Posts by MikeDomitia

Well, do you know how will countries be split into the two pools for these Olympic Games ? For instance, how can you assume that already qualified Brazil, Italy and the USA will be in the same pool A ?

Quote from arman

OK we can now guess OG pools. What we have for (almost) sure is this:
Pool A: Brazil, Italy, US
Pool B: Poland, Russia, Argentina

I want to go further and make some predictions. If we assume we will have Iran from Asia with some other team, it will be like this:
Pool A: Brazil, Italy, US, France, Canada/Australia/Japan, IC. Winner
Pool B: Poland, Russia, Argentina, Iran, Cuba, Af. team

If Iran doesn't qualify and Canada qualifies, we will have the question how to distribute two teams with the same ranking (Canada and France) in pools. If Iran and Canada don't qualify, France will be in pool B. Generally pool A will be a death pool.
Cuba position is different according to teams from Asia (or Canada).

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France will play semi-finals

Quote from korsak

I think it's death group for French.
For French team easy means worse. For example is match against Australia in final WL.
Or match against Italy when French led 2-0 and victory was so close.
But more difficult is better for them. For examlple, they won hard group round and won all important games.

Actually, what you say makes sense ! Even against Puerto Rico, French players didn't play their best volleyball, they hate to play in a false rythme, they need to be kept under pressure constantly, that's why they have been better against strong teams rather than against weaker teams.
But this is 3rd round, stakes are higher, and France is close to what they announced before starting this world championship : a place in the final four.
Plus, Germany doesn't look weak to me at all Laurent Tillie has been cautious in his speech when talking about Germany in the media ... He's not the kind of guy who looks down on any team.

3rd set for France. Thanks Earvin N'Gapeth, he has been determining ! He has scored 17 points already in this match !

Argentina 1 - 1 France. France's playing with much less pressure than in the first set, and Argentina's volleyball is very inconstant rignt now. N'Gapeth is on fire, while Conte has been put off the court ...

Quote from triglav_kran

Hahahaha, Ngapeth

I tuned in at the start of the 2nd set. I really like how this Iranian team plays. Not many jump serves (if any), but they somehow pile up points on their serve due to an organised block and an excellent defence. France are helping a lot with their poor play as well. of course. Probably the only one I'm not that impressed with is the 55-year old taxi driver setter who sometimes gives inaccurate sets (I'm conscious that my basis for forming an opinion is just 1 set, maybe I'll think otherwise at the end of the tournament).

And what about France... I think most of the damage is done by Ngapeth, he is like a plague for his team. His efficiency is way negative, somewhere near the absolute zero. His attack is appalling, his serves in the net and he gets red cards. I can't see why Tillie is keeping him in the field. And the other OH, his son is not impressive as well. So they're left only with middles and opposites. Where's the leftie Lyneel? Is he injured?

Yes, I think Lyneel is still injured.

Excellent 2nd set by the Iranian team ! But some over-zealousness form the 1st referee ... Red card for N'Gapeth wasn't necessary, eventhough his behaviour can be sometimes quite dubious ... A yellow card would have been perhaps more appropriate, as the French OH didn't show any outbreak of violence.

Quote from kondzio

Mistake by Tillie was 4 MBs in match lineup Rouzier had good day, while Marechal was backup for him instead of starting OH unfortunately and I wonder why Sidibe wasn't in match 12

Mory Sidibe is suffering from a left thigh strain right now. He's expected to be back on court against Iran on thursday.

She also played in Spain in 2006, didn't she ? Think she was a player of Spar Tenerefie Marichal at that time, along with Darnel, Lamas, Visser, Rosner, Ibis Fernandez and El-Hammari
I'm dreaming of Tom in RC Cannes Who knows ...

Congrats to Vakifbank ! And BRAVO Cannes ! Very proud of them !
Seeing Vakifbank's girls relief on their faces at the end of the match shows how close was this game ! Always a pleasure to watch that kind of game, it constitutes such a great showcase for high level volleyball ! Eventhough it brings (way too much) stress ... Ok, Gözde's attitude wasn't classy, but she certainly wanted to say by acting like that "2012 is NOT happening again" !

Watching Vakifbank vs RC Cannes ! Trying to be objective, but those line judges must be bloody blind ...

Quote from jo1105

Poor Maret... Hope that it´s not that serious. She is a really nice girl, it´s so sad

A report has been sent on RC Cannes's official Facebook page. The magnetic resonance imaging has confirmed that Maret Grothues is suffering from a total rupture of the left Achilles tendon. She will have surgery by tomorrow ... Unlucky Maret, I'm wondering how long she will be unavailable ...I guess it takes a long time to fully recover from that kind of injury

Quote from Matthias

The rules changed for this season. The points of the team are the decisive factor now - 3 points for 3:0 and 3:1, 2 points for 3:2.

Either way, I'm not a fan of any situation where winning sets becomes more important than winning matches. If Cannes will win the first two sets next weeks, the rest of the match will be a complete waste of time.

Guess you are right Matthias, but that's how the rule is going for this year, so ... I remember that epic quaterfinal between RC Cannes and Vakifbank Istanbul in 2012 ! No doubt that Cannes went to semi final thanks to that Golden Set rule. They first lost the home match 0-3 and then won their away match 3-2, and then seized the Golden Set. Girls out there gave their 100 % on court, they fought very hard, 'cause it was all about winning the match.

Quote from jo1105

Yes you are right!

Also think you are right ! That rule seems much fairer to me !

Quote from flyingdutchman

Maret It was a very strange situation...I'm very curious about the injury..

Looks like Maret Grothues's injury is very serious ... I've just heard she had a total rupture of the Achilles tendon Poor Maret, she has given everything in this match, and that's how it ends .... Life's a bitch sometimes !