FIVB World Club Championship 2016

  • Clash of the titans later today, I can't wait :woohoo: !

  • Did anyone watch Cruzeiro vs. Zenit? :) It's very quiet in here. A lot of serve mistakes in the opening set, from then on the game really started. Just as expected - a lot of physical prowess and super attacks. A very entertaining game to watch despite the number of mistakes and inaccuracies. OK, I have to admit I fell asleep after the third set, so my impressions do not encompass the last fourth part. Based on what we've seen so far, it would be a surprise if both teams don't reach the final and repeat last year's gold medal match. Interesting to me is that Alekno has probably never allowed to be beaten twice by the same team in a tournament, so I would look forward to watching them (with a very high probability) in the final. Then I might share a few of my impressions over Zenit, something that I did after the Champions League Final 4 in Krakow and got criticized after that :)


    The fact that it is still way too early in the season and that it was a group match doesn't allow us to make some global corollaries. It was very promising to watch Leal vs. Leon again and the guys didn't disappoint. Robertlandy Simon doesn't seem in good shape yet, he wasn't as effective as one might expect. Isac took the glory last night. However, the Russians dominated in block, I was surprised at how invisible the Brazilians were. But what they did remarkably well and thus seriously threatened Zenit (something that perhaps only Cruzeiro could do these days) was serve. Kreling, Cruzeiro's second setter, is not a bad player, I had watched some of his games and he had shown quality, but yesterday he looked like an obese kid that they found outside and invited him to take a place on the bench. He was really inadequate and didn't do a thing right when brought on court. On the other side, there was a player completely new to me and at that level it is an achievement :D I am very impressed by Rodrigo Leao! At the age of 20 he is already a complete player. Amazing serves, great attack even against the Russian blocks, he is even reliable in reception. And he is shorter than 2m! He is a great talent and I cold easily imagine seeing him in the NT very soon. Also, I don't know if it was a tactical decision by Alekno or maybe the OHs reacted instinctively but they payed a lot of attention to Simon in the middle and I counted a lot of situations when William left Evandro with literally no block. Speaking of Evandro, the absence of Wallace, a better player overall than Evandro, isn't felt yet for Cruzeiro because William uses him very wisely and they use almost the same ball speed Wallace used to get from his setter. So Cruzeiro haven't changed their style much (if at all) when they recruited Evandro.

  • I watched the first 3 sets. Yeah I was happy to see Rodrigo Leao also, he`s really good, and when I went to check more info about him I was surprised to find out he`s only 20.


    I hope Trentino wins and get 1st place, they have a good chance against Zenit, last time they played Zenit won only in 3-2. I want Trentino to win.

  • I watched the entire match and even after all these years, I was still impressed at how powerful it was from both sides. It was bomb after another all the time.


    I was curious to see how Sada would face Zenit without Filipe and Wallace, but Evandro was able to take care of things when needed. I still love the way he attacks, and with a setter like William, he'll probably end up having a great season. Simon is still a little bit far from what he can do, but it's only been a few matches and there's a lot of time and room for improvement.


    As for Rodriguinho, I think Sada suffered quite a bit in reception due to his inexperience and it's a tough job to fill in Filipe's shoes, but he's still an extremely talented kid. Always good to remember that he appeared on the scene the year RJX collapsed (2013/2014) and helped carry the team pretty much all by himself to a 5th place finish in the Superliga at only the age of 17. Since then he's been playing for Sada and the junior NT team. I'd be surprised not to see him in the senior NT soon as a possible sub for Lucarelli.

  • Did anyone watch Cruzeiro vs. Zenit? :)


    I had to give up even earlier than you :white:
    Watching the numbers, the first thing catching the eye is the 49:20 advantage in digged balls for cruzeiro. While it is not surprising that they lead in this area, the disparity just looks too massive. Also Leon did not seem to have his best serve/receive day.....


    I hope for a rematch too and with some adjustments in block/defence and less service errors (Leon/Mykhailov), things could go in the other direction too.

  • Trento first of his pool by leading 2-0 vs UPCN! :D


    Of course Zenit and Sada remain the favorites to win the semis, but you never know ;)


    Ps Vermiglio face when Giannelli digged his second-intention attack made my day :P

  • Disappointed with the level shown by our clubs. Much weaker than previous years. In Bolivar the foreigners have been very disappointing (Aleksiev and Edgar mostly, Piá is ok). UPCN is still missing Demian Gonzalez dearly, they won the league again last year but I find their setters unconvincing and it doesn't look like Vermiglio will be a big step up, they also are lacking depth in the bench for when things don't work out.


    I hope next year either team can qualify again (hopefully Cruzeiro will keep hosting) and show up with a better squad.

  • So, did anyone watch the semifinals? :D


    Zenit vs. Trento was boring and uneventful imo. In the other gane, Bolívar tried to do something against Sada by winning the first set, but then got absolutely thrashed starting from the second one. Sada's MBs were superb, especially Simon (top scorer with 16 pts). Still impressed with Rodriguinho, but I wonder how much easier it'd be for Sada had Filipe been available. Tomorrow shall be good once again. :super:

  • Is nice to see Mikhaylov playing good, he`s acuatlly Zenit leading score with 48 points, Leon comes after with 46 :lol: Let`s see how he will play tomorrow. But Im sure will be the battle of Leon vs Leal again. :box:

  • Seems like Matt is doing good although I haven't watch any games bc it's really late here.


    You have all the games on youtube. FIVB's official youtube channel is streaming them.

  • Trentino and Bolivar battle out the bronce in a fifth set. End of fourth set was really entertaining. The final match will be seriously delayed though....

  • Wow, that Nelli defence. :white:
    Every junior player would have received a slap for this.....


    EDIT:
    Nelli made up for this with some good actions later on. Tragic hero: Good old Aleksiiev :white:

  • No matter how this set ends, but Sada is making Zenith look like a very one-dimensional team. Theyre out-digging, out-serving and out-setting them....

  • Sada fans apparantly don't like Kobzar's "running-in-circles" celebrations. :lol:


    William is playing excellent tonight :teach: