CEV Men’s European Championship 2019 - hosts France, Slovenia, Belgium and the Netherlands

The football WCH in Qatar doesn't sound so outrageous anymore compared to the ridiculous stuff going on in volleyball, right?

Quote from kyle7in1

Can anyone confirm if this grouping is right or not in knockout? It's from wiki, so I can not guarantee it's accurate.

Strictly speaking, this is not 100% accurate.

If Poland loses to Ukraine tomorrow, Netherlands will be D3 and Ukraine will be D2.

Belgium is B2, but since two hosts are not allowed to meet in 1/8 or even in 1/4, we can't have Netherlands vs Belgium simply from "B2 vs D3", so the bracket will be adjusted somehow -- if it were to follow what happened in the women's tournament, it would become

(Serbia vs Netherlands) vs (Ukraine vs Germany)

(Poland vs B4) vs (Belgium vs D4)

But probably no one would really believe Poland can lose to Ukraine...

Portugal was eliminated due to losing one more small point more than Greece:

Did anyone here watch the entirety of the FIN-TUR match? Because many people on social media claim that it was fixed in Finland's favor so they can advance to the eightfinals instead of Macedonia.

Quote from Polish96

Did anyone here watch the entirety of the FIN-TUR match? Because many people on social media claim that it was fixed in Finland's favor so they can advance to the eightfinals instead of Macedonia.

Not at all, tur was trying their best but their level dropped at the end of 4th set and the coach was very angry with players for making so many unforced errors. Considering the dialogues during the timeouts, I'm sure they were trying their best to win against Finnish team. There were some controversial calls from referees in favor of Finland but that can't be called match fixing

By the way, turkey has historically good relationships with Macedonia (even our libero has roots from there) so if they would want to help to a team, it would have been Macedonia not Finland

Quote from scarpetta

Adis vs Italy ---> My dream match-up. Thank god! Let's go Adis! Show yourself and go sign with Trentino

You know this isn't going to happen with your little Polyanna as the libero of Trentino?

any link for GER-SPA?

The Czech Republic have to thank Jan Hadrava for sending them into the next round. Montenegro were otherwise close to upseting yet another team. With their two wins, just like North Macedonia, Montenegro completed a memorable first ECH campaign. I didn't like the Czech MBs at all. From a potent presence in the midlde once with the likes of Lebl, Rak, Stanek, Vesely, even Jiri Kral, to Sobotka and Zajicek now, this is where the Czechs suffer the most. And still, today they underperformed, despite the much better display last night against the Dutch (fatigue had surely played a role here), and the only reliable option to convert points for them did a fantastic job.

In Antwerp, Germany's B with Karlitzek, Schott, Zimmermann, Bohme, Hirsch, is surprisingly good enough to win only a set against Spain... Spain took advantage of the situation and advances to the next round at the expense of a slightly better, to me, Slovakian team.

Quote from YavorD

The Czech Republic have to thank Jan Hadrava for sending them into the next round. Montenegro were otherwise close to upseting yet another team. With their two wins, just like North Macedonia, Montenegro completed a memorable first ECH campaign. I didn't like the Czech MBs at all. From a potent presence in the midlde once with the likes of Lebl, Rak, Stanek, Vesely, even Jiri Kral, to Sobotka and Zajicek now, this is where the Czechs suffer the most. And still, today they underperformed, despite the much better display last night against the Dutch (fatigue had surely played a role here), and the only reliable option to convert points for them did a fantastic job.

In Antwerp, Germany's B with Karlitzek, Schott, Zimmermann, Bohme, Hirsch, is surprisingly good enough to win only a set against Spain... Spain took advantage of the situation and advances to the next round at the expense of a slightly better, to me, Slovakian team.

Hadrava was indeed fantastic today. 39 pts including 10 aces, he was pretty much the only Czech player who had a good match, but what a match for him it was.
Germany apparently played with zero motivation today against an opponent that needed to win. Can't really blame the Germans too much for this loss, it is hard to play matches like this, especially when they kind of had a disappointing tournament so far. I think they will win over the Dutch in the 1/8 finals tho.

