World Cup 2007

Quote from "pol"

Poland - Pioneer Red Wings 3:1 (25:13; 25:18; 24:26; 25:21)

Italy played such preparation match as well
Italy won 3-1 (25-16, 15-17, 22-25, 25-16) over Nec Red Rockets :wink2:

The WorldCup is about to start so its time for some pressconferences eh?
here are some statements from each coach :wink2: [Part I]

Brazil, Cuba, Kenya, USA, Poland, Peru

Brazil: This World Cup is very difficult as we have 11 matches over two weeks and there are only three Olympic qualifying places up for grabs, but we will try our best.
Every team is a potential powerhouse or strong team and we know it is a long way over two weeks, but we don’t know what will happen once the game starts.
There is always the possibility to win.

Cuba: As the coach of Brazil said, I also think the World Cup games are difficult because all teams are of a high level and only the top three teams can get to Olympics.? We will do our best as much as all the other teams. We hope to promote volleyball through these games.

Kenya: We are very happy to be here representing Africa. The level of competition is very high and there are other teams that are much better than us. But we have come here and want to show people we are doing a good job and can play good volleyball. I know that only three teams will go to China for the Olympics, but I can say maybe we can be there.

Peru: As every coach has said, we know that this competition is a difficult competition, but we prepared well and trained well and will do our best to take a ticket to next summer’s Olympic Games.

Poland: As the other coaches have mentioned, we know this competition is long and difficult. We know there are strong teams, maybe better than us, but we will do our best. There is the possibility that we will win.

USA: I last played in a World Cup in 1981 and it was a very long tournament. I remember I hit over 1,000 balls. Everybody knows this is a hard, long tournament and teams have an equal opportunity to fight for the top three spots. We will try to play consistently and take any opportunity to win.

How do you approach a round-robin tournament with 11 games vs. a knockout tourney?

USA: You have an equal opportunity because everybody plays everybody else. It’s not like the World Championship.
Second, I think it was hard for us to prepare because we had just four days before coming to Japan because all the players had to fly back from different countries as they were overseas. So we didn’t have time to build up our condition and train.

Poland: This is 11 games over 15 long days and we’ve had to prepare to be in good condition for these games.

Peru: The game style between a single competition and a knockout competition is different. We know that we have to compete with each other in all these games so the? goal is to fight and play our best from the beginning. The results will depend on physical condition and we will know the answer when the final game is over.

Kenya: Playing many matches especially for teams coming from the other side of the world is very important to continue getting experience from the players and tactics of other countries. It is good for a country that is coming up; there will be some tough matches.

Cuba: Needless to say our game condition depends on rhythm; it doesn’t always depend on the trainer’s efforts. Unfortunately, we were affected by the Air France strike so couldn’t arrive on schedule. This delay will have a bad affect on the team, but we will do our best anyway.

Brazil: As mentioned, every team has their own condition and situation, but Cuba had a long time to prepare for these games. Teams including Brazil, Poland and the USA had many players who were in other countries so they had at most only 15 days to prepare. But all games will depend on team preparations.

[Part II]

now with these teams participating in the pressconference:
Dominican Republic, Serbia, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Korea.

Tokyo, November 1, 2007: The official FIVB press conference for Site A teams took place at the Keio Plaza Hotel inShinjuku on Thursday, starting at 6pm local time. Present were the head coaches of the six teams who will play their opening games at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Friday

Dominican Republic — Beato Cruz: Our team is supposed to be quite well balanced with a mixture of experienced andyoung players, but there is more youth than experience. From the head coach’s point of view I think we can performwell. This is the second time for us to play in the World Cup. The last time we were 10th and our goal this time is to make a better finish, meaning ninth or higher. I think we can win three or four matches.
Our first match will be against Japan, which will be very difficult. This will be the third game between the two teams recently; we lost the first time in five sets and the second time by 3-0, so now we are looking forward to this third meeting. Japan has good speed, a good attack and combinations, so it will be a great challenge for us. Asalways, though, we will be positive.

