2015 World Cup - Japan - 9/8

    Well, I was disappointed in Italy today, the first ball receiving is horrible. Middble blockers are unacceptable.


    Having said that Zaytsev is really impressive, I feel so sorry for the guy. He have to play one-man volleyball and this is not the first time. With Osmany i thought at least could have a break and it just turn out to be a disasters day of Osmany. And Lanza always,always miss in an important point. It s like a curse or something.


    The score is so close, losing point by points in 2nd and 3rd set. If today Osmany or Lanza are having a standard performance i believe Italy could win despite all weak MBs.


    I dont see any reason why Buti is capton. So far he has do nothing useful. The chance of ITA having ticket to Rio is slim now, they can not lose anymore and try to win with 3-0 set. Only possible that can help Italy is that Poland , USA, RUS kill each other or lose to some dark horse team like Argentina or Iran.

    What a bizarre coincidence, last year Iran and Poland played at 13th September in the W CH, Poland won 3-2. and today (just 1 day earlier) they played at 12th September with the same result. Also 13th September is Kovac's birthday. :what:

    Let's pray for Russia and Italy to play and send USA back to qualifications :)


    Btw, Mousavi is being himself more and more with each match

    No coffee was needed this early morning, two lost sets woke me up brutally. I have to say that Kubiak is even bigger clown than I've ever expected from him but it's helping :D The situation when he came to the net to listen what Marouf had to say and he carefully listened to him but was jumping merrily in the same time was GENIUS :lol: I don't want any other captain. Ever. Unless it will be Winiarski coming back to NT. Bieniek's throw defence - HUGE :obey: and honestly I can think only about these two situations, but - oh my world - how much remembering not so much in fact makes me happy! :D


    Edgar vs Egypt - AWESOME. I tried to imagine team Australia without him but my imagination doesn't go so far :aww:


    Quote from Diesse14

    Another big difference were the MBs: strong attacks and blocks by Lee and Holt while Piano Buti and Anzani are not for this level. Christenson could do whatever he wanted with them and in attack they weren't reliable options... how I miss Birarelli :white:

    Yup, and Mastrangelo. Well, talking about Simo Anzani, I actually expected he'll be the strongest among these three. But can't say a word as I haven't seen Italians on this tournament so far. Previous tournaments anyway made me feel I'm very distant from being a fan of Piano. I wouldn't even take him to my backyard team for polish villages championships.


    Quote from LDvolley

    Well, so far:
    Poland - Great

    Big words, even I don't think it's great :D We're far from being great but still having most of luck and enough strength to kill the match.


    Quote from LDvolley

    Well, so far:
    Russia - Same as without Alekno

    Nah, slightly better. More than slightly. They are not a mess they were. What's important I kind of see a belief in a better in this team.

    USA goes like storm I don't think they will let to get gold for someone other. USA swept away Juantorena. If Iran will be motivated against Russia, USA or Italy like against Poland they will catch some points for sure.

    USA great, but Poland so close to greatness. USA is guillotine, in every minute of every match they are consistent. Poland has sometimes strange moods but at the end maturity of team wins.

    Quote from informer

    By the way, I have question to Iranians. Is Bieniek star in Iran? Coz I already saw his Instagram and I'm laughing. :lol: This is crazy, the best one is question "are you bottom gay?"
    https://instagram.com/bieniu_m/

    Nah that's typical behavior of Iranian "fans" online, they behaved in the same way for the last couple of years with Zaytsev and the biggest players of all the teams that they lost matches against.

    i've already booked my tickets to OG so i hope 2 europeans teams grab the spots to Rio, but it's unlikely to happen, cause USA is in such a great shape, in my opinion they are the most regular team nowadays


    Italy totally crumbled yesterday. Juantorena did one of his worst match so far, everything went wrong for him. Buti is no longer in a good condition, and despite of Piano's cuteness he's never been NT material, but this team has material to improve and be very dangerous especially when Birarelli returns


    I'm looking forward to watch Russia x Iran tonight. Both teams have my support and are raising its level throughout the competition, so i expect a good fight

    I agree with you, US is absolutely the strongest looking team out there, it would be a huge surprise if they didn't win the world cup. Of course, this tournament is long and strenuous, so anything could happen. The most important thing for European teams is sending someone (anyone) to Rio right now. Then, the continental championship tournament, which will be another magnitude of difficulty.

    Quote from scarpetta


    I do not see the relevance?
    50 points from Edgar. 50,50,50 :what: :what: :what: :what:


    Edgar basically went Wilt Chamberlain from basketball when he scored 100 in a professional game. To score 50 in an international match in just unbelievable, but the Egyptians could barely stop him.


    First player to go that high in an international match.


    :white: :cup: :dance4: 8)

    wow, EGY lost 3 matches in 5 sets and one in 4… heartbreaking, but they are playing well. they are showing it's hard to beat them. unfort., they''ll be facing much tougher opponents coming up and will probably finish at the bottom of the rankings.

    Egypt could defeat one of the big teams at the final stages of the tournament, they could have gone 2-0 against Italy and lost all of their matches due to lack of experience and ability in handling matches turning around against them.


    Not saying they can defeat Poland or the USA, but I would definitely consider them against a bad, overconfident Russia (if already out of the podium) or Iran.

    Russia is keeping it simple. Serve, Muserskiy and waiting for iranian errors is enough. Quite bad mood on the iranian bench. Kovac: " what are you fucking smiling?" :lol:


    Marouf messed up big time in the decisive moments of both sets.....

    Well done Russia. :thumbup:
    Iranian made less faults in third set but Russia improved their block/defense. Sivozhelez was game changer with two one on one blocks in a row.