2015 World Cup - Japan - 8/22

    Quote from Emil

    Manabe is no longer using hybrid 6, Shimamura, Ohtake and Yamaguchi, all of them are real MBs.


    Yamaguchi used to be OPP. She also played as receiver.

    Quote from MiguelNR

    Yamaguchi used to be OPP. She also played as receiver.


    And she's been used as MB since last year and has always played on that position in her club. If I were the setter of the opponent team and reception comes well, I would use the middle all the time, Japanese middle is kind of a joke this year.


    Such strong attackers like Harmotto, Akinradewo and Rasic would score a lot more than their average...

    Quote from Emil

    And she's been used as MB since last year and has always played on that position in her club. If I were the setter of the opponent team and reception comes well, I would use the middle all the time, Japanese middle is kind of a joke this year.


    Such strong attackers like Harmotto, Akinradewo and Rasic would score a lot more than their average...


    Do you know why Nana Iwasaka is not longer consider in NT?
    She is tall. I thought she could be the MB Japan needs.

    18 pictures from Beijing, China NT delegation left for Japan this early morning.
    China NT Pix Slide


    Hui Ruoqi and Xu Yunli came to see the teammates off at the traning centre.
    The heart disease of Hui Ruoqi was diagnosed during the last central training in Beijing couple of weeks ago.
    National Sports General Bureau suggests Hui Ruoqi staying for further treatment.
    this is not her first time felt uncomfortable with her heart. during the Leageu 2013-14 with Evergrande Guangdong, she suffered the same situation once.

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    Quote from Matthias

    Is it just for this tournament or is her athletic career in danger?


    hope she is okay. she is very important.
    the most important thing is she loves volleyball as her life. she will never give up.
    the final result comes from the further observation and treatment.
    bless her.

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    Quote from MiguelNR

    Do you know why Nana Iwasaka is not longer consider in NT?
    She is tall. I thought she could be the MB Japan needs.


    Manabe sent an invitation but she declined.

    This year World Cup will be awfully weak. Now, when I checked qualificated teams I realized that only USA, China, Russia and Serbia will fight for Olympics. This qualification system is without sense...

    Yep, I think those four teams think so as well, everything is easier for them, they just need to focus on only 3 teams, I dont see any other competitive teams...


    USA team is nearly perfect, wondering if they could keep the good performance, Russia with Goncharova-Kosheleva duo, but their MB line is a big question, China without Hui and Serbia with Boskovic back, I dont think I will be interested in other eight teams games to be honest, maybe Japan though, they are ten times stronger at home.

    Japan can be "dark horse" but in the match against Serbia only. The rest is too strong for them. So let's leave Japan at 5th place :D
    USA probably will be the winner and China and Russia will fight for second place. But my biggest hope is ticket for Serbia and Russia. This solution would be also very good for whole volleyball, because USA and China do not have quivalent contender on their continents and will go for the Olympics for sure.

    I think everyone hopes the same! hehehehe
    Nothing against USa and China, but like you said, they can easily qualify for the Olympics in their continent tournaments...so we can have a better Olympics.


    This just shows how ridiculous this qualification process is, we have to cheer for specif results in order to really have the best teams playing the Olympics... :aww:

    Quote from joanamss

    I think everyone hopes the same! hehehehe
    Nothing against USa and China, but like you said, they can easily qualified for the Olympics in their continent tournaments...so we can have a better Olympics.


    This just shows how ridiculous this qualification process is, we have to cheer for specif results in order to really have the best teams playing the Olympics... :aww:

    And what is even worse, if Serbia and Russia are preaparing for the WC, they have less chances in ECH than teams preaparing for ECH only... (however, ECH really give nothing apart from points in rankings..., real ECH will be played in January as EOQ- there is no sense at all in that :down:).


    One positive thing is that 1st and 2nd team from ranking are not going for the World Olympic Qualification Tournament, but 2nd and 3rd team from EOQ- it is really more fair.


    However it doesn't change the fact that this system is a real problem and should be changed to at least what we have with men. It is possible with USA and China advancing from WC that only 3 teams from Europe will play in Rio, but at least 6 places should be from there. In WCH 5 of TOP10 temas are from Europe and 11 of TOP16. In WCH10 and WCH06 Russia was the champion... Imagine that on the men side only Russia, Poland and Italy (for example) would play and Serbia, Bulgaria, France, Germany won't, but a spot for Algieria and Kenya or whatever is always certain.


    I don't know but FIVB should think this through and make good conclusion, especially with Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Croatia and Azerbijan all being in Europe.

    I think that Japan have to say too much in world volleyball.
    I have disease when I will think about 2nd world Qualification Tournament for teams from Africa and South America... I guess Japan will play there against Kenya and Argentina.

    Let me guess starting line-up of the 4 teams, sorry for my ignorance about chinese team.


    Russia


    Kosianenko-Goncharova
    Kosheleva-Pasynkova
    Lyubushkina-Orlova
    Malova


    Startseva-Malykh or Isaeva substitution will be frequently used and Scherban for Pasynkova and Ilchenko for Kosheleva, they will most likely play against weaker teams. Fetisova probably for Orlova since her attacking is not good enough although I really admire her talents in terms of blocking. Kuzyakina may help with reception but I don't think she's a better passer than Malova.


    Serbia


    Ognjenovic-Boskovic
    Mihajlovic-Nikolic
    Rasic-Stevanovic
    Cebic


    Some of you might think for what kind of reason I put Nikolic, but we all know Terzic's infinite persistence, even If Tijana Malesevic plays on a really good level, she will stay on bench. Stevanovic for Veljkovic is just in case of Stefana's injury or unready form.


    USA


    Kreklow-Lowe
    Larson Burbach-Hill
    Harmotto Dzieten-Akinradewo
    Banwarth


    Very strong, biggest candidate to win the competition obviously, I want Russia to win nevertheless. Nobody knows if Glass is ready to play full time and I prefer Kreklow as starter anyway, she has proved that she's a really good setter. Larson was very bad at WGP, Hill somehow asleep, however, they tend to play five times better in bigger games. Harmotto-Akinradewo, not even a thing to worry about. It's somehow ridiculous that Gibbemeyer and Dixon must be bench players (They will be provided to play some games of course). How many outstanding MBs does USA have that aren't playing in NT? I can't even name all. Feel sorry for Lloyd, Paolini, Hildebrand, Jackson and Miyashiro who currently got injuried.


    Japan

    Koto-Nagaoka
    Kimura-Koga
    Shimamura-Ohtake
    Zayasu


    Pretty sure they will stay at 5th but as I mentioned earlier they are totally different at home, I wonder if Saori Kimura will keep playing so bad like whole summer, she couldn't even kill a ball and her reception was shaky all the time. Besides everything, their MBs are a joke on this level. Nagaoka was a killer last year but not playing good this year, at least so far.

    Quote from WIELKI ZNAWCA PIERWSZY

    I think that Japan have to say too much in world volleyball.
    I have disease when I will think about 2nd world Qualification Tournament for teams from Africa and South America... I guess Japan will play there against Kenya and Argentina.


    Kenya and Argentina are favorites to win their continental spots, so you won't likely see them in world qualifiers.


    Only the 1st World Tournament will have asian (and european) teams, the 2nd tournament will be one team from NORCECA, one from CSV and two african teams and will give one spot. So probably you will see one of Algeria/Tunisia/Colombia/Puerto Rico qualifying.

    Quote from LDvolley


    Kenya and Argentina are favorites to win their continental spots, so you won't likely see them in world qualifiers.


    Only the 1st World Tournament will have asian (and european) teams, the 2nd tournament will be one team from NORCECA, one from CSV and two african teams and will give one spot. So probably you will see one of Algeria/Tunisia/Colombia/Puerto Rico qualifying.


    Montano will play CQT. Colombia is favorite to win CQT.


    I think Colombia will be in OG. :olympia:

    Quote from MiguelNR

    Montano will play CQT. Colombia is favorite to win CQT.


    I think Colombia will be in OG. :olympia:


    lol no Argentina still destroyed Colombia last time Montaño played. In fact, it will make things easier for ARG since they will know 95% of the balls go to her and Argentina, unlike Peru, has tall enough players to block her.


    I mean, Colombia can win, but there is no reason to believe they are favorites. I think they will be 2nd though, and Peru 3rd (which is good for Peru since that will send them to the easier world qualifier).