2014 FIVB World Championship - Italy - 9/23

    I'm so flabbergasted by these results, anyway it woke me up and I realised that anything can happen here :cheesy:


    Many people criticised Kiraly for his style of coaching during matches but both Larson and Hill woke up in key moment 8o moreover Glass' setting also helped a lot :D
    on the other side of the net Garay with Sheilla did her best, but Jaqueline disappointed me in such a moment ;( and Fabiana was a weak link too :whistle:


    And big congratulations to China :D Ting Zhu, Xinyue Yuan and Qiuyue Wei as team's leaders ^^ Bonitta tried desperate movement with both Centoni and Diouf on court, but it didn't help much, Costagrande was invisible in important game as often nowadays... even Del Core in top shape wasn't enough ;(


    Now I wonder who'll be without a medal and who'll get the title - both matches seem to be open battles :wavy:

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game


    Lang Ping knows so much about Costagrande from Italy club to China club, but I think Costagrande is dropping her level due to ages, pity.

    Congratulations to China... I really don't support any of semi finalists but I'm happy that finally China managed to show its pottential. They will be dominating female volley in next years again, if they win tomorrow it will be a bonus for them :P

    Jenny's fifth World Championship Final


    1st: Gold medal - 1982 Peru - as player
    2nd: Gold Medal - 1986 Czechoslovakia - as assistant coach
    3rd: Silver Medal - 1990 China - as player (come-backer)
    4th: Silver Medal - 1998 Japan - as head coach
    5th: Gold or Silver ? - 2014 Italy - as head coach

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    there is no undefeated team in this tournament so far, after brasil lost the semi.


    besides, i just found one interesting match records between these four(4) teams:
    USA/China, now facing the title match, both were defeated twice by Italy/Brasil respectively in the second/third stage, but both won back in the kick-off match against Brasil and Italy, by the same score of 3-0 and 3-1 in the second stage when they were defeated for the first time.


    Remark: DO NOT meet your rivals for the 2nd time, because they will beat you as what you did.

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    i think totally the azzurre didn't prepare well to face china again.
    they did not expect china has such great defence and attack, so they are panic——you can see it in Leo's face.
    great serves and receives could not save ltaly,because they are nervous to make mistakes.
    of course,all the players are tried their best in the last moments,but the opponent was more determined.


    lo bianco, she lost the power immediately,espacially in the mental. so she gives some horrible mistakes, it influenced the atmosphere.but ferretti is also did nothing.
    centoni,i said she was not a top player,though she keeps a high level in such age,but her height is not enough when she faces a slow ball. she did great but something is natural,diouf has a bright future, congrats.
    costagrande lost power too, but piccinini and c.bosetti could not show up because they are not better in attacking.
    arrighetti is not great,and she is and never will be a true leader as gioli——crucial moments ,mbs could not kill a ball,so pityful and gives more pressure to side hitters.chirechella is so great and folie is impressive, but they are still young to face this battle.
    de gennaro is such a soldier, she and cardullo are the best choice,merlo is so expectful but her level is not growing.
    i think del core could survive to Rio,one of the best in the tourment.
    good luck azzurre,thanks for your golden days.

    what an exciting and unexpected day and tomorrow will be even more exciting.


    it's hard to say who's the bigger favorite in the gold medal match. will the US contain its nerves in order to win its first WCh?????? or will the rapidly improving CHN take another crown, although its last one was decades ago?


    both teams are in similar situation, having both been beaten in this WCh before by ITA and BRA (although US defeat by BRA was meaningless and both teams played with benches only). but they are rapidly improving and they were not the favorites in their semis.


    it's a pity BRA could not show the form they had when beating CHN earlier this week…


    i have to say, as much as i love some of the azzurre, i never thought ITA was particularly strong among all the top teams this year. playing at home didn't seem to carry them through as it did the POL men. bright spots for ITA though are chirichella and centoni, and the resurrection of del core.


    i think US is a slight favorite for the gold tomorrow but we shall see.


