Posts by Leonardo.D

Quote from Account

didn’t expect that coming lol

I thought Türkiye would be 5th place easily.

Imo Peru will become in next year the second force of South America. A huge factor will be Rizzola. We can already see huge improvement in Peru. He did great in Colombia imo. Peru has more potential and support.

I also expected Turkiye to be the 5th place team, actually, I consider them some steps above Brazil. I thought both team would be contesting for that 5th position. Btw, Rizzola has been working with this team for 3 months (or even less I think), so yes, he has a massive impact, most cuz Peru was ranked 3rd in the last CSV championship and now they will play vs Brazil to define which will be the best CSV team ranked in this WCH.

Btw, Fofao had really nice words towards Rizzola too. Not sure why he doesnt work with CBV anymore.

Quote from WZP

And one more thing.

After Brazil 2008 this Italian team is the most beautiful playing team in vb history. Pleasure to watch.

I like both teams, both were/amazing to watch, but I would add CHN Athens 2004. Kun Feng distribution (magic) and those quick slides from CHN were A legendary team too, in the most competitive Olympics of this century.

Quote from Steven12453

When are they going to give the awards???

As well as yesterday for the men: in 4-5 hours, but today.

Quote from side.out

Last but not least, Paola Egonu. I dare anyone in Italy to say something about her, one of the best performances I've witnessed in terms of contribution, consistency and clutchness. Not just today, her whole tournament was so on point it was almost watching some of her Champions League Final matches.

Love what Marco Fantasia said about Egonu. I shared every single word.

Once again, Olympics is such a stage for redemption. This for whole the Italian movement after the Tokyo disaster, the WCH 2022 one and well, the ECH 2023 and OQT. What a come back. A tabu is closed.

I know it isnt so common, I dont remember when was the last time someone did it, maybe Sano in some WGP, but I would give the MVP to Moki. This new Egonu is another massive destruction weapon, love to see her again so determinated and focused, but watching almost all Italian matches, Moki has been the most regular, consistent and solid, even in the black outs against DOM, NED and a pilar against Turkiye (and also today).

But of course, I will be happy to see Egonu as MVP.

Quote from Account

Imo Gabi still has a shot to make the dream team.

For me it should be Gabi x Sylla. Gabi was superb during the whole tournament, except SF.

Quote from Emil

Auch, the stream stopped

https://mailocal2.xyz/lv/rai-2/

Italian TV

Quote from Ttom

was that Picci with Mireya ?

Yes. There are many legends in that zone: Piccinini, Mireya, Virna Dias, Cecilia Tait and Elizabeta Tischenko

I really dont see a clear favourite for this Olympic final match. For me, after watching so many Olympics, I honestly think that usually (almost always), the final is a chapter that start from 0, a completely new story of what happened before. I remember Athens 2004, when CHN swept RUS 3x0 in the preliminary rounds, but then the Asians were only 2 points away to lose the gold medal match. In Rio, CHN took revenge of almost every single team after the first round, etc, etc.

I would slightly give the advantage to the USA team, especially for the mental strength factor. Most of their players already know what does it mean to play an Olympic final, their captain, even though she could be in the bench all match long, has been in three. That's a plus, especially in the tense moments. For the Italian team, a medal is already historic and as someone already wrote here, lets see if that "conformism" doesnt kill them. Sure, it isnt conformism, but I dont know how to explain the fact that they could think they already achieved the goal, so the determination wont be there or they could give up faster than under other circunstances. It happens in sport. Nevertheless, Velasco is there to wake them up.

I just hope to watch an epic final match. It is as half entertaining than Athens 2004 or Sydney 2000, I would be more than satisfied. Last time a gold medal match ended in 5 sets was 20 years ago Rooting for a new one

First of all, I would have also preferred Clevenot as MVP. He started the competition as a sub, but then he was the best French player in the medal stages, without a single doubt. Ngapeth also contributed a lot in the knock out matches, but his performance in the preliminary rounds was subpar. Clevenot was the game changer against SRB and helped a lot in order to tie the match against Slovenia coming from the bench. He was more consistent in general.

Besides his amazing vball technique, I think that FFF pushed Ngapeth as MVP in order to create the "goat" aura. Sure, two time Olympics MVP is a milestone.

