2018 FIVB World Championship - Japan

    Malinov so low set for Sylla, girl who can jump so high against small Japan girls. Why ?

    BRAVAAA EGONU, YOU ARE AMAZING !!!!!


    100% in attack in 5th set, MY GOD WOOOW

    Quote from pope

    heartbreaking loss for Japan... But the gave it all.


    Italy totally deserves to be in the semis.... Egonu :super:

    Both played fantastic but italy prevailed in the end! :drink:

    Italy does deserve to move on. Congrats to them.


    And thanks, Japan

    Unlucky Japan ;(


    But Egonu...what can we say? I never doubted her athleticism or ability but I had some concerns about how reliable she can be in situations like these. But she was brilliant. :thumbup:

    Kudos to the Japanese team for going this far in this match, which is no one able to foresee.

    What an epic fight for the host team. A dignified exit. Bravo Nippon!


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Egonu :obey: congrats Italy!



    Japan can leave with head up high, they did not stop fighting for one second even in that match, truly was a joy to watch them!

    This only proved that Japan is not that weak as most here say they are, they have fought till the end. :drink:

    That's the way Japan played this whole tournament except for those Serbia games. Sure, against lesser competition but you could see that they had emerged from their Summer of Darkness.

    Quote from Sisko95

    Unlucky Japan ;(


    But Egonu...what can we say? I never doubted her athleticism or ability but I had some concerns about how reliable she can be in situations like these. But she was brilliant. :thumbup:

    Very unlucky! But someone has to loose unfortunately it was japan.

    What a match!:love:


    Kudos to Japan, they did show a great fight and prove people wrong who think they don't deserve to be there (including me) Especially Araki was great, what an experienced player, I think she will be missed as much as Saori after she retires


    Egonu is Egonu, what a beast! It will be great to see the match against Serbia (if SRB bothers to play with their starters of course). I think key player is Sylla, Egonu is playing great for a long time but Sylla stepped up her game big time and playing as first class player. This is a game changer, all top teams (except USA, CHN) has a killer Opp, but having both a good Opp and scorer OH get Italy to the same level of SRB. SRB has better MBs whereas Italy has better 2nd OH and libero, which makes these two team equally strong. Looking forward to watch them at the final:box:

    Congrats Italy! And Congrats Japan too!


    That tie-break was just full of world class volleyball!

    First, hats off for Japan! So far, the only team which was in the way to beat Italy. They played their best game in the whole tournment. They really found the way to break italian reception and make Italy looks a one single player again (something that had changed in the last matches, even though Egonu was always the top scorer).

    Erika Araki! She will be deeply missed once she retires. She and Ishii pushed japanese hopes until the very last end.


    Egonu! :obey::obey::obey: So much pressure over her shoulders, but in the clutch moments, she just delivered as a champion :win:

    Italy would need to really rewatch this match in order to learn from their mistakes. Serving was so bad, as well as the connection with the middles.

    Semifinals is already an overachievement for this young italian team (in the previa). But they havent got anything yet. A medal, no matter the colour, will be more than deserved for this team.