2020 Olympic Games - Tokyo (Female)

    Quote from zhuperspike

    can somoene please tell me what are their predictions for the chinaXrussia match and ChinaxItaly match. Im really scared for them losing to RUSSIA

    China is too unpredictable to make any prediction meaningful. The thing with mental problems is that things can literally get better after one game (like in Rio). It could also crash and burn/stay down until a group stage exit.


    I hope Yao Di starts. Don't really care which pins start.

    Quote from avid

    USA/Turkey are much better serve/passers than Russia

    You are right, but...


    China's serves in the last two matches may as well have been underhand. When China won before against USA and TUR it's because of the strong serve + block/defense.


    If they serve like this against Russia, I wouldn't be surprised if Russia suddenly becomes a good passing team

    If China play like they did against Turkey then I think Russia should beat them, but they were much improved against USA. Still a long way from their best obviously but good enough to be definite favourites for the Russia game.


    Let’s say China continue at the level they showed today, Russia will need their top form to beat them. Good aggressive serving, Goncharova playing at a high level and a well organised block should give them some kind of chance. I agree with avid that Turkey and USA’s superior passing gave them an edge that Russia don’t have but I also think the Chinese serves have been very weak so far, so maybe the Russia reception line can deal with it better than we’re expecting. If so, Startseva should look to involve the MBs more often than usual because the Chinese block seemed to struggle with the variety of attacks that Turkey especially used effectively.

    Imo I predict


    USA

    Italy

    Turkey

    China


    I still feel there will be unexpected dramas so I don't want to make these statements. BUTT: Imo China will beat both Russia and Italy, you can tell they're slowly on the rise again tbh and Italy already locking their spot... and Russia, Idk its the Olympics and anything can happen obviously, just not having high hopes based on match 1 vs Italy and the reception + Goncharova, maybe Arina magic will do it, looked far below everyone else for now.

    i had the same feeling but i feel like this is all some kind of plot from Lang ping. She is not stupid we all know that, also if zhu was badly injured she would have pulled her out of the game.

    Is she deliberately loosing and telling the players to perform badly or what? Because even though they lost the two matches they dont look fazed at all. If lang ping was stressed she would have encouraged them the same way she did in rio16' second set against brazil

    Quote from beri

    Imo China will beat both Russia and Italy, you can tell they're slowly on the rise again tbh and Italy already locking their spot...

    I think I wrote it already, but it's worthy to mention: you can be definitely right (re: China beating Italy), who knows, but I'm pretty sure both Italy and US will be extra motivated to the end of a group stage (they play vs each other on the last day), being first gives you opportunity to play against Dominican Republic (probably) in QF, being second gives you 50% of chance to play against Brazil or Serbia from a 2nd spot, especially considering that there will be a draw, Japan will probably finish the third, and we know who the host is (if Turkey finishes 3rd, their possibilities will be Turkey or USA/Italy).


    I'm not saying that this draw will be rigged, but somehow I give slightly more than 50% of chance that Japan (if they finish 3rd) will play a weaker team among 2nd/3rd from the other group (if that's possible to judge).

    Quote from zhutingfan

    China is too unpredictable to make any prediction meaningful. The thing with mental problems is that things can literally get better after one game (like in Rio). It could also crash and burn/stay down until a group stage exit.


    I hope Yao Di starts. Don't really care which pins start.

    I still think they will surprise us. This is lang ping's last major tournament, she wont give up

    Quote from Realista

    I think I wrote it already, but it's worthy to mention: you can be definitely right (re: China beating Italy), who knows, but I'm pretty sure both Italy and US will be extra motivated to the end of a group stage (they play vs each other on the last day), being first gives you opportunity to play against Dominican Republic (probably) in QF, being second gives you 50% of chance to play against Brazil or Serbia from a 2nd spot, especially considering that there will be a draw, Japan will probably finish the third, and we know who the host is (if Turkey finishes 3rd, their possibilities will be Turkey or USA/Italy).


    I'm not saying that this draw will be rigged, but somehow I give slightly more than 50% of chance that Japan (if they finish 3rd) will play a weaker team among 2nd/3rd from the other group (if that's possible to judge).

    the way they played in the VNL and now are totally different. Its just impossible to see them downgrade that much, its unbelievable

    Quote from Realista

    I think I wrote it already, but it's worthy to mention: you can be definitely right (re: China beating Italy), who knows, but I'm pretty sure both Italy and US will be extra motivated to the end of a group stage (they play vs each other on the last day), being first gives you opportunity to play against Dominican Republic (probably) in QF, being second gives you 50% of chance to play against Brazil or Serbia from a 2nd spot, especially considering that there will be a draw, Japan will probably finish the third, and we know who the host is (if Turkey finishes 3rd, their possibilities will be Turkey or USA/Italy).


    I'm not saying that this draw will be rigged, but somehow I give slightly more than 50% of chance that Japan (if they finish 3rd) will play a weaker team among 2nd/3rd from the other group (if that's possible to judge).

    Yea, the draw drama is part of why I didn't want to make assumptions lmao, half of it will depend on how group A pans out. But in an ''ideal world'', I think China would be more motivated to beat Italy than vice versa. This is only group stage prediction ofc, for all we know USA could even still lose 3 matches for example, hypothetically, there are no real easy matches in this pool.

    Quote from beri

    Yea, the draw drama is part of why I didn't want to make assumptions lmao, half of it will depend on how group A pans out. But in an ''ideal world'', I think China would be more motivated to beat Italy than vice versa. This is only group stage prediction ofc, for all we know USA could even still lose 3 matches for example, hypothetically, there are no real easy matches in this pool.

    Usa has turkey and Russia in the bag thats for sure. USA always uses the same strategy, do your best to rank no1 on your pool and go on. They might lose to Italy tho

    Quote from zhuperspike

    i had the same feeling but i feel like this is all some kind of plot from Lang ping. She is not stupid we all know that, also if zhu was badly injured she would have pulled her out of the game.

    Is she deliberately loosing and telling the players to perform badly or what? Because even though they lost the two matches they dont look fazed at all. If lang ping was stressed she would have encouraged them the same way she did in rio16' second set against brazil

    I don't think it's a complot by Lang Ping personally, like f.e. the libero and Ding Xia are just struggling clearly, it's the OG's. It's normal to have some unexpected results, and tbh it's only been 2 matches so far, there are 3 more. The first day, they just seemed to underrate Turkey a lot and got jetlagged it looked like and vs the USA they played decent at some points even just couldn't get the sets yet, but played significantly better.


    I'm just getting ''3maal = scheepsrecht'' vibes Let's go orange :lol:

    Third thime should be the charm for China, they are still defending champs here.

    Quote from beri

    Yea, the draw drama is part of why I didn't want to make assumptions lmao

    For me this rule is in general insane, obviously a reason why it was introduced in 2008 was a fact that there were examples in the past of teams that lost on purpose to get a specific opponent in a quarterfinal, so they introduced a drawing so it is irrelevant whether you finish 2nd or 3rd.


    But the consequence is that there will be always question marks about a drawing (especially if one of QFs is a host), and there is a possibility that both 2nd teams will play against each other, and this is unfair.


    My bets:


    1. USA

    2. Italy

    3. Turkey

    4. China


    1. Serbia

    2. Brazil

    3. Japan

    4. Dominican Republic


    And there's 50% of possibility that we will get Italy-Brazil and Japan-Turkey in QFs. And then Serbia/USA will get Turkey/Japan in a semifinal, while Italy/Brazil will be at home. And I'm not saying that Brazil is a better team than Turkey, we don't know that yet, but if they finish 2nd in a group, they just should play the third from the other one. That's why it is also difficult to be sure about a fair drawing.

    where is China in all this?

    Italy is gone be 5/5.


    Yes they have errors in the game, but this matches are literally part of preparations. Mazzanti plan is that team reach their peak of the game after pool stage. They have already great block-defence and stabile reception that can only improve and Egonu who is charging her battery. Her performance is not yet their on her Conegliano level but it is better than first one. At least She has help from everyone else.

    Cate Bosetti is playing great tournament for now :super:. Same as De Gennaro and Fahr.

    Overall I see many high level from Italy. Especially block and defence.

    They are putting a lot of pressure from service line to.


    I’m kind surprised that Pietrini wasn’t part of starting six, especially when her performance was great:what:

    You still haven’t seen best of Italy but they are winning nicely.