Men's Club World Championship 2017

Congratuations to Shanghai Golden Age!
OH - Facundo Conte and Julien Lyneel have paid the most attention to the match. It's enough though Bolivar is related to them both.
OP - Jiang Chuan wasn't replaced by Wang Jing-yi for the third time at last. I hope in the future, he could become better. At least he can return the power like 2017 WL and 2018 Q of WCH.
MB - Zhang Zhe-jia and Rao Shu-han still have given some errors in the match. Of course, I hope Zhang Zhe-jia return Chinese men's NT and Rao Shu-han's block skill becomes stronger.
S - Zhan Guo-jun needs to think of why he seemed much worse than Liu Meng. Liu Meng proves himself. Whether he will return NT depends on Raul Lozano.
L - Although Ren Qi is older and older, no one could replace him.

Zenit Kazan-Sada Cruzeiro

Very interesting match. I think Zenit are the favorites if Filipe doesn't show up or if Isac's head is still in Brazil. It's still a question if Uriarte could run Sada as well as William but he's been pretty good after the Civitanova's demolishment.

For Zenit... It depends on their serve... Sada had a one hell of a night with Lube and Zaksa's serving strategies that could probably conditioned them for the semi-finals so anything less of Zenit Kazan's best service pressure could be an opportunity of Sada to counter attack and you know they will. They have been pretty weak on the serve in this tournament which is quite a problem for Alekno to deal with or maybe they didn't really focus so much on that considering the level of their group? I have no idea. We will see.

Evandro doesn't exist here. I think it'll be much better to use Rodriguinho as a receiving opposite to free up the cuban Leal at this point.

Is Sada for real gonna get trashed by Kazan? They look like not even trying to win

Great awkward-looking attack from Leon.

And then you have Leal doing a slide attack.

The cubans in this match.

Thank god we have a commentator now.

I don't think Uriarte is the problem but Kreling did make it hard for Zenit Kazan when he took over in the previous set. Now block is going to be a bit of a hassle for Sada when he's in front.

I went dead silent when the commentator called Mikhailov as "Mihajlovic".

Quote from scarpetta

I can't rank Simon among top 3 MBs. He isn't blocking anything there

If your setter is only 185 cm. It's going to be more difficult for him to cover such attacks. It also doesn't help they are not playing a great serving game with Zenit Kazan taking aces as if they don't care.

Seems like the reign ot Sada Cruzeiro in the world level is going to end through a straight set defeat.

Leon's father is going crazy

Sada should've played Rodriguinho as a receiver with Leal and Filipe. The attack from Evandro and his reserve is just not worth it in my opinion.

Quote from scarpetta

I think Lube is the only team in the world that has a chance against Zenit. But knowing how they always choke at semifinals , I'm not sure if matchup will ever happen

It'll be a miracle if Skra gets through to the final instead. They just don't have the firepower to get through Civitanova's block. They would need an absolute command from the serve to win over Lube til the last whistle in order to win.

Congrats Lube!!! all 3 sets ended 25-23!! (but I must say Lube overall seemed in control of the match almost all the time for what I catch)

I've just watched the game...Lisinac

But did he received a yellow before? I thought the red card in that delicate moment was too much...

Quote from Kk15

But did he received a yellow before? I thought the red card in that delicate moment was too much...

Yes he had

Quote from saishuu

This is the Sada I know. They're still shaky at some points, but it seems they've woken up.

No, this is surely not the Cruzeiro team we had known for the past 2-3 seasons. Unfortunately, they seem to have reached their peak back then and with this roster they became very good but not amazing. And amazing is what they used to be. It will be probably more correct to say that this is the Cruzeiro side we will know from now on.

William could make a difference for them and he is no longer there (his age would have also become a factor sooner or later). There is no comparison between Evandro and Wallace. But Evandro could still function with William alongside him. Uriarte is not good enough for this team. Serginho might've been a decent libero some seasons ago but what I saw during the entire tournament from him was disappointing, to say the least. I had never watched Telles before but he should've played more considering how pathetic Evandro was. Too bad Rodrigo Leao didn't play enough but Filipe was relatively consistent and scored some very difficult balls.

True, this is where Cruzeiro's world domination ends. They seem to have great youngsters and school, maybe they can soon start a new reign. But until then maybe it's time to have a different Brazilian or South American champion, why not?

To be quite frank...I don't think Sada Cruzeiro really was the strongest club in the world.

Although a lot of brazilian fans kept on parroting online that Sada was the strongest club and the Superliga is the most competitive professional volleyball league of the world for the last 3 years or so. I always felt that the odds were in their favor every time FIVB has this tournament.

Unlike European clubs who have to face harsher situations. I mean... how many times did Sada faced a team as strong as Italian,Polish or Russian clubs in the highest continental tournament like in Champions League? You also have to add up the number of matches the european clubs from the national to champions league which puts the said teams to the risk of not having the time to fully heal in cases of injuries or illnesses. It seems like european clubs always faced so much more than Sada Cruzeiro ever had which probably affects their game.

This is also a fun fact to state. Sada Cruzeiro only won the FIVB CWC in Brazil. I think that's something to consider. A lot of clubs flew all the way across the atlantic ocean to South America in order to participate in the World Championship. Time zones can be different and can cause some sensations that players are not always used to.

Also the dates for this tournament is usually bad for teams with players who are currently playing in their national teams.

For Sada... It used to be just Wallace and Isac(then became Evandro or William for 2016.)

I really feel this date is perfect. Either May or December where players are still in connection with their club teammates.

October has been such a tricky date. A lot of club players are still probably not feeling their teammates. Just too early for the tournament.

I really like the new format. We have a lot of good teams and Europe is not f***** anymore. PanAmerica having more teams than Europe was just laughable for such a long time. With the lineup that we have... I think the balance is restored. It's also great that Poland has always been a good host nation. The atmosphere is just amazing and italian and russian fans can always travel to Poland which will help minimize the power struggle between the fans of the host nation and the visiting clubs. Brazilian fans are everywhere in this world anyway... It's a win-win situation in my opinion plus Poland always chokes.