European Championships 2011

    HOLY SHIT.
    I knew it, I knew, that Swiderski won't go on ECh, I'm sooo angry, because he didn't get a chance to play on Memorial or in the matches with France. Oh my Goooooood...

    Quote from toraypower

    HOLY SHIT.
    I knew it, I knew, that Swiderski won't go on ECh, I'm sooo angry, because he didn't get a chance to play on Memorial or in the matches with France. Oh my Goooooood...

    So my weird feelings turned out to be truth...unfortunately. As I said- if Andrea won't give Świder any chances during Wagner's Memorial, he won't give him any chances at all. Shame :(


    'Seeing how hard our NT players practice and what's their approach to work, I'm confident about the result on European Championship. You can train even for ten hours a day, but doing it stupidly and not taking the benefits. We are aware of work and we never give up. We have proved that we can cope even when 'ceiling collapses on our heads'. Four of us will hold the ceiling and the rest will begin to rebuild the walls. I promise that we'll repeat the result from finals of World League AT LEAST. Unless a meteorite falls...' -this is part of interview with Zibi, just after WL. Meteorite fell, or will fall.

    Quote from Ojla

    So my weird feelings turned out to be truth...unfortunately. As I said- if Andrea won't give Świder any chances during Wagner's Memorial, he won't give him any chances at all. Shame :(

    And he took KLOS! It's a joke, I guess...
    Our future is baaaaaaaaad...

    so I am picking up Germany as the dark horse in the ECH and they will knok out Russia in the quarters to shock the world 8o
    What do you think? Which team is going to be a surpise in a positive way and will fail to deliver.
    Speculate 8o

    Quote from nadejda

    so I am picking up Germany as the dark horse in the ECH and they will knok out Russia in the quarters to shock the world 8o
    What do you think? Which team is going to be a surpise in a positive way and will fail to deliver.
    Speculate 8o


    I'm confident Germans will advance from group. They showed what they can do in WL and probably Grozer is going on ECH (he played in Brazil). Russia is the best team in Europe atm, on every position they have 2 quality players. And what's also important they have great coach - Alekno.


    As dark horse along Germany I see Slovenia. Hard working team,with good reception, quality attackers and good defense. Poland is totally devasted without Bartman, no quality opposite and MB. As bright spots I see Kurek and Ignaczak. Also I don't see Serbia high, maybe I'm overreacting but without good setter it's hard to cope with best teams...

    Quote from nadejda

    so I am picking up Germany as the dark horse in the ECH and they will knok out Russia in the quarters to shock the world 8o

    :thumbup: that would be fun, in deed. But honestly, Russia in the quarters would defintely be the end of the rally.


    On one hand the team should be stronger now with Grozer and Andrae back in the roster, but on the other hand it looks like Tischer will miss the tournament because of injury. I don´t think Steuerwald can play a whole tournament on a good level, and Lukas Kampa for me is a big questionmark. I actually never saw him playing :what: .

    Quote from TimHH

    :thumbup: that would be fun, in deed. But honestly, Russia in the quarters would defintely be the end of the rally.


    On one hand the team should be stronger now with Grozer and Andrae back in the roster, but on the other hand it looks like Tischer will miss the tournament because of injury. I don´t think Steuerwald can play a whole tournament on a good level, and Lukas Kampa for me is a big questionmark. I actually never saw him playing :what: .


    wtf is with Simon? :what:

    Quote from Kaziyski

    wtf is with Simon? :what:

    he wasn´t in brasil with the team. I don´t find the the news right now, but i think he has problems with his elbow. The team for the ech hasn´t been announced by federation yet, so there is still hope......

    Quote

    As dark horse along Germany I see Slovenia. Hard working team,with good reception, quality attackers and good defense. Poland is totally devasted without Bartman, no quality opposite and MB. As bright spots I see Kurek and Ignaczak. Also I don't see Serbia high, maybe I'm overreacting but without good setter it's hard to cope with best teams...


    Slovenia, I agree! And Czech Republic ofc. I read that Serbia second setter showed smth good at the last friendly match vs Italy; in general I think they can mess up but also get the final. It's a team that I would never understimate, with such opposite and MBs.. But of course Grbic is impossible to replace :obey:


    I'll say the pool winners may be Russia, Serbia (may be Slovenia), Italy or France, Bulgaria (or Poland, but in this pool it's harder to make a prediction). I think that this 7 teams + Czech can be at the quarter, but surprise are possible. (Germany?)

