2021 FIVB Men's Club World Championship

7-11th of December 2021

Betim, Brazil

Sada Cruzeiro

Zaksa Kędzierzyn-Koźle

Trentino Volley

UPCN Voley Club

Foolad Sirjan

Funvic Natal

Due to circumstances, we have:

- Sada that was eliminated in QF of Superliga last season, but got a chance to play there due to victory in continental South American Championship in ... 2019/20 season (and obviously because they paid a fee to FIVB)

- Zaksa as a Champions League winner that got weakened a lot before this season (Toniutti, Kochanowski and Zatorski out) on paper

- Trentino as a vice-champion of Champions League that got weakened a lot before this season (Lucarelli, Giannelli, Nimir out) on paper

- UPCN Voley Club that got a chance to play there due to 2nd place in South American Championship in ... 2019/20 season, but since then got a looooot worse (basically they can't even afford to hire Argentinian NTs players.

- Foolad Sirjan: they're fine, I guess, I have nothing on them

- Funvic that almost went to the bankruptcy and barely remained on any level (although - obviously - as much weaker club)

I don't think this formula and this tournament in general has any future, and I believe that it may be the weakest lineup we've seen since the return to CWCH. Even Trentino and Zaksa are like 3rd-4th best teams on paper in their respective leagues right now, and Sada is fine, but even they theoretically regressed with Conte, Mendez and Alan all moving abroad.

Trentino with what they've showed so far looks like an early favorite here IMHO, but we'll see.

Zaksa decided to withdraw from this competition, so it's getting messy, lol.

Damn, great performance by Sada against Trento, it seems that playing at home in tournament like this, with all travelling given to European teams, is bigger handicap than I thought. On the other hand, every great feature of Trentino game from beginning of the season has evaporated lately.

Trentino-Civitanova

Sada Cruzeiro-Funvic

I bet Civitanova-Sada final once again, and I wouldn't be suprised if they do so, both Italian teams are serving really poorly so far.

Yant looks like a 3rd tenor alongside Mozic and Michieletto from 01-02 generation so far this season, he can't play regularly in a league due to limits restrictions, but every time he steps into the court thanks to Juantorena's injury, he looks like a real deal, even against decent opponents like Modena, Trentino or Novosibirsk.

27 points

23/33 in attack

2 blocks

2 aces

crucial defense in a tiebreak

Soon before WCCH, he crushed Novosibirsk in Champions League:

16 points

10/16 in attack

6 aces

All of us know he's a talent, but he's been exceeding expectations so far.

I'm curious to see what he will show against Sada Cruzeiro in a first final of his career.