Quote from Genius of the Sky

CAN WE TALK ABOUT ANA CRISTINA A TWO TIME VOLLEYBALL OLYMPIC MEDALIST AT THE AGE OF 20?????????

She is going for that Ana Ibis Fernandez record (3 golds + 1 bronze)

Congrats Brazil for the bronze! I know this isnt what they were aiming for, but at the end they saved Brazil volleyball milestone: to keep being in the podium in every single Olympics (women or men) since 1992

It was nice to see Thaisa (17 pts), a historic player from Brazil and vball in general, to score the last point. She retires with 3 Olympic medals, not so many players can say that.

It is a pity to see that if Ze Roberto would have had the guts to replace Roberta for a longer time in the SF, or play Julia as receiving OPP (it worked), maybe things would have been different. But it is only IF.

For Turkiye, as I did before, of course congratulate them for their historic qualification to SFs. It sets a precedent for the vball movement there, one of the most important and significant in vball world. For me, it is such a pity that a Lady, with L in capital letter, as Eda Erdem, will retire without an Olympic medal. But to be honest, they showed they havent reached (yet) the level for competing for a medal, in vball technique and also mental strength. After a golden summer last year, they were a candidate for Paris. Sure, they got many injuries, but also other teams have them. The human material is there.

I remember that last Olympics I said that the main Turkiye weakness is the lack fo quality in OH department and well, it is the same in Paris. I remember I said that even blending together all the Tokyo OHs, it would be enough to even getting a tennis shoe of Neriman. Same story in Paris. I also read that Ebrar was in the top 5 or top 10 best OHs, I guess that after last VNL and specially Paris, it shows that she clearly isnt. Against Italy she only scored 3 points...today she was a ghost again

Macris isnt setting to the MBs, but with her technique, she is fooling Turkiye block. She is simulating to feed Thaisa, but then let her pins with only one block or a 4 hand block, but bad placed.

Unlike the previous two sets, Turkiye lowed their errors at the end and they kept the lead, fortunately. But the last point they lost was cuz Elif (who looks nervous) didnt talk to Aydin. That's the key for them, the defense is there, but they do need to be organised. Many times they arrive to defend, but cuz of miscommunication they only go for OOS, when it could be better than that.

For Brazil, well, if Roberta keeps in the court, this could go to a tie-break and even lose it. She needs to calm down or take a rest.

If Turkiye lows their errors, Im sure they can grab this set and fight for the bronze. They do need to communicate more on the court, they are losing some counter attacks or making them more complicated cuz they are not talking to each other.

Quote from Winrip

Turkey literally cant play end of the sets. 3 game straight so far. So much bad decisions and errors.

Same story against Italy in the SFs. But there they were eaten by Italian quality, not by their own mistakes. Today, they are digging their own hole, when they are playing steady from time to time.

To be honest, Roberta is playing her worst two matches in the season these last two days (SF and bronze medal match). I dont like at all her distribution nor the accuracy of her sets. I admit she is one of the best to keep the things simple, but the accuracy of her sets has been below her standards.

She was criticised for not involving her middles, but she is doing it in the wrong moments and when the pass is perfect, she sets bad (like now).

Quote from jaeden85

Where was this Gabi in the SF match???

It isnt all on Gabi. USA prepared a specific strategy in order to stop/control. USA block/defense was all over her, letting the other pins score, plus from time to time they were targeting her on reception in order to take out from attack. It is also merit from Karch. She cant score all over as she always do, the other team also plays. Plus, she is facing Turkiye now, not USA.

So, the final ranking. I would say that the surprise or the best progress compared to Tokyo, was Slovenia. It was their first Olympics ever and they reached the 5th position and were the only team which beat the current bi champion: France.

For the disappointments, well, I would say Argentina, even though we all knew it was almost impossible to repeat the great campaign from 3 years ago. From been bronze medalist to only be the second to last

	France
	Poland
	United States
4	Italy
5	Slovenia
6	Germany
7	Japan
8	Brazil
9	Serbia
10	Canada
11	Argentina
12	Egypt

Quote from litolapid

I know they do not announce the Dream team during the ceremony but when do they release those?

In Tokyo, the best team and final statistics were released at the end of the day. So, we shall wait.