2018 FIVB World Championship - Japan

    Quote from geotintin

    I'm bit surprised to find that at this stage, someone still takes VNL so seriously! Turkey was VNL silver medal winner but where are they now?

    I'm just stating a fact, they won and no other team had done that, what does it have to do with taking VNL seriously? And I said "they may surprise us", can't you read? Like, bye!

    For me big surprise will be if Italy don't win 3:0 against Japan lmao.


    And about Serbia - Italy match. Italy block-defence is doing AMAZING job against every team, so for me it will be huge surprise if they can't stop literally two players in Serbia. They don't need to stop Boskovic and Mihaljevic, stop just one player and Serbia will be in trouble, that is not easy but Italy can do it. De Gennaro can do it ! She is only libero in the world who is stoping beasts in attack like Zhu and Egonu ....


    My predicitions are for Semis Italy - USA, China - Serbia.

    Quote from inc0gnito

    I find her a complete OH, and in my opinion, should be China's OH2. Decent attack, can pass ok and serves well. Lang Ping is seeing something we are not seeing. Maybe she is the type of player that performs best from the bench and not as a starter? My guess

    At this level, Xiaotong is an average player in pretty much everything except her serves. Unfortunately, Zhu is also China's better receiver and back-row defender. This China team really needs a healthy Zhang CN. After that, they need a solid 3rd MB and the 2nd setter who can really change the tempo if needed. Yao Di is just not capable of doing that.

    a probable Serbia vs China would be nice...both teams have their chances for the final

    what matters most is not to win sets 25-10 or 25-15 but who wins/laughs in the end

    i.e. losing this way : 25-10,25-15, 28-30,26-28,18-20...first two sets would have no meaning!

    so i wonder how consistent Serbia would be against China during a whole match if they could play every set as in the sets they won then no problem would appear but no team is consistent enough against one another at this level.

    also, we could catch the opportunity to see how much Serbia had had improved after Rio OG final against China

    Serbia can play better then today against Japan, especially Ognjenovic, this isn't her usual level. Terzic criticized her during one TA.But, was enough today, against Italy must be everything somehow better (reception, MBs). Everything would be easier for Serbian team if Terzic called to this championship Malagurski and Blagojevic instead of Bjelica and Malesevic and of course Milenkovic's injury is really unfortunate event.

    Blagojević is injured and I don't think Malagurski would be an improvement over Bjelica.

    I agree that the MBs were uncharacteristically bad today. It's not just that Maja didn't use them enough, all of them managed to mess up some good sets.

    I hope that we will see Blagojevic and Milenkovic together healthy in the next big competition in the Serbian team.

    Ana Bjelica really plays badly.She spiked ball maybe just a few time directly to the floor ( not above 5 times) in all games which she played (counting matches against teams like Kazakhstan, Puerto Rico and Mexico).

    Quote from JoanaBG

    I agree that Serbia should totally not use their best players just so that people wound find their game pretty.

    Sassy! :rolll: Well played!

    i cant know why some people expectations from Malagurski are so high..she is not the right player you think or she is/may not the player you think..if im to give an example from Turkey...take Polen Uslupehlivan..lol..however Blagojevic could have been useful

    Malagurski was a hell of a player... 7 years ago. That injury ruined everything and she's hasn't been near that level again. It's clear she's not a world class player, and if anything, it seems that over the last year she regressed even further.

    The comparison with Polen is a good one since both were young starlets people were expecting a lot from, but their careers never really materialized.

    Quote from JoanaBG

    Malagurski was a hell of a player... 7 years ago. That injury ruined everything and she's hasn't been near that level again. It's clear she's not a world class player, and if anything, it seems that over the last year she regressed even further.

    The comparison with Polen is a good one since both were young starlets people were expecting a lot from, but their careers never really materialized.

    hello. Do u have any news on Milenkovic's injury?


    Savino posted in their instagram that Milenkvoic is with them now and for a long time.


    I assumed she would not even join them at all and stay home for recovery?


    Of course I know she can't play for a long time.... But I'm wondering if it was not as bad?


    When someone tore a ACL would think think need months and months for recovery?


    Thanks in advance

    I have to say that even though it worked, I'm not a fan of what Ognjenović did on MP. That was incredibly and unnecessarily risky. Had the scoreline been 24-15, then sure, why not, go for it. But this way, when they worked so hard to get back in the set, they could have easily lost all their momentum had the Japanese players got to the ball and scored.

    I'm just getting to the CHN v USA match now. Surprised there's no commentary (sportdeutschland stream).


    Lloyd's made some beautiful overhead sets to the OP side, the one at 11-11 was amazing--running off court, practically in Pos 5. It was money. Too bad the OP isn't scoring. Not a Murphy fan, big Lowe fan, but Lowe only came in and boinked one and went back to the bench. Lloyd's not setting MB enough but every setter in the world gets that criticism. Her sets to Hill haven't been inspiring. Surprised Gibbemeyer isn't playing. She's the blocker. No complaints on Adams, though.


    China take the first set without looking that great

    Quote from Canter

    btw.. seems L..Ping doest find Xiaotong Liu an option..why is that ?

    Liu Xiaotong is more of a last resort for Lang Ping to use in this tournament. Right now Zhang Changning along with Li have a better ability to score than her. Zhang when healthy has better floor defense, hence her playing beach volleyball in the past. Though Liu is a veteran, I think Lang Ping is mainly focused on preparing Li Yingying for Tokyo 2020 and giving her the opportunity to play under pressure. Her development this year and next will be important.

    Quote from francexplosn

    At this level, Xiaotong is an average player in pretty much everything except her serves. Unfortunately, Zhu is also China's better receiver and back-row defender. This China team really needs a healthy Zhang CN. After that, they need a solid 3rd MB and the 2nd setter who can really change the tempo if needed. Yao Di is just not capable of doing that.

    I agree with all of your points. Liu Xiaotong might lose her spot if China can find a solid OH that is decent in attack but excellent in receiving. That 3rd MB is still open as well. It's risky for Lang Ping to use Hu Mingyuan as her height is a weakness, especially with China's current passing problems. Maybe Yang Hanyu can take that spot if she gets more experience. I don't see Lang Ping bringing Yao Di to Tokyo. Hopefully Diao Linyu or Sun Haiping improves.