Men's European Championship 2017

  • Yeah, Omrčen retired but he returned to help in these qualies. Also it's better to fool around with NT instead practicing in Japan ;) Zhukouski's injury was kept as a secret because they were trying to "fix" him. Berlin's board wasn't happy when they heard about injury because he had problems with back in previous seasons so he might undergo surgery. Hope he won't. To be honest we don't have options on setter position, that's out "black spot". Močić is even worse but I would give him chance because Krnić is really useless but head coach is blindly playing with the same 7 players as he don't have authority over Omrčen and Krnić. Big problem is that OH Galić doesnt have club for the next season as he lost contract in Tunisia. He never was good reciever but in these qualies his stats are below pathetic.


    Latvia have many new names in squad and I don't know much about them and tactics. But I know they destroyed us with serve, especially floats.

  • I almost feel sorry for how bad this Montenegrin NT is, geez :white:
    Germany right now doesn't even have to do anything to win. Hopefully Belgium-Ukraine later is at least more entertaining...

  • Latvia turned out to be the pleasant surprise of the second qualifying round. It was a bit unfortunate that they finished second behind Slovakia, even if the latter have a better team overall with more experienced players. I look forward to watching them in the play-offs against Estonia.


    Speaking of Estonia, just a few words about the disappointments of the qualifiers so far. In my opinion that is, of course. I have to start with Estonia. Clearly underperforming, lost against Romania and Macedonia over the decisive weekend and got "saved" on the last day thanks to a demotivated Czech bench. Estonia practically qualified because of their schedule. Perhaps they would add more value to the ECH than Romania and Macedonia if they qualify, but we have to admit the Estonians got very lucky. And now they got the least experienced opponent in the third round but they would need something more to beat this inspired Latvia.


    I am a bit disappointed by Croatia and Montenegro as well. Kaziyski told us about the Croatian problems but they still enlisted a squad strong enough to take win(s)/sets against Israel, for instance. Montenegro was supposed to be in a far better condition, too. They had a spectacular WL 2015, did well in 2016 and even if they only got knocked out because of the defeat to Spain in Las Palmas, they should've played much, much better during these last two weeks.


    I can't say much about the overall quality as I only watched some matches/teams/parts. The results were entertaining and logic prevailed most of the time. The third-round play-offs are usually very interesting. The draw seems to be:


    Turkey vs. Portugal
    Spain vs. Greece
    Latvia vs. Estonia

  • Macedonian volleyball federation filed an official complaint to the CEV accusing the Czechs of not giving their best effort against Estonia, which denied the Macedonian team a spot in the 3rd qualifying round.


    :rolll: :aww: :aww:


    I don't believe this :rolll: Accusing Czechs for playing with 2nd team? WTF is 2nd team? Falasca used players that haven't played much and he had every right to do that. Risking injuries of key players when club season almost started :aww: Interesting, Macedonians aren't talking about problems within Federation, in what conditions NT is preparing etc.

  • The draw for the final round in Poland will be held tonight in Krakow. Source here.


    I am curious which four teams will be selected as group leaders by the hosts. Logic says that should be Poland, Russia, Italy, and France. France and Slovenia are said to be separated from one another at the draw as finalists of the 2015 edition. Host cities will be Gdansk, Szczecin, Krakow, and Katowice.

  • Pool A: Poland, Serbia, Finland, Estonia (Gdansk)
    Pool B: Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic (Szczecin)
    Pool C: Russia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Spain (Krakow)
    Pool D: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Turkey (Katowice)


    Some nice "derby matches", including the Benelux and CSSR derby. Group strengths probably can't finally be judged, unless we know the final rosters. I assume some teams will prioritize World League and WCH quali and will use ECH for experiments and give chances to younger players.

  • Szeczin?

    Corrected :)


    Pool A: Poland, Serbia, Finland, Estonia (Gdansk)
    Pool B: Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic (Szczecin)
    Pool C: Russia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Spain (Krakow)
    Pool D: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Turkey (Katowice)


    Some nice "derby matches", including the Benelux and CSSR derby. Group strengths probably can't finally be judged, unless we know the final rosters. I assume some teams will prioritize World League and WCH quali and will use ECH for experiments and give chances to younger players.

    I don't remember a single case when the ECH wasn't taken seriously :huh: And I can't see how a team would put an emphasis on, let's say the World League, over the ECH. We've had players missing because of more important things in life, but even weaker teams usually send their best roster.


    By the way, do we know how the groups entangle after the group stage? And this is going to be the last time with the format from the previous 3 editions, right? As for the groups, there is balance overall. It was easy to predict which three teams, alongside the hosts, would be picked as group leaders. Perhaps Russia and Bulgaria were unlucky to draw Slovenia from the third pot, whereas Slovakia seemed as the most desired opponent there (due to recent games, results, and form).

  • I don't remember a single case when the ECH wasn't taken seriously :huh: And I can't see how a team would put an emphasis on, let's say the World League, over the ECH. We've had players missing because of more important things in life, but even weaker teams usually send their best roster.


    But never before we had these WL roster regulations, imposed by FIVB. And don't forget that ECH has been excluded from the world ranking lately, which shifts more importance to WL as well. Additionally, its the beginning of a new olympic cycle and, quite naturally, coaches will watch out for players who can become important in the next years. Of course that doesn't mean that teams/players won't take the tournament seriously but i think we will see more experiments with the rosters than before.

  • I am so mad at Bulgarian Federation for getting rid of those tight-fitted jerseys :read: . No more sexy sokolov for me. I can't. Bulgaria will flop this tournament. I swear those WL jerseys were the lucky charm of the team. :whistle:

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

  • Any infos about roster ?(


    we have Polish final 14:
    S: Grzegorz Łomacz, Fabian Drzyzga
    OP: Dawid Konarski, Łukasz Kaczmarek
    OH: Michał Kubiak, Bartosz Kurek, Rafał Buszek, Artur Szalpuk
    MB: Mateusz Bieniek, Jakub Kochanowski, Bartłomiej Lemański, Łukasz Wiśniewski
    L: Paweł Zatorski, Damian Wojtaszek

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

  • I`m not really sure about this Polish team anymore. :pinch:


    and Muzaj is out?? Voww.... Ferdinando is doing on the same direction Poland was , the problem is that this is the wrong direction.


    Italy without Zaytsev and France if without Negapeth. I think Russia could surprise.