2015 European Games - Baku / Azerbaijan - 6/13

    * AZST (Azerbaijan Summer Time) : UTC/GMT +5 hours


    Jun 20, 2015
    09:00 Pool A - France (FRA) vs Turkey (TUR) 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-16)
    11:00 Pool B - Slovakia (SVK) vs Belgium (BEL) 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 25-19)
    16:30 Pool A - Serbia (SRB) vs Finland (FIN) 2-0 (25-16, 28-26, 25-20)
    18:30 Pool B - Russian Federation (RUS) vs Bulgaria (BUL) 1-3 (22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 17-25)
    20:00 Pool A - Poland (POL) vs Azerbaijan (AZE) 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-217)
    22:00 Pool - Germany vs Italy 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 27-25)


    LIVE!!!
    20.06.2015
    11:00 Pool A France (FRA) vs Turkey (TUR)
    DAY 8 LIVE Volleyball | Baku 2015 European Games


    DAY 8 LIVE Volleyball | Baku 2015 European Games
    Baku 2015 European Games
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxqSmagZ3Cc

    Bulgaria is serving great and takes the first set. it is still tight because Bulgaria surely is the worst adapted team to the new net rule. I think they gave away 4 points with touching thre lower net.


    Russians reception is not existent so far. Ball controll and organization looks dodgy as well.


    The moderator, for his part, is really excited about seeing his first volleyball match ever :roll:

    Second set to Russia. Poletaev is serving bulgarian receivers off the court :white:


    Ilia Vlasov defenitely is already good enough to make it to the first team. What a height, what a swing and already a decent blocker as well 8o Unfortunately, i don't see very good OHs/receivers on this russian team, which would be more needed for their first team.

    Third set for Bulgaria. Bulgaria is the better team on reception and out of defence 8o

    4th set and match to Bulgaria :thumbup:


    Despite the huge talent of Vlasov/Poletaev, over large parts of the match, Russia looked like a youth team which in fact they are partly. Just serve and blocking wasn't enough today. Good match by Georgi Bratoev.....

    Quote from TimHH

    Stream for Russia vs. Bulgaria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aFKoN04NjQ


    Lets see, if Vlasov can spike over Bulgarian MBs as well :super:



    The answer was yes, without any major problems, but it wasn't enough :dance6: However, as I pointed out on the first day, the shaky performance against Belgium and the lost point would surely cost Bulgaria a lot and now perhaps they would end up third in Pool B anyway. Which, unfortunately, makes this win meaningless, despite the fact that it is extremely important for the confidence of the Bulgarians.


    Not much to say about the game, though. A bad day for Russia. Poletaev had been well observed, Klyuka with massive trouble in reception. A lot of aces by N. Nikolov, V. Bratoev and Zhelyazkov. It was the most obvious thing to pick Klyuka as a serve target and it worked. He is a good attacker, but with this reception there was nothing Russia could offer to compensate. I was even surprised Klyuka wasn't taken out earlier, it took Shlyapnikov too long to send him on the bench. Poletaev's serves helped Russia to get the second set, otherwise it could've been a 0-3 defeat. Expectedly, Russia was dominant in successful block attempts, with a surprisingly low number for Bulgaria (despite all good serves), but it was service aces that decided the outcome of the match.


    As much as I don't believe what I am going to write, Zhani Zhelyazkov should be the game's MVP. In my most unbelievable dreams I haven't wished for a performance like this. I am not sure if he can ever repeat it again, but as of now, a really good job leading Bulgaria to the 3 points. I am way more pleased with Georgi Bratoev's setting. However, as I said, this victory should boost Bulgaria's confidence a little, for it will almost surely not boost their position in the group.

    Quote from Bayer

    Yavor, Tim: as Germany now will play for the lead in group B: do we know if German Sport1 will broadcast ?
    Does anyone know any streaming links ?


    Thanks.


    It says so in their programme. Maybe yes, they will show the game. Otherwise, there should be a live stream link available on YouTube. I can write again if there is a change.

    Quote from YavorD


    It says so in their programme. Maybe yes, they will show the game. Otherwise, there should be a live stream link available on YouTube. I can write again if there is a change.

    Sport1 is showing womans beach-volleyball at the moment, austria vs. switzerland :roll:


    According to streaming schedule, there should be a stream from 19.30 CET


    http://www.baku2015.com/Docume…EN20-6%288%29_English.pdf

    Quote from Matthias

    Probably a little later, at the moment the stream is in the middle of 3rd set of POL-AZE, I guess German match will be shown right afterwards.


    stream is starting now, Kaliberda is starting as OH.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEj_0VhFRp4

    Germany won the game but they did not impress me at all.


