2012 Olympic Games

Quote from jist

Tomorrow's games:

Korea vs China
Turkey vs USA
Serbia vs Brazil

In my opinion, China will beat Korea by either 3-0 or 3-1, USA will beat Turkey 3-0 or 3-1 and Brazil will also beat Serbia 3-0. So the final standings will be like this:

1). USA with 15 points
2). China with 10 points
3). Brazil with 7 points
4). Korea with 7 points

I'm not sure who has the more superior point ratio between Brazil and Korea but tomorrow's games will be very significant. Either way, Russia or Italy will face Brazil in the quarters. Thats just too earl. And I am very sure Brazil will play all-out.

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Not necessarily! If Brasil got 3rd spot they might be match up with Japan as well

Quote from jist

Either way, Russia or Italy will face Brazil in the quarters. Thats just too earl. And I am very sure Brazil will play all-out.

Not necessarily, QF of 2nd and 3rd ranked teams will be drawn, so if Brazil really finish 3rd they might as well meet Japan in QF.

Oh, this time Serdar was faster

In Turkish voleybol forums and any sport sites in Turkey i have visited for two days i have been reading almost everyone already accepts a 5 sets game about China-Korea game. It is interesting and a real expectation for us. Because whenever we need a good result from a game apart from our team in terms of our position, it is a fact that it never happens in history so far. What make me hopeful is that even if the game ends in 5 we will still depend on our own game. It doesn't matter what happens in that game. In any case, we will make our destiny with our own performance. If Korea wins over China in 3 or 4 or China wins over Korea in 3 then taking 2 sets from USA will be enough for us to qualify. But if China wins over Korea in 4 then taking 2 sets for us maybe will not be enough because in that scenario everything will depend on points ratio which is impossible to make a comment for now on this. As it can be seen from the schedule, China-Korea game will be the first on Sunday and we will be more clear about what we need to do. But i am sure that we will do everything to go. If that game ends in 5 we will beat USA. If the game ends with another scores which makes us enough qualifying through the next round in case of taking 2 sets from USA, we will take 2 sets from USA. We, Turks, love to make our jobs finishing at the last moments and beating USA at the last game for our qualification is exactly the job what we can accomplish.

Quote from jist

Either way, Russia or Italy will face Brazil in the quarters.

Or Brazil can also get Japan for the QF based on drawing of lots. .

I think it'll be fun to see Brazil play Russia in the QF though!

RUS- ITA game could be competitive because being top team of the group means that no match-up with USA till the final even if i see them reaching semifinal hard.

One more thing, i believe it is a chance for the sake of Olympics that China-Korea will be the first game from Pool B on Sunday that means both teams will feel the pressure to be eliminated from the group stage and will play to take the game to the death unless there are some arrangements. Schedule for the last preliminary round games seems perfect for the excitement of volleyball.

Dont know who will win Kor - Chn game but i have a hunch its going to end with safe 3-2 even if it would mean dropping to 4th place in case Tureky gets 3 or 2 points against USA.

Serdar- None of the Turkish players has the mentality and strenght to play whole match at a high level without losing concentration. They all have so many ups and downs. This is why Turkey isn't probably make the quarter final. And it is the coachs job to fix it. Motta is so stubborn to not to make a change that it is getting ridiculous
Since both Polen(she is positively suprising me) and Özge aren't some scrubs , he should make double substitutions when we lost 6-7 points in a row even with good service returns, he should change his middle blockers when they can't block
Özge is crying in twitter, Büşra is retweeting, Gözde's husband is angry at Motta. You can't say this is all normal.

If you know Turkish characteristics in any sport event, you will say Turkey has exactly a chance to win as they never get easily what they want. They choose always the most difficult road to go but they usually get what they want. Turkish NTs are not systematic like teams like Germany but they are very emotion driven and they can do crazy things during tournaments. They put a mark in every tournament they participate being a dark horse. Actually this is the biggest problem of Turkish sport as they are not stable and thus they do big surprises meanwhile they cannot get the title at the end. I see Turkish NT beating USA with a clear game in this stage.

eastman -There is a situation called 'yumurta kapıya dayanınca' in Turkish which describes the general turkish approach. It is exactly the same situation for Turkish volley team so expect the unexpected.

