World Cup 2011

    USA, Germany, and Italy for me. Or perhaps even Serbia.


    As Cacciatori puts it: "Germany could be a revelation!" :thumbup:

    to win 11 matches with 3-0 or 3-1 shows that this team is better, than the team winning all matches with 3-2. actually he knows the point system, which exists in other tournaments. he just was looking for an excuse which is inappropiate

    Quote from serdar

    Totally agree. Especially teams such as USA, BRA, ITA and more obviously SRB have really wide roster who can replace starting-6 players where Dutch and German have only great starters and 2 step below bench players :whistle:

    I wouldn't see it that drastically. Apitz is a very good setter and I think if she had always been with NT in the last years she might be 1st setter now. Dürr shows her ability as libero in this tournament and she's only 20 years. Saskia Hippe is also just 20, I think in some years she'll be a very good player too. Regina Burchardt is a very good attacker, just her reception is not so good. I agree that we don't have as many great players as USA, BRA, ITA and SRB but we certainly have more than 7 high level players.

    Quote from pappi

    off-topic: Ze Roberto criticised Korea to give up fighting for the tournament when they let Kim Yeon Koung sat out after the first set. he also criticised the point system, if you win the 11 matches with 3-2...you wont be the champion...


    I thought Hugh McCutcheon summed it up nicely with a completely contradictory point of view:


    "The World Cup is a very unique tournament. You play this round-robin format and it’s really a marathon event, but it’s a very fair way to play – everyone play everyone. It’s a great tournament. All teams have to learn the importance of consistency and the importance of embracing the moment of the competition. Every day you have to go to battle and unless you’re prepared for that and unless you train accordingly it can get a little overwhelming."


    Also thought it was weird in regards to his comments about Korea. Kim takes so many swings why not let her take a break and rest her, I don't think Korea had any chance of beating them even with her playing.

    Quote from bibetron

    USA, Germany, and Italy for me.

    I hope so....

    It's possible, you just have to believe in yourself and really not care what other people say, because I've heard it all.
    If you let someone else dictate what you're going to do in life, then you won't get there.


    Non so neanche come onestamente: in due mesi ero di nuovo in campo.



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    Quote from TheUSAFAN

    Also thought it was weird in regards to his comments about Korea. Kim takes so many swings why not let her take a break and rest her, I don't think Korea had any chance of beating her even with her playing.

    Korea gave up tournament before it started. Why coach didn't call better players like Sa-Nee Kim, Sok-Ja Lee, Hyo-Jin Yang, Hae-Ran Kim, Song-Yi Han ?

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    Quote from Matthias

    I wouldn't see it that drastically. Apitz is a very good setter and I think if she had always been with NT in the last years she might be 1st setter now. Dürr shows her ability as libero in this tournament and she's only 20 years. Saskia Hippe is also just 20, I think in some years she'll be a very good player too. Regina Burchardt is a very good attacker, just her reception is not so good. I agree that we don't have as many great players as USA, BRA, ITA and SRB but we certainly have more than 7 high level players.


    Sorry but except Lenka Durr, I totally disagree Matthias;


    Apitz has very positive impression on me also but as you said she doesnot have that much international match experience. Let put it n that way; as ability she might be on the same level with Ana Antonijeviç whereas I don't think that she could play as the level of Ana is doing right now with Serbian NT.


    Hippe, She was one of my favourite players while shee was in Junior level :rose: but after she start to play as senior she never show a striking performance, maybe some good matches but not consistent, and in the absence of Kozuch, Hippe could not play as a leader player at this level.


    About Durr, I agree with she is a good substitute she played very well whenever she gets a chance, but still never see her as a first libero in a whole tournament :whistle:


    About Burchart, I think she is incapable even for Brinker, bad receiver but not that kind of powerful scorer as much as Brinker even if Brinker is not also a player I like, I don't think Burchard is a good substitute for her.


    As a result, assume that, befor tournament, an injury with a player as starting six (except libero) occurs, do you think GER will take the similar result? SRB, CHN, BRA and others play still in high level but for Germany I think they would be an ordinary team in the level of Dominic Republic :down:


    According to brazilian staff, if everything goes as planned, Fernanda can come back for the last three matches. Unfortunately, there's no chance she'll make these two next matches. We wouldn't expect we'd need her so much to beat Argentina, Dominican Republic and Algeria, but Brazil's been so unstable that at this point I wouldn't be surprised if the team struggled a bit, at least against dominicans, who, by the way, are not so impressive either this year.


    About the match, I have to say I don't agree completely with your and Joana's point. Yes, the match hasn't been in a great level, but my expectations were terribly lower. I saw China playing terrible in the GP. They're miles better now, though it doesn't seem to be enough to make them achieve great results in the WC. But it's an improvement, nonetheless. Before the tournament, I'd expect them to lose all points to Brazil and Italy and even losing to Japan, though usually Japan doesn't play very well against China. As you pointed, Lei Zhang had a very good match. Yunwen Ma also, and she had been constantly subbed for Yunli Xu in the previous matches. I thought Ruoqi Hui was excellent in the first three sets, but her level dropped when the team needed her more, in the second half of the 4th set. Expected a bit more from Yimei Wang as well. And in spite of the fact that Brazil had amazing numbers in block, I truly believe Qiuyue Wei had a very good performance. She did what she could with such reception.