    I think it was not a good idea to be out of WL, because in WL you more opportunities to watch some young players inside the court and in the future you could have more options in NT.

    Quote from B. Moreira

    Germany won the game but they did not impress me at all.


    I think it was not a good idea to be out of WL, because in WL you more opportunities to watch some young players inside the court and in the future you could have more options in NT.


    Well, In this phase of tournament it is about winning, which in the end, they did quite comfortably. Even more important than the victory was the return of Denys Kaliberda who had great numbers in his first match after long injury break (73%/53% reception, 69% attack eff.). He will be crucial in the more important tournaments still to come.


    Regarding WL, i think they did well with not participating. There are not many youngsters at the moment who would be ready for World League. That may change within the next two years with some guys from U20 and U19 coming through but right now it would be a waste of money and time. At the moment, It is all about preparing this current squad/players for ECH and the olympic qualifaction tournament in Berlin.

    Germany, the only Team with almost the best possible selection, is playing medicore. With such a Performance, they wont have a Chance at the European Champs... Really disappointing. They only good Thing for the DVV-Federation. They are saving Money, cause they don`t have to travel around the World for the World League

    Quote from lumpi

    Germany, the only Team with almost the best possible selection, is playing medicore. With such a Performance, they wont have a Chance at the European Champs... Really disappointing. They only good Thing for the DVV-Federation. They are saving Money, cause they don`t have to travel around the World for the World League


    They had a bad first match against a well playing Russia and the rest was quite OK. Solid work, not more but not much less as well. Still too early for any judgements, especially towards future tournaments......

    Quote from lumpi

    Germany, the only Team with almost the best possible selection, is playing medicore. With such a Performance, they wont have a Chance at the European Champs... Really disappointing. They only good Thing for the DVV-Federation. They are saving Money, cause they don`t have to travel around the World for the World League


    The lessons I learned from watching Heynen's German team is you never know what the old brat is thinking. This is not the first time that Heynen tested different squads in a less important tournament. He truly is an experimentalist and can always bring up some surprise in the future. I won't be astonished if he sacrifices the ECh as well (which is absurd) because he could be aiming at something really big, like OG.


    I personally talked to him about the WL. I believe he does care his athletes, and he thought it was not at all beneficial for his players to travel around the world for two months, so he decided to withdraw. I'm almost sure it was not about the funding, unless someone has more reliable source indicating this.

    Quote from Martee

    The lessons I learned from watching Heynen's German team is you never know what the old brat is thinking. This is not the first time that Heynen tested different squads in a less important tournament. He truly is an experimentalist and can always bring up some surprise in the future. I won't be astonished if he sacrifices the ECh as well (which is absurd) because he could be aiming at something really big, like OG.


    I personally talked to him about the WL. I believe he does care his athletes, and he thought it was not at all beneficial for his players to travel around the world for two months, so he decided to withdraw. I'm almost sure it was not about the funding, unless someone has more reliable source indicating this.


    He surely won't "sacrifice" ECH. With a tiring World Cup shortly before ECH there are good chances that Russia/Italy/Poland won't arrive in the best possible condition and a good result/medal should not be out of reach there. That would be still a great success for german Volleyball.


    There are probably multiple reasons for not playing WL this year. As you mention, trying to have all key players in best physical/mental condition for sure is an important reason. But financial resources of german federation are not great as well, you have to believe me. They strongly depend on government fundings, which depend on good results on Ech/Wch and participation on Olympic Games. Furthermore, the available resources have to be "shared" with the Womans Team and Beachvolleyball.


    Looking at this tournament i dont think that we have seen a lot of experiments. Maybe Kaliberda as Libero in the first match but the rest of the players are all well known and they basically play how they have always played during last two years. Experimental would have been, if we saw Zimmermann/Kühner starting a match as setter...... (I am still including the health of Lukas Kampa to my good night prayers).

    TimHH, are you saying that this year Germany will start with Fromm and Stohbach???
    What happens to Schwarz?
    And Grozer is coming back, isn't he?!


    No. This current team cannot survive the major events like ECH.

    Quote from Martee

    TimHH, are you saying that this year Germany will start with Fromm and Stohbach???
    What happens to Schwarz?
    And Grozer is coming back, isn't he?!


    No. This current team cannot survive the major events like ECH.


    Surely not with Strohbach, but Kaliberda/Fromm like on last match in Baku, could be a good call. Schwarz/Grozer negotiated some rest for the summer, so Strohbach getting some matches in Baku wasn't a big surprise or a crazy experiment after his good Bundesliga season. But thats probably a matter of definition.....