European Olympic Qualification

Quote from Youstyna

Poland will qualify in may

I really hope so... It would be a shame not to see those girls in Beijing... They're getting better and now they are serious candidates to the medals...

Congrats to both teams. Poland fought very well and they made it much closer than I thought they would. Also, a surprisingly weak performance by Sokolova, but she managed to raise her game when she needed to.

Poland will certainly qualify in May. I'm not so sure about Serbia. The last two tournaments showed that we need ALL our best players and I sure hope Terzic will settle the differences with Spasojevic and others. Otherwise, unpleasant surprised may happen in Japan.

Congratulations to Russia for the qualification! Sokolova was bad today in the first 4 sets, but in the last set she was just brilliant. It amazes me, how she can always change a match. She plays greatly when it really matters!! Remember Bergamo vs Novara or Russia vs Brazil??

What Russia needs to win the Olympics are the returns of Godina and Artamonova. In my opinion Safronova and Kulikova cannot be enough, if they play as they played in these days!

Poland did a great job too, and they must not be sad, because in May they will have another opportunity.

I forget to say, congrats to Gamova, who played with an injured hand! She is a fighter.

Quote from Joana

Otherwise, unpleasant surprised may happen in Japan.

I hope not!! Seriously, who have chances to beat Serbia in Japan? Only Poland and maybe Japan.

Some conclusion of tournament :

big diss: Netherlands (match against Turkey) and Germany (semifinal)

diss: Serbia especially group matches agains Croatia and Romania

supr.: young Turkish team and Polish performance

Thanks God, we have started some meritoric disscussion here ... These many posts above...Eee...never mind.

About match: We didn't make it, although our girls did theire best and were quite close to win. They fought really great. Glinka was just superb as well as Zenik. Poland was amazingly menatally strong in this tournament, which they showed today and against Serbia. The match Poland-Russia was a real FINAL and the best match in this qualifications. Two very good teams faced and played high level volleyball. I personally don't like Russian team, but of course I congratulate them, cause they're playing great volleyball.

I'm almost sure Poland will qualify from the intercontinental tournament in Japan, because our girls play well and have the self-confidence in the positive meaning of this word and Bonitta has made a great atmosphere in this team. I read, that three best teams are going to qualify from Japan in may. Is this true?

Yes and no. It will be the best Asian team plus the best three other teams. So I think it will be Japan, Poland, Serbia and DomRep.

Thank you, Matthias. So, it seems to be even easier than I thought

Quote from Nastja

Lyuba.... Im in love (not as much as with Lena though...)

Thanks God, I was starting to worry

Continuing...

I have to say Poland did a great match. It was a tough one, but not because Russia played badly - except for third set - but rather because Polish team played their best. I had never seen they playing like that. I was going to say our block saved us, but watching the statistics, Poland blocked more than us - 16/12 - which I didn't notice during the game.

I think what Poland didn't have to beat us was SERVICE. It was really weak. Baranska did an amazing job yesterday, and her aces made the difference, but today she couldn't get past the net. Maybe she felt the pressure, or yesterday she was just lucky, I don't know. But still, if Poland had served better, it could had gone the other way around. Something that also made a difference was that your defense got better. Our blocks were being digged, and you would keep coming back until finally you scored a point.

Glinka was amazing. 55% on spikes. Skowronska did a pretty decent job as well, even more considering the ammount of balls she received. I thought after second set they were finished, but they fought back.

As for Russia, both many good and bad things to consider. First of all, the good:

1. For people who say we can't play if one of our three main players are out, we proved them wrong. It was very important to see Russia winning even the Qualifying without Godina. That means we can improve a great deal once she gets back.

2. Today we "didn't have" Sokolova for 4 sets,and we still did good for most of the match. So, it was basically only Gamova, and still we won. That is a very positive fact to ponder.

3. I think Sheshenia hinted - proved is too much of a word so far - she can be reliable to us in the OG - if Caprara allows her to be anyway. Of course she is not a "good" setter, but as long as we have accurate high balls, it's fine.

4. Service is once again powerful.

5. I think Kulikova's performance in all the matches she took part in was satisfatory enough. Of course we NEED Godina, but she played well in spiking, even though her reception is pretty bad - today was ok though. She showed a lot more than Safronova, that is for sure.

6. Borodakova entered well on court.

7. Gamova is as good as always. She got 51 balls, and scored in 41% of them. Three blocks and three service points. She is our most decisive player, I have always thought that, and she is also my favourite player, I will sure miss her a lot when she retires. She showed a lot of heart and proved to be a warrior after she injuried herself. She was half our team today.

8. The girls showed ability to fight back after set 3 and 4, and being behind 4 vs 1 in the tie.

The bad:

1. Caprara insist on Akulova.

2. Alimova didn't a score a single spike, which have been awful since the GP.

3. Sokolova was non-existant, although in the 5th she was brilliant.

4. I have never seen Fateeva do anything positive on court, block, block and more block. I know she is young, but that is no excuse - look at Brakocevic. I hope she isn't our future.

5. Middle spiking is still slow and unefective. I don't get tired repeating this.

6. The team keeps losing focus sometimes.

I would also like to see more of Andrushko, but I couldn't, unfortunately. But ok, we will have to wait until 2009.

Quote from Matthias

Yes and no. It will be the best Asian team plus the best three other teams. So I think it will be Japan, Poland, Serbia and DomRep.

I heard that Dom. Republic had decided not to participate in the World PO, in favor of Puerto Rico because of dissappointing performances.... same thing with Peru, the runner up in southamerica...... so, it may be more surprises from FIVB to fill these spots..... Netherlands could be an option.

Forgot to mention. Polish fans are the most annoying - not in the bad sense - they are certainly the most fanatic. It is always POLSKA POLSKA non-stop!

Nastja, I don't think german team is a threat to Russia - Or Italy or Brazil for instance. You have rivalry against them, which makes the match more tense, but it is never a hard game to us. Even in the ECH we beat them easily, and we played like crap that tournament - Grun is a good player though.

No. I mean Poland and germany. The rivalry makes the game more tense and harder.

Quote from xopxeech

I heard that Dom. Republic had decided not to participate in the World PO, in favor of Puerto Rico because of dissappointing performances.... same thing with Peru, the runner up in southamerica...... so, it may be more surprises from FIVB to fill these spots..... Netherlands could be an option.

I really hope that it'll be the Netherlands But if there's one thing we've learned about the netherlands this tournament it's that they can't deal with pressure. They've won the GP (being the underdog) but then played awful at the EC (everyone expected them to play great) and now this tournament..

Quote from Nastja

and i was finally able to see how gamova was mocking the players, who she blocked and how Lyuba was asking her to stop that

BTW, Who did she mock yesterday? The cameraman didn't show us very much, or maybe I didn't pay attention. I guess she mocked Glinka or Kasia, because usually she does this against the strongest player of the other team.

But Mamma Ljuba is always there to calm her!!

I'm curious if she mocks Merkulova when playing against Zarechie Odinstovo? That will be the "clash of the titans"!

Quote from Nastja

After Lena left the court the polish game went down and it barely changed until she came back and then it was too late... 13:8....

Oh yes, Lena did her best! She was a strong element of our team.