Quote from eastman

If you know Turkish characteristics in any sport event, you will say Turkey has exactly a chance to win as they never get easily what they want. They choose always the most difficult road to go but they usually get what they want. Turkish NTs are not systematic like teams like Germany but they are very emotion driven and they can do crazy things during tournaments. They put a mark in every tournament they participate being a dark horse. Actually this is the biggest problem of Turkish sport as they are not stable and thus they do big surprises meanwhile they cannot get the title at the end. I see Turkish NT beating USA with a clear game in this stage.

You might be right but if i understand what Hugh Mccutcheon's game style is ,usa wont use their bench players as starter and usa will try to win over turkey and go on their way with no defeat ,surely turkey can beat usa too but when u call it a clear game it sounds to me a 3-0 win for turkey against usa and it seems so hard for now

Quote from Anton1989

Im curious about the USA - Turkey game. USA has already won the group and have nothing to play for more than honour, while Turkey has everything to play for...so I guess Turkey will win it because of motivation, and if USA will play with reserves it will be even more clear. We have seen many times before that motivation beats class.

Turkey's play has been so erratic and up and down. Korea wasn't even playing their best match and they still took Turkey to 5. In current form, I don't think they have demonstrated that they'll be able to beat USA. I also wouldn't call it motivation; I'd call it pressure. USA is under no pressure because they've assured their qualification and can come out and be very aggressive in every aspect of the game because they don't have to worry. Turkey is under A LOT of pressure because their qualification depends on this match. More times than not under extreme pressure teams crumble and overcompensate which leads to a lot of unforced errors. Turkey hasn't handled the pressure of either the China or Brazil match very well. Unless every player for Turkey comes out firing I don't think they'll beat the USA. Darnel makes too many errors, middles are not effective enough offensively, and they will go after Neriman big time on serve receive. Turkey's going to have to serve really well and depend on getting USA completely out of system.

i dont think with this rate of mistakes we can get a win...it seems we get one set then mistakes will cause us lose the match again.

i just want them to make less mistake and see what'll happens....till the last ball,struggle!

about Russia:
They havent faced a tough opponent.the maches they've palyed doesnt display anything on their power.Something positive for Russia is they are digging well and im surprised at that.Bcz they generally is a good attacking team and if they manage to dig as well then they can grap a medal:Silver or Bronze.

As much as I hope that Turkey quailfies for QF, I really don't think that they can beat USA I am sure USA will play this match to win like every match, and even though they might make some substitutions if the game goes well, I expect them to play with the best team mainly, and either way they don't have any bad player on bench either as we saw in WGP. I would consider it a great success for Turkey if they can take two sets from USA because no other teams has achieved that so far and I don't think any team will in the final round. Turkey has a very good team, but this is Olympics and USA wants Gold, so Turkey would have to give 150% for 2 hours to beat USA. I wish them best of luck, but honestly, I can't imagine it happening.

Something general about the tournament, I noticed in stats and also while watching that the level of serving from all teams is not very strong. Hui is best server in the stats with 0.38 aces per set, and that is a very low number! I remember in WCH 2006 when Godina won best server, she had almost 1 ace per set. In this year's GP final round, Neslihan had 0.53 aces per set, and also Thinkaow and Santos had a better number than Hui as best server now does. I don't really know why this is...maybe all teams did great reception training in summer or bad serve training, I don't know. Turkey caused a lot of problems with their serves for Serbia and Korea, but also in these matches there were not so many direct aces, and no team has an outstanding server in terms of scoring aces so far.

i can't stop laughing volleyball fans in my country truly believes that the match between south korea and china will be fixed and a typical response goes like this:

