Olympic Games - 2016 | 8 | 6

United States - Japan : i expect Usa to beat Japan without any problem

Brazil- People's Republic of China : Brazil is fav. against China but China has the power to beat Brazil. everything depends on the younsgters of Chinese team

Netherlands - Republic of Korea : Dutch team is fav againt Korea but it may not be that easy as we think

Russian Federtaion - Serbia : generally Russia beats Serbia but seems this time Serbia will advance..if Kosheleva has a great match then id say Russia

i think i like Dutch team more than Russia and Serbia so far
its unfair to talk about Dutch team referring to the draw..they have been playing well so far..fun to watch them though some player's reaction can be exaggerated

Quote from Canter

i think i like Dutch team more than Russia and Serbia so far
its unfair to talk about Dutch team referring to the draw..they have been playing well so far..fun to watch them though some player's reaction can be exaggerated

I think the draw is fair. They were in a tougher group, if not for their performance, they could be completing for the last place to advance. Instead, they got second place and will face the third team in the other group. It seems very fair to me.

Hi guys! I'm not really able to follow the games since I'm not home... If someone has any replay links to share, that would be really appreciated! thanks in advance

draw is not fair, just like in london, the two weakest teams were drawn together (ARG, CMR). PUR, which finished last in the other group, is better than ARG. just like in london, JPN and RUS had an easy path to QF.

That's not because the draw/serpentine system isn't fair but because the world ranking is not fair.

What is fair for you guys? Pick the teams for each pool based on what!? The ranking might not be fair, but they need a system and of course there will always be lots of complaints no matter how they organize rankings, draws and systems.

The QF have some good match ups. My opinion, is Brazil will beat China. Brazil is just a great all around team; hitting, floor defense and blocking. If China doesn't get a kill or a block right off the bat then they can't play floor defense and lose the point. And they are just mentally tough

Serbia over Russia. Russia falters when they are down. Serbia just fights and when you have a couple of good hitters they will bring Russia down.

NED and Korea. I like NED hopefully everyone is playing on all cyclinders. But should be a good match.

Quote from Maxwell

Serbia over Russia. Russia falters when they are down. Serbia just fights and when you have a couple of good hitters they will bring Russia down.

I think the opposite is actually true. Russia has nerves of steel, and they are more than capable of turning around a match when they are behind. Serbia on the other hand, cracks under pressure and IMO they are the 'streakiest' among the top 5 teams. It's interesting to note all Serbia wins against Russia are 5 set wins (WGP '16, WC'15), Russia won ECH'15 3-1, albeit also a very close one. Maybe it all boils down to Malova vs Popovic to decide the winner in the end

At the WC Russia had 2-0 and Serbia won 3-2, and same thing at the GP.

I think the main key of the Slavic battle is how far the Russian MBs stop the Serbian MBs. Goncha-Kosha will do their job no matter how Tica-Brankica duo does. Maja knows how to make block-free sets and in order to let her do that, Veljkovic and Rasic (or Stevanovic) should be involved in attack a lot and score as much as they can. I presume Terzic will put Nikolic in place of Malesevic as the latter has been so weak, even in passing which is her main job...I just hope that Maja won't make Russian blockers look stupid because then it will be so easy for Serbia

The winner of this match will have to face USA (unless Japan make such a dramatic miracle) hence It's gonna be a long way to go.

Malesevic has been weak, but Nikolic has been no better. As someone who will be supporting Serbia, I would rather see Malesevic than Nikolic starting. Serbia could win, but they will need the passing to improve and for Boskovic and Mihajlovic to be consistent.

who can make a suprise amongst the teams in QF :
i think the most probable team is Korea...
as second : China

neither of the winner of Serbia-Russia match-up is evaluated as surprise

I would say main difference for Brazil's better performance from the start of the season is Sheilla's great shape (we have missed that) and also Fe Garay going back to her 2012 form..

Quote from inc0gnito

Maybe it all boils down to Malova vs Popovic to decide the winner in the end

And according to the stats, Malova is both best receiver and best digger of the preliminaries

China can win Brazil if......

1- Target Fe Garay in the reception

2- Play with:

S - Wei Qiu-yue
OP -Gong
OH - Zhu Ting,Zhang Chang-ning
MB -Yuan Xin-yue,Yunli Xu
L - Lin Li

and if the youngsters are good and Lang Ping dont start to make changes from the beggining you can win the game

3- Block Sheila

4- Leia must not play good(The best libero with Malova)

Quote from blackblockattack

China can win Brazil if......

1- Target Fe Garay in the reception

That won't be a factor because in this case Ze Roberto will simply replace her with Jaqueline as he did against Russia.

Its better to have Jaque inside than Fe...
They must serve like Guidetti teams...Full risk!

I'm still trying to figure out what happened with China. They went to 100 to almost 0. Maybe the young girls are too caught up with all the Olympic distraction?

Also China played the whole GP at home, which could have made a bit harder for them to adjust in Rio.

Also they played 4 of their 5 matches at the worst time 9:30am. They had to be up the latest at 7am I'm guessing but maybe they had to get by 5 or 6. And is difficult to adjust getting up that early for someone who is not used to, especially for teenagers.
When they played USA st 5pm they lost but they showed more energy.