i learned paula was MVP from fivb and other news site right after the finals. but today, no words on who's who...
It's bizarre.
Posts by yates
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I don't know what's Melhor do Vôlei's source. Sure wiki's not very reliable, so, for now, we're out in the dark.
I don't actually remember when we learned about Paula being MVP 4 years ago. It's weird it's taking so long for this. -
who's the MVP?
I'm hearing elsewhere (twitter, and that kinda stuff) that Dani Lins was chosen MVP. No confirmation yet, though.
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He is leaving the team. He will be coaching a team from NCAA... University of Minnesota. Minnesota is the home state of his wife, Wiz Bachman Mccutcheon. I think this was announced nearly 2 years ago.
So definitely there's a new Coach for Team USA..
Too bad, I really liked him. I mean, people are giving him a hard time today and I think they're right about that. He shouldn't have stuck with Hodge so much. And other things, like he could've used a better OH on the bench, like Richards, who could contribute more to team as a receiver, and all. But in spite of all that, I still consider him the best coach of the present time. In addition to preparing the team very well technically and tactically these last couple of years, it seems he he did very good in creating a pleasant environment. But, anyways, best wishes for him.
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Wow, is Hugh leaving the team?
And no news about individual awards and stuff? Fabiana moved to best blocker after the final.
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How cute are the brazilians as well chanting "Nippon"?
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Wow.
I'm quite shocked. The story of this Olympics is so full of surprises. (Fabi in the interview said maybe Woody Allen couldn't be able to come up with a story like that. Yeah, maybe.)
Jaqueline made me eat my words. How embarrassing! But, yeah, whatever, she was brilliant. Kudos for her.
I'm with Lins. I'd be ok with anyone getting MVP, but, to me, Lins is definitely the greatest character of this OG. And also in the match. She was a superstar. I'm glad Zé eventually stuck with her.
(And cool that Garay scored the last point. You're a brave woman, Fernanda!
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I don't think Dante's leaving. He said a couple of times already he wants to go to the 2016 Olympics. I also really hope Bernardo continues.
I mean, who's gonna top him? -
I just knew it. She'll never go away, she'll be 75 and still in consideration for the NT.
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I don't think startseva is a bad setter, but of course she's not the best setter in this tournament.
Yeah, that's the point. Far from that. She may be the best russian setter ever since Vassilevskaia. But she didn't have a very good tournament. In both of Russia's most important matches (Italy and Brazil), she had a poor performance. And besides, how many setters were ahead of her in this tournament? Takeshita, Qiuyue Wei, Kim Sa-Nee, Dani Lins, Berg, Aydemir, I could go on...
Haha... So, the point, in the end, is that statistics for setters are BS, that's all. They don't really measure how good of a setter you are. We can almost never rely on setter awards, thus, if they're handed according to statistics. If they get it right, it's almost like luck.We do get to see some very other interesting statistics, though. Hooker in the top 3 blockers. She's got this MVP prize in the bag. I actually think she should be awarded even if USA lost to Brazil. But in case that happens, they're probably gonna hand it to Sheila, though. Brenda Castillo leading by far in the digging statistics, though I don't think they hand a digger award, right? They just give a best libero one. And then you've got Fernanda Garay also leading by far in reception... interesting.
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that will be the biggest joke of the tournament
Yup. But, hey, nothing new, right? Gratcheva in 1994, Cacciatori in 1998, Marcelle in 2002. We've seen it.
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You don't want Berruto to stay? Why?
Exactly. I don't get it. He's milking the best out of the team.
About the semis... I think Brazil did a very good job against Italy. I don't know, you guys. I'm thinking it's gonna be really really hard to take this gold away from Brazil. You can see the fire in their eyes. I'm not confident Russia has the same drive. Everything's coming together for Brazil, it's like a sort of redemption, after every business that happened in the past, with Ricardo, and Bernardo's relationship with the guys, and everything. And Brazil's a bad match for Russia. They usually underperform against Brazil. I think this is gonna be a very tough, balanced match, but I just give the edge to Brazil. And have to disagree with rugby about Russia being the best team in the tournament.
