2018 FIVB Men's Club World Championship (11/26 to 12/2)

And Fakel takes it and is in Semi-Finals! Wow I should watch the replay of this match hopefully they have it on YT or somethng.

Fakel won set 5 at 21:19. What a recover!

Skra was too relaxed in set 3, then learned a lesson the hard way.

Fakel only ranked 6 in Russia league last season. But this season they look very competitive.

With Volkov, Kliuka and Udrys, Fakel has a scary attacking line. If they can reduce unforced errors, they will challenge Kazan in Russia league. Too bad they did not qualify for CL this season. Hope to see them in CL next year.

Quote from kyle7in1

Fakel only ranked 6 in Russia league last season. But this season they look very competitive.

With Volkov, Kliuka and Udrys, Fakel has a scary attacking line. If they can reduce unforced errors, they will challenge Kazan in Russia league. Too bad they did not qualify for CL this season. Hope to see them in CL next year.

Agree. The only "hole"on their team is their 2nd MB, all positons are on decent level. Having them as wildcard was not solely based on money after all as we all assumed

Lube and Fakel advanced to semi-final. The last match between them is only for group ranking.

Ironically, defending champion Kazan got eliminated in group match. It's the worst record for Kazan since 2015.

Fakel should rest their starters, playing back-to-back grueling 5-set matches is no walk in the park and conserve their energy in SF. Volkov especially his celebrations take half of his energy

Quote from Rains

I disagree. When you don't have enough chemistry, even with Leon, you'll lose.

This is a very difficult group. Definitely a group of death between the two pools. I like that Zenit Kazan gave an entertaining two matches in a row but when you don't have the chemistry and you're facing strongest opponents, you have to be consistent and unfortunately, they choked but still an enjoyable match in my opinion.

It's not a chemistry problem! As was correctly stated above, there are only 2 new players in Zenit's starting six and one is a MB which they usually change on a yearly basis. Now, I will agree Zenit are not in shape. Ngapeth has gained kilos, Butko, Mikhaylov, and Anderson are clearly not there yet. There are a lot of reasons as to why they lost two matches in a row, but they have no one and nothing to blame for the dropped 5-points lead in the tie-break. Even when you play with the B team you can't lose when you are up 14-9 in the decider. Ngapeth is the go-to guy in the French NT, but I cannot imagine he will take this role at Zenit. One, because Zenit's style is different. Two, unlike Leon, he can't be as effective. Three, his behaviour just doesn't fit Zenit (but it fits the French NT). And there were reasons why people doubted the choice of replacing Leon with the Frenchman. Mikhaylov will be the go-to guy for Zenit once he gets back in shape. But I absolutely agree Zenit are weaker this year. And that is because they don't have Leon, as simple as that.

Even when the team was underperforming (or lacking chemistry pops up as an excuse), they had Leon to save their as*es. Rerefence - the 2018 CL final in Kazan. And it was the case on a number of occasions. Mikhaylov is a player I adore and I would trust him no matter what, having saved Zenit many times as well, but he can't always be a match winner. What I mean is, with Leon in the roster Zenit would've killed both matches against Fakel and Lube even with Alekno and his son in the starting six.

Quote from kyle7in1

Kazan is weaker than last season. This team only replaced Leon with NGapeth. The chemistry is not the main issue. NGapeth has better defense than Leon, but his offense is not godd enough to carry the team through the tough time.

If they have Leon, Butko will pass most balls to Leon in set 5. But now Butko has no clue of passing the ball in clutch time. That makes a big difference.

If this Kazan plays against Perugia (with Leon), they don't stand a chance.

Absolutely! The only thing I disagree with is that Perugia will dominate. Perugia are still a team under construction and we saw that even out of shape, Zenit Kazan are tough to beat. Alekno still have a lot of options to choose from, unless he decides to suicidally drop 5 points at the end of the tie-break.

As Camilo Placci said, even Fakel's coaching staff gradually learn what these youngsters can do. They seem fragile at certain times but also very mighty at others. Reception is not always great with Volkov and Klyuka in the reception line but they are both capable of playing out-of-system. I don't know if they would be that strong with a younger setter, Kolodinskiy seems to fit perfectly and does a great job coordinating his attackers. For those of us who follow the European League and the less watchable tournaments and leagues in Europe, Udrys is not a new player He is not very young anymore but still at a good age. However, I have to confess that he wasn't really something special in the previous seasons or when he was younger. I guess his stay in South Korea and China improved his confidence and attack skills. I was surprised to see Denis Bogdan as a back-up opposite, I had watched him only as an OH, mainly in the junior and youth NT. Alexander Kimerov should usually be the back-up opposite. Fakel have a day off now, they play tomorrow again in a more or less meaningless match.

