I wish I could find some enjoyment from watching the male CL, but the disparity between Zenit Kazan and the other teams is simply way too big to make the games and the tournament as a whole entertaining to me. That's why I can't get excited to even post here that much. I still can't even believe Trentino managed to get close to beating them with a fairly weak team in 2015/2016.
CEV Champions League 2018
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Please, comments about female volleyball players don't belong here!
Yeah, I was also surprised there is almost no discussion going on here
Where is everybody? I used to have pages and pages to read before I could write something.Before I go anywhere close to the two semifinals I wanted to once again stress on the ridiculous amount of unprofessionalism surrounding volleyball. Laola1, as official online broadcaster, had streaming and sound sync issues, graphics inaccuracies quite often coming from the official TV coverage, and now Laola seemed to have hired one of the greatest non-volleyball-related imbeciles to have ever provided volleyball commentary. If you add to these notorious draw procedures we see at the beginning of each season, you would get parts of the picture regarding why volleyball isn't taken as seriously as it could have been. It's a long discussion and I have often spured it over time, I will leave it for now.
Today we saw two great, mostly of quality but not necessarily extremely mesmerizing semifinals. Thanks to the immaculate Club WCH, I do finally consider Zenit the best team in the world in 2017-2018, before that there was always a Cruzeiro side that kind of ruined their world dominance. There was an interesting discussion about that in December here in the Club WCH thread, I couldn't believe people even questioned Cruzeiro's supremacy and explained it ignorantly only with their home factor. But that's not the point now. My point now is that even for someone like me who only acknowledged Zenit's Euro dominance until recently, it is inevitable to neglect what they have achieved this year overall, also on a global stage (I believe their success tomorrow is beyond discussion). Leonit Kazan have indeed acquired the last missing piece with the Club WCH trophy, in my opinion. Just that, really, for their game has changed little over time. However, today, only in the opening set, it seemed for a while that Leonit are beatable before Leon decided the outcome once more alone (in that set). To me, Zenit's best ever performance was that said Club WCH and I doubt we will ever see them that strong again. Because Leon is leaving after this tournament and whoever gets Leon will probably win the CL. Regardless of how close to that Club WCH performance or to perfection in general they have come, no team outside Russia has been able to even take them to a tie-break. Which doesn't speak too well about the level of their international competition and quite easily outlines the Russian league as the top league in the world right now, but that's also another discussion.
Home Factor/Time Zone/Previous dates of FIVB CWCh after NT season
I suggested that so don't say it was only home factor.
Anyway, I accepted that Perugia may not have a chance to take the upset. They've been tired and out since March.
Superlega is the most competitive league in Europe and even in the world. It's not going to be possible to stay in perfect condition after a long season.Ravenna,Trentino and Lube almost put an end to their scudetto dreams and even had a chance to risk them in an all or nothing matches at each series.
Zenit Kazan is extremely dominant in the Russian League. in the playoffs, no team made it difficult for them to win the title. It's next to impossibe for them to be tired out before the Final Four of CL and they are also the host.
I would love to enjoy a tighter match but Zenit Kazan played absolutely stellar. I don't even think that the loss of Leon for the next season would be as drastically bad for them.
While I do believe Perugia will be the most powerful team in Italy with Leon's arrival. I don't think they will be as dominant as Zenit Kazan is.
I think the difference will be the local players of Russia. Superlega just doesn't have enough good italian players at every position which I think was the key for Zenit Kazan's superiority. They were also so dominant that it was possible to create a vacuum in other clubs by recruiting other strong players to their teams to sort of weaken the competition. I don't think Perugia is capable of doing that because of the foreigner/italian allowance.Well next season, I think champions league would be a lot more balanced. Zenit Kazan+Ngapeth and Lube+Leal might surprise us. We will see. I really hope it do well for a lot of clubs as I do believe Leon's exit to Perugia will change the power map of Europe.
I wish I could find some enjoyment from watching the male CL, but the disparity between Zenit Kazan and the other teams is simply way too big to make the games and the tournament as a whole entertaining to me. That's why I can't get excited to even post here that much. I still can't even believe Trentino managed to get close to beating them with a fairly weak team in 2015/2016.
I still find it entertaining up until the final four. I do wish for a change of champions as it will make the tournament more dramatic.
I do agree with you that Zenit Kazan is dominant...but the competition as a whole is actually more competitive than the female side. The final four for the female side is more competitive. It's just the other way around for the men's side. Everything before the final four is very enjoyable. You may have missed out in some matches in my opinion.
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I still find it entertaining up until the final four. I do wish for a change of champions as it will make the tournament more dramatic.