I think, also, bronze medal match will be exciting. Bulgaria is the sensation of the tournament - like Korea was among the girls - and I just hope they have the best attitude to grab this medal. I wish USA was a contender, but they just couldn't keep their consistency. I think Italy is not that good. Berruto strives for the best, but the roster is limited. Lasko and Savani are not world class attackers, and Zaytsev felt the pressure of yesterday's match way too much. So, I think if Bulgaria keeps the momentum they have up for them, they should prevail.
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Too bad Korea couldn't regroup for this match.
Their two previous matches - even the defeat for USA - were a lot better than what they showed today. I guess, in the end, it's a matter of consistency. Their top performances - in victories against Brazil and Italy - were better than Japan's tops, they just couldn't keep the level for too long, I guess.
And Takeshita had a really good strategy, using Sakoda more and resting Kimura. Though Korea had better performance in block, their defense was quite poor today.
Well, at least this means Takeshita gets an olympic medal, and she totally deserves it. Sano too. Two of greatest volleyball players of the present time. -
by the way, i downloaded the match between brazil and russia (sorry, i can't get over that match!!
).about sokolova: it's so sad that her last (probably) appearance in the olympics is blurred by the last 2 reception errors from her which cost Russia the chance to go through the semis. her reaction at the end was truly heartbreaking. it reminds me of marcia fu in the game between brazil and cuba at the 1996 olympics. marcia fu was magnificent throughout that match as well, but her 2 errors at the 5th set had cost brazil the chance to the finals. but errors aside, russia wouldn't be able to go to even 5th set without sokolova. she has NOTHING to be ashamed of. her performance in this olympics is something she should be proud of.
She did amazing, she has nothing to feel bad about. Matter of fact is both teams were really nervous in the tie break, so they're pretty much just passing the ball to the other side, instead of serving. Brazil had good sequences of serve throughout the match, with Sheila, Fabiana and Lins, specially, but at the critical moment, all 12 players on court were nervous to death to making a mistake. Garay's 2 serves were risky, but she proved she's a tremendously brave player. Brazil needed someone like her, specially with their problems with OH'S. I think Sokolova's reception mistakes have more to do with Garay's good serves than with a defficiency on her own. I hope she doesn't feel guilty, and that she can leave this competition with her head held high, cause in this match alone she did more for the teams than all the other russian players did.
I also think it's time - and it's been time for a while, actually - that Russia reexamines their style of playing. They've been playing since the Karpol days, but pretty much since the 80's, with high and slow spikes. They did, actually, took a little break from that around 2000, cause back then, with Vassilevskaia as setter, they used a lot more fast players, with the amazing Tichtchenko and also with Sokolova herself. And the team had amazing reception (those were the best Artamonova years!) and amazing serve. The only reason Russia couldn't grab gold back then it's because Cuba was still absolutely the best, with youngsters like Aguero and Ruiz rising to the challenge. But 12 years ago, Russia played a more modern volleyball than today. They should rethink this. It has worked for a while, and they have achieved some great success, winning the last two WCH, but in both ocasions, their game is based on the efficiency of Sokolova and Gamova, who, not only are amazingly gifted technically, but also incredibly mentally strong. But their middles have been subpar and their setters, not very good. I think Russia has to move on from this system, cause as their players get older, this is just not gonna be enough to beat strong opponents like Brazil and USA, that play a much more faster, collective and modern volleyball. Heck, the male NT from Russia is already a lot more faster than the female one. They should take the hint. The majority of us thought Russia would have the edge against Brazil because we thought Russia was in good form and Brazil had been majorly underperforming. In reality, though, a team that plays the way Russia does could always present themselves somewhat vulnerable to Brazil and USA.
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I expected Japan to put up a better fight...I only watched since middle of 2nd set, but it looked like they never believed at all that they had any chance and just let Brazil play
Korea had a harder opponent and put up a much better fight so I hope they get Bronze.Thaisa and Sheilla finally are in really good shape, Dani Lins plays like never before, Fe Garay adds the necessary energy to the team, Fabi and Fabiana also play better than some weeks ago though still not as great as they can. I remember many people complained about Jaqueline, that she should not be in the team etc., but for me she plays a similar role as Logan Tom, she's not the most powerful attacker but her reception and defense helps the team a lot.
