Brazil will make the new records.
Team play with the most 3-2match inWGP.
But they also win all those matches, it seems like they still has a mental advantage when it gets tight.
World Grand Prix 2012
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BRA-CUB going to tie-break...
The performance of some Brazilian players became drastically worse over the last few years. Paula and Fabiana were among the best of the world on their positions, now they're just average. Mari also out of first six now. Sheilla is still good but also not as good as she was. 4 years ago Jaqueline and Thaisa were mostly on bench, now they are Brazil's best players even though their performance is not (much) better than 4 years ago. It will be interesting if/how much Brazil can improve until OG, but if they play like now, I see USA and maybe also Italy and Russia ahead of them.
Obviously this competition is not their goal, and their peek should be on the olympics... You can not be on top form for 3 month constantly... But I agree that this year nor the male nor the female team of Brazil is unstopable.
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But they also win all those matches, it seems like they still has a mental advantage when it gets tight.
Just my joke.
They are very unstable and so slow.
I'm really wonder where their great performace have gone.
Just hope that they can improve more and more til OG. -
Brazil wasnt esp. good in 2008 WGP either, but they crushed in the OG anyway so the results and display here might not be too important obviously. But whats much more worrying for the samba team is that many of their main players not been in good shape for long time or comes from bad last seasons like Matthias already explained. Its not only about that the team dont working together, but also about that many of their players dont seems to be in good physical shape.
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Brazil wasnt esp. good in 2008 WGP either, but they crushed in the OG anyway so the results here might not be too important obviously. But whats much more worrying for the samba team is that many of their main players not been in good shape for long time or comes from bad last seasons like Matthias already explained.
Yeah, and Brazil after all still is a strong team, but they are far away from the dominance they had in OG 2008 and I really cannot see them getting close to that in the next 6 weeks, even though I'm sure they'll make some improvement.
By the way, Cuba 41
errors in 5 sets! -
Brazil wasnt esp. good in 2008 WGP either, but they crushed in the OG anyway so the results here might not be too important obviously. But whats much more worrying for the samba team is that many of their main players not been in good shape for long time or comes from bad last seasons like Matthias already explained.
I think that the present situation is not the same with 2008WGP.
At that time,Brazil also crushed their performance 5 matches in a row(3-0,3-1) in 2008WGP final.
And thier performance was obviously way better than now.
They played with a lot of combinations,speed,fierce attack.
Mari,Sheilla,Paula were unstoppable. -
Yeah, and Brazil after all still is a strong team, but they are far away from the dominance they had in OG 2008 and I really cannot see them getting close to that in the next 6 weeks, even though I'm sure they'll make some improvement.
By the way, Cuba 41
errors in 5 sets!I know, for me Brazil is always there as a contender anyway...as long they are in, they can win, this girls is way too proud and experienced to count them out from the gold! Maybe im wrong but I have seen them win way too much over the years too be calm
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Finally Naz started to use Eda much more
..She attacked 27 times today and their contribution seemed well too. Our blocking performance was better and Esra made a great job at receiving(which is expected from her firstly). This was maybe the best match of Naz in this GP..Neslihan played her 3rd match and she is getting better and better each match and I believe she will be in her top form in Olympics..I am curious if we will play with two liberos system or not..We didn't use it in this GP, maybe in finals we will use it..Germany played a good match as well..But I can't understand why Guidetti still insist on Beier! She is really useless.She has never been a good scoring player but her receiving role was very important for the team..However, it seems she can't receive well anymore..Her 4 of 3 attacks are tips, I hardly see her while she hits the ball..Matthess absolutely deserves to be in the starting line up(I can't believe myself that I say that
). Kozuch hasn't played like a real OPP so far except against Italy ..Actually I expect from an OPP to lead her team and score in cruial moments like Gamova,Sheila, Neslihan and old Grün.. So I still believe that Grün's absence isn't filled yet 
By the way, German middles were outstanding today! 
Nice to see them in a good shape especially Corina(I don't know how to write her surname ). Hanke's play was super well also! The most positive thing for Germany in this Grand Prix absouletely Dürr and Hanke..What a pity we won't watch them in Olympics About Cuba, I won't say something different from you.. The team that make 41 mistakes can't win a match against such a strong team like Brazil(even though they aren't in their best shape).I don't know how they will cope with that problem but if they want to be successful in future, they have to minimize their errors.
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It was a right decision removing Weiss and letting Hanke play as starter. I hope she will continue to play as successfully as today! What I liked the most from her play is using the middles miles more than Weiss.
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Yeah China makes a good impression but so far they didn't have any strong opponents, I'm waiting for their matches against Cuba and Brazil this weekend.
If Japan can play like in 2010, they will definitely be a contender for medals again. Also Turkey can be a dangerous team if they are in best shape. But Serbia...I really can't imagine them playing 100% better than now in 6 weeks, so I guess they might not even survive preliminaries, or maybe even won't win any match considering their opponents. Korea can beat them if all their players are healthy in OG.
It will be tough matches against these two teams for us because our starting setter Wei Qiuyue is injured and will definitely miss these two matches. Besides, our another starting OH Wang Yimei has been in her recovery for a long time and we are not sure whether she can come back before the open of the Olympics. Considering this, our coach is continually trying new players these days. But frankly speaking, the level gap between our substitutions and main players is a little big and there is not enough time for him to narrow it. The reason we earned so many points through the previous two rounds is because we didn't confront very strong opponents. -
It was a right decision removing Weiss and letting Hanke play as starter. I hope she will continue to play as successfully as today! What I liked the most from her play is using the middles miles more than Weiss.
I have a big respect for Weiss 'cause she has worked so hard to go to Olympics since 5-6 but after ECH her performance went down so poignantly..She had a very bad performance in Ankara so I believe this break will be good for her..She is still young and can make it to Rio still..
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I have a big respect for Weiss 'cause she has worked so hard to go to Olympics since 5-6 but after ECH her performance went down so poignantly..She had a very bad performance in Ankara so I believe this break will be good for her..She is still young and can make it to Rio still..
Yeah, Weiss worked hard for many years, but the truth is that she never was an outstanding player. A good and solid one, yes, but never great. I think Hanke (and also Apitz, if she returns) both have much bigger potential and even right now they are already better than Weiss. -
There's no unstopable team out there, and we won't see that for a long time.
Female: USA lost the bronze in 2010 and the gold in 2011 because of Japan. That's not a good sign.
I don't know how Italy gonna play. But they are the best female team right now, I believe they have more chances than USA.Just to remind, in 2008 everyone was saying that the final would be China vs Italy. We all saw what happened
Male: Poland is strong, has the best team/players but they are not unstopable. OG is about pressure and for what I saw last year, Poland can't deal with it.
If they improve that, we'll gonna see a beautiful fight.
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Italy has a horrible record against USA the last 2 yrs. and I think its a bad match-up for them. They are pretty equal in many aspects, but USA has clearly better block and Hooker in best shape also makes the difference between them. I also hope Russia can challange them, will only happen if Kosheleva can come back in shape in time.
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Also remember Italy have been dissapointing in the most important championships since 2002. They failed in OG 2004, WCH 2006, OG 2008, WCH 2010 with great squads, why they should succed now with a even older squad is hard for me too see, even if they played very good in World Cup last year.
I think the final will be between USA and Russia and the 3-4th game between Brazil and Italy, with China as the closest contender.
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Also remember Italy have been dissapointing in the most important championships since 2002. They failed in OG 2004, WCH 2006, OG 2008, WCH 2010 with great squads, why they should succed now with a even older squad is hard for me too see, even if they played very good in World Cup last year.
I think the final will be between USA and Russia and the 3-4th game between Brazil and Italy, with China as the closest contender.
Hahahaha Anton, you never change
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Hahahaha Anton, you never change
I know u cry because I didnt mention Turkey but it has a reason....let them beat some good teams playing with their best squads outside Turkey first, then we can talk again and they also lack experience from important matches in WCH and esp. OG. Quarters would be a huge success for your lovely team.
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@Anton
without Luba and uncertain Koşeleva ,do you really think Russia will advance to final?
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@Anton
without Luba and uncertain Koşeleva ,do you really think Russia will advance to final? I think so if Kosheleva comes back in shape, if not, I guess it will not happen. Sokolova is not what she once was anyway for sure so I think Estes/Obmochaeva can replace her without weaken the team so much. Russia is obviously limited right now but so also Brazil and Italy.
