I forgot my password ages ago but I randomly remembered it today, so here I am.
It's both funny and kinda tragic that Maja initially wanted to finish her career after London (!) but here she is 14 years later. 😂
But hey, she's still clearly our best setter, so why not.
The previous season was such a massive disappointment (mostly due to how the team was managed) that I'm being very cautious for time being. Mostly I just want everyone to stay healthy.
Why Bukilić why why whyyyyyyyy 
I can't believe I'm missing Bjelica 
Bring her back
I don't think comments Terzic had last night are appropriate for the moment tbh. Maybe if he said that before the competition, okay, but after so many losses in a row, it's really disappointing to hear. The coach should be instilling confidence in the players, not saying that he doesn't think they are as good as we had before.
It was terrible and I'm actually disgusted by him now. Not only was it neither the time nor the place to say it, nor the way to do it, regardless of how true it might be, the worst is that he made it sound like it's all the fault of the young players. Meanwhile, by far the biggest busts (Mirković and Bukilić of course) are decidedly NOT young and should not even be a part of this team if we're thinking long-run.
In the end I just feel sorry for the girls because there's got to be a lot of scar tissue now after losing FOUR tiebreak games in such short time, if we include that stupid and totally unnecessary friendly against Russia. They didn't deserve it and with better management it could have easily been avoided, but alas.
And that's another thing that pisses me off. This is not the beast team we had 5-10 years ago that could piss around and not give a F because you just knew that when it really mattered, they would get going. These girls have yet to build such confidence and for that, they need to win, and win a lot and win big, but right now, they are really far from that. And losing a bunch of games this way doesn't help.
Also, the previous two season we had an unexplicably (and very frustratingly) nonchalant attitude (which of course culminated in that spectacular Paris debacle) that led to losing a bunch of matches we really ought to have won. As a result, no one is really afraid of us anymore because they know they have a chance. That's another mountain these girls will have to climb as they won't even have a name and reputation to fall back on. Everyone will be gunning for them and no one will choke just because we're Serbia; which happened plenty of times with the previous generation.
So yeah, in short, I'm super pissed.
What about tica? You guys were very excited about her too, could she change anything?
I don't think she would have made much of a difference last week because the whole team was a mess and she could have hardly turned it around single-handedly. However, in the long run, it would make MUCH for sense for her to be on the team instead of frigging Mijatović and I can't believe they're doing this shit yet again.
That + Taubner not even getting an invite were definitely the two biggest mindfucks and it really put me off the team quite a bit because that's really not how we should be doing things at a delicate timing like this.
Lazović was decidedly not good, but it might have to do with the burden of expectations. From being a fringe player on NT for years (which she should NOT have been), she's suddenly become the one that was supposed to lead them and it may have been too much. I do expect her to perform better once Tijana is back.
Osmajić was IMO an even bigger flop because I was really excited to see her in action and she ended up looking like a random MB from the Serbian league.
This is a bloody nightmare and it makes me want to scream. The team is mentally shot at this point. They simply can't close out a match. What the hell was Terzić thinking not going to Canada with them?!
Now I fully expect the attendence in Belgrade to be a total flop as there's no hype around this team anymore, plus the political mess we're in and it will probably be 40+ degrees again like every time we try to host a volleyball tournament here in the summer so that's not going to help either.
At this point I don't even really care that Tijana is coming back. Yes, it will be better with her but the whole point of this week was to show we can manage without her and we CAN'T. We have no setter and no other OPP. You can't play like that. When you start to miss Bjelica, you know how bad it's got.
We are actually starting to look more and more like Ezc, and I hate it. Unless Tica is god mode we ain't doing shit. Winning is a mentality. Changing such a huge portion of the roster, and then sending those players off with awful coaching to 'develop' with no expectations, gives these results. I wish nothing but the worst kind of hell on the whole management of OSSRB.
Oh, DO NOT get me started on that. When I saw the list with bloody Mijatović being there and Terzić not going to Canada, it really almost made not want to watch at all.
This isn't 2015 anymore when we had the luxury to piss about in Grand Prix and have people like Lazarević or whoever on the roster just to make up the numbers. Now every match counts and we desperately need to develop new players instead of putting out those we damn sure KNOW will never amount to anything.
I was really OK with Terzić coming back because, let's face it, it's not like there were too many alternatives out there, but it's starting to feel the time has passed him by. Of course, the season has just started and there's a long way to go, but for now it's just same old crap we've been seeing for the last couple of years and he's doing nothing to turn it around.
OK, bring back Maja and let her play until someone actually decent shows up, because this isn't going anywhere. Also, we've become such a loser mentality team and I fucking can't stand it.
In with universe?
The same one where Maja Aleksić is no better than Asli Kalac 
I think the real reason was that she was upset for losing her position in the starting line-up to Veljković.
It wasn't much of a loss because Maja could never really set for her. Her best NT performance by far was WCh '22 when she played with Drča.