    We talked about how both teams sucked at reception. That's right, they did. But every top team in female volleyball struggles with reception quite a lot, judging in perspective. Even teams like Japan, Italy, USA, who maybe we'd expect to be more consistent in this fundamental, they usually suffer, when facing an opponent that can serve well. In this match, I think China served a lot better than Brazil, but they struggled equivalently in reception, cause China is overall a bit inferior to Brazil as team. But I thought they leveled things up, with good blocking, good defensive system and some very good moments, though inconsistent, in attack.


    Brazil, on the other hand, has been playing poorly in the WC, but I also think they could make things up with playing with great heart, very driven, especially in the last two sets, when China was leading the score. With Sassá on the team, things got a lot easier in the offensive system. The team struggled to make the defensive system work to prevent Lei Zhang to score, but that's also merits from the great chinese setter.


    I truly believe the match wasn't as bad as you guys pointed. I've seen a lot of worse matches from both these teams this year, but it's ok to disagree. :drink:


    Just one more thing, about the pointing system. It really has nothing to do with the current situation of Brazil in the tournament, but this is something it always bothered me. I don't agree with the current system. The reason it's very simple.


    People can say that it's different winning 3 x 2 than 3 x 1 or 3 x 0, and I agree. But what this system makes is taking down the importance of a victory. It's more emphatic, or should be, the difference about winning or losing. We've seen this before, cause this system has been used in the italian league for years and years. Teams with more losses get ahead of teams with more wins just because they take the difference with the points they get taking the match to the 5th set. I don't think it's right. Maybe there should be another rule, where the team that wins 3 x 2 gets just 2 points, but the team that loses doesn't get any, as well. After all, they still lost the match. I don't know, but I don't think this system is very fair.


    I just don't want people to think that I'm stating this cause I'm defending Brazil. It's really not the case, cause I've always disliked this system and I truly believe that if Brazil doesn't play well enough, they shouldn't get qualified. So far, I think most deserving teams for qualification are USA and Germany, for being more consistent. Let's see what happens when the teams from the other leg of the tournament face Brazil and Serbia. We already seen, so far, and advantage to Brazil and Serbia over the asian teams. I'm curious to see how Italy levels. But I think it has nothing to do with the system of points, which, in my opinion, should be rethought.

    It depends on who would be missing. Of course without Angelina Grün we wouldn't have the same results, and also our MBs are hard to replace, in Germany are many good MBs but none of them are near the level Ssuschke and Fürst. But even in this case we would definitely be on a better level than DOM!
    I don't agree that the other teams who are missing players are showing the same performance like they would have all players. Brazil has so many troubles because of Jaqueline's and Garay's absence, their level has dropped a lot. China is no longer a real top team, and imagine them without Wang Yimei or Wei Qiuyue. Japan is missing 2 MBs and also goes down big time in their level. Serbia still plays well because they have so many good players, but they would play much better if everyone could play. Probably they wouldn't have lost any match yet in this case. Italy didn't have any really dangerous opponents yet so I can't say yet how much Piccinini's and Ortolani's absence affects the team.

    I've seen matches like this between Italy and Brazil. I have a feeling european fans will be quite happy. Unless Brazil pulls another 5-match-crazy-spirit. But doesn't seem that likely.

    Yes, Ze Roberto keep blaming the point system.......besides Adenizia, not much fight on the Brazilian side. Arrighetti having a great match.

    ITA-BRA [2-0] 25-23 25-16 Go Italy and let me dream! :cheesy: Leo blocks :obey:

    It's possible, you just have to believe in yourself and really not care what other people say, because I've heard it all.
    If you let someone else dictate what you're going to do in life, then you won't get there.


    Non so neanche come onestamente: in due mesi ero di nuovo in campo.



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    Edited once, last by Loca inside ().

    Leo :cheesy: I'm crying.... :flower: See you in London!

    It's possible, you just have to believe in yourself and really not care what other people say, because I've heard it all.
    If you let someone else dictate what you're going to do in life, then you won't get there.


    Non so neanche come onestamente: in due mesi ero di nuovo in campo.



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    That was a great match for youngsters like Bosetti and Arrighetti. They played really well! Obviously, though, Lo Bianco swallowed the whole brazilian team. Having someone like her makes the whole difference.


    Anyway, I made some calculations before, and I noticed this match was key to determine who ever gets one of the olympic spots, cause I believe, though nothing's certain yet, that Germany and USA will also grab ones. I don't know anymore. Germany's being crushed by Dominican Republic in the 3rd set. This is indeed a weird tournament. But I think now Italy is really close to claiming one of the spots.


    Actually, if they can keep this rhythm up, I think they can beat both Germany and USA and regain this title.