Posts by Batabid

It's unfortunate for Belgium them they have to face Italy twice in this tournament. No underdog luck for today. Not against this hyper-focused Italy who showed why they're world champions and just had more experience in high stakes match like this. Gianelli plays much, much better compared to the previous matches.

Thoughts before the match: Belgium look strong at the moment but I expect Italy to be prepared this time and to make up on their loss against the belgian team. Romano was decent vs Argentina but he needs to be more for Italy to have a chance. Looking forward to a great match!

And we have a tie break! Iran's block coverage in this game is amazing!

Serbia was clearly pissed from the referee's call and it almost cost them the set. Luckily for them, Iran made 2 errors. Iran's setter did well confusing Serbia's blockers.

Insane how the momentum shifted a number of times in this 3rd set.

That ball looked like it touched the floor. I would've challenged that if I was Karch.

Really enjoyable match! Poor Mujanovic. He was doing quite well in attack until he became a marked man by USA. The American team did well making adjustments against him.

Finland is finished!

All puns aside, Finland did its due diligence preparing against Belgium. It was a great match but the Belgian side is just too strong. Reggers and Deroo are firing on all cylinders. Belgium's clear advantage over Poland and italy: they have a killer Opposite.

Belgium is so good I'm kinda afraid for Poland and Italy. Wouldn't it be fun to have Belgiumand Bulgaria fighting for gold.

Deroo can't do anything wrong

I'd put him as one of the best OHs currently with Semeniuk.

Quote from serdar

Just because it has always been the norm, it should be done same way in the future too🤦 there is no justification to favor a team so ridiculously. This most of the times give them a free tickets to top 16 which is unfair. Luckily Philippines couldn't even manage that 😂

I get it. Pool A is too imbalanced and our team certainly benefited from that and I agee with your point that the host team should not be automatically top seeded. Sure, Philippines aren't strong as the other teams but they also did their best to put up a good performance against their opponents, even winning 1 match and almost winning their last one (IMO, this made them look not as weak as I thought they should be but yes, still weak). Because really, I have no expectations from this team and even expected them to just be completely dominated. It's already an achievement to participate in such a prestigious tournament and gain experience because our players are just too limited.

Objectively, I think the reasons Philippines did "suprisingly well" boils down to
1. Pool A being the easiest (let's face it. If any mid-level or top team would be in this pool, Philippines won't win a single match)
2. Egypt and Iran making tons of mistakes
3. Filipino players pushing themselves beyond their limits
4. Home crowd support

Yikes. Too many contenders dropping like flies! It's the craziest WCH I've ever watched. Japan, Germany, France, and Brazil all not making the next round. It's so unthinkable for such results to happen. All of them are big disappointments but I think Brazil is the biggest one because they're a permanent fixture at the semis for ages but now, they're already eliminated at just the first round.

Quote from Sassy

May I suggest rooting for an underdog, this way you can never be disappointed and they can use some extra love Belgium and Turkiye are up there for sure!

This WCH is the tournament of the underdogs!

Quote from Matthias

I'm not following the tournament very closely but all these results are just crazy

IMO this tournament shows even more than women's tournament how mad and flowed this formula is. Basically every match is like a final, one bad match and you can be eliminated. That's not what a World Championship should be like

I was going to say the same. In some ways, it has an advantage for players because it's less exhausting and lower ranked teams are able to participate but like you said, teams can't afford to lose matches leaving no room for teams to grow during the course of the tournament. But I prefer the old formula because teams get to play with more teams compared to the current one.

Quote from Cofi

I’m not saying he was doing the right thing just said what happened according to what I’ve read

You all coming from me like I was defending his actions

Just to be clear, just in case you thought I'm coming for you, I'm not. My comments are directed at Giani.

Quote from Cofi

He wanted them to stop celebrating loud cause some of French players are bidding their farewell to NT and played their last game, at least from what I red

Eh? Isn't that how it's always been when a team wins? Specially in a dramatic one like this. You can't help but celebrate. There's a line in We are the champions that says "No time for losers." Disappointing from Giani. On the 2 occasions France won the olympics, no one asked them to tone down their celebrations.

Why is Giani talking to Argentina team?

Argentina! They have a history of being giant killers! De Cecco

Third disappointing team: France! And Brazil could possibly in the list too depending on how China vs Czechia turns out

Anyways, Philippines lost but the team already made history by winning its first match ever and going toe to toe with opponents way above its caliber. They've gained valuable experience from this tournament.

The most annoying net touch ever

It's sooo cruel to be given a taste but not to have.