USA NT 2021

    Quote from WZP

    USA is the biggest looser of postponing OGs. Despite they lost only one player from starting 6, a lot of problems appeared in the team - Anderson with a few months break, Sander recovered from one injury and got another, Jaeschke the same, Defalco was under a big pressure and he just didn't get it by. To many too unexperienced players appeared in the team and taking VNL result, it's not a surprise.

    If not a postponement, they would play in 2020 without Sander, he wasn't ready to play until December, and DeFalco would have one year less experience, when he made a leap in 2nd part of this year's season. Anderson and Holt could be in a better shape after a season in Modena, but I don't think they would compete for a medal either.


    I'm not a fan of Speraw, but it's not his fault Anderson took a year off, Sander looks to be past prime, Russell is out, Holt is 34yo and had pretty bad club season in Monza. He gave a chance to young players during a VNL, and only DeFalco delivered some solid level. Maybe a next year they will be able to regroup and convince these old guys not to retire, and win some last medal under the same scheme.

    USA made the medal podium without Sander while having Muagututia play instead. lol


    Anderson always been an up and down choker ever since. It's been known that he starts slowly until he gets his rhythm and then choke in an important match whether he's an OH or OP.:whistle:


    De Falco already had enough experience in Vibo Valentia with his first season. It's enough to tell he's ahead over Muagututia.


    What people cannot understand is Speraw's obsession with aggressive jump serving. Taking Holt or Smith who aren't even in tip top condition instead of Jendryk who is USA's dedicated float server in the team. That's bullshit on all levels.:gone:


    Yeah maybe Russell could help to beat teams like Argentina or Russia and help seal the block but the aggressive serving is just too much that I feel the game against Argentina could've gone to a tie break and still lose because Speraw f***** with the serving strategy again.:white:

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

    Lets get real most of the superstars in this team is pass their prime.


    I will only retain Micah, Erik , Matt and Sander even if they are on decline just because there is no one in the pipe line to really replace them especially with Paris only being 3 years away.


    TJ will get better with experience. Hopefully Ensing too even thougg i feel like his potential ceiling is not that high.


    The rest need to either retire or step up big time.

    Quote from kittosuni

    Lets get real most of the superstars in this team is pass their prime.


    I will only retain Micah, Erik , Matt and Sander even if they are on decline just because there is no one in the pipe line to really replace them especially with Paris only being 3 years away. [...] The rest need to either retire or step up big time.

    Well, the problem is US has no depth.


    Jendryk was considered to be a real talent, and he was the worst starting MB of Polish league last season, he was really terrible, and yet there's someone complaining he wasn't taken.


    For me, US needs to convince Holt and Anderson to continue their NT career as long as Tom Hoff or Clayton Stanley did, and wish they can get into much better shape in Piacenza and Perugia next season. If they both retire, and Kawika with Smith as well, their depth is like that:


    Christenson, Tuaniga --> okay, great, Tuaniga was really good in Suwałki


    Patch, Ensing, Hanes --> Patch and Ensing are so average, Hanes didn't play in France, so he's not ready, I don't think there's anything here more than subs


    Sander, Russell, Jaeschke, DeFalco, Muagututia, Sander 2.0 --> the better Sander will have much better coach in Poland this year, so maybe he'll back to shape and DeFalco will play in Olsztyn under Bonitta probably, so he can improve - they're fine here


    Averill, Stahl, Jendryk --> Averill and Stahl were good in France, okay-ish in NT, no as impactful player as Holt for sure


    Shoji, maybe Worsley --> Shoji can play for a long time as a libero, he's only 32yo


    If Anderson retires, their best option is to switch Russell to OPP, and play with Sander-DeFalco as OH duo, but they'll be much weaker on paper than they were prior to Sander's injury.

    Quote from Realista

    Jendryk was considered to be a real talent, and he was the worst starting MB of Polish league last season, he was really terrible, and yet there's someone complaining he wasn't taken.

    yes I was about to say that, he had a bad season, most of the games he wasn’t even visible on court because he just wasn’t scoring and was making lots of mistakes. How can people say that he should be taken instead of for example Smith who won Champions League being in the starting 6 and was regular for the whole season showing a good performance even though we all know he’s not in the best shape :gone:

    Club volleyball=/= NT volleyball


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    Holt and Smith were 💩 in VNL. Just because Smith won the Champions League doesn't mean he deserves another go. He's already too old and undersized and had been a disappointment in USA NT since 2018 VNL even letting Boyer spike freely against his block. :gone:USA needed another look and change how they play and that's by lessening the service errors and they somehow even made it worse in the most important tourney this year.:sos:


    The reason USA is in this position of needing to serve aggressively beyond the limits of what is acceptable is because of their decline.


