Posts by JoanaBG

The whole interview (in Serbian) is here:

http://sportklub.rs/Blog/Blog-…-Nisam-otisla-mejlom.html

I'm actually rather impressed the journalist had the guts to ask her all the real questions, like why she didn't want to play or what was Terzić's reaction and how the whole thing went down exactly.

There's no doubt that Terzić was being super shady putting her on the spot like he did, but come to think about it, he never actually said he didn't know why she didn't want to play. He just said she was invited, didn't show up, and he didn't want to comment on it any further. That certainly is somewhat cynical, but with her reasons for not wanting to play this summer, she doesn't come out of this story looking good either, IMO.

Those highlights didn't include the most important thing: when asked what's the exact reason why she wanted to skip this season, she said it's because she's not happy with her status on the NT and that her communication with Terzić is bad. Or in other words, she's not happy that Veljković had taken her place as a starter. So: gurl, bye.

Also, she admits that Terzić never agreed with her decision to skip the NT season. He just didn't say anything, which made her think he's OK with it.

Carlini working her magic again, her MBs got 19 balls over 5 sets

There was never anything public, much less official about it. There were rumours that things were pretty bad after London and it's not really a secret a lot of people wanted Terzić gone, but from what I understand, it had more to do with the staff (some of which got replaced, team manager included) and the internal struggle for power within the federation and less with the players themselves. I don't doubt that some of them wanted the coach to changed, but I doubt it was 90% of the team. There were in fact some rumours that certain players (Rašić, Ognjenović) would quit IF Terzić got replaced.

ossubtus wrote:

CRO had russian players in the past? naturalized ones?

Yes, Irina Kirillova (setter), Elena Chebukina (MB) and Tatyana Sidorenko (OH). They all used to played on the Soviet NT and were really, really good. Kirillova in particular, she's a legend of the game, also Giovanni Caprara's wife. They represented Croatia 1995-2000, though not always all of them at the same time.

Then they wanted to replace Kirillova with another Russian setter, Maria Likhtenstein, and they briefly did, but then the FIVB changed their regulations about the number of naturalized players per team (you could only have one, as it still stands), so they decided to keep only Chebukina and she went to the Sydney Olympics.

The last time I know those rules were enforced was in 2000 when Croatia summoned their Russian players to play the Olympic qualifications, and they didn't want to (Kirillova in particular, she even burst into tears in public over it), but it was made well clear their licenses would be revoked if they didn't show up, so they had to.

Also, from what I remember, Bulgarian federation threatened to take action against some of their female players a couple of years ago, but nothing came off it as far as I know.

It almost never happens nowadays because it would almost certainly result in lawsuits and such and it would be a big mess. Also, federations earn good money on players licenses and their transfers, so a suspension of a player would not be in their best financial interest.

As far as I know, Matthias is right and in theory the clubs are obligated to let their players go to the NT competitions, just like players cannot refuse to play if invited, or they could be suspended. However, those rules are very rarely enforced, if ever.

She's not playing like in her best days in Pomi (and she never really played like that on NT, somehow) and Serbian NT has obviously shown that they can do just fine without her, but still, in her best form, she's a formidable player and if she can regain that form, she'd have a place on any team. I hope she hasn't closed the door behind her forever.

But it's still annoying that she doesn't say exactly why she wanted to skip this summer. And frankly, if it's because she wanted to hang out with Egonu, I wouldn't have accepted it as a valid enough reason either if I was in Terzić's place. Every single player has their partners, families, friends they miss out on spending time with. It goes with the territory. Hell, Silvija Popović missed her son's first day at school. And I'm sorry, but she's not Rašić who's earned her right to get some time off after being a part of the team for literally a decade. She still has a way to go.

And you'd think it's something you'd first discuss with your coach and not the president of the national volleyball federation (twice, no less). There's got to be much more to that story. OTOH, she still gets along great with pretty much everyone on the NT and no one seems to hold any kind of grudge against her, so who the hell knows.

Well, Terzić obviously didn't accept her reasons for skipping the NT season, whatever they were, and expected her to show up at the start of preparations (which she could have done, even though she didn't intend to play!), she didn't do it, and that's it.

As for the "lack of communication", I don't see it as an issue for any other player currently on the NT, so I don't know why she should be that special snowflake who needs her hand to be held 24/7. She doesn't sound all too convincing telling her side of the story, IMO.

But still, I hope the problem will be solved, she's still an asset for the team.

