I honestly believe that 2008 Brazil was the closest thing to perfect women volleyball. Their reception, blocking, out-of-system play, and covering were out of this world back then. Fofao, Sheila, Mari, Paula, Walewska, and Fabiana as well as Fabi have something that they can be proud of for generations to come.
i haven't watched the golden era of Cubans but do you think 2008 Brasil was better than that?🤔
Kinda sad how people forget about Paula Pequeno when they relive Brazil's perfect run in the 2008's era. She was the Olympics MVP, and was just a joy to watch. She was doing everything, a complete player. Great blocker, amazing hitting out of system, awesome energy on court, bomb jump serves, and man I just fell in love with her roundhouse arm swing.
Volleyball changed a lot and is always in a prgress of changing. It cannot be a coincidence that we had a lot of players who were all around players in every element. You cannot find such players in this time..
They are power/defence specialist, attacking/blocking specialist or receiving/digging specialist, which is kind of sad.
Volleyball changed a lot and is always in a prgress of changing. It cannot be a coincidence that we had a lot of players who were all around players in every element. You cannot find such players in this time..
They are power/defence specialist, attacking/blocking specialist or receiving/digging specialist, which is kind of sad.
Yes I miss this too although I think the same refers to men volleyball which is all about power as well now.
Looking at the 2008 or even 2012 Olympics teams they were much stronger than now... I feel like now only 3-4 teams are really strong and the rest is just average. Back to 2008 there were 4 really strong Asian teams (Japan, China, Thailand, Korea), Brazil, USA and many great teams like Cuba (the roster was just... Ruiz, Sanchez, Carcases, Carillo, Calderon, Stanos, omg), Russia (Gamova, Sokolova), Serbia (Ognjenovic, Citakovic, Brakocevic, Nikolic), Netherlands (Flier, Stam, Visser, Wensink), Italy (Del Core, Picci, Aguero, Lo Bianco), Poland (Glinka, Skowronska, Zenik, Swieniewicz), Germany (Grun, Beier, Brinker), Turkey (Neriman, Neslihan) all really strong teams.
There were so many great players that for example in Poland Dziekiewicz, Swieniewicz and Jagielo didn't make it to the roster for Olympics...... and now they could play starters in almost any top team. There is probably no team now besides Serbia and Belgium which has better roster than back then. Teams with great players even could not get to play Olympics (like Netherlands, Germany, Turkey or Poland in respective years). Just each top 12 team in the world had 3-4 big names and now the team rosters sound like all stars. Now you can take young Turkish players and make it to VNL final which would be impossible back then.
And how many great liberos and allround OHs were back then...
There were so many great players that for example in Poland Dziekiewicz, Swieniewicz and Jagielo didn't make it to the roster for Olympics
The biggest absent for Poland was Joanna Mirek. She was in her life shape but Bonita didn't accept players which didn't fight for the spot from the begging
. He took injured Podolec and pregnant Liktoras (probably he didn't know that) instead of healthy and good shaped players and we had sad ending.
Volleyball evolves, just like everything does. They've changed the ball and many rules throughout the years, those "good receivers and blockers" probably wouldn't be that good in current times. So no need to overpraise them.
i haven't watched the golden era of Cubans but do you think 2008 Brasil was better than that?🤔
I always think of Cuba as a power bomb team, not that there is anything wrong with it. The reason why I called Brazil 2008 as perfect volleyball because -- well, for me everythign is perfect. Reception, block, attacking, out-of-system attack, court covering, and fast play -- they got it all. Maybe Cuba circa 90s played a different version of perfect volleyball.
Kinda sad how people forget about Paula Pequeno when they relive Brazil's perfect run in the 2008's era. She was the Olympics MVP, and was just a joy to watch. She was doing everything, a complete player. Great blocker, amazing hitting out of system, awesome energy on court, bomb jump serves, and man I just fell in love with her roundhouse arm swing.
Paula is always a pleasure to watch. her attitude on court is what makes me love her. I remember the 2011 Pan Am group & finals between Brazil and Cuba - God that was a heated match and Paula didn't show any mercy to show her emotions towards Cuba.
Sorry ofr OFF TOPIC.
Display MoreYes I miss this too although I think the same refers to men volleyball which is all about power as well now.
Looking at the 2008 or even 2012 Olympics teams they were much stronger than now... I feel like now only 3-4 teams are really strong and the rest is just average. Back to 2008 there were 4 really strong Asian teams (Japan, China, Thailand, Korea), Brazil, USA and many great teams like Cuba (the roster was just... Ruiz, Sanchez, Carcases, Carillo, Calderon, Stanos, omg), Russia (Gamova, Sokolova), Serbia (Ognjenovic, Citakovic, Brakocevic, Nikolic), Netherlands (Flier, Stam, Visser, Wensink), Italy (Del Core, Picci, Aguero, Lo Bianco), Poland (Glinka, Skowronska, Zenik, Swieniewicz), Germany (Grun, Beier, Brinker), Turkey (Neriman, Neslihan) all really strong teams.