Too bad for Slovakia, Spain got really lucky with the match schedule there.

So we have another POL-ESP match in the round of 16 and a possible POL-GER QF again!

Vital Heynen made 6 substitutions at one time during 2nd set in match Poland-Ukraine

I saw this for the very first time.

At 14-8, Pol coach changed all players to reserves. Is that possible? I thought you can only sub a certain number of players or do that at the start of next set.

Quote from ravhin

At 14-8, Pol coach changed all players to reserves. Is that possible? I thought you can only sub a certain number of players or do that at the start of next set.

It is possible. You can make 6 subs per set, any time, any player, any amount of players.

Quote from WZP

It is possible. You can make 6 subs per set, any time, any player, any amount of players.

Kinda weird. If I am UKR, POL is like "insulting" my team's capabilty/skill. Changing the players mid-set.

Yes, Spain got lucky but Slovakia is a mess, they are weaker and weaker every year and with these players and coach they will be no better. With their horrible serve and reception Poland would nail them into the ground.

Quote from YavorD

Everyone was impressed with his contribution against Brazil, he enjoyed an almost flawless evening back then. Atanasov had already indicated his NT potential when he made that superb champion season with Dobrudzha 3 years ago. Konstantinov was the first to invite him to the NT, yet his work approach didn't quite allow Atanasov to shine under his guidance. I still remember a very timid Atanasov coming in from the bench in that last World League 2017 weekend in Argentina against Brazil. After he unluckily got injured at the beginning of his tenure at Heynen's Friedrichshafen (I am sure he would've learned a lot from Heynen but it wasn't meant to be), Prandi took him to Chaumont and they have been working successfully together ever since.

With Prandi returning at the helm of the NT, it was expected that Atanasov will certainly be among the 4 OHs in the main team, if not more. Prandi knew he was ready to be a starter, so did most of us who followed his progress in France. Atanasov will play a major role in this new Bulgarian team in the years to come. After his unofficial inauguration at the Olympics qualifier in Varna (plus, of course, the VNL), this ECH is his first big tournament with the NT. He shows huge improvement, he can be very valuable in all aspects of the game, has a tough and reliable jump serve, good reception, and a high attack reach. He actually has the whole volleyball package, what he lacks is consistency, typical to most youngsters. This is exactly the problem that haunts him at the ongoing Euro. He can be threatening in one set and then silent and unfocused in another. Yet, I would argue that these are problems of the entire NT right now, not just Atanasov's. For I am confident the latter will develop even more, no matter if in the French league or somewhere else.

As for the Bulgarian NT, Prandi is a master but even he can't miraculously change the destiny of this group of players. Let alone the fact that they don't have enough quality and depth in the roster in general. They can still play good volleyball, showed it against Brazil and yesterday vs. Italy, but this is a team that has won just few bigger matches in recent years, has confidence issues, and, what is worse, doesn't seem to have a Plan B when Plan A doesn't work (anymore). The last fragment of that sentence could have been witnessed against Italy last night. Similarly, versus Brazil in Varna, too. A win in August and an Olympic ticket would've given them a confidence boost and more motivation to work but, as we know, it didn't happen. Now, I fear Slovenia will beat them in Ljubljana and they won't reach the otherwise expected quarterfinal berth.

Sorry for the long rant, I got carried away.

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Thanks for the detailed response. I agree that Atanasov has the complete package. He seems to be the best all-round OH since Konstantinov‘s retirement one decade ago. It’s so rare to find a player from Bulgaria NT who is so strong at both attack and reception. He’s definitely crucial to the future of the NT.

So the chart starting from QF, SF and Final is:

If everything goes well by the prediction, France will play against Italy in QF, and the winner of this match will play against Serbia in semi. On the second section, Poland will meet Russia in semi. It's another big match we could keep an eye on.

Did Kovac challenge their own block point? lmao

Atleast he's fair to Austria but still doubt he will do the same thing to the contenders.

I don't think Serbia's safe for the semi. Czech Republic defeated France in 2017. They can be a handful if they're on their lucky day.