Now I hope that Italian physios discover wizardry and take care of Orro's and Fahr's injuries so they'll be as near to their 100% as possible tomorrow. Italy played the later match and one that has been physically and emotionally much more draining than Turkey's semifinal, but in a final that shouldn't play a big role.
Posts by Matthias
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Might be an unpopular opinion but I feel really sorry for Julia B., she's been doing fairly well most of the summer after Ana Cristina's injury and that overpass at 13:13 will haunt her much more than any other play ever. Surely she wasn't good today but Roberta really gave her a hard time, I hope she can mentally recover from this match and come back stronger. IMO she doesn't deserve all the amount of criticism she gets at times, she's such a hated player but she's not THAT bad overall
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Gabi's interview shows all her class
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And then Gabi decides not to care who tries to block her
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Using the double sub to have Antropova's blocking vs Gabi in the key part of the set is coaching masterclass
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In this set Italy's double sub might turn out to be the decisive factor. If this goes to 5 it's going to be completely unpredictable IMO.
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Giovannini's hair touched the ball. Like Lonneke's viral video. Why the point went to Italy?
Apparently just like hair touching the net isn't a mistake, hair touching the ball also isn't a mistake anymore. No idea if there's any official rule for that though
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Gabi is just out of this world
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Julia K must have magnetic arms
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At this point Egonu deserves a 2nd chance for today. Antropova is not good at all...
And just as I wrote this she serves two aces
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Compared to what Cambi did after coming in, Orro does look world class
I hope her ankle isn't bad and she can return to the match, otherwise things might get very difficult... -
USC played a tournament in Leverkusen against Leverkusen and Grimma. An article said that Franziska Heil is (also?) trained as opposite. And she played (against Leverkusen) as opposite while Brianna Ford played this match as outside hitter. Heil was top scorer in this match. I don't know if this already is a long term plan for her.
Lena Schultze is also listed for USC Münster now.
I wonder if DVV/Bregoli? have any influence there. During U19 WCH she looked like a great MB talent to me in all aspects, so I wonder how she'd perform as OPP in the long run. Despite all the OPP problems Germany has, turning a very talented MB into a mediocre OPP is not a solution for me, so I hope the switch only takes place if her perspective at OPP is as good as at MB.
Besides, for Münster Elena Kömmling needed a shoulder surgery and according to a paywalled article is out for "several weeks" which IMO seems quite short for a shoulder surgery
but still it's likely she'll miss the beginning of the season. -
It's interesting how things have shifted. Not long ago, Serbia, USA and China have been medal contenders in such tournaments and now none of them is in semifinal, two of them not even in top 8
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Not to diminish Turkey's work in block, but USA setters indeed have a large share in the amount of Turkey's block points. But also the attackers are terrible at finding solutions, constantly hitting straight into the arms instead of aiming at the seams or fingers.
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Poulter is on Van Sas/Stojiljkovic/... level today
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Potsdam signed Latvian OH Anija Jurdza, last season in Spain. She's on their roster on VBL site.
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Right now Turkey shows why they're no serious threat to Italy. They might win a set against them (if they get there), but not three.
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Did Poulter just have a little stare at Ebrar after blocking her?
It looked a bit odd 
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Can you please activate my account too. I didnt get activate email yet
Done, welcome!
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When they play like today, no team has a chance to beat Italy. Their style puts so much pressure on the opponent to take risks, so only a team who can also keep their errors low while still playing with enough pressure can challenge them, and neither the current Brazil nor the current Turkey are those teams. Japan has a similar style but in that match Italy would certainly exploit their physical advantage.