EuroVolley 2021-Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria & Croatia

    Oh no,cev become a joke


    Sure it gonna be a entire turkish dream team or boskovic best opp instead of egonu :wall:

    Are there any financial prizes for awarded players at ECH? Because if not, then this is not that much relevant, it's not like Maja will get into a better mood with best setter award or Pietrini will get angry if she doesn't receive best OH award, they're still considered as such no matter of a voting.


    Btw. I re-checked stats and Italian MBs played awful game in attack (4/12 on negative efficiency), while in last matches it was working great, especially with Danesi, it's really a promising sign that Italy has still visible reserves in comparison to what they showed here at ECH.

    But that is true. The first 3 sets were so entertaining, intense with so many good long rallies with high level in it.


    This was the best match this year when it comes to NTs performance. Plus We finally have great atmosphere with 20.000 fans in venue.


    I mean it was not so hard to over top Olympics matches, they were terrible. I can’t remember single high level match.

    Well, I have just finished to watch the final and the first thing I can say is: Congrats Italy! They saved the best for the end. Im glad to see they really played as a team in the most important match of the competition. Sure, there are still details which should be fixed, but this was the best Italian match in years. Even when they beat against Russia, Turkey and Argentina in Tokyo, they didnt perform there like yesterday. I do really hope Mazzanti has taken in consideration that huge mistake he did for Tokyo preparation. Aside the private problems of some players, the preparation for OG was really poor.

    I know Egonu was just superb and flashy in the SF and F, she was back to her shape. Nevertheless, for me the MVP was Elena Pietrini. She was the most regular and solid player from Italy during all the competition. From A to Z. She was set in many break points, her serves saved Italy many times, clutch blocks as well as contribution in reception. And she always spiked over 40% in every single match.


    Regarding Serbia: There should already be a Tica statue in Belgrade. Maybe next to Pobednik in Kalemegdan. There is no words to describe her performance not only yesterday, but during all the summer. But she is human at the end. If there is someone to blame, it is Terzic. We all knew Serbia main problem was OHs, so why do not try more options before? It all started when he brought Brankica to Tokyo. With all the due respect, she should not have gone.


    Last but not least, here is Paola's answer to all her haters in Italy (maybe even here :lol:). As it was already pointed out by Italian users, Italian NT received a lot of critics (hate) after the Tokyo disaster. Some were really out proportion and even received before Italy played their first match. Actually, Egonu was criticized for being one of the athletes who carried the Olympic flag in the opening ceremony. Glad to see her back, cuz it wasnt easy for her. Now, we all know her shape in Tokyo was also due to family reasons. It isnt an excuse, but it is good to see when an athletes gets redemption.


    I wondered what everyone thought about the 24 team format? We’ve now had 2 editions of the ECH in this format and while I like that other countries are now getting a chance to shine, I preferred the old 16 team version.


    The simple reason for this is that it takes a long time for the competition to really get going, I mean Italy started with 5 matches that, let’s be honest, we all knew they were going to win. One thing I liked about the old ECH was there weren’t many “filler” matches, all matches were important and mostly between high-quality opponents.


    Oh well, I don’t suppose they’re going to revert back to the old system now so it doesn’t really matter. Just curious about what people think.

    We all knew they gonna knew? Really?

    I'm italy big fan but I didn't expected Italy to win this for the way they were playing and also for the bad historial against serbia that imo was the one rival that could stop them


    And I like the 24 teams format...allow some teams to participate that don't have the chance


    For example france,sweden,ukraine did good in decisive stages


    If they want to reduce...maybe 20 teams

    I agree with Jules. I like the 24-teams format.

    The old one was quite boring and exhausting for the players, to be honest. We had 3 pool stage games, then playoffs for places 2-3, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. That's 7 games in 9-10 days!


    In addition, I think, volleyball gets more recognition in Europe with the new format. The games are broadcasted in many countries.

    With the old format, we wouldn't probably have Sweden and France in Eurovolley 2021.

    Quote from Jules

    We all knew they gonna knew? Really?

    I'm italy big fan but I didn't expected Italy to win this for the way they were playing and also for the bad historial against serbia that imo was the one rival that could stop them

    I think you misunderstood. I meant we all knew Italy couldn’t be challenged by any team in their group. Of course there is always a tiny chance but something would have to go badly wrong for Italy to lose any of those games.

    Quote from Phil

    I agree with Jules. I like the 24-teams format.

    The old one was quite boring and exhausting for the players, to be honest. We had 3 pool stage games, then playoffs for places 2-3, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. That's 7 games in 9-10 days!


    In addition, I think, volleyball gets more recognition in Europe with the new format. The games are broadcasted in many countries.

    With the old format, we wouldn't probably have Sweden and France in Eurovolley 2021.

    Yes, good points. I didn’t think the old format was boring to be honest but I agree that it must have been exhausting, there was no need for them to squeeze all the matches into such a short period though.

    I myself find the 1/8 finals a bit boring especially if you are 1st of your group.

    It was nice to see sweden over bulgaria though.


    What about only 12 teams in knock-out, with 1st in each group getting a w/o to the QF?

    I agree with Sisko. I don't like the new format. So many filler matches, maybe in the male version the difference between top and bottom teams were not much but in European female volleyball we have a big gap between top and bottom teams. I wouldn't even oppose the idea of 12 teams tournament with 6 teams in each group. There will be still a lot of games but all will be higher level than what we had at the group stage in this tournament. In this way, qualification tournaments would be more competitive. I don't think having teams like Azerbaijan, Greece, Romania, Switzerland, Spain, Bosnia, Finland, or Slovakia added anything to the tournament. They lost all their matches against top teams with big margins. ECH is supposed to be the most prestigious tournament pf this continent. It should be a privilege to be part of it!

    I like the new format especially for the teams that cant play in world stage even though some matches in pool stage can be boring sometimes.However, participating in ECH might get some attention in these countries so that volleyball can grow this way IMO. If some top teams think that some of the matches are useless, they can play with their back up players in 1or 2 matches:whistle:

    Quote from Kadir

    I like the new format especially for the teams that cant play in world stage even though some matches in pool stage can be boring sometimes.However, participating in ECH might get some attention in these countries so that volleyball can grow this way IMO. If some top teams think that some of the matches are useless, they can play with their back up players in 1or 2 matches:whistle:

    this is exactly how I feel, not everything is about how interesting it is at that moment. Giving weaker teams an opportunity to play bigger competitions will make them stronger and ultimately make volleyball more entertaining in the long run. I personally don’t mind having some boring matches that I don’t feel the need to watch, I wouldn’t have enough free time in the day if there were any more interesting matches than there already are.