2012 Olympic Games

Quote from aXeLbEn12

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!!!!

Unfortunately, it remained only an imagination. but that would be great! Still, Pool B games were fun to watch not because they display high-level volleyball all the time but because of the unpredictability of the results. usa obviously has the upper hand right now. It remains to be seen if anyone can take away the gold from them.

about the upcoming usa-turkey match, I expect usa to go all-out even though they don't need to win it. even with bench players, they are still a very good team. and I don't think usa is the kind of team who will give away points just because the other team needs it.

Quote from TheUSAFAN

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.

I agree! Unless of course Lo Bianco is really felling something, witch I dont think is the case.

In other hand I think If I was McCutcheon I would save some of my starting players like Berg and Tom. They already played many games, high level, they dont need the last result, so they could be rested for the quarter finals, also mentally.

Quote from bibetron

Unfortunately, it remained only an imagination. but that would be great! Still, Pool B games were fun to watch not because they display high-level volleyball all the time but because of the unpredictability of the results. usa obviously has the upper hand right now. It remains to be seen if anyone can take away the gold from them.

about the upcoming usa-turkey match, I expect usa to go all-out even though they don't need to win it. even with bench players, they are still a very good team. and I don't think usa is the kind of team who will give away points just because the other team needs it.

yup Pool B is the most interesing part of olympics..especially in 1996 and 2004...only in 2000 that only 2 teams will dominate the olympics from the start

Is there an FIVB media kit for the Olympics? With the average age and height and that sort of information?

http://www.fivb.org/en/olympic…012/mediaguide/volleyball

Thanks, Marsh!

Quote from Matthias

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

Our common brain sometimes scares me as well Many times I have written same comment even with same wordings

Quote from scarpetta

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.

I accept that we have some players who lack of concentration at some part of game, which can fairly be expected from a team who play first time in OG with a big public pressure The point we separated is I don't think Naz is one of those players who lost concentration. From my point of view, Motta's intervention to the game is enough except 2 points which I've mentioned before.

By the way, player's whimpering via Twitter while competition is still running is really irritating for me. We had this issue before when Gizem's smart(!) boy friend has written many stupid comments about Motta when he has chosen Gülden over Gizem. It is really stupid that some people think that they can act as 'volleyball expert' by just dating/marrying with a volleyball player. More funny part with Gözde'^s husband is that her wife is playing way better with Naz than her twin sister Has anyone seen Gözde was playing that much scorer with Özge before ?

For tomorrow's matches, I hope a fair match from KOR-CHN please. About TUR-USA, frankly, I don't expect from Turkey to defeat USA. As TheUSAFAN mentioned before, pressure of being eliminated is generally more powerful to motivation of qualifying to QF. I expect from Hugh to play with his regular starters to make things more fair for other teams On the other hand, tomorrow, surely I will root for Turkey frenziedly anyway.

Quote from serdar

About TUR-USA, frankly, I don't expect from Turkey to defeat USA. As TheUSAFAN mentioned before, pressure of being eliminated is generally more powerful to motivation of qualifying to QF. I expect from Hugh to play with his regular starters to make things more fair for other teams On the other hand, tomorrow, surely I will root for Turkey frenziedly anyway.

Talking about pressure, it reminds me of OQT final in Ankara. There was a lot of pressure on Turkey as it was their only chance and they were playing in front of home crowd (sometimes that can be more pressure than help), and before that match I kinda expected that Turkey would face the same fate as in ECH 03 and OQT 04 finals, namely totally screwing up and losing real bad. But they handled the pressure very very well and left no chance to Poland. So for me, the problem tomorrow is not pressure but USA's level. As I wrote before I also expect USA to play with the main team, it might be a different story if they played a team who is eliminated for sure, but as the result affects several teams, USA will certainly assure fair play for everyone.

why they changed the timings of tomorrow matches?

Turkey-USA was supposed to start at 14:45 and now it is 20:00.

Quote from serdar

By the way, player's whimpering via Twitter while competition is still running is really irritating for me.

I share your sentiment about this. I find it unprofessional when people express their rants via social networking sites like twitter and facebook. I think it harms the player-coach relationship. Why don't they say it face-to-face?

Quote from Matthias

Talking about pressure, it reminds me of OQT final in Ankara. There was a lot of pressure on Turkey as it was their only chance and they were playing in front of home crowd (sometimes that can be more pressure than help), and before that match I kinda expected that Turkey would face the same fate as in ECH 03 and OQT 04 finals, namely totally screwing up and losing real bad. But they handled the pressure very very well and left no chance to Poland. So for me, the problem tomorrow is not pressure but USA's level. As I wrote before I also expect USA to play with the main team, it might be a different story if they played a team who is eliminated for sure, but as the result affects several teams, USA will certainly assure fair play for everyone.

I don't think the situations are comparable at all. Primarily because Poland was not nearly at the level that the USA is currently in and the Turks were much more confident after having just beaten Russia. Secondly, they were playing in Turkey!! Playing on your home court for such a high pressure event is like having an extra 2 points per set.