Are we absolutely sure Maja is playing this year? I mean... We have to cut her loose at some point. I'd be more than willing to sacrifice this year (WCh doesn't mean much anyway now that it's held every second year, which, SCREW YOU, FIVB) if that's going to make a more solid foundation for the future. We need to start thinking about LA, like, yesterday.
I'm in two minds about Brankica as well. Sure she can be helpful IF she's perfectly physically fit. But then again, she won't last long either. With her, Tijana could maybe finally have a decent replacement (assuming Bjelica is gone, and I'm gonna SCREAM if Terzić calls her again), for a little while, but maybe it would be better to start investing in Taubner for the long run.
For me, Uzelac, Lazović and Tica need to be locks on the OH positions. I'm guessing Buša has gone full on Malešević on us and will just fade into the sunset. We KNOW Terzić won't have a full kindergarten team, but if there has to be one more experienced player on the team, I'd take Lozo over Milenković any day. It's doubtful that Terzić would too, though.
Aleksić and Kurtagić are locks, that's for sure. Osmajić needs to be there as well. And I'd really want to see Kocić instead of Popović on the team. I really do feel there's much more potential in Kocić waiting to be unleashed if only she really believed in herself and someone needs to be push her in the right direction.
Popović has only had one really good tournament with the NT and that was ECh '19, she's done fuck all the rest of the time, so she can stay away as far as I'm concerned. Stevanović is a goner, of course.
I have no ideas about liberos.
And Čikuc, Zelenović and the likes will never be more than, I dunno, Ana Lazarević back in the day, only there to make up the numbers. Just the way it is.
Really nice to see Hena taking advantage of her opportunities.
Maja Aleksić might regret signing with Novara, though.
But honestly neither Maja is that much popular. Like she is well respected and people will know that Maja Ognjenovic is volleyball player, maybe that she is married to Dača and how she looks, but she don't have "celebrity" status.
It also helped Maja's profile that she was in a very public relationship with Miloš Teodosić, who was probably the most popular basketball player at the time, so it was huge.
Maja is the only player since Spasojević who's been really willing to put herself out there. Most of our players really prefer to keep it to themselves, sometimes even excessively so like Veljković. I kinda wish we had more players who are outgoing and media-friendly as it would certainly boost women's volleyball here even further, but it is what it is.
I think they're close. IMO Tijana is more appreciated, while Maja is more "famous" because she gives interviews and is in the media all the time, while Tijana rarely does it.
Ana Ivanović is on billboards all over Belgrade right now as we speak, advertising some hair care product. 
She has a very strong media presence, so she's definitely not forgotten. In fact, I'd say she's probably more appreciated now than when she was still playing. Back then people used to complain all the time why she's not winning more, and when she retired people finally realized that hey, having a top 20 WTA player is actually kinda big deal.
OTOH, Jelena Janković has completely disappeared from the public eye, by her own choice.
I believe Anja Spasojević would have been the most popular Serbian women's volleyball player of all times, had she continued playing for NT. She had TONS of natural charisma and people were instantly drawn to her. I don't think any player after her, Bošković included, was as effortlesly charismatic. Not that it's their fault, of course, it's not something you can chose.
As for who the most famous women's athlete in Serbia over the last decade or so is, IMO it's Ivana Španović, followed by Bošković.
Hmm, but Djokovic has probably been beating everyone for years now very clearly?
Absolutely, and it's not even close. He has a God-like status.
BTW, who is recognized on the street in Belgrade from sports athletes? Apart from Djokovic and e.g. Vlahovic or someone from the football team? Maybe Boskovic?
Bošković would, probably Ognjenović too. The Grbić brothers by a somewhat older crowd.
Definitely a bunch of basketball players, Jokić and Bogdanović most of all, and lots of retired ones too. IMO basketball players are even more recognizable than football players here.
Then there's Ivana Španović and I guess a few retired water polo players who went into politics and became public figures (Šapić, Udovičić) or Maja's husband Danilo Ikodinović who used to be in the media all the time because he was married to a famous singer and had a really bad motorbike accident in 2008 that was widely publicized.
Serbia is a phenomenon in men's water polo, especially when it comes to the Olympics. This sport is certainly very popular in your country.
Well, I mean... yes and no. The national team certainly is very popular because they've won absolutely everything, but nobody actually follows water polo all season long, people just tune in once a year when there's a big competition. I can say with complete certainty that 90% of the team that won the gold in Paris this year will go down the street in Belgrade completely unnoticed and unrecognized by anyone. 
I don't really understand why Serbia and Croatia are so weak in women's water polo?
Because it's considered as men's sport, basically. Very, very few girls in both countries go into water polo and the coaching is at a really low level. I don't think it's going to change any time soon.
The situation with volleyball is completely different, as in both countries it has a reputation of a "girly" sport. It's probably always been the #1 school sport for girls, actually.
