Women's World Grand Champions Cup 2017

Quote from Kk15

OMG, it doesn't seem such a difficult concept to grab.
For every European teams (for whatever reason! May be it's just for tradition, may be it's because we can't compete in the world as you said, it doesn't matter!) the ECh matter most than this tournament.
Period.
We may discuss the reasons for it (I think it's for tradition), but there's no arguing with that. May be is stupid, may be it's not fair, may be is silly, but It's a fact, deal with it.
Obviously that doesn't mean we think this tournament is useless or that the Ech is a stronger/better tournament: we just care for it more.

For the record, that's our 'priority list' (as you can notice, ECh isn't at the top)
- OG
- WCh
- ECh
- WC?*
- WL/WGP
- all the rest

*I admit I would't know how to place the World Cup, which matter beacuse is a way to qualify to the OG but isn't that important on itself (ask the Polish if they're happy of their third place at the last WC!).
The possibilities for placing it in the list are: right before or righr after the ECh (imho).
Probably - at least in Italy - it's after the ECh, since you have other chances to qualify for the OG. And in the WC being first or second (and once third) doesn't make much difference. Plus it's always in Japan so a bit hard to follow in Europe, that may be a factor.

Ps I couldn't follow the match, but now I'm very curious to watch at least the tie break!!!

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Thank you ! Some of the comments in here are just ridiculous. European teams and fans consider the ECH more important than the WGCC, it is just a fact that people should accept.

No European users are trying to argue that European teams are the best, that is just clearly wrong. No one is saying fans shouldn't enjoy the WGCC, it is obviously very high level volleyball so of course fans should enjoy it. And no one is saying that the players don't care about the WGCC, they are professionals at the top of their sport and I'm sure they want to win as many matches as possible.

To me the WGCC is just random. I mean why are Japan and Korea here? Why not just do a competition between the 4 continental champions, it would make a lot more sense

Quote from Sisko95

Thank you ! Some of the comments in here are just ridiculous. European teams and fans consider the ECH more important than the WGCC, it is just a fact that people should accept.

No European users are trying to argue that European teams are the best, that is just clearly wrong. No one is saying fans shouldn't enjoy the WGCC, it is obviously very high level volleyball so of course fans should enjoy it. And no one is saying that the players don't care about the WGCC, they are professionals at the top of their sport and I'm sure they want to win as many matches as possible.

To me the WGCC is just random. I mean why are Japan and Korea here? Why not just do a competition between the 4 continental champions, it would make a lot more sense

WC is already a tournament for finalists of 5 continental championships, there is really no point for this tournament. It is only a way of FIVB get money from Asian market and that's why half of the teams are Asian. I don't think anybody care about this tournament except rbdfabio

Quote from Rains_of_Castamere

Europe has infinite chances to prove itself. You don't.

Twenty to twenty five years ago. Pan-american teams did not even win the olympics or world championship. That's some thought for everyone.

As a reminder, since the 80's Panamerican teams have dominated both OGs and World Champioships: Cuba, Brazil, USA and even Peru have reached olympic and world championship finals, and most importantly, winning most of them.

What a pointless discussion. Wch and Ech (OG above them) are the two most important tournaments for basically any European team in basically all sports. This might also be a cultural and historical thing but it is a fact and that the players will care less about these tournaments is a fact as well. No need to get butthurt over it, its just the way it is.

And also how stupid to say European teams are weaker because they didnt win OG or Wch recently lol. There is only ONE winner in the end. The general level and the amount of competitive teams in Europe is MUCH much higher atm then pan american or asian teams. USA, Brazil and maybe DOM in the Americas are competitive. Asia has China in front and Japan, Thailand, Korea. While in Europe there are many many teams that can give each a hard time and still not make big tournaments. While they probably could still 3-0 almost all teams from the other continents.

my 2 cents on this.

i don't think this is a meaningless tournament, but i wish it was not in japan all the time, like the WC.

in an ideal world, there'd more parity across the world and it's very sad that women's sports are not supported in many parts of africa, south asia and middle east, for example. if a country can have a men's football team (and every freaking one of them does, no matter how poor), there's no excuse they can't support women's sports.

so ideally, a WGCC would involve 8 teams: 2 from americas, 2 from europe, 2 from asia, 2 from africa. remember when WC used to have 8 teams?

since that's not feasible, maybe they should have had 2 from americas, europe and asia each, 1 from africa, and 1 wild card. so we could have had for example, USA, BRA, CHN, JPN,RUS, SRB, CMR, and wc could be ITA, DOM or THA (based on this year's performances). that could have been a very competitive tournament. but this year both JPN and KOR are not so strong, so that might be a detriment to this tournament.

