2014 FIVB World Championship - Italy - 9/23

    Belgium is just a mess. I'm huge fan of their team, but they're not able to keep their game going for too long. Don't know if Albretch would've made any difference (given the fact she wasn't playing well at WGP Finals) but Rousseaux should definately play more.

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    Gozde did score and dig some really important points late in the set

    Please don't, she was awful. Congratz to Bulgaria. So our level is just above Cameroon and Canada, seems about right. No complaints. One footnote i was very impressed with Neriman, she was great today(despite some reception probs, but a lot of scorers have that) and recently, i hope she keeps this level up and becomes consistent, for god's sake we need some positives.


    Another footnote, we need to lose this heroics stuff and just become consistent, i mean we can't handle emotion and stress, seriously, i am talking about the players, not us watching. we always play down to the level of the opposition or up, much more often down. We simply kill ourselves by imploding and mistakes. Someone knowledgable in sports psych and volleyball, i am not in either, i had love to hear any comments as to why.


    But gratz to Bulgaria, don't want to take anything away from their win by making excuses.

    Bulgaria has very high level spikers who play in strong clubs, so winning is not surprising. It is surprising they didn't get points from Brazil where they had more defenses and attacks. BTW, the lack of quality setters for the women of Bulgaria is a major problem and the federation is responsible for it. They don't educate the coaches who live in the 60's when we used to teach Italy and Cuba volleyball.

    Quote from spmagnus

    Please don't, she was awful. Congratz to Bulgaria. So our level is just above Cameroon and Canada, seems about right. No complaints. One footnote i was very impressed with Neriman, she was great today(despite some reception probs, but a lot of scorers have that) and recently, i hope she keeps this level up and becomes consistent, for god's sake we need some positives.


    Another footnote, we need to lose this heroics stuff and just become consistent, i mean we can't handle emotion and stress, seriously, i am talking about the players, not us watching. we always play down to the level of the opposition or up, much more often down. We simply kill ourselves by imploding and mistakes. Someone knowledgable in sports psych and volleyball, i am not in either, i had love to hear any comments as to why.


    But gratz to Bulgaria, don't want to take anything away from their win by making excuses.


    Well I did not watch the whole game because of the USA game, but other users said she was awful, that's why I said that she digged and scored some important points late in the 4th set and in the fifth.. When the replay will be up I will rewatch it and inform you what % she had in the time I am talking about

    So nobody watched the game of the home team ?
    Not enough balanced ?
    Chirichella again was the player who broke the screen :cheesy:
    And of course, good to see Paola in again :dance6: At last ^^

    I am a Gozde fan , before the WC i would have said she was our 1
    definite world class player. She was in 2nd gear early set or 2, not a
    plus nor a minus, then she started screwing up every ball that came her
    way, service, def, spike she had about 8-10 blocks or outs
    consecutively at one point i think on her attacks, or it seemed like it, i need to
    check stats(I exaggerate not). Yes she had 3 or 4 good plays last set,
    too little too late But it really isn't about Gozde only, she was our
    leader and she produces fantastic when it is on the line at least
    usually, but she has been poor this tournament.


    Last euro we
    failed bad, this WC we seem to be mediocrity itself, at least we had
    heroics somewhat before and but these recent major champs we just seem
    to accept our fate. Players body language and attitude seem off the
    norm, no camaraderie. It is worrying, we
    seem to have hit the nadir with a bronze at euros with this lot. But
    there doesn't seem to be a generation coming along, maybe Kubra. But
    really looking down the line there is no bright talent. Look at Serbia
    they produce an amazing 17 year old out of no where, and do so
    regularly, yet Turkey which has won several euro youth championships has
    none. Bulgaria too even, Vasileva, Rabadzhieva et al all young players, seem
    more exciting. I hope Some knowledgeable Turkey fan has a theory i have none with my limited knowledge, i just go by what i see.


    I am ranting :dance6: a bad major champs does that.

    Some teams will travel between two cities during 2nd phase?
    FIVB is pathetic...

    Quote from Nati

    Great victory by China. I see that many fans don't see China as a favorite for championship, but their game is very balanced. I think they are very dangerous team.


    I can't wait for Aze-Bel match, I hope it will be great battle.


    i think the top 3 teams are BRA, RUS and CHN, and maybe ITA will surprise us being at home. maybe USA if they can get their ***** together but doesn't look that way. but it seems highly unlikely that anyone will stop BRA from their first ever WCh. crown.


    so maybe final six will be BRA, RUS, CHN, ITA, USA and SRB.

    Quote from yourHIGHness

    Yeap, just like the top 2 teams in Group D at Bari now. They have to travel to Trieste for 2 games and come back to Bari again to meet the Top 2 teams of Group A (aka the Host), felt sorry for them though.