Yes, I'm one of the complainers.
I kinda see your point, and I kinda agree, but not completely. I have to say Jaqueline mostly did her job these last two matches, having a good performance in reception and defense (though, we have to acknowledge that Brazil's opponents didn't serve very well. Maybe Russia served even worse than Japan). So, I think her role in the team is being justified. However, I still believe she's not a reliable player, either in reception or in attack. You can say I'm picky with her, I don't mind, but my sentiment after the match against Russia was "I'm glad Jaque didn't spoil this for us. Just let the others do their work." Matter of fact is: we need her, in order to have better reception and be able to use the attack of the middles. In theory, I would prefere Paula instead of her (still can't understand why ZRG let Garay so much in the bench in the beginning of the tournament, since she's obviously a lot better than the others at this point), but the truth is Paula is in very poor form, she can't help the team much, and Jaque is a better receiver and server anyway. If we had all OH's in good physical conditions, I'd call Natália, Mari, Garay and Sassá, actually, and cut Paula and Jaqueline. Maybe not a popular opinion, but that's how I feel. In the end, it's all good, cause Jaque can't spoil this anymore. Brazil already achieved the best result they could, I think. So, she has nothing to lose. Even if she screws up majorly in the final, her role in the team will be justified, since she did a solid job against Russia and Japan. (But for the next cycle, I wouldn't mind having Gabi and Priscila Daroit replacing Paula and Jaque. ) -
It's nice to see Brazil playing so well after the bad preliminary. This is their true performance
It's the best tournament I've ever seen of Dani, she should have been starter from the beginning of the tournament. Fernandinha is a good setter too, but she always looked a bit like a stranger in this team Yes, I think so too. And also, Fernandinha pretty much never played with the other girls. It was a desperate move by ZRG, cause setting is been a big headache for him ever since Fofão left. Funny enough, during these OG, setting was a minor problem for the team, that struggled so much in the beginning with attack and defense, not so much with setting and also reception, which used to be the weaker points of Brazil.
I have to say Dani was always the setter I supported from the beginning. Everyone's been betting on her, from Zé Roberto, to Bernardinho, to everyone, ever since she was still in the youth NT along with Fabiana. But she always struggled so much with confidence, making mistakes often because of an emotional fragility. We can see now she blossomed and has become, at least in these last two matches, the setter we always believed she could be.
A lot of people criticized Zé Roberto for cutting Fabíola. While I still don't agree about him cutting Mari (and maybe even Sassá, cause she definitely could help more than Natália or Tandara), that's one criticism I don't share. He kept betting on Dani, cause she was better setter all along, and he made a risky move by having a "stranger in the nest". Bold move, I commend him for that.
And it was a great win for Brazil. The match was even more unbalanced than USA's victory over Korea.
(I secretly hope this means Korea's in better conditions to grab that bronze medal.
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I don't think Japan can beat Brazil today. Brazil continues to dominate in block (11 x 1), and their defense improved a lot this second set. Also, Japan's counter-attacks are very impacient, they're making lots of mistakes. I think even Manabe is impacient. He traded Ebata for Sakoda after Ebata missed only one attack. Ebata usually matches well against Brazil. I don't think it was a very wise decision. And Dani continues to shine. This set, she barely had to use Thaísa and Sheila, Brazil's obviously best attackers. Brazil's looking serious to win in straight sets.
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Japan lost their patience. Brazil were not digging so good, but their block is very solid. And Dani Lins keeps doing a very good job in distribution, specially for counter-attacks. Japan's gonna have to serve better to have a chance.
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Korea should leave with their head high.
Though they couldn't take a set today, I think this match was even more balanced than when the two teams met in the first round. USA had to play their best all 3 sets in order to win, and Korea gave them less than 10 points in error. In the 3rd, seemed koreans were defeated, let down by losing the 2nd, but with that good sequence of blocks, the team returned to the match and made the americans sweat a bit. And Korea's match is the upcoming epic bronze battle, anyway. So, I'm satisfied by this first semifinal. Cool match, very well played.
