European Championships 2011

    Quote from Matthias

    German players consider it winning silver rather than losing gold :) But we were soooo close to gold in 4th set ;(


    I think that is a great way of thinking, germans girls indeed could have won...but they must believe they are in the right way, cause they are, playing like the did in this ECH I think...no Im sure they can beat any team in world! They must believe in that!


    I wanted to call the attention for Brinker, what an amazing tournament she did! She did very well in reception, and was great in spike, very powerfull, I dont remeber her playing like this before! That is great! ^^ And also Fürst and Kozuch came back playing their best, that is also great! ^^


    I really really wish for Serbia and Germany to quali for Olympic in WCH, I know is hard facing Brasil and USA, ubt I think they can make it, and Ill cheer for that! ^^

    Quote from joanamss

    I wanted to call the attention for Brinker, what an amazing tournament she did! She did very well in reception, and was great in spike, very powerfull, I dont remeber her playing like this before! That is great! ^^

    Yes I totally agree, she played a fantastic tournament mostly :) The return of Grün helped her a lot because she had to take less responsibility in reception and attack, so she had less pressure and could play with fun.


    Overall I think we played a great tournament, just sad we couldn't finish it properly. Again congrats to Serbia, they fought so well in 4th set and got into a great rush in 5th set. Next ECH will be in Germany, maybe we can take revenge then ;)

    I'm sorry, but does any Polish user watched awarding ceremony at Polsat?
    Could anybody to quote Drzyzga words, because my colleague told me, that he said: "we're waiting now for two world cups" and he mean that our girls will get WC. Is it true or he mean smth else?

    Best players:
    Best spiker: Margareta Kozuch
    Best blocker: Christiane Furst
    Best server: Bahar Toksoy
    Best libero: Suzana Cebic
    Best receiver: Angelina Grun
    Best setter: Maja Ognjenovic
    Best scorer: Neslihan Darnel
    MVP: Jovana Brakocevic


    I still can't belive in what way Germany lost this match. After beginning of 4th set it lookeed clear. I think that everything started with Furst's error before 1st technical time out. End of set was horrible, lat set also. Grun didn't play so good today. On Serbian side the best in my opinion was Molnar, for me she's underestiomated. Really good substitute was Malagurski.

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

    Congratulations to Serbia! You could see how much more the championship meant to them playing in front of their home fans and when Brakocevic took her MVP award she seemed completely overwhelmed by the occasion. With the Serbian men winning and Novak Djokovic having the best season in tennis ever, Serbia had a fantastic year in sports. The comeback in set 4 completely shocked the Germans and they weren't able to recover in the 5th set. Serbia didn't receive serve well yet they continued to fight and take the match even when they weren't playing their best. Even though they made it to the last Olympics and have done well in Europe I don't think people gave the team as much credit as they really deserved. This win solidified their place amongst the top European teams, and with solid youngsters coming up they should be around for awhile.


    I've never been a particularly big fan of Germany but I give them a lot of credit for the quality of volleyball that they played these past two matches. I think for so long the matches that I've seen they have made such careless mistakes and mentally weak as a team, but they looked very focused and more controlled than I've ever seen. It's always great to see players play to their capability and I think Furst, Brinker, Kozuch and Weiss were finally able to do that. I sincerely hope that we'll see this level of play at the World Cup.


    Turkey has won my heart. They are true fighters and I wish them continued success. Last club season there were so many fans on here talking about how great Eda Erdem is and I finally was able to see what all the fuss was about :)


    Italy was sooooooo disappointing I am at a loss for words. They need to move Costagrande back to the leftside, kick either Picci or Del Core out of the other spot, and get Ortolani back on the floor. For a team as old and experienced as they are they should be very disappointed that they didn't play anywhere near their potential.

    Quote from TheUSAFAN

    Italy was sooooooo disappointing I am at a loss for words. They need to move Costagrande back to the leftside, kick either Picci or Del Core out of the other spot, and get Ortolani back on the floor. For a team as old and experienced as they are they should be very disappointed that they didn't play anywhere near their potential


    I presume, this 4th place will feel like a small eartquake for Italian NT...They were candidate no. 1 to win their 3rd ECH in a row...for (semi-) home-audience...


    I'm very curious what will happen with the current roster..and especially with Barbolini :whistle:

    Quote from Matthias

    German players consider it winning silver rather than losing gold :) But we were soooo close to gold in 4th set ;(


    They deserve to be proud of silver medal. They fought hard and played as a team.


    Quote from TimHH

    well, maybe after some time, it might be a very long time :D , Anja can watch this and smile as well. At least I hope for her.....


    I hope so also. Obviously she made a mistake... but Germany was down 14-9 and had to serve...if they play nice safe serve, Serbia receives easily and probably ends the match. I do not know the German plan, but if I was putting player in to serve, I would tell her to go for the ace. Obviously there is risk of bad serve... it could go long and had same result. Unfortunately she managed to make one of the most embarassing serves ever. :(

    Quote from Matthias

    Yes I totally agree, she played a fantastic tournament mostly :) The return of Grün helped her a lot because she had to take less responsibility in reception and attack, so she had less pressure and could play with fun.


    Overall I think we played a great tournament, just sad we couldn't finish it properly. Again congrats to Serbia, they fought so well in 4th set and got into a great rush in 5th set. Next ECH will be in Germany, maybe we can take revenge then ;)


    I didnt know the next ECH will be in Germany...cool! ^^

    Quote from joanamss

    I didnt know the next ECH will be in Germany...cool! ^^


    Neither did I :D


    I hope at least some matches will be played close to the Dutch border :D :D Maybe in Cologne or Münster (Aachen has no apropriate gym as far as I know) :win:

    Quote from Matthias

    Halle/Westfalen will host some matches ;)


    :woohoo: :woohoo: :D That's not far away from the border :D


    :aww: I didn't think about Gerry Weber-stadium, because it's a Handball-Arena :D


    Or maybe they could use Lanxess-Arena in Cologne :win: for Final-Round :thumbsup:

    Quote from Matthias

    Italy is playing like yesterday. No motivation, no fire, no spirit. It looks like they don't care about the match at all. If I were Barbolini I'd let Ferretti, Ortolani, Guiggi, Bosetti play, they're probably hungrier for success than Lo Bianco, Costagrande, Gioli and Piccinini at the moment.

    Lo Bianco was the best italian player in the ECH and she wants win, after loosing she had a worse face then others... Piccinini was smiling and eating chips with Guiggi and she was very sad... Leo deserved help by her team mater to win because she couldn't do it alone! The others (expecially Piccinini &Costagrande, also Gioli today)were very ^1000000 disappointing! Maybe playing with Bosetti and Ortolani could have been better!

    It's possible, you just have to believe in yourself and really not care what other people say, because I've heard it all.
    If you let someone else dictate what you're going to do in life, then you won't get there.


    Non so neanche come onestamente: in due mesi ero di nuovo in campo.



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