2014 FIVB World Championship - Poland - 8/30

    Not sure if it's been said already, but Bernardo said he intends to rest some players for the game against Russia tomorrow. So we could possibly watch an easy Russian win over Brazil. :whistle:

    Let's pray for the most respected Poland Team's Captain Michal Winiarski. Wish him everything fine & speedy recover from injury :obey: :obey: :obey:

    Quote from saishuu

    Not sure if it's been said already, but Bernardo said he intends to rest some players for the game against Russia tomorrow. So we could possibly watch an easy Russian win over Brazil. :whistle:


    Unless Voronkov supports this great idea from his side :). Would be good to have at least some competition...

    How will be define the last 2 groups?


    France in 3rd round is quite a surprise. Before the competition they were saying that with this team they were looking for à medal in this championship, but nobody believed in this. They have not the best players, but they have a perfect team play and above all they enjoy playing volleyball together and we can see that in every match.
    Hope to see them in semis.... It would be a great achivement for this young team.

    I think that Mousavi is the best player of this tournament and MVP so far. I hope he will continue to play like that to the end of this WCH and in the years to come. He is more impressive than Muserskiy, who has height and power advantage to score the same points, while Mousavi's first weapon is his intelligence.

    My life will never be the same.


    In first 2 sets we played like masters. Wlazły & Winiarski like from 2006. Everything worked. Serve. Block. Defense. Attack. Reception. Then we lost Winiarski though this little fall down has its place before his injury, I think. Because now I'm not so sure of anything. Our captain has problems with his back. Don't know still how serious it is. For sure he won't play against France. We just lost our heart, team without him will look different and guys now have to sort things out without Winiar. Somehow :(
    Iran is truly a wonder-team. Thank you guys, for the lesson. This was a tough moment 'cause I would like to see both of the teams battling yesterday to be in top 6. I'm giving all my heart to Poland ofc, but I'll keep the view of fighting and passionate Iran and any other time, you have my heart next to you, guys. Amazing spirit :obey:
    We're still fighting with our demons and I'm fighting with myself to try to understand and not to judge our guys. I think it's a kind of breakthrough moment because for the first time I'll say this: I'm taking back all the bouquets of curses addressed to Zatorski. It was his best performance in NT I've ever seen and since now I want only watch such playing from him. Can you believe this? I'm THAT crushed. I had tears in my eyes when he defended one hell important ball in tie-break driving around the court on his knees. And Wrona sitting in the Polsat studio... As if he heard my all negative thoughts about Zatorski, explained that Paweł surprises people because it looks like he stands in weird maybe even not right place on the court, that he runs on this court like crazy but the truth is that he feels the ball somehow and he intuitively chose a place. Am I sounding like a fanatic now? Maybe. This guy kinda saved like a millions yesterday.
    I would say plenty of words about every single guy. (But I'm a bit tired and sleepy. Has no rights to be though. Our guys are only to feel tired. I'm just a passive observer.) Will be short. Kłos's single block on Seyed. Możdżonek' last block. Zagumny with all his blocks. Winiarski with Kubiak and this heartwarming connection between these two. Wlazły having a monster day. Drzyzga coming in and serving as if he had nothing to lose. Mika, this criticized young guy, replacing our captain and playing his best. All these little precious moments. A poetry in this beautiful disaster.


    I think that the best description for the state of my psyche after yesterday would be the fact I couldn't sleep at all after that and was watching some horror with a raven-shaped psychopath murdering teenagers, enjoying it as if it was some kind of comedy or family film.


    Quote from triglav_kran

    A question to Polish users. What is the history behind the Polish crowd constantly chanting a song (in Polish) with the same melody and tune as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SezoGW_z9w0


    ???


    Trig, this song is with us since like forever. On this melody we sing "Polska, biało-czerwoni" (Poland, white-red) and maybe it doesn't make any sense but this is the way Polish crowd express its support. Can be annoying like hell, especially when you're not on hall and hear it from your tv. But trust me, people rip off their throats singing it, it's as if they strongly believe they can really do sth, help our guys, change sth. The louder you sing, the better. I'm saying this from the point of view of a fan being on the hall. During the match against Italians every single person on the hall were singing this in 2nd set from like a 12 point maybe. Standing. Whole set standing. Hard to refuse taking a part in this. So, maybe yes, the fans are following the speaker like a sheep in this one. But it's because they believe they can give their players some extra energy as if they literally played with them. Yesterday, wasn't any easier for both, players and fans. Our chant about "Little Knight", reserved for dramatic moments was sang too many times. And first two sets didn't say it will be needed at all. I can be a sheep, whatever, if it only help my team.

    Some my thoughts..


    Serbia was total disappointment. Kolaković did nothing during all matches. I dont believe how much credits he gave to Nikić who's skill constantly decreasing. Atanasijević nothing, just spike ball hard as much as he can and what happens. He cant clean Miljković's shoes. Number of missing serves, it was annoying to watch one serious team missing 5-6 serves in row :aww: IMO Kolaković should resign, obviously he cant motivate players and led them properly. His timeouts were passionless, no emotions at all and his approach spilled on players... No doubt refs made big, unbelieveable mistake on last point in 2nd set but I expected more form Serbia. Especially in terms of emotions and passion.


    Ivović and especially Petrić were unused, totally underestimated and for me they should have been starters. Petrić's main purpose was to replace Jovović in block (?!?) while Ivović played only vs Cameroon had had poor match. MB's were outstanding, Lisinac is future of volleyball, Podraščanin once again proved he is one of the best in the world. Unfortunately Kolaković didnt used them as much as he should/can.


    Poles will lose a lot without Winiarski. IMO he is key, unreplacable player and I see Poles suffering in attack, defense, serve and team cohesion. Mika and Buszek cant replace him. If USA and Iran win there will be huge pressure on Poland, France surely wont let them. What's more important Tillie knows Antiga and Blain really good and French will know how to play tonight.

    That was hell.


    At first I thought I wouldn't make it till the end, because of supporting Iran (I was actually torn between wanting Iran to beat the hell out Poles and go straight to the next stage of WCh, and wanting Poles to unleash that crazy Polish fire as well), but then I figured if no one slays me for that, I'll die from heart attack anyway.


    I'm not gonna recap the game set by set now that emotions have already settled, but those first two sets were hellish and divine to me at the same time. Poles were playing so easily, executing exactly what they said. Everything was going their way. Wlazły was outstanding. I mean really...o u t s t a n d i n g. They were so convincing and confident. It was brilliant. Just brilliant. Iran on the ohter hand was helpless and totally lost. It was very visible how resigned they were at one point. Nothing was going their way, and Polish machine was just gradually growing in strenght. And then something happened. Amir went on serve, Iranians started slowly bouncing back. We could finally watch a nice, tight and full of emotions game. Those emotions however, reached a little too ridiculous point, when we lost Winiarski...It all started going in such a crazy pace...I've already seen Poles losing it. Seriously, I thought they would not recover, especially after such a painful punch, i.e. losing Winiarski. The roles have totally switched. Now it was team Iran calling the shots and Poles looked really hopeless. Tiebreak was inevitable...what happened then was exactly what I love and hate about it :obey: :obey: :obey:


    Thank you guys! Iranians - for fighting back after being spanked really badly, showing this incredible spirit again and filling me with lots of joy, just like every single time. I'm super proud of them, despite this loss :flower: :heart: And Poles for finishing their job despite really serious problems, for showing balls (mentioned by Polish players A LOT :D ) and some really brilliant game. Now do your job, beat that French team and join the last 6 of the tournament. Hopefully Iran can join too. God, please, these guys just have to...



    As for Iran again:


    Quote from triglav_kran

    Now I will go around every church, mosque and synagogue tomorrow to pray for USA to lose. Nothing against USA, it's just that there is no other way for Iran to qualify.


    Literally me.

    Quote from bella


    Trig, this song is with us since like forever. On this melody we sing "Polska, biało-czerwoni" (Poland, white-red) and maybe it doesn't make any sense but this is the way Polish crowd express its support. Can be annoying like hell, especially when you're not on hall and hear it from your tv. But trust me, people rip off their throats singing it, it's as if they strongly believe they can really do sth, help our guys, change sth. The louder you sing, the better. I'm saying this from the point of view of a fan being on the hall. During the match against Italians every single person on the hall were singing this in 2nd set from like a 12 point maybe. Standing. Whole set standing. Hard to refuse taking a part in this. So, maybe yes, the fans are following the speaker like a sheep in this one. But it's because they believe they can give their players some extra energy as if they literally played with them. Yesterday, wasn't any easier for both, players and fans. Our chant about "Little Knight", reserved for dramatic moments was sang too many times. And first two sets didn't say it will be needed at all. I can be a sheep, whatever, if it only help my team.


    God, I know, I'm terrible, but it gets a rise out of me, too :pinch: :wacko:

    Quote from raylight

    I think that Mousavi is the best player of this tournament and MVP so far. I hope he will continue to play like that to the end of this WCH and in the years to come. He is more impressive than Muserskiy, who has height and power advantage to score the same points, while Mousavi's first weapon is his intelligence.


    True, he's incredible. Dunno about you, but to me he's easily one of the best MB's right now...if not...the best :pinch:

    Quote from jo1105

    What happened to him?


    Muscle contraction in his back. Not very serious but quite painful. He was examined this morning and no serious problems were found. As for your first question, there will be a draw and the teams from the 2nd and 3rd positions will join the winners of pools E and pool F. It is possible that the winners will play the same two teams again.
    Group G:
    F1 - E2 or F2


    E2 or F2 - E3 or F3


    F1 - E3 or F3


    Group H:


    E1 - E2 or F2


    E2 or F2 - E3 or F3


    E1 - E3 or F3