European Championships - 2013 - hosts Denmark and Poland

    Quote from YavorD

    Good evening from Copenhagen :)

    I was already wondering, where you are.
    I would really enjoy reading about your impressions of this weekend. Have fun over there...... :drink:

    Quote from powsoff

    Sivozhelez is a nice chap and not some kind of offender or provocateur, so no, his reaction is always very reserved. This fact of course doesn't make him a good player :). His only common feature with Giba is nice well-shaped musculature. My theory is that when Giba falls asleep, his soul travels around the world and sometimes, when reaching old Europe, mistakenly identifies Sivozhelez as its master body. Then, with Giba's help, Frankenstein Sivozhelez may give a brilliant performance, scoring points against any block and serving aces one after another. However, as the clock strikes midnight, Sivozhelez turns back into a pumpkin his usual self and... as I said before the genuine Sivozhelez has very little in common with Giba, apart from the body shape.


    This magical reincarnation normally happens in one game out of twenty, last time this was in the game vs Bulgaria where Sivo scored tons of points with good percentage against organized three-man block.

    This post is amazing. Thank you.

    It will be difficult for vetorri to hold the pressure IMO. I think berutto warns high block am this why he wants Ivan as oh and also kovar & vetorri in. I do not think that savani or parodi will start finally. Possibly only savani if he is all right. Is he?

    Hmm, I am not really sure about the numbers here. Just to give my point without looking at any numbers or stats. I've been next to both of them and I do believe they are of the same height (I'm 185 cm, they were both slightly taller). Also, I remember Kaliberda won only a couple of German Cups, he never won the championship with Unterhaching. Something I think Skrimov did with Paris Volley. Once again, I am not sure. What I wanted to say is they both share a similar background and are yet to prove themselves as leaders in their NTs, but I don't see the importance of the CV. By the way, Skrimov was more or less forced to move to France, he was never seen in Bulgaria as someone who could play professional volleyball due to his height. Last, Kaliberda is enjoying right now the best volleyball year of his career, supported by a move to Piacenza. Before this summer you would never think Kaliberda could be a leader anywhere. Skrimov's best year was 2012, he only got a chance to play in Italy now.

    Quote from andrea

    Is Final Four gonna be held outdoor? That would be interesting if so.

    Therotically yes, practically no. Half of the football stadium should be covered, actually. The temperatures in Copenhagen are somwhat lower than continental Europe, they cannot afford to play outdoors. We can only know how the stadium will look like tomorrow, I myself have no idea yet.

    Skrimov's role is not to be the main threat in offense. His role is to keep the receiving of the team and attack when necessary. As someone mentioned, during the first game vs Germany, we killed them before he got injured. That was because all the balls went just above the head of Bratoev.
    What I like in Skrimov's attack is that when he makes a couple of mistakes in a row, he doesn't get that anxious as Aleksiev for example. After 3 mistakes in a row, he often risks the difficult spike and makes it. What is more, I've seen his best performances in the most important matches - against Poland a few days ago, against Russia in the Olympics (although we lost there, he was incredible) and a couple of more I can't think of right now. I don't agree however that Skrimov is that good in defense. Not yet anyway. Slightly better than Kaliberda though.


    Kaliberda has a very cheeky attack and that's a huge advantage. He can make good angles and annoys the block (he somehow spikes after the block gets to its highest point) but he is very bad in reception. Not just on Wednesday, I've seen him many times to be the hole in the reception of the team because of his carries. His overhead pass is pathetic for the standarts of an NT player. He just can't carry the reception of the team, something that Skrimov can do.


    About leadership skills, I think the physical disadvantage of both hinders them from becoming the team's leaders.

    Quote from YavorD

    Hmm, I am not really sure about the numbers here. Just to give my point without looking at any numbers or stats. I've been next to both of them and I do believe they are of the same height (I'm 185 cm, they were both slightly taller). Also, I remember Kaliberda won only a couple of German Cups, he never won the championship with Unterhaching. Something I think Skrimov did with Paris Volley. Once again, I am not sure. What I wanted to say is they both share a similar background and are yet to prove themselves as leaders in their NTs, but I don't see the importance of the CV. By the way, Skrimov was more or less forced to move to France, he was never seen in Bulgaria as someone who could play professional volleyball due to his height. Last, Kaliberda is enjoying right now the best volleyball year of his career, supported by a move to Piacenza. Before this summer you would never think Kaliberda could be a leader anywhere. Skrimov's best year was 2012, he only got a chance to play in Italy now.

    Therotically yes, practically no. Half of the football stadium should be covered, actually. The temperatures in Copenhagen are somwhat lower than continental Europe, they cannot afford to play outdoors. We can only know how the stadium will look like tomorrow, I myself have no idea yet.


    Thanks for the info. The relative functions of the two players at NT are obviously different. Skrimov was kept on court mostly for his reception. Last year, he's really the key for Bulgaria's success at OG by stepping in for the position left by Kaziyski, and his spikes at least were good enough last year without being a vulnerable point. This year (is his knee injury serious?) his performance is quite shaky. Kaliberda suddenly this year has raised his game to a new level. He really has good technical skills in offense. Germany has been suffering from not having quality OHs for years, and Kaliberda together with Fromm may help put this famine to an end.


    If possible, please upload some pics of Parken Stadium tomorrow. It'd be interesting to see how much space of a football stadium would be filled by vb fans. I wish I'd be there.

    Quote from muse

    Indeed :rolll: :rolll: :rolll: I love it!

    Genius. This theory made me really sit in front of the computer staring on it and thinking for at least few minutes. I'll put it on my quotebook :D

    The organizers are still not ready with the different stadium areas. It's a bit chaotic over here. The four teams took turns in training on the court, they had approximately 30-40 mins. each to get used to the field and the atmosphere. To be honest, the conditions are not perfect, but it looks OK overall. It's a bit cold in the stadium and it cannot be otherwise as you can cover the entire field, but you can't heat up an entire stadium. Players should warm up pretty well. The football field is split in three. The leftmost has been converted to an official volleyball court, the middle one is a fan zone with shops and small courts for fans. It's also where some local band is gonna perform. The last third is untouched, it's the grass of the football field.


    About the teams. I only saw Italy and Bulgaria today, Russia ans Serbia trained earlier. Parodi can barely walk, he can't fold his left foot, he is 100% out. I didn't see Savani, so I can't say much. Perhaps Berutto will start with Zaytsev and Vettori.

    Russia won 1st set 25-19. Lisinac was great in the first set, as well as Apalikov on the other side and it was high quality chash between them so far. Jovovic is setting great balls but Atanasijevic is out of the court because of bad finishing... hope Serbia can come back :box:

    I've read, that Serbians are already pissed off, 'cause the conditions on the court are not good enough. So yeah, they've got an excellent reason to complain, if they lose.

    Serbia won the 2nd set!!! Atanasijevic came back from the bench and he served 1 ace and 1 service winner for 23-23 :obey: :obey: :obey: Muserskiy made fault in spiking and now we go from the start :super: :super: :super: :super: :super:

    Oh dear, what happened there? Just went out for a couple of minutes and russian looked like finishing the set with ease?
    Anyway... If Serbs can prevent Grankin from using the middles, then they could stand a chance....