2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix

    Quote from NobodyKnows

    Today, Zé took off Brait for Leia. In my opinion, he was trying to put pressure over Dani Lins and our pin hitters against a tall block, playing less the first ball because of a shanky pass. I liked the experience. Natália pulled it off. I'm sure he always think of China, USA and Russia when we are playing other teams before a huge competition. Our match against China next week will very important. Hope Lang Ping doesn't play Zé taking off the best players of China. :lol:


    I think Zé was putting pressure on Camila Brait. :teach:
    Brait was very shaky against Italy and Japan. Today he tried Leia and she was a lot more solid.
    Anyone who followed the last season of Brazilian League saw that Leia outperformed Brait. However, Brait has more international experience and probably will be the libero at the OG.

    Quote from Akie Volley

    I was referring to the semi final match between BRA and CHI where they played in front of thousands of CHI supporters


    For some period, before the 2nd comeback of Jenny Lang Ping as the Chinese head coach in 2013 and her team efforts to subsequently revamp the team, training systems and so on, the Chinese team really sucked at the highest competitions, even the Japanese team beat them. You just refer to an inferior team with Wang Yi-mei as the main hitter :-) I call that a pathetic era pre-2013!


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

    Edited once, last by samsara ().

    Serbia is going for a full squad a.k.a. Team A to Macao in week 2.
    I think SRB, BRA and CHN are going to give great matches to WGP so far.


    But who knows, maybe Terzic decided to play with a mixture of best starters with subs.
    CHN definitely sending their best starters like how they play with USA in week 1.
    With this, I am guessing that the subs will be playing in Bangkok.

    Quote from Akie Volley

    Is GER really that bad or THA is improving a lot?


    Even without Onuma Sittirak Thailand was playing fairly good the last time, for example missing Olympics qualification by a lost tie-break against Japan. German team misses most experienced key players due to different internal reasons: retirement, demand for pausing this summer, injuries (Jennifer Geerties). On the other hand some good players like Lisa Izquierdo and Louisa Lippmann had no or nearly no time in national team so far and no chance to change alongside the more experiencend players. So there is nearly no continuous transition and team has to sort out. And as it would not be enough, some players like Poll, doing great in Bundesliga at last, are not living up to expectations... there are many reasons, but it is very doubtful, that they can keep the group 1. When playing next week in Long Beach, I give them no chance at all against USA, and a very limited (to say the least) one against Japan and Turkey. The last pool they have nearly no chance at all, I think (USA, China, Netherlands). Considering they are the last currently in WGP table (together with Belgium), this looks rather bad for them.

    Quote from yourHIGHness

    Serbia is going for a full squad a.k.a. Team A to Macao in week 2.
    I think SRB, BRA and CHN are going to give great matches to WGP so far.


    But who knows, maybe Terzic decided to play with a mixture of best starters with subs.
    CHN definitely sending their best starters like how they play with USA in week 1.
    With this, I am guessing that the subs will be playing in Bangkok.

    This Serbia b team in rio now is beyond bad. Especially their last game, I don't know it's because Brazil was too good or what, but if they play like that, I don't think they can beat Croatia. No 2 is nowhere close to being ready for the Olympics, getting blocked left and right the whole night. She didn't get good sets either. Serbia really needs to improve their depth if they want to compete with the big four. Theyre good talented players but they really need to play better as a team.

    Babeshina needs to realize that in order for Goncharova to get going, she needs to set at least 50% of the balls to her. Pankova definitely has a better connection with her.

    Nursevil is actually surprising me now, except a few occasions, her sets are really good and nice choices. She made Guldeniz a monster, probably because they played together for a year. She still has problems with sets to Polen, but in overall she makes good blocks and aces.


    Turkey can do better with a more scorer MB right now since the receiving is 10 times better than yesterday. I'm sure Asli would be one of the top scorers if she was playing today, though her height could be a problem in block.


    It's so great to see Gizem Örge back. There is a huge gap between her and Merve D. :box:

    Quote from Meatballs

    Turkey is putting a great fight against Russia!


    Kubra is really annoying, she is doing fine in block, thanks to super slow russian sets but her arrogance is eating her. I really don't know what kind of sets she wants because from what I saw, Nursevil tried 10 variations already...


    I always told I don't like her attitude and most of the users here said she's a quiet player... :whistle:

    Quote from inc0gnito

    Babeshina needs to realize that in order for Goncharova to get going, she needs to set at least 50% of the balls to her. Pankova definitely has a better connection with her.

    Startseva is the setter of this team. She is the only one that can make them play at their best, although her style is really boring. Marichev is looking for adventure with Babeshina and Kosianenko.

    I hope Kosheleva come back in good shape, otherwise Russia will be in serious trouble on the OG.

    The Russian team minus Kosheleva is not good, quite remote from the quality they displayed at the last World Cup.


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

    Every team that has player like Kosheleva is not the same when she is not playing for you.


    But Russia is still good team.

    Quote from Meatballs

    Startseva is the setter of this team. She is the only one that can make them play at their best, although her style is really boring. Marichev is looking for adventure with Babeshina and Kosianenko.


    IMHO with Pankova in 2013 Russia played its best volley since world championship title.


    Anyway... no Kosheleva = no fire = no Russia. :whistle:

    Yeah... but China, Brazil and the USA don't rely that much in just one player.

    The main strength of Russia are the two scoring machines Goncharova and Kosheleva - when reception is solid, mostly helped by Scherban, this is together with the rather strong blocking of NT Russia a very threatening setup for every opponent. So let us see, if they put altogether especially at Olympics.