    I still have hope for Holt to come back but Smith should prioritize his club season now due to his age. If he can't see that then i'm hoping someone else do the Destinee Hooker special for him. Idc

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

    Quote from TampaunTaKarun

    Can GABI play for USA? I think puerto rico has no shot going to any major volleyball tournament so its better for GABI to think and maybe play for USA. besides hes wife is American so I think there is a chance, a tiny chance to play maybe for USA.

    He can play, theoretically, he has a citizenship like every Puerto Rican, but he's been already a member of Puerto Rican NT, so he needs to change his sports federation, and that would mean two-year suspension after an application, but I don't think he wants to.

    If I recall correct, there was such rumors last summer and he denied those rumors himself. I agree that he could achieve bigger things with team USA, and I probably would have done the same myself If I were in his position.


    side note: All Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

    I can understand it from some personal perspective, yet I don't like it, FIVB shouldn't allow moves like that, in football it would've been impossible, but in volleyball we have 24yo dude who came to the conclusion after few years of representing his native country that it would be much more beneficial to play as an American. That's weak, it's not what NT-competitions are all about, but that's obviously general issue.


    I wonder if he can change his sports federation before Olympics, it's March 2022, so if FIVB starts this changing process in the summer (and if nothing has changed procedurally in the FIVB), he won't make it.

    Quote from Realista

    I can understand it from some personal perspective, yet I don't like it, FIVB shouldn't allow moves like that, in football it would've been impossible, but in volleyball we have 24yo dude who came to the conclusion after few years of representing his native country that it would be much more beneficial to play as an American. That's weak, it's not what NT-competitions are all about, but that's obviously general issue.


    I wonder if he can change his sports federation before Olympics, it's March 2022, so if FIVB starts this changing process in the summer (and if nothing has changed procedurally in the FIVB), he won't make it.

    I think it's a special case. He is American. He has as much of a claim to play for the American national team as anyone else.


    Im not sure there's a comparable situation. It's not a situation like Alexia... where she has competed for Romania before deciding to switch to Turkey for her own gain. I dont know the details about Goncharova playing for Ukraine before Russia (someone can fill in if they're similar)


    I am curious what reasonings he'll give to the FIVB about it.

    Quote from avid

    I think it's a special case. He is American. He has as much of a claim to play for the American national team as anyone else.

    Not really though in a context I was thinking about, there are many players in football with double citizenship, yet football rules are much more strict in this regard, you can change your federation if you played at best 3 or 4 games before you were 21yo for one NT, but not in a major competition. That's fair: you're a young kid that change his mind, and playing in one NT at 18 doesn't prevent you from representing the other NT. Gabi led Puerto Rico to NORCECA title 6 months ago, what has changed since then? There was a case of Croatian football player, Borna Sosa, whose parents were born in Germany, who said before Euro 2021 that he wants to represent Germany (because its NT coach was interested in calling him up, and Germany > Croatia obviously in terms of a potential). He said that publicly, but later on it turned out he can't switch his federation because he played for Croatia when he was over 21. So he was toasted, and he didn't play at Euro for any team, because there was a strong outrage in Croatia. :lol: Agree to disagree, but these are good rules to not treat NT-competition only from beneficial perspective. I'm not criticizing Gabi for exploiting the rules that I don't like.


    FIVB doesn't care about his reasoning, I think, if nothing has changed - and I remember this from Leon case - the biggest problem he'll have is that a native federation has to agree on this change of a license/federation, and the first communicate is they don't. And he has no time, basically, if he wants to play in Paris, because - and again, that was few years ago, these decisions to start process of naturalization (I don't know how to call it) were made twice a year, and 2-year suspension was starting only after a native federation agreed on this change. But maybe something has changed since then, because in Leon/Leal cases it lasted for a veeeeeeery long time because of these three factors.

    Quote from voulter

    Why desperate? I think it's the best move for his career, he's obviously not going to achieve with PR what he could with USA and they really need an Opposite at the moment, I'd say it's very good for both

    It's desperate because of the poor performance in Tokyo, they really need a great opposite, Ben Patch, Ensing is not the answer. Anderson is getting older and I think his passing makes him important for the OH spot.


    They cannot produce a world class player so they are making some move to get Gabi.