Quote from serdar

WC is already a tournament for finalists of 5 continental championships, there is really no point for this tournament. It is only a way of FIVB get money from Asian market and that's why half of the teams are Asian. I don't think anybody care about this tournament except rbdfabio

Serbia is my favorite team of the moment. It was devastating they lost for Brazil in the GP semis. Now they will play ECH right?? I can care less, what`s the point winning a tournament without Brazil,China, USA and even Japan?...it is absolute worthless. I can care less if they beat Turkey, Russia and all these other weak European teams.

I would much rather they were in Japan playing against the best teams in the World.

r u from Turkey? Well I dont blame u for thinking all these tournaments are worthless such WCC and GP, Turkey is so weak and never win anything and they never even get invited to play these tournaments. The only time Turkey can grab a medal is in the ECH

Turkey is so weak that they're automatically qualified for Wch I'm sorry I didn't know all teams except top 3 of the world were 'so weak'. Turkey is still new under Guidetti's rule and so far so good. At Ech we hopefully can get a medal. Its a very important and well balanced tournament. :teach

There are many promising teams at Ech. You dont have to care since your country isnt in it. The Serbs sure do though

You're all WRONG!! Montreux is the most important tournament. End of the debate

Quote from Kk15

For the record, that's our 'priority list' (as you can notice, ECh isn't at the top)
- OG
- WCh
- ECh
- WC?*
- WL/WGP
- all the rest

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I totally agree with this. It's just the way it is and I'm sure virtually every European player would say the same. Although, Jelena Nikolić once said that even though she realizes that the Olympic silver is objectively more valuable, she still prefers her WCh bronze because they didn't have to share the spotlight with anyone else then. A refereshing moment of honesty.

As for WC, I'd say it's important as long as you gain the Olympic qualification. Otherwise it's almost irrelevant if you finish 3rd/4th or last.

it's amazing how adams is now able to attack the ball... it wasn't so long ago, she'd just tip it because she couldn't get the timing right.

but she still doesn't do the back slide (like foluke).

Oh well, just watched JPN v RUS. That was Japan's best shot at a victory in this tournament. They played well but came up short.

I love Kosheleva. She's got one of the best attitudes of anyone. Laughing, kissing her team mates, having fun, getting pissed, playing hard. I can't believe she almost signed with the NEC Red Rockets. That might have made me download in my pants even though I don't like these giant Euros coming in and taking minutes from my heroes.

Quote from ST2008

You're all WRONG!! Montreux is the most important tournament. End of the debate

Gosh, right!!

I'll correct:
- Montreux VM/Wagner Memorial (and this year we also had the Vesuvio Cup, and we won it!!! That made my summer, who cares we were last at the WL!)
- OG
- WCh
- ECh
- WC?*
- WL/WGP
- all the rest

Quote from rbdfabio

I can care less, what`s the point winning a tournament without Brazil,China, USA and even Japan?...it is absolute worthless

That's the point: it's not about what you care.
It's about what Serbian players care. And may be also European fans, that understandably have a different background and tradition than yours (nothing wrong about it obviously! It's just the way it is).
I make a little example: the WGP wasn't aired on TV in Italy, not even the final. The ECh will be. And it's always been like that.

And I'm not saying you must feel as we in Europe feel, obviously you're free to feel whatever you want. I don't want to convince you that we're right and so you should agree with us. We are probably wrong in thinking that, for the record xD

I'm just saying you (all) must accept that it's an undeniable fact that 'we feel like that', wrong or right that it is.
It's like something in our bones, and nothing you will say – even if perfectly reasonable and sharable! – will change that.
Yes, that's how stupid we are

Ps now I remembered we had a similar discussion about Champions League/WCCh: there isn't a single European team that would prefer to win the second one, trust me! Even if theoretically it's more important, even if there are even stronger teams than in CL (as it is!). At that's true also for the non-European players that play in Europe, as far as I know.
I mean, I've never heard a single player saying 'My dream is that my Club will win the WCCh'. They all prefer CL or sometimes even Scudetto, in Italy (in this case it also depend on what you've won in the past, though).
For the record, I've never even heard anybody saying 'my dream is to won the ECh': they all go for the OG (for someone the dream is simply participating at the OG!)

Quote from JoanaBG

As for WC, I'd say it's important as long as you gain the Olympic qualification. Otherwise it's almost irrelevant if you finish 3rd/4th or last.

Yeah, I kinda agree.

Quote from sitenoise

download in my pants

I love this expression!!!

Quote from rbdfabio

r u from Turkey? Well I dont blame u for thinking all these tournaments are worthless such WCC and GP, Turkey is so weak and never win anything and they never even get invited to play these tournaments. The only time Turkey can grab a medal is in the ECH

How ignorant are you? Turkey won bronze medal in Grand Prix in 2012 so based on you sick logic, I should consider Grand Prix as most important tournament right? However, I don't (as every sane user in this forum). Having USA, CHN and BRA is not a prerequisite to call a tournament important. Although they are powerhouses of volleyball, SRB, RUS, ITA, NED and TUR already make this tournament quite tough! Many European teams already has beaten USA, CHN and BRA recently so don't pretend like as it is African championship

Quote from akitoakie

I hope I can see the Ishii-Nabeya duo some time in this tournament just to see how it will work.

