2014 FIVB World League

    I think a lot will depend on Zaytsev in this match. Where is Savani? One spiker is not always enough, especially against such divers like Brazil.

    Quote from laikon

    Savani is not in a national team any more. He retired after the last OG.

    He is too young to retire :what:

    He is only 32 so still young enough. He played for the national team for 10 years and wanted to spend more time with his family. Heb decided to retire but only from the national team. Last season he played in China. I don't know whether he is going to stay there.

    It seems that Iranian players are very prone to injuries during a match -- At WGCC Ghafour and Mousavi were injured, and at WL this year we have Mahmoudi and now Mousavi again. Is it really by chance or is there a reason behind like they're too emotionally devoted to the game?

    Quote from andrea

    It seems that Iranian players are very prone to injuries during a match -- At WGCC Ghafour and Mousavi were injured, and at WL this year we have Mahmoudi and now Mousavi again. Is it really by chance or is there a reason behind like they're too emotionally devoted to the game?

    This is a very good question, maybe because they are not used to play this number of matches in a short period. Iran is still new in this level of volleyball. when you play in Asia, there are always Maldives, Hong Kong and Turkmenistan you can use your reserve players.


    I think Kovac made a big mistake by sending the complete team to Poland in last week. they are extremely tired here. and because of injured players (Zarini, Nadi and now Mahmoudi and Mousavi), he had only few options for substitutions. I think there are better players in Iran then likes of Mahdavi, Ghara or Mostafavand, I hope he selects a better team next year after watching the whole league.

    What a horrible match by Travica. Horrible, horrible sets.

    Andrea Zorzi was dreaming when he thought Italy is ready to go to finals. First, the team is too young, second even if they were experienced, one wing spiker and MB spiking is not enough for final, unless the wing spiker is Milijkovic. They need Kovar back and Savani to return. Brazil started bad as always and everybody thought they are done, but they got in shape and now are deservedly on the final. They have Rezende, and no other NT right now has equal coach except Argentina. I will root for USA on the final, because I don't want teams who try to win in unethical way to get rewarded for this behaviour. It sends very bad signal to the children all over the world. Children should not watch pornography.

    Congratulations to Brazil! They played very well in almost all the moments of the match. It is true: Almost everyone thought Brazil was done. But we cant never say a giant is done. They really deserved to be in the final. They are carrying more responsabilites over their shoulders now. You know, after the mess of soccer WC, Brazilian sport media needs victories.
    Travica and Zaytsev were a mess. Terrible sets by Travica.
    Let´s see if USA can do sth against Brazil, which is very motivated.

    I missed both matches ;( looking at bare results I'm surprised especially by Italians in negative way (their first set must have been a nightmare) :what:


    Guessing MVP, I'd give this award either for Lucarelli or for Taylor Sander ^^

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

    i was able to watch Italy - Brazil...
    Congrats Brazil. A Well- deserved win for Brazil. Bruno played pretty well.i like middle Lucas a lot.his slide attacks are fun to watch :thumbup: Lucarelli played well.


    Brazil stopped Zatysev and Italy stopped.


    i couldnt watch Iran - Usa..i was disappointed after having learnt that Iran lost 3-0....i thought they could beat this shaky Usa team !
    if Brazil can play like against Italy then they will be the champion for sure!

    Savani won't come back. He retired after Grand Champions Cup because he wants more time to spent with his family. His daughter is born about a year ago. I guess that's the main reason he left NT.

    Sadly I couldn't watch the BRA x ITA game live (will watch a recording later), but I was following the live score and was wondering what had happened to Italy. Or Zaytsev, most specifically. I wasn't expecting such an easy 3x0. :what: This is reminding me of the QF game from the London OG, where Italy still had Lasko + Savani and Murilo + Sidão gave them lots of trouble.


    I'm tremendously happy Brazil still managed to reach the final, though. After such a tragic beginning, I really wasn't expecting them to even reach the F6. It's a relief to see Murilo finally getting back into shape and that Lucarelli is already ready to face whatever. It's more than obvious now that with better reception (gotta give props to Mário Jr. too, he's improved quite a bit), this NT is enormous.


    (And to whoever says Brazilian media needed the NT to reach the finals so that they could let go of the football WC: they don't give a d a m n about volleyball or that the NT is succesful. Local football tournament is already back on track and that's all the media cares about.)

    I don't get why Kovac let Mousavi jump serve all the time. So many mistakes. I have remembered him as a floater, he needs to practice his serve jump a lot.

    Pretty disappointing but expected ;( Iran doesn't belong to World league final four yet. that "win" against Brazil turned out to be a bad thing, they could come back home with pride, now with these 2 humiliating matches .... ;( nobody could spike today