Italy — Massimo Barbolini: For us to arrive here as the European champions is a very big honour, and we know itwill be difficult because there are many teams trying to get the target of Olympic qualification.
We know that Thailand is a team that obtained a very, very good result in the last Asian Championship. We know that it is a team that plays very fast and the kind of play not used in Europe, so we have to show the maximum respect for this match because, like every competition, the first match is not easy and we will play against a team thatis in a very, very good moment.

Serbia — Zoran Terzic: The last time we were in Japan for the World Championship we played very good and got third place. Now we have the same target and, of course, we will try to repeat this success. It will be very hard,ofcourse, but I think we have the power to repeat the success from the World Championship. We do not feel underany pressure to be first, second or third. We just try to do our best in all competitions and enjoy our volleyball. This is our target.
For the first match (against Korea) we have the same situation as Italy, playing against a team that plays some different volleyball…much faster and much better defence. I think that if we play good and strong, especially in service, we have a big chance to win this game. We won against Korea in the World Championship last year and I think it will be the same this time.

Thailand — Nataphon Srisamutnak: It is a great honour for Thai volleyball to come here to play in the World Cupfor the first time. We are small players and do not have much experience, but we will try our best and play fastercombinations and technique. The other teams are tall and quite experienced and very strong, so it is not easy, but we will show the spirit of Thai volleyball to the Japanese fans. We hope the Japanese fans come here to cheer the Thailand team.

Japan — Shoichi Yanagimoto: I think our team condition is getting better and better, day by day. I became head coach in 2003 and I have tried using a variety of players, especially in the last two years, to play different styles of volleyball. I feel that my trials are starting to bear fruit now, because we were able to win the Asian Championship. This has also given my players more confidence. We will face tough matches continuously in the World Cup but I believe the strong and well-balanced teams will survive.
We start against the Dominican Republic, and every team at this World Cup is a good team. Every match will be tough and important in this league, especially the first match, so we would like to be in our best condition and play our best game from the start. Dominican Republic is good on offence, very strong in attack and spike, but that applies not only to the Dominican Republic; it applies to the rest of the teams at this world level. We have preparedand tried to put special focus on defence because that is always one of the main themes for the team. We have to prepare and react as the match develops.

Korea — Lee Jung-Chul: Our team has been in transition for two or three years from the old to the new generation,and now we have more young players than before. I think we can perform well and play as we did in the past atthis World Cup. Some of our top players have been injured and many of them are still on the recovery path. It isdifficult for me to force them to play as soon as possible. I must be careful how I manage them because wehave important games in the future, too.
Our first game is against Serbia and it is going to be hard, but since it is the first match it is very important for us. Last year we had the chance to play Serbia in the World Championship and we lost, so this time we would like to make a pay back and win the game.

It seems to me that there is no stress. This is our great chance and we must simply take it. We are at this stage that we understand it and ... we want to realize this so much - says Kasia Skowrońska-Dolata

The season in Italy started pretty good. Three times you were elected MVP of the match. Seems that you are in shape.
- I feel good. It seems to me that this shape, which I elaborated already in the last season is maintaining.
Now I must profit from it the best way possible. I am satisfied, i hope, that i will be able to maintain this shape still for a long, long time.

U had some little health problems though. Is everything alright now?
- Yes, I was taking a lot of antibiotics and now everything is paying off and alright. And nothing hurts me so far.

The WorldCup starts with the match against Brazil. Is that good?
- I think, that it's good, because the tournament is physically very hard, that means if the hardest matches would await us at the end our power would be at the end also. But this way, we can match with them at the very beginning and the risk that our power runs out, is less. On the other hand you could say that this match takes place in the phase of acclimation which nevertheless won't be easy for us, so this is not the best either. But there is nothing to complain about. Everybody has 11 matches and none of them will be easier nor harder.

source: siatka.org / translated by me

Quote from "Pedro"

I saw also RTRPlaneta Sport should be showing some matches...
Anydoby knows if it's true and if so which are the matches scheduled?

hmm i just checked the schedule and no trace of volleyball there....
at least not in the schedule till 4th november