Posts by JoanaBG

Rašić won't be back, she's done with the NT. She'll be back to club volleyball once she's had a baby.

Stevanović hopefully will, but I don't think anyone knows yet.

It's official - Santarelli is the new coach.

https://www.ossrb.org/seniorke…ener-seniorki-srbije.html

LOL, I can't even imagine the NT without him. Truly the end of an era. But, the writing was on the wall and it was about time. The signs were there already last year. Everyone seemed to be going through the motions and we need a new energy boost.

Rumour has it that Santarelli will replace him. We'll see, I just hope they don't pick some of the useless Serbian coaches. It really is problematic that all this time we haven't managed to produce a coach to replace Terzić when the time inevitably came. Vladisavljev and co. are a joke.

I'm also wondering if Maja will be motivated to play with her "dad" not around. Anyway, it should be exciting.

Let's just fast forward everything to the Conegliano vs Vakifbank final

Quote from sloth

Terzic already said that he doesn't know or care about Praia.. Oh but he will soon enough

He claims that the interview is 100% made up and he's never even spoken with that journalist, and that everything he supposedly said about not knowing or caring for Brazilian teams is pure nonsense.

Yeah, they're showing at least one match per round. The last one was Schwerin vs Dresden.

I mean, they basically have 12 channels, that's a lot of time slots to fill And they're branding themselves as "the home of volleyball" of a sort, so there will be a lot of volleyball to watch this season along with the obscure football leagues such as Icelandic or Lithuanian But I guess getting Serie A in the mix was a bit too expensive unfortunately.

Perugia is such a collection of washed up, over the hill players - Diouf, Havelkova, Bauer. Hard to see them achieve anything significant.

Monza starting with Lazović instead of Brankica is a step in the right direction, now they only have to make Stysiak a starter and they're ready to go.

Too bad Sport Klub is not showing Serie A this season, instead we get Turkish league (yay!), Polish (alright) and German (yawnzzz - sorry Matthias).

She injured her arm in training and is now recovering.

Awww Milena Best of luck to her!

It's going to be weird without her around, even though she didn't play much the last couple of seasons. Even she says she's still not used to having so much free time Now she's going to relax, travel around, probably visit her birthplace in Kosovo after more than 20 years and hopes to have a mini-Milena soon

BTW, I really wish the Serbian media would be more creative. I think by now I know every single thought that's ever entered Maja's head and I get that she's eloquent and makes for a good interview, but I don't understand why it has to be her every single time while there are so many prominent players we barely get to know anything about.

I guess we'll find out soon enough if Terzić is staying. He says he's still motivated to continue, but at the same time he's fully aware that most of "his" players are on their way out and that perhaps the new crop of players coming in would work better with another coach who could build a new team from the scratch. He'll announce his decision shortly, but if he does step down, he has no idea who will succeed him and by the look of things, it won't be anyone from his circle.

There have been a lot of interviews with him lately and it's obvious how much he's mellowed down over the years (as indicated in the (in)famous "You're the best team in the world for me, screw them" timeout, which would have NEVER happened 10 years ago). And most of them have a certain melancholic undertone to them, which could indeed mean the end is near.

Also, he clearly says Italy is the best European team at the moment (even though it may anger his players or the Turks ) because they have the most depth and we clearly lack someone like Pietrini who he admires a lot.

Quote from Mycaptain

Just a question, because I really admire the Serbian NT but I don't now anything about the behind the scenes. Why isn't Jovana Stevanović part of the roster? Did she quit the national team or there is some other reason? She's an absolutely fantastic player and I cannot see many other MBs stronger than her around.

Basically she got upset that she lost her place in the starting line-up at WCh '18 and decided not to play on NT anymore.

Quote from Sisko

It was a really good watch, thanks JoanaBG

My favourite part was probably his conversation with Brakocevic, it's nice that even though they clearly had their problems they have moved on and are able to laugh about it now I also like the part about Citakovic getting pissed at all the Polish players.

Yeah, those were the highlights for me too!

I can totally imagine Vesna doing that I vividly remember that semi against Poland and she played like her life depended on it, I guess we now know why.

Quote from Bogdan

Beside all volleyball related things which i won't commented, let everyone who have interest to watch it without "presumption", but evolution of Maja's hairstyle it's iconic non volleyball realted thing from this movie.

I completely forgot about that goddamn awful hairdo from mid-00s I'm sure she's like "WTF was I thinking??!" when she looks back at it, but I can definitely tell I know how it feels

And Matthias, if you're going to watch it, beware that *the serve* is featured

OMG, this brings back SO many memories. I teared up a little. It's good! Watch it.

The movie "The first 20 years", about Terzić's two decades as the NT coach and the rise of Serbian women's volleyball in general. With English subtitles!

Meh. I was sure they were going to lose to Turkey so reaching the final was a nice surprise already. But it still hurts to lose when you had a good chance to go 2-0 up, however, Italy simply played a better match and their victory was more than deserved. All things considered, they did display better volleyball than Serbia at this tournament and hats off to them.

I still insist the supposed home advantage was anything but and they might have as well played anywhere else. They would have probably even been better off.

It's hard to say much about individual performances when in reality it all came down to a single player. Everyone else has had a rather forgettable tournament, flashes of brilliance here and there and tons of mediocrity or downright bad play in between.

Still, I must say I'm particularly disappointed in Mina Popović. Her performance was significantly worse than two years ago and she was rarely a factor on court, especially when it mattered the most. And her nonchalant attitude is not exactly helping the team either. Veljković's energy was sorely missed. Rašić actually did better than I expected, but this tournament has really confirmed that indeed it's the time to say goodbye.

Moving forward, I'm being cautiosly optimistic. I don't think Serbia's level will drop THAT much, because most of the players who are leaving are shadows of themselves already and could have been easily replaced by others. Brankica is a big question mark, if she regains her shape it's a complete game changer, if not, we have to invest all we got into Lazović and hope that some of the youngsters who show promise come good.

I think we have all learned by now it's pointless to speculate about Maja's future on NT, so I'm not gonna even get into that

Assuming Belgium lose to Italy, what does it do for their chances of qualifying for the WCh?

Aaaaand... WOW!

So, Italy's path to the semis is now Belgium, Russia. I don't think they'll like it

That would really shake things up quite a bit

Uhm, if France wins 3-1, do they actually finish 3rd in the group and Belgium 4th?

I'm afraid Lazović won't be of much use anymore. She's barely played since what, early June, so expecting her to just step onto court and find her groove just like that simply isn't realistic. And the worst thing is that Terzić had enough confidence in her two years ago when she was just a rookie to bring her in to serve against Poland at the OQT, at the end of a VERY tense and tight fourth set with so much at stake, and it paid off. Why she's being ignored right now when she's a much better player (and her competition for the spot in the starting line-up is much weaker in Brankica's absence) is just inexplicable.

Also, I'm questioning just how much they're enjoying playing at home. Of course they're saying they are, because duh, but it really doesn't look to be the case. And it was exactly the same 10 years ago when we had a team that should have barely dropped a set en route to the title and instead we witnessed them struggling against the likes of France and Romania and then of course those epic battles in the semis and finals. Terzić openly admitted later that he didn't know how to relieve the pressure of playing at home and it seems he still hasn't learned it.