Quote from bibetron

I share your sentiment about this. I find it unprofessional when people express their rants via social networking sites like twitter and facebook. I think it harms the player-coach relationship. Why don't they say it face-to-face?

Because that would require guts which many don't have...in other words, I totally agree with you both. Sometimes I have the impression that people forget that they have no control about who reads what they send out, and when someone reads it who is not supposed to, suddenly it dawns to them

Quote from TheUSAFAN

I don't think the situations are comparable at all. Primarily because Poland was not nearly at the level that the USA is currently in and the Turks were much more confident after having just beaten Russia. Secondly, they were playing in Turkey!! Playing on your home court for such a high pressure event is like having an extra 2 points per set.

What you say is not necessarily a contradiction to what I said. I also said that USA's level is more decisive than pressure in tomorrow's match And in OQT final, Poland being in final was just as big a surprise as Turkey beating Russia, so the situation was similar for both teams. Surprising finalists and a all-or-nothing match...
And about playing at home, it can be a help, but it can also turn out to be pressure if expectations are too high...

Maybe I just feel the pressure for Turkey that's why it seems like the biggest issue for me, haha!

I think pressure will not be an issue tomorrow for Turkey. I feel it will effect positively, and they'll perform better.
Also Turkish players are one of most experienced group in Olympics, mainly due to club and other int. competitions.

So I expect them to perform better, as seen in last couple of years. But will that be enough again USA, that's another issue.

We are believe TURKEY.
They wil lreach Q4

Quote from gokak

Also Turkish players are one of most experienced group in Olympics, mainly due to club and other int. competitions.

Are you sure about this We have never experienced OG before while most of Brasilian, American, Italian, Russian, Japanese players have already experienced OG (some of them many times) About club competitions, all players in the roster of teams I've counted above have played in CL or high level leagues for many years. On the other hand, for example we've played only 2 times in GP whereas others are frequenter All in all if we are talking about strengths, experience is not the one we would trust (comparing with other teams in OG)

Quote from TheUSAFAN

Maybe I just feel the pressure for Turkey that's why it seems like the biggest issue for me, haha!

I definitely agree on this one. Also looking back on the WGP 2012 Finals where Turkey lost to the US team where majority are not Olympians
Hope Turkey will put a great fight to the US team to be in the QF or Serbia will put on a miracle to beat Brazil

Quote from CarduCat

Always delightful to read that systematic pessimistic mood about Italy
...
It's obvious that Eleonora's back problems are a huge worry for the Azzurre but they are in excellent position to reach the 1/2, whatever the result against Russia

I think Leonora shall play, unless her problem is very severe and it'd be a big risk to have her on court. I actually think this is quite an important match. Though I agree with Matthias about the whole quarterfinals thing, and I'm pretty sure both Italy and Russia can beat any of their opponents in quarters, I think they should be looking ahead. The difference, for whoever comes 1st, is the difference of facing USA in the semifinal or the final. So that adds relevance to the match. I'm sure both teams would want to avoid meeting USA before the final.

Quote from Matthias

Özge is in London because she is the 2nd best Turkish setter, but that doesn't mean she has to play. It's somehow similar to Russia, why don't people say that Matienko should replace Startseva when Russia gets in trouble? Because it's a fact that Startseva is on a completely different level than Matienko. I acknoledge that Özge played some very good matches in her career, but as Serdar said, I remember a lot of really bad matches of her too. Naz is doing a very good tournament and I have never in the whole tournament seen the need to substitute her apart from the double substitution with Özge and Polen sometimes.

And let me tell you something from the perspective of a setter, being one myself: It is very important to know that the coach trusts you and you won't land on bench when you make two mistakes. If it were like this, setters play very conservative and just do plays that are no risk at all just to avoid making mistakes, but it makes it easy for the opponent. Creative plays always have some risk, but they are necessary to make it more difficult for the opponent to read the game. It is the same with setters coming off bench, they need to know that the coach allows them some time to find rhythm and doesn't take them out again at the first mistake.
For me, what I just explained is one of the main problems of Brazil in this tournament. There is no clear 1st setter, it should have been Fernanda but now it seems to be Dani. This shows that Ze doesn't trust either of his setters, and if the coach does not trust them, the other players won't do it either. I find it very important to have a clear hierarchy who is 1st and 2nd setter, this does not mean that there should never be a substitution, but the 1st setter should know and feel the trust of the coach because this is absolutely necessary to play well

I never played volleyball in my life, but I totally agree with you. And I think the example is actually very proper. Not only for this competition, but for the whole olympic cycle. After Fofão left the NT, ZRG was never able to build confidence in their setters. We could always see Dani Lins was his favorite, but she's a player that obviously struggles hard in the confidence department. I don't think he was very helpful to her towards that. That's a price we're paying right now. And that's one of the reasons I think he felt the urge to radicalize and bring a whole new setter very late in the game, who barely has good connections with the players, though a very good setter, IMO.

So, about the whole Naz thing, I think Motta's doing the right thing, and I hardly think that's one of Turkey's worst problems.