I think Lube rather than Fakel are the team that should not rest players tomorrow. You all mentioned they all still have to get to each other and I would play the starters for a set or two against Fakel, they need more time together as they get better with every match indeed. By the way, kudos to Stijn D'Hulst for the display when he subbed Bruno. The guy was confident, didn't act like the usual bench-warmer. He was inaccurate on a number of occasions, I guess he was nervous, too, also being the only non-star player in the roster at the time. But he was fine and was surely one of the reasons for Lube's great comeback.

I only watched tiebreak that match and last set before that, I don't follow men's volleyball that much to criticize players. However Mikhaylov was beyond terrible at that tb to me, as an Opp he should have been able to side-out at least once for his team but he was such an error machine... I actually remember criticizing him last CL as well and people then attacked me and told me he is great player and I should shut up, great players level drop as well sometimes this is normal... (Reminds me of people not wanting to admit Neslihan's level dropped in Turkish NT bcs she is such a legend)

Ngapeth was just there, I truly missed Leon in this team, I don't think Kazan could have won last CL without him to be honest. The real MVP of Kazan that year

Quote from beri

I only watched tiebreak that match and last set before that, I don't follow men's volleyball that much to criticize players. However Mikhaylov was beyond terrible at that tb to me, as an Opp he should have been able to side-out at least once for his team but he was such an error machine... I actually remember criticizing him last CL as well and people then attacked me and told me he is great player and I should shut up, great players level drop as well sometimes this is normal... (Reminds me of people not wanting to admit Neslihan's level dropped in Turkish NT bcs she is such a legend)

Ngapeth was just there, I truly missed Leon in this team, I don't think Kazan could have won last CL without him to be honest. The real MVP of Kazan that year

Mikhaylov is a very good player (you can see his stats against Lube), but he isn't a leader. He never was it because he doesn't have a strong behavior (is a nervous person). He only is a good companion.

Quote from Rains

A bit contradicting. You say there is no chemistry issue but then end up saying Ngapeth doesn't fit Zenit Kazan and even the stats suggest Butko overloaded Ngapeth and froze Mikhailov in the background until the choke moment.

Don't you think when the setter is having a hard time of his life to change his style to the type that fits Ngapeth who is essentially a different player from Leon. More complex and adventurous but can be effective if placed under a different condition. If that's not a chemistry issue, I don't know what it is. Ngapeth basically changes the system and with that, Zenit is an entirely new team compared to the team they put up together last season and played a much simpler type of volleyball.

No, it isn't. And you misunderstood it. You can't put a Frenchman in a Russian team and expect the team to play French. Butko's sets to Ngapeth were already great, that wasn't the issue. Apart from Ngapeth losing some kilos and maybe killing a few more balls in decisive matches, I don't expect more to change in Zenit's (or Ngapeth's) game. It has nothing to do with the lack of chemistry because with Ngapeth in Russia there won't be much chemistry in general. That's what it means that he just doesn't fit. The Russian league and teams are more suitable for physical players (even nowadays). Ngapeth's presence kind of reminds me of Giba's transfer in Odintsovo. A precious swan (funny reference to his brother ) taken out of his pond to amuse the mob in a park.

We can discuss all we want what happened to Kazan in their match against Lube but stats are stats. The fact of the matter is Butko overplayed Ngapeth and underused Mikhaylov. That in itself i think is the more pressing question. And it's not like Kazan was trashed by Lube. Blackouts, it happens even to the best teams circa Russia vs Brazil 2004 SF (not a good comparison, but you get the point).

So no one is gonna talk about the crazy match between Fakel and Skra? I think this was equally as epic as the Lube x Kazan match and holds the record of the longest ever match in Club WCH history. Does anyone have a link to the replay of this match?

Quote from inc0gnito

Does anyone have a link to the replay of this match?

But not forget the fact that for Lube ,Juantorena was beyond terrible and Leal was underused. When OHs are working ,I don't think anybody can beat Lube.

BTW I changed my mind. Anderson as an OH is the most overrated player in volleyball world