2012 Olympic Games

    I still haven't had time to watch the rest of BRA-RUS, but for me, one main factor for Brazil's improvement is that Ze Roberto finally found his best roster and Ovchinnikov changed the system when Lyuba played.
    In the first matches, Ze switched setters and OHs back and forth and it was bad for the team's rhythm and for the players' confidence. Now he finally decided to play with Garay and Dani, and it works well for them.
    For Russia, Ovchinnikov could not simply interchange Estes and Sokolova, but when Sokolova played, it also meant Goncharova had to move to OH2, so it was almost like Russia having two different line-ups. Even though it looks like Lyuba did very well yesterday, I have the impression that Gamova and Goncharova played better with Estes in the team...


    Another thing, QFs proved that preliminary results and rankings don't mean ANYTHING eventually. We have one 1st ranked, two 3rd ranked and even one 4th ranked team in semis while one 1st ranked and both 2nd ranked are out. Japan lost against Russia and Italy, but Japan is in semi and the other two are out...

    Startseva has played worse than even Sheshenina has ever done. And Russian's serve was so easy, high school level. Brazilians were shaking but somehow managed to win I guess that balances previous defeats. Garay is obviously much better than Paula now.

    Quote from semisonic

    Startseva has played worse than even Sheshenina has ever done.

    That's another thing I didn't want to comment on without having seen the whole match, but if she continued the way she did in first two sets, it's true. And it's disappointing because she did so well in WOQT and Yeltsin Cup, varying the game well enough and having a good rhythm with everyone, but in OG suddenly she lost it. The pipe with Gamova worked really bad at times, I observed several times that Startseva set the ball too low and Gamova could only tip it, and on the next occasion, Gamova was there earlier, but then Startseva set higher and Gamova again could not attack well...and that's exactly why I was hoping to see Sheshenina as backup, if she had played like in Kazan last season she could have at least replaced Startseva a few times...

    Quote from semisonic

    Startseva has played worse than even Sheshenina has ever done. And Russian's serve was so easy, high school level. Brazilians were shaking but somehow managed to win I guess that balances previous defeats. Garay is obviously much better than Paula now.


    Startseva is in first place in the setter rankings..weird.

    Quote from Canter

    Russia has always had bad setters and bad middles.


    And how many years do you follow Russian volleyball to say those things? I'm sure that Kirillova and Tischenko got to be amongst the best ever from setters and MB's.

    Quote from Canter


    Startseva is in first place in the setter rankings..weird.


    That's another statistics joke..From that logic Russian MB's and libero are also got to be the best(((

    Quote from Mapuan

    I should stop right now. Talking to you is a waste of oxygen. Ciao! :wavy:

    well WHEN japan lose tomorrow then you will be out of oxygen :rolll: :rolll:

    I could not be here yesterday, so I didnt read anything anyone wrote so far and honestly I dont wanna read it. Though Im brazilian I know very well how brazilian volleyball fans and players behave when we win important matches against important teams and it is anoying to read such childish comments, has always been like that and Im sure still is...I would like to understand why, but I really cant. Maybe it is cause we dont know how to win or loose, maybe is the missunderstanding of the sport, i dont know. As a brasilian I ask sorry for that kind of behavior.

    Quote from semisonic


    And how many years do you follow Russian volleyball to say those things? I'm sure that Kirillova and Tischenko got to be amongst the best ever from setters and MB's.


    Sorry i forgot Krillova..(who doesnt have Russian root,i think) about Tiscchenko....i watched her but cant remember very well...was she that great indeed?

    from FIVB site I
    will take a break with the national team. I don’t know if it will be a
    permanent leave, or if I will resume after a long pause. Now I can’t
    answer to this question - so never say never

    Ekaterinburg represented a key city for her life, even if she lives in
    Moscow now: that was the city where she became a world level player and
    where she met her future husband. - wow thats a shocker for me i havent been reading this site too much lately, did she secretly marry somebody years ago and now it just surfaced or did it happen in last 2-3 months?

    Quote from Canter


    Sorry i forgot Krillova..(who doesnt have Russian root,i think) about Tiscchenko....i watched her but cant remember very well...was she that great indeed?


    What root do you mean? She was born in Tula and started her career in Uralochka. She's Russian in my view. About Tischenko - her individual awards from Viki:
    1997 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Spiker"
    1999 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Spiker"
    1999 European Championship "Best Blocker"
    1999 European Championship "Best Spiker"
    2001 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Spiker"
    2001 European Championship "Best Spiker"
    2001 World Grand Champions Cup "Best Spiker"
    2002 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Spiker"
    2002 World Championship "Best Spiker"
    2003 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Spiker"
    2003 European Championship "Best Spiker"
    I liked her play very much. It's just my opinion of course.







    i think she's not yet married. that's her boyfriend, her future husband. as i've remembered in an interview before she wants to get married after her 1 year contract with dinamo kazan next year.







    yes, all i can think of about tischenko is her best spiker award in every tournament.

    It's time for Japan to take revenge of WCH2010 semi-finals.
    Ebata will show her best performance ever. Sure she will...