Olympic Games - 2016 | 8 | 6

  • i told you, guys, from what i remembered from 2014 WCh, CMR has very good players like moma, nana, fotso. good to see they're playing well, africa needs a good team now that KEN is going downhill. ARG better watch out.


    and, no, still think MEX should not be here (or CUB), when SRB (men) is not.

  • Italy and Puerto Rico have no more chances of making the QF. Even if either of them would win both their remaining matches 3:0 and either NED or Serbia would lose their remaining matches 0:3, they would still have a better set ratio.


    Oh and yes, Cameroon once again is an absolute pleasure to watch :heart: :flower: :super:

  • Cameroon outblocked Russia 9-7 (8 of their 9 blocks came from Fotso) and also made less errors than Russia :white:


    I think Russia wanted to win this match wasting as little energy as possible, so they didn't do more than strictly necessary to win. The good news for them is that Voronkova is a very good replacement for Shcherban as OH, her reception looks solid enough.

  • Italy and PR are eliminated with today's results. They cannot overcome the set ratio of the Netherlands, Serbia, China and USA.


    China vs. Serbia loser will be 4th after Friday's matches (unless Netherlands losses)
    USA should beat Italy Friday and same for Netherlands against PR.

  • I'll never get tired of watching Sheilla spiking from position 6. :super:
    It pains me to say this as I like the Japanese team, but it's an easy game for Brazil tonight like I expected. Their most convincing performance so far (not that they had to do anything special in the first two matches, but still).

  • this will be an interesting tournament for sure; unlike 2008 (BRA) and 2012 (USA), there's no overwhelming favorite, there's maybe 4-5 teams that could win this. USA, SRB, CHN, BRA, RUS all have weaknesses and could be beaten by the others.


    NED with an outside chance to get in the semis.


    too bad DOM and TUR are not here....


  • this will be an interesting tournament for sure; unlike 2008 (BRA) and 2012 (USA), there's no overwhelming favorite, there's maybe 4-5 teams that could win this. USA, SRB, CHN, BRA, RUS all have weaknesses and could be beaten by the others.


    NED with an outside chance to get in the semis.


    too bad DOM and TUR are not here....

    Yes! And I'd say Korea is also a dark horse just like Netherlands.

  • Cameroon outblocked Russia 9-7 (8 of their 9 blocks came from Fotso) and also made less errors than Russia :white:


    I think Russia wanted to win this match wasting as little energy as possible, so they didn't do more than strictly necessary to win. The good news for them is that Voronkova is a very good replacement for Shcherban as OH, her reception looks solid enough.


    I think Voronkova took main responsibility in Zarechie Odinzovo last superleague season, so she is used to it, and obviously she did both in reception and attack. But because she is still young and also new to NT, this is nevertheless an impressive performance. Without her, Odinzovo would have been wasted last season in the superleague...

  • Cameroon worked really hard to get ready for the OG, they are in Brazil since May training with some Brazilian coaches and playing friendlies.


    That's very interesting: it confirms, that the lack of the right setup in Africa is the main issue, and this time Cameroon made the best out of it, because there are few tournaments and so plenty of time to prepare Olympics. Indeed, Kenya and Algeria were that feeble at last, they should have been omitted from last intercontinental competitions regarding performance.


    Eventually Cameroon will win at least one set in the last matches?

  • That's very interesting: it confirms, that the lack of the right setup in Africa is the main issue, and this time Cameroon made the best out of it, because there are few tournaments and so plenty of time to prepare Olympics. Indeed, Kenya and Algeria were that feeble at last, they should have been omitted from last intercontinental competitions regarding performance.


    Eventually Cameroon will win at least one set in the last matches?

    They can definitely beat Argentina

  • serbia had 28 erros in 4 sets which makes it 7 errors per set which is almost 33% of all points in a set no wonder they lost their success in rio will depend on how many mistakes they make during the match the less mistakes they make the better their standing will be in order for them to take gold in rio they should play almost with no mistakes,serbia just by looking throw names is maybe the best nt in the world has one of the best players in the world on each position exept libero which is average and yet they have so little success,serbain nt is very unstable in their mood and their form sometimes they play volleyball out of this world and sometimes they look like bunch of scrubs that just came on the court for the first time

  • I don't like this edition for a reason. None of the teams really look complete and I agree that USA at 2012 is much complete than any other team in here today. I can say the same for Brazil though.


    Someone wrote that US opposites are bad and Adams spiking from 2 is a sign. When I watch USA, I get the impression that their OPPs are indeed invisible on the court, as if they have no role at all. It doesnt matter Lowe or Murphy. Problem is the US system and Alisha tends to use zone 4 and middles more often, because it is easier to play faster to these posiitons than zone 2 I think. That's the reason I don't like watching this US team because it feels like we don't see a strong OPP. Indeed, one of the few teams with a dominant OPP is Netherlands and Russia. For the first one, setters are making the game quality lower, for the second one, the system relies only on 2 hitters. I think US system needs a bit of adjustment where OPPs get more sets than today.

  • us MB slides from 2 is simply more efficient than their OPP attacks. i think they must have some internal data to back this up. that's why they run it as much as possible.


    as for serbia's errors, it's been their hallmark and i think it's totally due to coaching. how long has that guy been at the helm? like 20 years. they haven't won any world titles. the most underachieved team.

  • I completely disagree about Dijkema. She's playing well IMO, obviously she's not a miracle setter like Takeshita or Fofao back then but she knows what to do and never looked nervous or anything. Also Stoltenborg hasn't made any unprofessional mistakes yet, so as a supporter for the dutch team I'm happy with the setter position.


    Regarding undererating and hating Kirarly and US team, I'm pretty used to it, they have won 3 games and probably are the strongest candidate for the gold, but I'm sure there will still be hate talks against Kiraly and his team even if they won the gold :roll: You will see.