Display MoreArgentina squad for south american championship: the coach decided to leave out all the 30+ yo players. Too bad, it was a good opportunity to finally beat Brazil in this competition.
S - Sanchez, Giraudo
OP - Lima, Balagué
OH - Palacios, Palonsky, Mendez, Martinez, Lazo
MB - Ramos, Loser, Gallego, Zerba
L - Danani
I remember a player called German Johansen played in 2019 World Cup as an Opposite; his performance was fine. How's his growth in the past year?
I remember a player called German Johansen played in 2019 World Cup as an Opposite; his performance was fine. How's his growth in the past year?
His career has completely stagnated. He was playing in Switzerland and now he'll play in some czech club... not really great destinations if you have NT ambitions.
It's a pity because he was once MVP of a U23 WCh, but to be honest I never saw him as a huge talent even back then. It seems already some younger players like Palonsky and Balague have overtaken him.
It's a pity because he was once MVP of a U23 WCh, but to be honest I never saw him as a huge talent even back then. It seems already some younger players like Palonsky and Balague have overtaken him.
Yeah, he was MVP in this tournament of very silly formula that players couldn't jump into the court during service motion, so Argentina benefited from this rule the most with Matias Sanchez, because level of serve was so weak that in most cases they had perfect or positive reception, and Sanchez did his magic then. It wasn't serious volleyball, let's say it clear, it was a good idea to organize U23 WCH, but FIVB f***d up with using this tournament as an awkward experiment for weird rule ideas.
About De Cecco, he basically said what you mentioned, and he added that this is a good moment for further improvement of local vball.
I really hope that Palonsky will improve a lot in Italy, and if Facu stays healthy and in shape, they can get even better with some further reinforcement for a year or two. I think that past 20 years of Argentinian volleyball teaches that Argentina can realistically compete for a medal only in case if two generations of players are in a right time and place, they were 4th in Sydney and close to semifinal in 2002 at home (with Conte, Weber, and Spajic, Meana and Milinkovic), and they got a medal in Tokyo with De Cecco-Conte generation, and Loser-Lima generation as well. So it's great that De Cecco hasn't retired yet, they have a year or two in which they can still make some damage with this combination of experienced vets and young guys. Then, they'll rebuild for some time, I guess, and in 2032 they'll suprise and eliminate Brazil again at the Olympics, lol (1988 -- 2000 -- 2020 connection needs to continue).
I think that past 20 years of Argentinian volleyball teaches that Argentina can realistically compete for a medal only in case if two generations of players are in a right time and place, they were 4th in Sydney and close to semifinal in 2002 at home (with Conte, Weber, and Spajic, Meana and Milinkovic), and they got a medal in Tokyo with De Cecco-Conte generation, and Loser-Lima generation as well. So it's great that De Cecco hasn't retired yet, they have a year or two in which they can still make some damage with this combination of experienced vets and young guys. Then, they'll rebuild for some time, I guess, and in 2032 they'll suprise and eliminate Brazil again at the Olympics, lol (1988 -- 2000 -- 2020 connection needs to continue
Several times I've said here that we are a bit unfortunate because when Milinkovic was in his prime we didn't have much of a team around him (Conte Hugo left NT for a few years and come back when he was past it) and now that we have a fairly solid roster we lack an opposite like Milinkovic.