Those two started and played out the first set against Russia and that was the only set Japan won. I'm not a fan of Nabeya starting but it was a good combo with success. I think she's more valuable coming off the bench.

For Japanese fans, why is Nana Iwasaka on the team instead of Riho Ohtake?

Quote from serdar

How ignorant are you? Turkey won bronze medal in Grand Prix in 2012 so based on you sick logic, I should consider Grand Prix as most important tournament right? However, I don't (as every sane user in this forum). Having USA, CHN and BRA is not a prerequisite to call a tournament important. Although they are powerhouses of volleyball, SRB, RUS, ITA, NED and TUR already make this tournament quite tough! Many European teams already has beaten USA, CHN and BRA recently so don't pretend like as it is African championship

wowwww hey kid, get easy there in your beach!!!! A tournament with Brasil, China and USA (even if it was The Banana Cup) is important of course!!! we have 04, 08, 12, 16 olympic champions... 10 wc champions... and lots of silver medals at this tournaments... so, keep your horses calm, keep beliving in turkey nt, and weak, team, and take care with the sun!

Quote from jetmasters

For Japanese fans, why is Nana Iwasaka on the team instead of Riho Ohtake?

Didn't someone post a pic recently showing Ohtake, Miyashita, and a couple others at a rehab place for injury?

If not, I don't really know. I don't dislike Iwasaka as much as some others, and I like Ohtake, too. I think what Iwasaka has going for her is she is taller than everyone else, she played club team for Nakada--who picked her for Captain of the NT suggesting that she, as they say in other sports, may have some Locker Room skills.

Personal observation (and one reason I don't dislike her as much as others): Iwasaka strikes me as the best MB Japan has when she rotates to the backcourt. Watch her some time. She's remarkably quick footed and courageous back there, unlike her locomotive startup at the net.

BUT I did not start anything, neither did sitnoise or rylaybarnes.

You guys (users) from Europe came here started saying this tournament is worthless. And just like sitenoise said, if this tournament is worthless for you guys that`s fine, but why come here and keep saying how worthless it is?? and just like sitenoise said, you guys won`t see any of us that are not interested in the ECH going over the ECH page and keep saying how worthless the tournament is RIGHT??

Nobody cares if you guys in Europe are watching the Champions Cup or if you guys think it is important or not. .. Just don`t waste your time coming here.

Just I like I said I can care less if Serbia wins a tournament with Georgia,Belarus,Arjebiajan,Poland,Germany,Croatia,Turkey,Belgium,Hungary,Ukraine, C.Republic as none of these teams are part of the elite volleyball. But if you guys enjoy watching these teams that`s GREAT, go watch them and have fun. But u guys won`t see me or anyone saying this at the ECH page right??? and why is that? Because we are respectful people, and we don`t have time to waste.

ok, I`m done with this topic. let`s move on.

(Kk15), It is sad they did not televise the final Brazil vs italy in the GP. But I`m happy they will televise Italy against Croatia/Georgia/Belarus, I`m sure the level of these games will be super high, hope you guys enjoy ) ( I`m just being funny).

Quote from sitenoise

Oh well, just watched JPN v RUS. That was Japan's best shot at a victory in this tournament. They played well but came up short.

I love Kosheleva. She's got one of the best attitudes of anyone. Laughing, kissing her team mates, having fun, getting pissed, playing hard. I can't believe she almost signed with the NEC Red Rockets. That might have made me download in my pants even though I don't like these giant Euros coming in and taking minutes from my heroes.

It sucks Japan lost, they would have a shot at a medal if they had won. They were leading 20-16 in the 4th.

But considering they are without Koga and Nagaoka I think they are playing and they are in the right direction.

Quote from sitenoise

Didn't someone post a pic recently showing Ohtake, Miyashita, and a couple others at a rehab place for injury?

If not, I don't really know. I don't dislike Iwasaka as much as some others, and I like Ohtake, too. I think what Iwasaka has going for her is she is taller than everyone else, she played club team for Nakada--who picked her for Captain of the NT suggesting that she, as they say in other sports, may have some Locker Room skills.

Personal observation (and one reason I don't dislike her as much as others): Iwasaka strikes me as the best MB Japan has when she rotates to the backcourt. Watch her some time. She's remarkably quick footed and courageous back there, unlike her locomotive startup at the net.

Lets hope we see them healthy and play in the future. Right now Japan has really old taller MBs so I don't think they will make it to Tokyo or their level might drop by then. I think right now it's just experimenting for most teams to select the best group of players so hopefully we see all in top form in major tournaments.

I personally think Miyashita has the best potential as setter and Ohtake as MB for Japan. Both are younger but don't know if age is a factor for Japanese players. Maybe older is better.