World League 2009

Congrats to Poland. They totally ruined Venezuela this day. About us - I think we still can't find our game. Gradinarov made good debut today. When Aleksiev and Ananiev were out team crashed Japan in the 2nd set 25-14, but after that... I think big scandal is ruining the team or our fans can't still get used that old players have gone, so the results are poor. Or maybe there is kinda agreement between all Italian treners in Europe - Prandi,, Castellani and Bagnolli. Somebody said we along with Poland will be dominating teams in next two years - I don't think so. Dancho Lazarov wants Aleksiev, and Ananiev in squad, although there are still good players not from Levski Siconco. He is owner of this club and these players must be sold to other clubs in Italy. He wants money and only money. Prandi is still trying the squad - he will take Gradinarov to Russia and after that to Japan. Penev is playing well too, but he and Milushev won't fly to Khabarovsk. And about prediction game - please write it 3-0 to Russia - it's so obvious that we won't take even a set.

what a great performance by Poland today we just destroyed Venezuela. Kurek was simple fantastic today i really happy cus most of fans in Poland simple did not beliave in him and i'm the one that always does so good job Bartek keep it up he is by far our best player along with Nowakowski(both of them are my favourites so i'm so happy they are showing great performance )

i've also watched Bulgaria-Japan . i'm happy with the result(you probably all notice that i', a fan of everything relevemnt to Japan ) Bulgaria is struggling aA LOT . i'm not a huge fan of this team but i like some of a players and it's hard to watched them. Matey(i use his name cus i'm always getting confused to spell his surname right-every commentator pronounce his surname in different way so i prefer to use his name hehe ) is in bad shape. he look so exhausted and without energy Zhekov sets really good to his wing spikers but come on he can't set a ball to MB
about Japan good performance by Shimizu and Fukuzawa maybe they are not the highest team in the world but they are fighting bravely and i appreciate that

Quote from mateo

Kurek was simple fantastic today i really happy cus most of fans in Poland simple did not beliave in him and i'm the one that always does

Didn't they? Really? Kurek has good skills, but sometimes he just don't show it. i hope he will play like yesterday much more often.
It was definitely very good game by Poles. Venezuela was killed by 12 Polish monster blocks (Możdzonek and Nowakowski ). The style in which Poland won makes this victory more precious. Now I'm looking forward for the games against Brazil in Poland next weekend. I hope we can win once, cause our players have got a lot of confidence after that South America journey.

P.S. Terrible broadcasting by Venezuelan TV It looked like some match from the 70's.The broadcasting of both matches started later than it should have and they didn't even know what result they shuld put on the TV screen.

So USA won over Italy twice...both are 3-1.

And again, the trio of Patak, Rooney and Anderson scored big for the team. Its getting a trend for the US that its opposites are scoring heavily like what Stanley did in the World League and Olympics. Now, Patak is 6th among scorers and 10th among spikers. Not bad for a newbie in International matches like him. Meanwhile Rooney is getting better in attacks and reception. He is showing a lot of promise.

While for Italy, Savani and Gavotto scored big points as well. I have a question, is this the Italian Team A already or are Mastrangello, Vermiglio, Cisolla, etc coming back?

Looks like Netherlands, Russia, Cuba and Brazil are shoo-ins for the final round. However, I am optimistic that the US will also be in the final round and can defend its World League trophy...maybe Priddy, Stanley, Salmon will play on that round..who knows.

Quote from jist

I have a question, is this the Italian Team A already or are Mastrangello, Vermiglio, Cisolla, etc coming back?

good question can anybody tell us who is coming back after WL? What's about Fei? Cisolla?

and in Bulgaria? Plamen is coming back, I guess. Who else?

about Poland: WHAT A WONDERFUL MATCH!!! I'm proud of our young boys Kurek was AMAZING, just AMAZING. I couldn't belive my eyes, when I was watching him. Super Bartuś, Super Kuruś. Just keep playing like this. Łomacz! Możdżonek! Nowakowski! oooo God, I love this kids

I think this week Winiarski, Świderski, Zagumny, Pliński, Gacek and Gruszka (?) are starting to train. End of holidays

I couldn't watch any of the games this weekend but the results I saw convince me in some aspects. To start, WE TOTALLY SUCK!!! It's a young team with a new coach preparing the team for the ECH and the WCH qualficiations, I can understand everything else but a 1-3 defeat AT HOME in Varna against half of the Japanese team Nothing personal against Japan, they have a very athletic team, but I cannot accept such a loss! Neither the new coach, nor the long and exhausting season can be an excuse for what happened yesterday! I think we simply don't deserve to play in Belgrade and don't see how this can ever happen since Russia is not going to drop the lead in the pool..

As far as the games in Havana are concerned, I expected the Russians to have some problems, as happened, but the victory in the second day meant they are probably going to win the pool! As I said a week ago, the results in Cuba showed that Russians are still not in their optimal form, which is normal, of course, but also that Cubans are the team they used to be once despite the extremely young squad! They have their chances to qualify for Belgrade, but the visits in Russia and Bulgaria might be too tough.. Interesting pool where Bulgaria seems to be out of the odds quite quite early

Otherwise, Italy is obviously facing similar problems to ours... I, honestly, did not expect the Americans to be so strong without their key players, but they are doing great so far! I am not sure whether they will manage to finish first in the pool though.. On the other side, it will be cool to see the Netherlands in the Final Round for the first time after so many years

In the pool where Serbia is just playing for fun, I think it would be a shame for France if they can't qualify.. They also have a very young squad, but Argentinians and Koreans are not older at all I like the way Argentina is now looking, they started to change generations several years ago and now they are finally showing competitive volleyball again!

Despite the bad news Prandi almost found the team and have freed all bulgarian treners from the squad. He is very angry about our games and I dont think why he freed 'Boyko Bonev and Stoyko Nentchev? Doesn'matter but this day in afternoon he said that Aleksiev won't fly to Khabarovsk and Japan! These are really good news, because he is far away from what he was in the World Cup 2007. Still beating serves away in the public, still not good in reception. Penev is back. I believe in Prandi. Dancho Lazarov can't have a word because he always wants players from Levski in national team - even there are very good from other teams, because he'll sell them away and will make profit of that. So now here is squad who will fly to Russia and Japan..

Setters
Zhekov, Bratoev

Receivers
Kazyiski, Gradinarov, Penev, Ananiev

Middle-Blockers
Gaydarski, Bogdanov, Svetozar Ivanov

Diagonals
Vlado Nikolov, Cvetand Sokolov

Libero
Salparov and Vladislav Ivanov

I'm watching the first brazil vs Poland match and I must say that i really like that Kurek dude. Nice technique and nice power and height. Also, why didn't Visotto play from the beginning? I don't like the Rivaldo guy. He has a goofy approach (wrong foot in front) and he doens't seem to be in as good shape as the other players.. I mean I can tell he's good, but not attractive to watch. Is he the same guy as Pinto?

There will be 27 000 spectators on Poland-Brazil games in Łódź this weekend There were never more in volleyball matches in Poland. Nice beginning for new hall in Łódź

Hey, I don't like Rivaldo too, I think it's a waste of time that a guy who's not so young and obviously not as good as some of our players is in NT. However, aparently, he has impressed Bernardo for a good season in Italy and, also, since his team (Pineto) never made the playoffs, he was one of the first players to present. Vissoto, by the other hand, was one of the last guys to show.

Still, I think there's so many better opposites here in Brazil that played last Superliga, like Wallace (Vôlei Futuro), Kaio (Ulbra) and Theo (Cimed) - and they're young. They can grow a lot.

As for your question, yes, he's the same as Rodrigo Pinto. Rivaldo is his nickname, since he resembles a lot that guy from soccer.

Oh, what a win for us a couple of minutes ago! We beated Russia 3-1 (31:29, 16:25, 25:22, 25:20). Everything worked perfectly and the undeniable bulgarian spirit is back again! I knew it, and i almost predicted it - 3-2 in the prediction game.

Quote from rebelheartous

Oh, what a win for us a couple of minutes ago! We beated Russia 3-1 (31:29, 16:25, 25:22, 25:20). Everything worked perfectly and the undeniable bulgarian spirit is back again! I knew it, and i almost predicted it - 3-2 in the prediction game.

Congratulation, I saw the match. Impresive.

Nikolov was a machine....lol

And what I love most was that Cuba won too. Cannot wait for tomorrow

Oh, yesssss I really didn't expect that we would win this match! I hoped on just a set! The guys made my day. I was the most impressed how they palyed in defense! We showed a great spirit and will for palying. I expected much more from Russia today. There was almost no excitement in their game and the reception of them was not good. It is sooo carzy all - we lost our last match against Japan at home and now we won against Russia there. Our team looked like totally different from what I saw just a week ago. But now I expect that Russians will play much better tomorrow after this loss so the match is probbably going to be harder for us.

Russia was awful today. No Mikhaylov, no Poltavskiy. But tommorow they gonna crash us for sure. It's very good that we have played good especially in defense. What gonna happen if Salparov is not libero?

Quote from superbobo

Russia was awful today. No Mikhaylov, no Poltavskiy. But tommorow they gonna crash us for sure. It's very good that we have played good especially in defense. What gonna happen if Salparov is not libero?

?? Someone should crush you man!

Quote from AFROMAN

?? Someone should crush you man!

Really, Russia have underestimated us. Don't you think?
Oh AFROMAN, I didn't see it's you

Quote from superbobo

Really, Russia have underestimated us. Don't you think?
Oh AFROMAN, I didn't see it's you

Hehe. Think what you want, my wish is to win again, and i will support the team to the last point. I really believe that we can win again.

What a nice weekend for CUBA,

Despite predictions Cuba won the 2 matches 3-0 . Cuba proved to be too strong for JAP in the second encounter, dominating the net. Cuba 12 blocks, Japan 4.

Leon # 1 was superb At 15 years he was the lead scorer for Cuba with 12 points (9 spikes and 3 blocks)

And check, the "teenager" in the Best Players List:

Best escorers: 5th

Spikers: 11th

Blockers: 24th

Servers: 3rd

Diggers: 68th

Receicers 13th