    France can possibly shock Russia and reach to semifinal

    Quote from raylight

    France can possibly shock Russia and reach to semifinal


    France will never meet Russia before the final. In general, all the teams from pools A and C won't never meet teams from pool B and D before the finals (1st place or 3rd place), as far as I understood from the schedule.

    Quote from Raul

    http://eurovolley2011.com/de/schedule.html
    in 1/4finals we will have same games as in group stage OMG


    Actually this is a chance, but not the most probable one. If you consider that more probably a team that got the second place in the pool is stronger than a team that got the third place in the pool, two quarters will more likely be one of pool A vs one of pool C; the others two one of pool B vs one of pool D. I hope it's clear....


    for example:


    Serbia won the pool A, Slovenia second place, Austria third place.


    France won the pool C, Italy second place, Finlandia third place.


    Serbia directly to QF1 (correlated to poolA); France directly to QF3 (correlated to pool C)


    "play offs": n1 (PO1)--> 2nd pool A vs 3rd pool C ---> according to the example: Slovenia vs Finland. We can guess that may be Slovenia will win.


    PO3--> 2nd of pool C vs 3rd poolA---> Italy vs Austria. We can guess that may be Italy will win.


    so the QF will be: QF1 Serbia vs Italy (winner of PO3, so it's corssed) QF3 France vs Slovenia (winner of PO1) not team from the same pool. There will be team of the same pool only if the 3rd of a pool will beat the 2nd of the other pool in the PO. It will may be happen in PO2 (the third from group D will be a good team anyway...)


    ....

    Quote from YavorD

    I was wondering what the chances are to see Ondrej Boula in the Czech NT. I remember he had a decent season when he was in the French league with Poitiers, I have never watched him, on the other side, and have no information where he will go to for the new season and why he was never given a chance, Zapletal seems to me like the eternal substitute in the national team.


    Also, about Slovakia, Masny is a good setter, but I honestly prefer Branislav Skladany more and maybe his time in the NT has come after the good games in Unterhaching. I really don't know though whether Skladany would have been preferred as a starter in case Masny wasn't injured right now.

    From what I've heard, the chemistry between Boula and rest of the team didn't work well, back when he was in the NT. Zapletal is a good substitute, knows all the players well and is ready to come to the court when necessary.


    About Masny, it's been made official today, that he's not coming (http://www.svf.sk/Default.aspx?CatID=667&NewsID=6313). It looks like Skladany will be the starter, but don't forget Zatko... his touch is perhaps worse, but he may help in defense much more.

    The champ website is pretty poor :down:
    "Universal player" - at first I thought it's a bad translation from Czech, because that's how the opposite position is literally called in Czech. But some players are marked as opposites, so it probably means he can play both outside and opposite

    Quote from pjotr


    "Universal player" - at first I thought it's a bad translation from Czech, because that's how the opposite position is literally called in Czech. But some players are marked as opposites, so it probably means he can play both outside and opposite




    Usually it means that, so it can be ok for Bartman, for example... but for Italy for example is universal player Falashi, that is a setter (and I've never heard about him playing as libero), or Mikahilov for Russia...


    So, I think is just... not being accurate?

    Quote from Kk15

    Usually it means that, so it can be ok for Bartman, for example... but for Italy for example is universal player Falashi, that is a setter (and I've never heard about him playing as libero), or Mikahilov for Russia...


    So, I think is just... not being accurate?


    Universal means one player can play as opposite and as OH or MB without much difference in performance. F.e Martin Sopko is universal player

    Slovenian roster for ECH:
    Liberos: Sebastian Skorc, Miha Plot
    Setters: Dejan Vincic, Rok Satler
    Middle-Blockers: Matevz Kamnik, Alen Pajenk, Davor Cebron, Dragan Radovic (also OPP)
    Outside-Hitters: Vid Jakopin, Tine Urnaut, Jan Planinc, Andrej Flajs
    Opposites: Mitja Gasparini, Alen Sket

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