    (PS: A TREMENDOUS, BIG THANK YOU TO OUR POSTER MARSHMELLOW, WHO HAS ALREADY POSTED THE SEMIS ON YT, FOR ALL HIS/HER HUNDREDS OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND POSTS ON YT, WHICH BRING LOTS OF ENJOYMENT FOR ALL OF US.)

    What about Belgium and Croatia ??:)

    As I said before, back in first stage, USA is the best team on this WCH so far.

    13 games to become world champion ...in 3 weeks
    This format is a little bit strange.

    What sense could have the FIVB ranking ?
    ...
    Volleyball it's the game of the day ! Nothing else !

    Quote from Diesse14

    I have no words. Sincerely, I didn't expect it...Italy was playing really good, I wouldn't thought a game like this right now! Congrats to China but so sorry for the girls!

    Maybe Bonitta has made a mistake on Friday. A turn over against Russia could have been a good idea. Italy was yet qualified ...
    But he probably had good reasons to put the same players than in the game vs USA.
    Anyway the tournament of the Azzurre has been tremendous. Italy was at the level of the team which will become champion today.

    Either USA or CHN is going the be the world champion 2014. I'm happy for both of them.
    I'd love to watch the match!!
    Can't wait.
    Both USA and CHN deserve it, Final contestants.

    Quote from crovolley

    What about Belgium and Croatia ??:)


    Sorry I made a mistake, No.13 is Belgium not Bulgaria. And Korea is No.9 if WCh qualificaiton scores is added, Germany No.10.


    Since some countries (ranking ahead of Netherland, Croatia and Bulgaria) participated in WCh qualificaiton but didn't got through, and I'm not sure what scores they will get, I don't know the exact rankings for NED, CRO and BUL. But I think the following rankings and scores will be:


    No.14 ARG 77
    No.15 PUR 71
    No.16 CAN 63
    No.17 KEN 57 (not sure) NED 57 CRO 57, they are all 57
    No.20 PER 53 KAZ 53
    No.22 BUL 52, Bulgaria has rising a lot in rankings


    Poland, Azerbaijan and Czech are ranking around No.25-30

    First of all: contratulation to China :white:


    China played very well, and even beating them in the second round was difficult for us.


    About Italy: are you sure they were the same people that played against USA?


    Lo Bianco did not played like she did vs Russia and in the previous matches: no one could score points except Del Core and Centoni and so for her it wasn't that easy. When Ferretti came in, she did not played better than Leo cause the problem was not about the setting... You can't do nothing when no one can spike :wavy:


    De Gennaro played well, she also received only with Del Core for a lot of time.


    Arrighetti in this championship has never played that well, she can always play better, we have seen better things from her. Yesterday was not her day.
    Chirichella did something good in blocking, but she really can't spike that much... She is too young to play a semifinal for a world championship as a starter. WHERE IS GUIGGI?
    In the other matches, when Folie came in, she always played very well, but yesterday she wasn't at her top.


    Del Core is the Italian MVP of this championship. I have no words to describe her, she is absolutely amazing! :obey:
    Costagrande played very well for the whole championship, but yesterday I really don't know what happened to her. She was unrecognizable


    Centoni at some points was fighting alone with Del Core, she is one of our best players. She also helped at receiving sometimes. She was playing with her heart (or, as Lindsey Berg would say, with her "cuore" :heart: )
    Diouf was quite good at spiking, but when she played in back row as a OH and she had to stay in 6, it was a mess.


    Bonitta did what Berruto should have done: playing with 2 opposites (Vettori and Zaytsev)


    Maybe Italy thought thay already won even before playing tha match... you know... the host team against a team that they already beated in this competition.
    Yesterday I wish Lucia Bosetti was there... we missed her so much against China


    The end of the 4th set was heartbreaking. I almost had a heart attack!


    Italy - Brazi aka the match everyone thought would be the gold medal match, will be the match for the 3rd place and I am so sorry than team between them will not win any medal cause they both deserve it. I think it will be a great match: they will try to forget what they did yesterday and play at their best.


    I will support USA in the final...

    It's possible, you just have to believe in yourself and really not care what other people say, because I've heard it all.
    If you let someone else dictate what you're going to do in life, then you won't get there.


    Non so neanche come onestamente: in due mesi ero di nuovo in campo.



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