There were so many great players that for example in Poland Dziekiewicz, Swieniewicz and Jagielo didn't make it to the roster for Olympics...... and now they could play starters in almost any top team. There is probably no team now besides Serbia and Belgium which has better roster than back then. Teams with great players even could not get to play Olympics (like Netherlands, Germany, Turkey or Poland in respective years). Just each top 12 team in the world had 3-4 big names and now the team rosters sound like all stars. Now you can take young Turkish players and make it to VNL final which would be impossible back then.
And how many great liberos and allround OHs were back then...
I don't like this review tho.. Thailand and Korea were hardly competitive in 2008.. Nowadays they're much better. Japan was better than now, China was also really strong. USA had a worse team back then, of course they had some legendary players, but no way near the depth they have now. No need to talk about Brazil and Cuba, you're right. But Serbia and Netherlands? Really tho? Brakocevic was no way near the top back then. Their only 'top level' players were Nikolic and Djerisilo.. although if we compare Djerisilo to some of the top OPPs that are currently playing, you'll see she was only solid, nothing spectacular. Except for maybe Kim Staelens Netherlands is more complete now, even Sloetjes is better than Flier. Those Italian players you're mentioning are legends now, but they were in their late twenties/early thirties back then. Imagine this Italian team in 2025.. Turkey in 2008 was all about Neslihan.. now they have young talents and a few really solid and well know international players
Today volleyball is way more faster and stronger than before, but even with fast games and strong girls their is so many long rallys and good defence. And We don’t need to talk how much serve become stronger and ofc it is harder to recive than before...
Now girls prepare much better for defence tactic and etc.
This is hard to tell but for me modern volleyball, today volleyball, I don’t know how to call it, looks way better than older one. Maybe less interesting but again much faster and stronger.
you're just showing your age, leonardo!
just kidding...
I'm in my mid 20s, so I hope Im still young 
I was a little kid when I watched Ana Moser playing by the first time. When I grew up, I started to look for her videos
True leged.
Actually please watch OG 2004 FInal 4 matches and tell me again now players are serving better 
C'mon...
tomorrow slovenia-romania, what about it?
tomorrow slovenia-romania, what about it?
What do you mean? It will be the final of Silver EL. The winner will advance to the Golden EL next year.
i
What do you mean? It will be the final of Silver EL. The winner will advance to the Golden EL next year.
i think Slovenia will win easily...
Brazil - Final Round
S: Macris, Roberta
OP: Tandara, Paula
MB: Bia, Mara, Mayany, Carol
OH: Natalia, Gabi, Tainara, Amanda
L: Leia, Natinha
Display MoreBrazil - Final Round
S: Macris, Roberta
OP: Tandara, Paula
MB: Bia, Mara, Mayany, Carol
OH: Natalia, Gabi, Tainara, Amanda
L: Leia, Natinha
It seems that Tandara is out due to an abdominal trauma
well, moser was playing in the 90's, that is a long time ago. even i was not following VB back then, that's why i can't compare the CUB back then with BRA 2008. in any event, how could you compare two teams 10-15 years apart?
i did watch some of the CUB matches in 2000 on YT (fantastic team with torres, bell, costa, ruiz, fernandez and aguero), but it was a very power-driven game. i only saw a little bit of those videos. it seems 2008 BRA was a more complete team. and no, nobody forgot paula, they called her the female giba.
Paula is always a pleasure to watch. her attitude on court is what makes me love her. I remember the 2011 Pan Am group & finals between Brazil and Cuba - God that was a heated match and Paula didn't show any mercy to show her emotions towards Cuba.
that's because they were taking revenge for their loss in 2007 (in rio, no less).
that's because they were taking revenge for their loss in 2007 (in rio, no less).
How to forget that match! Paula was just amazing during 2007-2008. Just the best player. Pan An Games final in 2007 was just another epic match. Brazil lost 2-3 after wasting multiple gold medal points (even in the 4th set, that finishes 34-32 or something like this). Of course Paula wanted to take revenge against a renewed cuban team in Pan An Games 2011. I remeber an injured Jaque in the studio, cheering like a crazy 
Btw, after so many heavy shocking defeats, I was so damn happy when Brazil swept all the teams in Beijing. They really deserved that gold medal in order to kill so many ghosts, shut up so many haters ("amarelonas, amarelonas") and the farewell of the great Fofao 
As a Russian one, I never forget it. I was numb when the match had been finished. It is my unpleasant childhood memory.
Sometimes people ask me about OG 2004 final match. It is like cutting your apandisit out, how you can forget it.
brazilians also had nightmares for this. Poor Mari. She was condemned so hard back then that she went away. A lot of people blame her for that semi final lost against Russia but she was so young back then. To have that huge amount of pressure on her shoulder? People hated her for not being able to close the match but there were 4 other attackers on the floor that night that didn't do the job as well. She scored more points than the best player of the tournament, Gamova tho.