Of course Novara needs Brakočević back and in good shape, because they really need to diversify their attack. Last night they had only two reliable scoring options - Vasileva, who is indeed playing really well again but is going to struggle if she keeps being set as many balls, and Veljković, who is of course on the court only half the time, and whenever she was out, Novara was in trouble. Basically, with this current line-up, they need Vasileva and both MBs to be in top form throughout the whole match and that's difficult. Not to mention that if you overuse your MBs, a good opponent will adapt to it and they'll be much less efficient over time.

But still, this version of Novara is much more entertaining to watch than the all Egonu all the time show of the previous season.

Oh yeah, I remember that weird ass interview. I even think that's where she announced she was prolonging her contract, after listing all the things she didn't like about living in Russia

Also, a couple of months ago I saw her in a TV show/interview that was shot in her home town and it was obviously filmed in the end of May, because she was visiting her old high school and it was the last day of school for seniors. She was saying all the usual stuff about playing in the Russian league (long travels etc.) and how difficult it is, but that she managed to cope with it, so she decided to stay for another season.

So she obviously planned to stay on for another season, even though she wasn't completely happy, and then something happened that made her change her mind. We'll probably never know what it was, but like I said, it was something personal.

Goncha did say that:

When I found out that Maja was leaving, I became really upset. It was the end of the season and I realized it would be difficult for Dinamo to find a replacement. The club would need to buy a new player from a different team and it wasn't certain anyone would agree to make a transfer. But we're all different people. I would never do what Maja did. My conscience wouldn't allow me. But, she decided to go her own way. I think her act could be called a real betrayal.

https://rsport.ria.ru/20191008/1559549352.html

Honestly, I don't really buy what Maja's saying in that interview. Something must have definitely happened between her and Dinamo, as she had already decided to extend the contract and then changed her mind literally overnight. Whatever her reasons were, and even if they were completely justified, her team mates must have been taken aback by it, and you can't really blame them.

She hinted a couple of times in the Serbian media that she had "personal reasons" for leaving Moscow. If I'm to speculate, I think she was worried her marriage would suffer too much being separated from her husband for so long.

inc0gnito wrote:

And people keep saying current Haak is the same level compared to Sloetjes and Goncharova

TBH, she's not too far away from current Sloetjes But there's still plenty of time for both to turn it around, of course.

It was an unexpected beatdown, but it really doesn't have to mean anything. It was just one of those matches where everything goes right for one team (Mihajlović and Robinson killing everything ) while the other one doesn't get anything going. It happens. If they played tomorrow again, it could be a totally different outcome.

beri wrote:

Iosta is full on in shade mode lately

I'd use a somewhat different term for that particular condition.

I feel bad for Sloetjes, but I believe at this point Stysiak should definitely be starting over her,

OTOH, if the stats are to be believed, Mirković attacked as many times (and actually scored more) as both of her MBs

losta wrote:

goossshhhh. he didnt have to mention it for me to state what i stated. why you guys like that. if only mihajlovic was gone and you guys would be wiped off the face of the earth since you guys think you are the best team in the world even though you got extremely lucky in 11&18&19. i am waiting for the moment at which things dont go your way. maybe you guys blow a championship point in olympic final against china. that would be the end of your one-in-a-billion-generation and leave this forum serbian-free(=more bearable).

No, we got extremely lucky in 1878 and 1912.

OMG, Scandicci is such a mess. They got away with it last week but now they ran into a team that was just too solid. The biggest difference between the two: Cambi She was 10 times better than Malinov yesterday. Heck, she might even be 10 times better in general.

Sloetjes played such a poor match, it was really difficult to watch her struggle like that, although Malinov didn't make her life any easier. This time she should have been substituted with Stysiak much earlier.

Pietrini was the only one who could put the ball away with some regularity, but her reception was completely diabolical. Seriously, the stats cannot really capture what a complete nightmare it was and how every time Cuneo served at her, it was basically point over, which is why she was taken out after two sets.

Oh well. The season is still young, they have a lot of players to choose from and there's still enough time to find the right formula.

Sidney wrote:

So the whole FREE STREAMING was fake News? LOL

It's asking me to pay a subscrition also...either if I log in with facebook or not.

It most definitely worked in the first round, but it was probably too good to last, heh.

I'm trying to watch some uploaded videos on the LVF website, and sometimes it demands a subscription, sometimes it lets me watch it - the same video, even. I'm not sure what it depends on, but I guess it's a step towards blocking all the videos if you're not subscribed.

Phil wrote:

So who made mistake? The club's manager booked tickets to Moldova? Or what happened?

I've read the pilot had to make a landing in Moldova because of the fog.

Matthias wrote:

Last weekend I could watch everything without registration as well.

Yeah, same with me. I REALLY hope it stays that way!