European Championships 2009

    What a onesided game it was! Congratulations to Italy. Big team. In my opinion they are great and might be dangerous for every team in the world with this kind of play. Maybe only Brasil is better. USA is not the same after Olympics and China... nothing but quite good. So some depreciating comments about Italian level of play seem to be a little bit strange for me. :| Especially on the day of their big victory.
    It was great to watch the final and the ECh ending with full hall, thousends of spectators and nice atmosphere. Especially if we remember sad empty halls in Izmir, where even during the final we had only some fans from Poland and France...
    It was nice to see Matlak with the team again. That bronze medal is also big success for him. :)

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

    Quote from Matthias

    And Kerstin Tzscherlich best receiver... :lol: :lol: :lol: This is the best joke I heard in a long time!!!


    Maybe, but this award is based on statistics, so... :huh:

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

    So. Ok. Now I can comment.
    About the match...what to say? Italy did EVERYTHING right. Great blocks, great defense, even great serve (it wasn't one of our strong points during the tournament).
    The first set was absolutely amazing.
    During the second set I was seriously worried. Holland was leading 9-3 and playing very well, and we didn't seem capable to react. I was afraid we were going to lose the set. But then, like other times in the tournament, a miracle happened, and we recovered splendidly. :)


    I'm sooo happy for this victory, for many reasons.
    First of all, we needed it after that horrible match in the quarter finals of the Olympic Games. We seriously needed to get back our self confidence. :)
    Second of all, in Italy volleyball is often called a "minor sport" (the "major" being football). The only important sport in our country seems to be football. Nobody talk about volleyball on tv or on sports shows, ever. Practically nobody paid attention to this ECH until Italy reached the final. Then, they decided to air the match on TV (they aired the other matches on satellite). If we lost, everybody would just talk about how Italy didn't win a gold medal. On the other hand, a victory will bring more attention to volleyball and to our NT, that is one of the best we've ever had. Unfortunately, not many people in our country know it.
    So, yes, I have to thank our girls, because thanks to them maybe in the next few days people will talk a little about volleyball, before going back to football for good. :thumbup:


    About the individual prizes, I'm really happy that Paola Cardullo won Best Libero. She really is the best in Europe, maybe even the world. And for someone who can't score points, winning such an award really pays back for all the efforts. :)

    Quote from Matthias

    I'm really angry that Flier won MVP....of course she is a great player, but Simona Gioli was just marvellous today and even more so yesterday X(

    I wanted to say that, but I didn't want to sound too biased. I'm happy someone else thinks that. :)


    Haha, I also thought Gioli or Lo bianco would be MVP.
    anyway, Lo bianco won best setter, no doubts. there are no setter that are better than lo bianco :D

    @ Matthias


    Indeed. Flier as MVP is not correct. Gioli deserves it. All the individual awards should go to Italy. Ok, I know it's all about the most! points, but statistics aren't always right. Scoring a lot of points against weak teams or just score the most points in attack/blocking just because your team played the most sets (3-2 matches) can lead to an award.


    An Italian player can't almost win an individual award this tournament, because they won almost all games in 3-0.

    @ Ros


    Congratulations :flower: Italy played unbelievable great. Like I said earlier this week, in my opinion surely no. 2 in the world (only Brazil can play in potential better).

    @ flyingdutchman


    Oh, thank you! :)


    I was really worried before this match, the Netherlands can be a very strong opponent, I'm happy we managed to win it.
    I don't know if we're n°2 in the world (the U.S, Cuba and China are very strong teams), but we sure did good today. That's enough for me. :)

    Quote from Ros


    Second of all, in Italy volleyball is often called a "minor sport" (the "major" being football). The only important sport in our country seems to be football. Nobody talk about volleyball on tv or on sports shows, ever. Practically nobody paid attention to this ECH until Italy reached the final. Then, they decided to air the match on TV (they aired the other matches on satellite). If we lost, everybody would just talk about how Italy didn't win a gold medal. On the other hand, a victory will bring more attention to volleyball and to our NT, that is one of the best we've ever had. Unfortunately, not many people in our country know it.
    So, yes, I have to thank our girls, because thanks to them maybe in the next few days people will talk a little about volleyball, before going back to football for good. :thumbup:


    Sad to hear about it. But it is not first big success by Italy: 2002 - World Champion, 2005 - ECh silver medalist, 2007- European champion. Country with the best league in the world! And still nothing? Ninty AC Milan-Inter game in the row is still more exciting? :lol:

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

    Congratulations to Italy. Great team. In final Netherlands disappointed. Especially Kim Staelens. Italians were better in every element. I agree with the MVP award. Gioli was very good, but for me Flier was better. Someone watched the award ceremony in Rai TV? I saw, that Martina was in the studio. What did she say???

    Quote from Ros

    @ flyingdutchman


    Oh, thank you! :)


    I was really worried before this match, the Netherlands can be a very strong opponent, I'm happy we managed to win it.
    I don't know if we're n°2 in the world (the U.S, Cuba and China are very strong teams), but we sure did good today. That's enough for me. :)


    Do you agree with me that Italy today played their best match of the tournament? It could'n't believe my eyes 8| , such an enormous high level.



    About the Dutch girls: I think after the disappointment of losing the final, they will be happy with the silver medal; they played a great tournament, except today. I still love you, girls !! :rose:

    Quote from Konrad


    Sad to hear about it. But it is not first big success by Italy: 2002 - World Champion, 2005 - ECh silver medalist, 2007- European champion. Country with the best league in the world! And still nothing? Ninty AC Milan-Inter game in the row is still more exciting? :lol:

    It's sad, isn't it?
    In 2002 I wasn't the big fan of volleyball I am now, mainly because of the fact that, as I said, nobody pays that much attention to volleyball here. Well, I remember I didn't even know there was the World Championship. The first match they aired on tv was the quarter final against China. That victory helpeld volleyball a lot, because since then, they aired at least some matches of important events (ECH and WCH).
    IN 2005, i remember being able to see the final match just on satellite. We didn't win, and nobody ever talked about that silver medal. EVER.
    From 2007 onwards, they have paid more attention to volleyball, but I remember that the day after we won gold medal, the first page of the most important sports newspaper in Italy was about a FRIENDLY MATCH of Italy football NT against Faer Oer Islands.
    Our victory in the ECH was in the fifth or sixth page. Think about that. :thumbdown:
    We care more about what Mourinho has eaten at breakfast that about our volleyball NT. That's it in Italy. :D

    @ Konrad


    Like I said before, statistics don't always tell the truth.



    Quote from Konrad


    Maybe, but this award is based on statistics, so... :huh:

    Quote from Stusi

    Congratulations to Italy. Great team. In final Netherlands disappointed. Especially Kim Staelens. Italians were better in every element. I agree with the MVP award. Gioli was very good, but for me Flier was better. Someone watched the award ceremony in Rai TV? I saw, that Martina was in the studio. What did she say???

    Yes, Martina was in the studio. Well, mainly she said that she was happy for the team, and that she was a bit sad because she wasn't there with them. She commented on the match a bit, and said that Gioli was one of the best players for her, but that the whole group was fantastic. You know, the usual things. But she was very nice. :)


    @ flyingdutchman: I agree with you mainly because Italy played very well on other occasions, but maybe not with the continuity they showed tonight. For example, yesterday against Germany we played an EXCELLENT first and third set, but we weren't able to keep our focus on the third set, and we had some problems in the fourth.
    Tonight we managed to get back on tracks when we were suffering in the second set, without losing our concentration, so yes, maybe it was the best match of the tournament. :)

    Quote from Ros

    [
    Our victory in the ECH was in the fifth or sixth page. Think about that. :thumbdown:


    Let me know on which page of the newspapers will be this information tomorrow :D

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

    Quote from Konrad


    Let me know on which page of the newspapers will be this information tomorrow :D

    I'm buying every newspaper i can find tomorrow. I'll let you know. :D :D

    BTW, has lucia crisanti entered the italian team? I haven't seen her in this tournement. I remember that Valentina Arrighetti was a replace of Barazza and Gioli. on the other hadns, too bad guiggi isn't on the team. although she was one of the members of 2007.

    Omg!!! Piccinini is so jealous at Flier!! As Flier was getting her MVP award, in the back side was Italian team to see, and especially Picci. As Andre Meyer was giving her the award, he kissed Manon 3times. Piccinini rolled her eyes, made a sour face and touched with her finger to her cheeks 3times, while she was saying something to her teammates, probably about Manon =) She was like saying "yea kiss her, I bet u voted for her just for being near to her kissing her" =)))
    Omg it was soo funny, I hope I am not the only one who saw this.


    ...and Congratulations to Italy, they were the best!! After I say all first day matches everybody said that italy will be champions this year again, so no surprise. And I also would prefer GIOLI as MVP.