    Actually, it's not based on the classification.
    It looks like all the teams from groups C and D which advance to the next phase will have to travel at some point during 2nd phase
    Teams from groups A and B will play the 2nd phase in only one city.

    kondzio, you're prob. right that grethel moreno is prob. the first white player in the CUB women's NT. i think there were some white players before in the men's team. (is plak the first black player for NED?_)


    i watched a little bit of the CUB x JPN match. when did the cubans go back to 5-1 formation? a few years? i think this young cuban team is very promising, and it'd help if some of the other players would come back (cleger, palacios, giel, etc.). if CUB continues to develop, along with PUR, then the future of caribbean VB is bright.


    i also just watched a bit of USA x MEX. rangel, the OPP, has an unusual arm swing. she's pretty amazing and she carries this team. otherwise, the team level is pretty low, ufnort. where's bricio btw?????

    Kim Hill having solid start for USA. She is the current team leading scorer with 38
    points and ranked 17 overall. As a
    spiker she stand 5th overall with a success percentage of
    46.58. On digs she is team #2 at 2.10 average
    per set, and as a receiver she leads the US with an efficiency percentage of
    25.49. She is developing into the Swiss
    Army Knife for team USA    .

    Karch starts the match with his youth movement, Robinson,
    Dixon, and Adams and surrounds them with his PAC 12 trio of oldies Hildebrand,
    Thompson, Davis, and Penn State alum Nicole Fawcett. Karch wants wins but he also wants rapid
    growth from the youngsters because he would really like to reprise his four
    game sweep of Brazil in August and sneak in as an underdog and claim gold. He’s calculating that fatigue will play a
    factor later on for those teams without depth so he’s saving his starters.





    Unfortunately Mexico comes out with a fierce Aztec style
    attack and dominates the US in the opening set.
    It looks like the US gals ate one too many butter horns or somebody
    swapped the green capped coffee for the red.
    Playing cards late into the night couldn’t make you come out that
    lethargic. Mexico was slicing through
    the US like a hot knife through butter and the US just melted away. Mexico 25-19.



    Are we in panic mode yet?
    Will we see Murphy or JLB? Nope, Karch
    just makes one adjustment when he inserts Kim Hill for Hildebrand gaining a
    little height and defensive versatility. The US jumps right out in the second
    set and everyone begins to find their groove each contributing in their own way
    and suddenly the US is on this very long sustained run of points and Mexico
    just seems to break under the onslaught.
    Okay that’s back to normal, I’ll just get a quick cup of java and enjoy
    the rest of the match. I love Kim’s high
    school-ish enthusiasm but these gals really seem to like each other. US 25-11.





    Third set and Mexico jumps out to a quick 3-0 lead. Karch is talking into the mike as though the
    man upstairs may be a little higher than he really is. This is Italy so I think they get the
    ultimate support from the guy at the Pearly Gates. No matter Kim Hill scores 15
    in the last two sets. Robinson has a
    very nice run of point, and Dixon stays steady right through the match.





    The US claims set three 25-20 and then walks through a
    demoralized Mexico 25-14 to close out the match.





    This was a strong showing for Kim Hill who can have more ups
    and downs then kids jumping on and off a teeter totter, so to regain her
    concentration like this has to please Karch.
    Karch likes to speak about Mindfulness as important element at the
    international level.





    Robinson started out slow and observers have wondered if
    those early monster games when she broke into the US National scene are
    sustainable so watching her catch a rhythm late was a big positive. One thing I noticed is she has backed away
    from her power jump serve to a float serve.
    She must have been eves dropping when Karch was complaining about the
    ace to error ratio he was getting from his players.

    Italy will beat Ger...and uf they beat Dom everything is open for 2 place in group A...
    If croatia beat tunisia and Ger 3:1they can be second in pool only ratio will depends..I'm right ?

    Quote from marshmellow

    Replay: PUR-AZE


    Thank you very much,



    I just watched the game and 5th set Aze NT played without libero Oksana Kiselyova. She was substituted with Jeyran Aliyeva. I checked azeripsort, it says Kiselyova got injured and may not play against Belgium and Cuba. ;(

    i think WCH(third round) is over for us,sad!!



    at this level you are to deal with single blocks at crucial times....i cant believe we even couldnt damage Vasileva's reception!!!!!!!!she received well! the last point was painfull: a reception error!!


    at the moment Bulgaria (Vasileva+Nikolova+Rabadzieva) has better wing attack power than us(Neriman+Gözde) even than Serbia (Mihaylovic+Boskovic) ..


    i think Bulgaria's job is also very hard for third round....Serbia can advance to third round togetjer with Brazil..


    i like Kübra and Dimitrova's performances..

    Quote from crovolley

    Italy will beat Ger...and uf they beat Dom everything is open for 2 place in group A...
    If croatia beat tunisia and Ger 3:1they can be second in pool only ratio will depends..I'm right ?



    You r so sure about germany :whistle: never undersetimate them :teach: i dont know what they will do against italy front of 6000 fans but against croatia i believe them.Croatia has to play at their best to beat germany with this current reception line.I guess germany,the best serving team,got 6 aces per each set :super:


    Already for going 3rd round germany has to win all matches in this group with best score like 3-1 or 3-0 hope they will play for it like last ECH :flower: