2015 World Cup - Japan - 8/22

    I will say this one more time...Wait till ECH, than we can see who is main fave. for winning EQ in Turkey...That is future and stop talking about past successes of NT.


    Can't wait till tomorrow game Russia-China :box:

    Quote from JoanaBG

    Brakočević was so bitter last year about losing her place in the starting lineup to Bošković, I wonder what she feels now. :roll: To be honest, I'm not sure Serbia would have achieved this with her as the starting OPP.


    I think she's busy with her future baby, but I agree with you and I don't think Jovana will be happy being a bench player even if she comes back.

    Quote from Emil


    Yeah, not simple at all, but same goes to the other euro teams. That makes everything much more exciting.


    Italy in 2007 and 2011 was simply unstoppable, Lo bianco with full of motivations, great Gioli-Barazza duo, Aguero and Costagrande who were the real key of the team.


    Speaking of Costagrande, there's no one this year as shining as her in WC 2011, she was just unbeatable, and London 2012 was a total disaster for euro teams, Serbia with a lot of injuried players, Italy without real OPPs for example...


    You're a bit confused. Aguero left the NT before London. That was the point NT collapsed.


    Actually the real problems came from locker room. Some bosses wanted to leave Piccinini at home, in order to be the main character, then FIPAV president openly said he was the one who brought Piccinini to London, since she's the only famous female volleyball player in Italy and no one, outside the volleyball world, would care about the Women's NT without her. It would be a too big damage for the image of the team and federation. Piccinini was bench player and saved italian asses against Japan coming from bench, but she couldn't do anything against South Corea. And while bosses were crying for their epic fail, she left the court smiling and greeting the hall with all camera focused on her, who did nothing in that match and no one cared a bit about standard bearer wannabe and company, who were crying. It was her biggest victory ever. She won against a sick system which ruled the NT. Right after she was called for many tv spots. Bosses didn't take it very well. :whistle:


    The same thing happened to Ortolani, but she wasn't the best italian female volleyball player ever, so FIPAV did nothing to call her to London. :wavy:


    Take a look to every fail from Italy: you'll notice each time one player got kicked off the NT. Centoni, Ortolani, Piccinini and. Ferretti left home without any reason.


    Anyway I hope Italy won't qualify.


    I know that, What I was saying was Aguero in 2007 WC was amazing but her as OH in Peking Olympics was a terrible idea, although there were no sufficient options left.

    I'm so happy because of Russia :D Shcherban and Fetisova did great job on court :thumbsup: first received most balls on decent level and help in terms of spiking, second one was queen of the net, replacing cheerleader Orlova ^^


    I hope that Russia can also beat China tomorrow :roll:

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


    Aguero left the NT in 2009, Emil was talking about the World Cup in 2007. Anyway I think that now that spoil environment is gone, we have good OPP in their roles and OH at theirs (not like in London with Bosetti OPP Costa out of reception ecc...). Moreover there are new young players, I hope Italy manages to make them grow and use the talent we have.


    I agree with you that when Aguero left the whole thing collapsed and everybody played by herself. With a big and carismatic champion leaving the locker room was ruined!


    And come on, why don't you want Italy to qualify? ;)

    I feel like in every match USA was defeated, Karch could do a lot more and failed.. First of all Alisha was bad today, starting from the quality of her sets, her decisions, her blocking.. the slides she set were blocked at first, later defended.. with her bad sets she forced Foluke tipping/pushing the ball and got blocked twice in a row. Also Foluke because of her athleticism managed to score a few balls, but sets weren't good. Alisha is a good setter, she had a bad day, why not trying to change something.. Second - Lowe was bad, really...got blocked so many times, didn't hit smart, didn't use tips.. nothing. Karch always insists on his usual subs, but I think it's time he realizes his 'treat every match the same' doesn't work every time! He can't let Alisha and Lowe play, just to have an option to make a double sub later.. Kreklow and Fawcett should have started the second set.. Maybe not Fawcett to give Lowe a chance, but Kreklow should have for sure. I hate how stubborn he is sometimes.. he sees the match is slipping away and keeps talking about confidence.. Sometimes it's not all about YOUR players, and YOUR team. The other team plays well, reads you well, you make changes.. It would be easier for they players too if they get replaced if they get blocked 5 of 7 times.. He has done great things with this team, and I am not saying he is a bad coach.. just these things need to be changed.


    In all respect to Russia, I don't think they played that good today.. USA was pretty bad. Congrats to them of course and kudos to great Fetisova and Scherban.. Now I really have no opinion on weather I would like to see USA on the podium. Third silver wouldn't mean much to me, bronze not at all. I would want only gold.. Maybe it's better for Russia and Serbia to qualify and then Turkey will have less competition in Ankara.

    Quote from 7UP

    The order in CEV ranking would be (probably, some little changes may occur at ECH and still EG and WGP will exist): ITA-TUR-GER-POL-NED-BEL-CRO-BUL. SO I believe Turkey will do what they did in 2012 and we'd have: ITA-GER-POL-NED and TUR-BEL-CRO-BUL groups.


    Generally teams are distributed into pools based on serpentine seeding system when there are 8 teams and 2 pools, in which Pool A consists of 1th (it is host team always), 4th, 5th and 8th while Pool B has 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th. Thus, in the absence of RUS and SRB, pools composition would be;


    Pool A: TUR, NED, POL, BUL


    Pool B: ITA, GER, BEL, CRO


    The pool composition above would be very balanced indeed. TUR=ITA, NED=BEL, GER=POL, BUL=CRO. Although TUR and ITA seemed to be favourite on the paper, the level of other teams are quite close and I would not be surprised if either NED or BEL would get the OG ticket.


    Indeed, what we predict at the moment is supposititious. Except ITA, none of those teams have wide rosters and there are a big gap between starters and back-up players. That's why the injury of even a single player might make a huge difference (For instance absence of Zaroslinska in Poland will impair them badly )

    Now that Serbia got the ticket, where are all the people saying that
    - Terzic is an idiot and should have been replaced a long time ago
    - Nikolic is done as a player
    - Antonijevic is a much better setter than Ognjenovic and with her as starter Serbia would play better
    - Boskovic's performance in WCH was just an "accident" and she is too young
    - ...? :gone:


    While I agree about Nikolic being the weakest link of the team at least in attack, fact is that Serbia did a great tournament even with her as starter in most matches. I've always liked Ognjenovic a lot better than Antonijevic who is a very good setter as well but simply doesn't have this something "special" that Maja has got. For me she is the most elegant setter in the world, not always the best because she plays bad matches every now and then, but for sure the most elegant.

    I would not like to comment on most of your points but what Ognjenovic has is brave. Simply she is not scared of doing what she wants, she gives bad sets but still she sets like a crazy person and never gives up. That's so exciting to watch and this makes her really unpredictable! :obey:
    However I agree on the comments that Nikolic is done :lol: All she did so far is the pass in that team and Malasevic can do the same job. Same for Molnar. Nikolic is not a threat in attack any longer unfortunately.

    I think Antonijevic is a better setter than Maja.. Maja is a very good setter, technically great, but Ana is much more creative and makes more one on one opportunities for her hitters. I am happy Maja regained her best shape, because she was very bad last season in Chemik

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    I think Antonijevic is a better setter than Maja.. Maja is a very good setter, technically great, but Ana is much more creative and makes more one on one opportunities for her hitters. I am happy Maja regained her best shape, because she was very bad last season in Chemik

    I don't think she was "bad" in Chemik. What a setter can do always depends on what hitters she has, and in NT she is certainly very lucky with most of her hitters while in Chemik her options were limited. You can't play the same stuff with Bednarek and Glinka that you can play with Rasic and Mihajlovic.
    But seriously, have you watched Serbia? :white: Maja's trademark play is getting her OH or backrow play one-on-one or sometimes even block-free by making the opponent blockers jump with the middle all the time. And I don't see this from Antonijevic. I find Maja much more creative, to the point of being reckless at times as Meatballs pointed out, but for now it works very well.

    Maja has had a fantastic tournament. Those two sets to Rašić when USA was about to make a comeback in the fourth were just a thing of beauty :obey: And I don't think anyone saw that the ball on set point for Serbia in the 4th set against Russia would go to Malešević and it worked :D Speaking of Malešević, this has definitely been a breakthrough tournament for her. I believe she's showed she deserves the position in the starting lineup.


    Terzić nearly blew it all against China with those needless changes that killed Serbia's momentum in the 2nd set, but he did a good job later on. And obviously he prepared the team very well and made sure they reach their best shape just when it's necessary, so hats off to him.


    Quote from Matthias

    Maja's trademark play is getting her OH or backrow play one-on-one or sometimes even block-free by making the opponent blockers jump with the middle all the time.


    It has indeed worked splendidly well the entire tournament.


    I actually think Ana is more technically sound, but Maja just has this flair that makes her unique. For better or sometimes worse.

    Quote from Matthias

    I don't think she was "bad" in Chemik. What a setter can do always depends on what hitters she has, and in NT she is certainly very lucky with most of her hitters.
    But seriously, have you watched Serbia? :white: Maja's trademark play is getting her OH or backrow play one-on-one or sometimes even block-free by making the opponent blockers jump with the middle all the time. And I don't see this from Antonijevic. I find Maja much more creative, to the point of being reckless at times as Meatballs pointed out, but for now it works very well.


    Maybe not bad, but she was very boring and her game was too simple. Yes I know how Maja leaves her outsides 1 on 1, or without block, but Antonijevic makes more opportunities for her MBs too, on the slide, pipe and loves setting behind and leaves her OPP 1 on 1. Maja is a very OPP loving setter and gives many balls to her OPP, not creating them easier situations, just clean balls for them to hit on double block.. For me Antonijevic is better