"being both asian nations china and south korea will connive and extend the match into a 5th set so that one will get 2 points while the other gets 1 point making both of the teams safe onto the quarterfinals regardless of what happen during the brazil and turkey matches"

a funny kind of thinking

Quote from Matthias

As much as I hope that Turkey quailfies for QF, I really don't think that they can beat USA I am sure USA will play this match to win like every match, and even though they might make some substitutions if the game goes well, I expect them to play with the best team mainly, and either way they don't have any bad player on bench either as we saw in WGP. I would consider it a great success for Turkey if they can take two sets from USA because no other teams has achieved that so far and I don't think any team will in the final round. Turkey has a very good team, but this is Olympics and USA wants Gold, so Turkey would have to give 150% for 2 hours to beat USA. I wish them best of luck, but honestly, I can't imagine it happening.

Something general about the tournament, I noticed in stats and also while watching that the level of serving from all teams is not very strong. Hui is best server in the stats with 0.38 aces per set, and that is a very low number! I remember in WCH 2006 when Godina won best server, she had almost 1 ace per set. In this year's GP final round, Neslihan had 0.53 aces per set, and also Thinkaow and Santos had a better number than Hui as best server now does. I don't really know why this is...maybe all teams did great reception training in summer or bad serve training, I don't know. Turkey caused a lot of problems with their serves for Serbia and Korea, but also in these matches there were not so many direct aces, and no team has an outstanding server in terms of scoring aces so far.

Agree with your thoughts.

I think saving Lo Bianco for the quarterfinals would be a mistake on Italy's part. They have yet to face an opponent that is as good as or better than them at the net, which is something they will have to face against any of the teams that they'll face coming out of Pool B. DR was the most physical team but they're not technically disciplined at the net and aren't a great blocking team. Russia will give them an opportunity to see where their offense stands against a physically superior team and allow them to make adjustments for the next round.

Quote from Matthias

As much as I hope that Turkey quailfies for QF, I really don't think that they can beat USA I am sure USA will play this match to win like every match, and even though they might make some substitutions if the game goes well, I expect them to play with the best team mainly, and either way they don't have any bad player on bench either as we saw in WGP. I would consider it a great success for Turkey if they can take two sets from USA because no other teams has achieved that so far and I don't think any team will in the final round. Turkey has a very good team, but this is Olympics and USA wants Gold, so Turkey would have to give 150% for 2 hours to beat USA. I wish them best of luck, but honestly, I can't imagine it happening.

Something general about the tournament, I noticed in stats and also while watching that the level of serving from all teams is not very strong. Hui is best server in the stats with 0.38 aces per set, and that is a very low number! I remember in WCH 2006 when Godina won best server, she had almost 1 ace per set. In this year's GP final round, Neslihan had 0.53 aces per set, and also Thinkaow and Santos had a better number than Hui as best server now does. I don't really know why this is...maybe all teams did great reception training in summer or bad serve training, I don't know. Turkey caused a lot of problems with their serves for Serbia and Korea, but also in these matches there were not so many direct aces, and no team has an outstanding server in terms of scoring aces so far.

unless USA, for example, plans to totally remove Brazil's threat... then they can lay down a little bit and let turkey win 3:0. That's a biiiiiiiiiiiiig IF though. but it CAN happen and that scenario would put brazil on the brink of extinction at this olympics.

Quote from bibetron

I'm appalled with how Serbia has succumbed to way too much injuries for a team to have. The olympics I have in mind is to see teams play with their best players. Imagine if we could see Serbia and Italy of 2011, Russia of 2010, and Brazil of 2008 going head-to-head with each other, the level of the game will definitely be much higher and exciting.

i did a little bit of backtrack reading in this thread and i saw yours. let me add to that: 2010 russia vs 2008 brazil vs 2012 usa vs 2004 china vs 2000 cuba vs 2007 Italy: PANDEMONIUM!!!!