I do agree with you that Zenit Kazan is dominant...but the competition as a whole is actually more competitive than the female side. The final four for the female side is more competitive. It's just the other way around for the men's side. Everything before the final four is very enjoyable. You may have missed out in some matches in my opinion.
I meant the F4, my bad. The competition in the earlier stages indeed does have some great games and I actually watched most of them (the ones I was interested too at least). But the thought of "Kazan is gonna win this entire thing anyway" is still always there in the back of my mind.
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I meant the F4, my bad. The competition in the earlier stages indeed does have some great games and I actually watched most of them (the ones I was interested too at least). But the thought of "Kazan is gonna win this entire thing anyway" is still always there in the back of my mind.
Yeah I agree. the thought of Kazan winning makes it very unexciting lol
I just hope the exit of Leon from Zenit Kazan brings a balance to the power map of Europe.
...but I am hoping Leal's arrival to Lube would make more earthquakes to the hierarchy rather than Leon to Perugia.
Actually I am planning to switch sides next season. I really love Leal. He's so charming and sexy. Next to Sokolov, I am in heaven. Lube is a dream team.
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Home Factor/Time Zone/Previous dates of FIVB CWCh after NT season
I suggested that so don't say it was only home factor.
Anyway, I accepted that Perugia may not have a chance to take the upset. They've been tired and out since March.
Superlega is the most competitive league in Europe and even in the world. It's not going to be possible to stay in perfect condition after a long season.Ravenna,Trentino and Lube almost put an end to their scudetto dreams and even had a chance to risk them in an all or nothing matches at each series.
Zenit Kazan is extremely dominant in the Russian League. in the playoffs, no team made it difficult for them to win the title. It's next to impossibe for them to be tired out before the Final Four of CL and they are also the host.
I am not entering a pointless discussion with Rainspammer, I am just replying briefly to something quite troublesome for the sake of not leaving this like that. I will be brief in my off-topic endeavours, I promise.
To say that a team is better than another at some specific time and place is quite subjective and surely doesn't make that said team the best in the world for these very same reasons. Following the same logic you guys demonstrated, I can say that Cruzeiro and Paykan were misfortunate to have to play in December because, for instance, they celebrate the holy month of December in their religious countries, because they didn't like the Polish food in the hotel, because they had to travel much, and all other meaningless bla-bla or nonsense. Your logic feels like the same really. Just with the same logic one can say Zenit's one and only Club WCH success is a fluke, nothing more, and they can dominate in Europe only. I am not saying any of the above is true, I am just applying the same excuses which made the statement ridiculous in the first place.
As for the leagues logic, well, then the Bulgarian league must be the strongest in the world. Because the champion wasn't known until April or May, a lot of teams had chances, the eventual and reigning champions eventually lost to bottom teams and there was much drama and competition. I am again applying the same logic just to show you how ridiculous this sounds. Jokes aside, a competitive league is an interesting one, maybe even the most prestigious one, but not necessarily the best one.
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As for today's games, I hope some of our older friends will join the discussion here indeed, would love to, at least. I am not sure I will watch the bronze medal match that closely, but rather feel impatient to see whether Lube will find inner strength to win a whole set against Leonit Kazan.
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Do you think they will Torres the best OPP award?
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Toniutti is probably the world's most underrated setter.
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Do you think they will Torres the best OPP award?
I think it will go to Mikhaylov. Kazan's the host after all.
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I think they will give Mikhaylov best OH award (if not MVP) to make a room for best OPP.
They must give an award to third and probably fourth place teams.
Knowing CEV one award will go to Zaytsev, probably best OH -
De Cecco's been playing so bad.
I think we also need to use Berger for Zaytsev atleast for the serve.
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Finally a pipe set from De Cecco.
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I'm glad Perugia won. It wouldn't be that bad for them to lose the bronze medal after the triplete in Italy but a win is always the best way to end the season.
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I think they will give Mikhaylov best OH award (if not MVP) to make a room for best OPP.
They must give an award to third and probably fourth place teams.
Knowing CEV one award will go to Zaytsev, probably best OHI have a feeling Szymura will win 2nd Best OH after Juantorena or Leon so he'll probably be the one getting an award from Zaksa.
I don't think Zaytsev will get an award, he messed his game up in the bronze medal match but your little Polyanna from Lube might get best libero again.
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Typical Christenson, iced Juantorena out of the game
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Lube is really stronger than Perugia.
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Lube is really stronger than Perugia.
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Grebennikov should be fired.
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Lube is playing the best game in the season so far
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Nerver have I seen Leon got blocked like this.
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leon is blocked so many times today. Lube has a chance to win a title today~~~
