus is not an opponent for them. Russia as good blocking team will make life harder for Seda and Gözde, and Neslihan hasn't been convincing at all yet.

    Quote from Toguttt

    [quote='serdar',index.php?page=Thread&postID=232004#post232004] they only need to find better MBs for the future cause Pastulova, Monzoni and Plchotova are definitely not good enough.


    Pastulova, Monzoni and Plchotova are MORE than good enough. They all are killer blocker and decent attackers. However, they lack a creative setter and stable reception. Kossanyiova and Vanzurova are not great receivers and I have no idea why Mlejnkova is on bench after her tremendous performance in GP :what:

    Just got back from work and saw the France win over the Czech Republic. Since 2002 on the women's side, the -15 points scored is the largest deficit a team has had to win a 5 set match. And that was today!

    Monzoni and Plchotova were back-up players in Italian A1 and Pastulova never impressed in A2 either... They are decent MBs without any special offensive skill and I also find them quite slow at blocking, their arms are always late and not very well positioned...of course it depends on what you want to achieve, they're ok for an average team but not really the kind of MBs you need if you want to be a top team in Europe. I even prefer Turkish MBs rather than the Czech ones.. :lol:

    what a collapse by czech republic although they are an unstable team i expected them to lose against belgium or in the semis but then again this is the problem of relying on havlickova too much, during the prelims i already had a hunch that if mljenkova or monzoni don't raise their game they would lose unfortunately for them this came earlier than expected.

    Quote from samba player

    Let's face it, after many years that the same teams in Europe dominated (in no particular order: Italy, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Netherlands, Turkey and Germany), new teams catched them. The hierarchies are not the same anymore.
    Europe has at least 12 good teams, while other continents have few excellent or good teams (North America = 2, South America = 1, Asia = 4) and the rest are low level teams.

    At least 12 good teams in Europe??
    Are you kidding me? :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:
    Right now only Russia, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Germany and Bulgaria can fight against strong teams from other continents.


    Poland and Netherlands are flopping a lot. They can win the very weak team but cannot win other stronger teams.
    Even Germany quite often would lose to the strong teams and struggle against middle-level teams.


    You can win other European teams doesn't mean you can cope with styles from other continents.

    Quote from andyivan

    At least 12 good teams in Europe??
    Are you kidding me? :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:
    Right now only Russia, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Germany and Bulgaria can fight against strong teams from other continents.


    Poland and Netherlands are flopping a lot. They can win the very weak team but cannot win other stronger teams.
    Even Germany quite often would lose to the strong teams and struggle against middle-level teams.


    You can win other European teams doesn't mean you can cope with styles from other continents.

    Probably I didn't explain well what I mean. I didn't say that all the 12 teams are on the same level and that all of them can win against strong teams of the other continents. NO!
    What I wanted to say is that the differences of level among those 12 teams is much less big than among the teams of other continents. The difference between let's say Germany and Belgium is not that big as with Brazil and any other South American team or between China and any other Asian team that is not Japan, Thailand or S.Korea. The gaps in the other continents are huge.
    Another point is that these 12 teams play a good volleyball (it ranges from very good to average good), while other teams of Asia, S.America and N.America do not.
    I'm sure France can beat Honduras, Colombia or Vietnam and Belgium can beat Taipei, Argentina or Puerto Rico.


    This year WGP is a good example:
    Czech Republic - Puerto Rico = 3-0
    Czech Republic - Argentina = 3-1
    Bulgaria - Cuba = 3-0
    Bulgaria - Puerto Rico = 3-0
    Poland - Argentina = 3-2
    Poland - Kazakhstan = 3-0
    Netherland - Kazakhstan = 3-0
    Netherland - Cuba = 3-0

    Quote from samba player

    Probably I didn't explain well what I mean. I didn't say that all the 12 teams are on the same level and that all of them can win against strong teams of the other continents. NO!
    What I wanted to say is that the differences of level among those 12 teams is much less big than among the teams of other continents. The difference between let's say Germany and Belgium is not that big as with Brazil and any other South American team or between China and any other Asian team that is not Japan, Thailand or S.Korea. The gaps in the other continents are huge.
    Another point is that these 12 teams play a good volleyball (it ranges from very good to average good), while other teams of Asia, S.America and N.America do not.
    I'm sure France can beat Honduras, Colombia or Vietnam and Belgium can beat Taipei, Argentina or Puerto Rico.


    totally agree with you! :drink: and this makes ECH reallyinteresting because every time we can find out new good teams!

    Russia vs Turkey in the recent past


    European Championship
    2007 RUS - TUR = 3-0
    2011 RUS - TUR = 0-3


    World Championship
    2010 RUS - TUR = 3-1


    World Grand Prix Qualification
    2006 RUS - TUR = 2-3
    2007 RUS - TUR = 1-3
    2010 RUS - TUR = 3-1


    Olympic Games Qualification
    2012 RUS - TUR = 1-3


    Montreux Volley Masters
    2007 RUS - TUR = 0-3


    TOT = 8
    RUS = 3
    TUR = 5

    Italy vs Serbia


    European Championship
    2007 ITA - SRB = 3-0
    2009 ITA - SRB = 3-0


    World Championship
    2006 ITA - SRB = 1-3
    2006 ITA - SRB = 0-3
    2010 ITA - SRB = 3-0


    Olympic Games
    2008 ITA - SRB = 3-0


    World Cup
    2007 ITA - SRB = 3-2
    2011 ITA - SRB = 3-0


    World Grand Prix
    2012 ITA - SRB = 0-3
    2013 ITA - SRB = 2-3


    World Grand Prix Qualification
    2006 ITA - SRB = 3-0
    2007 ITA - SRB = 3-2
    2008 ITA - SRB = 3-2

    Montreux Volley Masters
    2008 ITA - SRB = 3-0


    TOT = 14
    ITA = 10
    SRB = 4

    9 / 1 for Russia before the Barbolini to
    and 13 9 from the beginning :D

    Quote from Matthias

    :lol: :rolll:


    And this from the person who always complained about Germany's useless tips :whistle:


    Omg i think u start thinking before write about my cmments cause u never understand anything :aww: i complained about german's team style which depends useless tips no matter who they play with.Turkey never play with much tips but against russia they should make more ttips thats what i said :aww:


    Again think one more before tyring to make jokes about me or my comments cause that seems so funny cause u dont understand it right:roll:


    Btw germany changed their game style so much in ECH,they also attack really well for now

    How many blocks Russia did so far :white:

    2010/2011 Eczacıbaşı VitrA - Turkish Cup Winner :cup:
    2011/2012 Eczacıbaşı VitrA - Super Cup Winner :cup: