Olympic Games - 2012 London (qualification process)

    Russia,Poland,Serbia,Italy,Bulgaria,France,Germany,Spain,Finland,Holland,Belgium,Slovakia,Czech republic,Slovenia,Portugal,Estonia,Greece,Turkey,as we can see Latvia...all great teams.just a story about Croatian coach during transmission :)

    3:0 by Finland ( -24, -23, -16) stats

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    Quote from Bartek

    What a nice suprise by Latvia.




    Does Someone know about the Players anything?


    I've previously posted some info about Egleskalns:




    Finnish NT Season 2011




    Transfer news 2011/12






    Maybe people following Belgian league have more recent infomation.




    Also Medenis has played in Finland previously:




    Transfer news 2011/12

    Pre-Qualification Tournament 1 in Slovakia
    Spain - Slovakia 1:3 (28:26, 18:25, 23:25, 14:25) stats
    Estonia - Montenegro 2:3 (23:25, 25:21, 22:25, 25:14, 11:15) stats


    Pre-Qualification Tournament 2 in France
    France - Greece 3:0 (25:23, 25:22, 25:12) stats
    Czech Rep. - Latvia 3:2 (21:25, 26:24, 25:20, 23:25, 16:14) stats


    Pre-Qualification Tournament 3 in Croatia
    Croatia - Finland 0:3 (24:26, 23:25, 16:25) stats
    Slovenia - Portugal 3:2 (26:28. 19:25, 25:19, 25:23, 20:18 ) stats

    Quote from YavorD

    Yeah, a great game it was indeed! However, Croatia will need something more than just Omrcen if they want to stand some chances against the Netherlands. Everything is possible though :)


    Yes u r right but I dont believe Holland can play like Finland. Finnish players are much better defenders and servers than Dutch, so I dont see Dutch guys putting same pressure on our reception like Finnish did. Who watched Holland - Finland should have notice that Kooistra is really out of any normal form, as I can remeber he didnt have single successive serve. Holland will risk more on service surely so I think we will see again many service errors from them. Maan is average player but key for our victory will be to stop Horstink. He is their key player, Klapwijk had decent game vs Finland but he is still shaky, 2-3 blocks will be enough to stop him. Dunno why I have feeling that Benne will start with Van Dijk tommorow :whistle:


    I'm very proud of my team, they fought very well in first 2 sets against great team like Finland and if they used 4 pts lead in first set who knows what could happen. Croatian NT coach said he knew that Finland will be very hard to beat and that he prepared team for match vs Holland. I'm really optimistic for reasons I mentioned above. Omrčen is our locomotive, I expect much better OH's tommorow, better attack % from them and w/o big pressure on reception they can beat Holland :dance4:

    Quote from Kaziyski

    Yes u r right but I dont believe Holland can play like Finland. Finnish players are much better defenders and servers than Dutch, so I dont see Dutch guys putting same pressure on our reception like Finnish did. Who watched Holland - Finland should have notice that Kooistra is really out of any normal form, as I can remeber he didnt have single successive serve. Holland will risk more on service surely so I think we will see again many service errors from them. Maan is average player but key for our victory will be to stop Horstink. He is their key player, Klapwijk had decent game vs Finland but he is still shaky, 2-3 blocks will be enough to stop him. Dunno why I have feeling that Benne will start with Van Dijk tommorow :whistle:


    Well, I didn't watch it (actually I couldn't watch any match yesterday and today :( ), but I am absolutely not surprised - Kooistra has sticked so much to the bench in Skra that it just couldn't be otherwise with his shape, he has to change the club at any cost as soon as possible.

    Wild Wild West!


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    " There is nothing better than this"


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    Quote from volley super fan

    Well, I didn't watch it (actually I couldn't watch any match yesterday and today :( ), but I am absolutely not surprised - Kooistra has sticked so much to the bench in Skra that it just couldn't be otherwise with his shape, he has to change the club at any cost as soon as possible.


    He isnt even on bench ;) well obviously he lacks match pratice, he looked confused. Later he was replaced with Lorsheidj but I dont think Benne will leave him on bench. Maybe that's good for Croatia. :whistle:

    The Czechs have some issues. Platenik had fitness problems and the other OHs were struggling in attack so Konecny had to as an OH.

    Don't you worry, don't you worry child. See heaven's got a plan for you

    Edited once, last by rugby ().

    Quote from Kaziyski


    Yes u r right but I dont believe Holland can play like Finland. Finnish players are much better defenders and servers than Dutch, so I dont see Dutch guys putting same pressure on our reception like Finnish did. Who watched Holland - Finland should have notice that Kooistra is really out of any normal form, as I can remeber he didnt have single successive serve. Holland will risk more on service surely so I think we will see again many service errors from them. Maan is average player but key for our victory will be to stop Horstink. He is their key player, Klapwijk had decent game vs Finland but he is still shaky, 2-3 blocks will be enough to stop him. Dunno why I have feeling that Benne will start with Van Dijk tommorow :whistle:


    I'm very proud of my team, they fought very well in first 2 sets against great team like Finland and if they used 4 pts lead in first set who knows what could happen. Croatian NT coach said he knew that Finland will be very hard to beat and that he prepared team for match vs Holland. I'm really optimistic for reasons I mentioned above. Omrčen is our locomotive, I expect much better OH's tommorow, better attack % from them and w/o big pressure on reception they can beat Holland :dance4:



    Hmm, yes, the Netherlands is a very unstable team, so a surprise is possible as I said. The only problem is that Croatia was seriously lacking blocks versus Finland. This is something to improve if they want to achieve a good result. If Kovacevic and Raic/Galic help Omrcen more, they surely stand a better chance.


    Quote from nadejda

    I am qurious to know why Valters Rama hasn't been called for Latvian NT. I think he is a very good player. :whistle:


    I don't think Ramma is good enough to play as a starter at international level. In the group for the game maybe yes, I would probably take him, but I doubt he is ready for a starter. Actually, the one missing for Latvia is Gundars Celitans, even if Egleskalns is doing a great job and is probably in a better shape.



    I didn't see the win of Montenegro over Estonia coming. That's the upset of the night to me. The Czechs and the Slovenians had problems, but won eventually, I expected Estonia to do the same. Now they need to beat Turkey to stay in the tournament. I wouldn't underestimate Portugal despite the defeat against Slovenia, if they reach the final, they might win a ticket to Sofia!

    Slovenia missing first setter Vinčič, MB Kamnik & Radovič (retired from NT), OH's Jakopin and Komel while Portugal is missing Valdir and Gaspar.


    Smedins returned for Latvia but he was substituted in 2nd set but Egleskalns :obey: I think Celitans is injured because I'm quite sure he would be starter here ;)

    Quote from Kaziyski

    Slovenia missing first setter Vinčič


    That can't be a bad thing

    Quote from kondzio

    3:0 by Finland ( -24, -23, -16) stats

    Mikko's stats look great again :win:


    Kaziyski, you Croatian specialist, can you tell me something about Zhukouski's setting? ;) Because, I have no doubt that Omrcen was amazing but what about your young setter.



    Quote from Kaziyski

    He isnt even on bench ;) well obviously he lacks match pratice, he looked confused. Later he was replaced with Lorsheidj but I dont think Benne will leave him on bench. Maybe that's good for Croatia. :whistle:

    Thank you very much Mr. Nawrocki for that :aww: He is the only reason of making from Kooistra the bench player. He came to Poland as a star! And now I guess he will not want to stay in Poland anymore...

    Quote from bella

    Kaziyski, you Croatian specialist, can you tell me something about Zhukouski's setting? ;) Because, I have no doubt that Omrcen was amazing but what about your young setter.


    Well Zima is big talent. He is just 21 y.o. and Macerata bought him 3 years ago but kept him in Mladost until last season. Zhukouski was in San Giustino last year ( after his appearance on field San Giustino won 3:2 vs Piacenza after being 0:2 down) with Zanini. This season Zanini went in Monza and he wanted Zhukouski to join him. I think that says enough. He is still Macerata player on loan in Monza. He played very good vs Trentino in first match of the season, made some briliant settings (behind the back diagonal to opposite was simply briliant :obey: ) He also posses great serve and block :thumbsup: so in few years he will be world class setter if something doesnt change. :wavy:

    Now latvia vs. belgium live on http://www.laola1.tv. First set for belgium. Great atmosphere in the hall. Seems they invited school classes for the match. A lot of organizers should follow that example. It is often raelly embarassing how empty the halls are if the hosts are not involved.


    I am looking forward to tonights match France vs. Germany. If Germany looses they are already under pressure, and that didn't do good for the team in the past.

    France vs Germany tonight? Hm I would watch it if I wouldn't be so sick of today's volleyball. Probably if Patrick would play I would tempt myself to watch this match... Except that I like Grozer and actually the whole German team. And I like French guys as well. So maybe I will watch it... Sorry for my aloud thinking :P

    Quote from Kaziyski

    Well Zima is big talent.

    Is it his nickname? It's cool. I guess in Croatian Zima means the same as in Polish :P