Wang Yuanyuan seems to favored by Lang Ping. Maybe she will be the third MB in Tokyo? Though we still have to see how the season goes and how they play during VNL as that will be their last chance to show their skills.
Expect Wang Yuanyuan and Yang Han-yu to play a lot in the 2020 VNL along with other subs and reserves! The great festive testing ground.
When a team has clinched their positions for the next round, the coach has the option to rest players. So last year Serbia had clinched their spot in the 3rd round and chose not to start their normal roster against Japan. Japan won the match and then needed to win two sets against Brazil to advance to the 3rd round. Brazil did not win against Germany and had match points in that match early which kept them out of the 3rd round. USA needed help from a full strength China roster in their final 2nd round match against Russia to advance. China did play their first string team and won.
The FIVB has tried to prevent “gaming the system” with additional draws later in Olympics and World Championship.
I think the reason we see 3 team groups now is to prevent the gaming of the system later in tournaments.
China could very well saved its team energy by playing bench players, a very legitimate decision, instead of its starting line-up against the RUS team. That match outcome ain't significant for China at all, which already secured its spot. And that might be Lang Ping's very silly fault to play a high sportsmanship, when the SRB team already set the tactical example first. And really, who could complain about that SRB's tactical decision that ended up with that match owned by the host team and eventually kicked out the BRA team?? I blamed Lang Ping for her such naivety!
I just hope that Lang would have learnt good lessons from that situation!
Is russia locked for a podium?
if brazil win 3-0 would it snatched the bronze?
ROSSIYA is well locked into podium. Only we can't be sure for 100% her medal colour at present. Most likely bronze is the colour but by some godly touch she can just end up in silver 
I'm asking you since you brought it up remembering this vividly. Nothing surprising to lose against an unknown team that defeated Poland. Serbia on the other hand...
I really don't believe the Brazilian team and its true fans ever forget the Brazilian early exit from the 2018 World championships in Japan
Why don't you go watch Top Model? Another stupid comment from you, shocker
WHY BE SO RUDE ??? Just skip it if you didn't like what I posted!! Yeah you're the smarter class here 
Had I enjoyed watching the silly anorectic fashion model I wouldn't have been here! 
Btw you can add me in your ignored list if you don't like my post! No need to act uncivilized here!!
Mina Popovic was amazing....and so was Mirkovic by feeding her the ball.
Very disappointing that Busa was taken out so early on....It was great they won 2 sets with Milenkovic, but Busa should have replaced Blagojevic in the 3rd set.
Had Serbia sent their A roster, tonight we would be watching the Gold Medal Match.....I`m still curious to see what Serbia will do against China tonight.
Indeed it suspiciously looked like the SRB team played NOT to win against JPN yesterday. Some thought the SRB team voluntarily plans to relegate its WR for the sake of the serpentine pool placement in the 2020 Tokyo OG.
Like some said here, the 2020 OG Gold medal is the only target of the Terzic team right now after grabbing both WCH and ECH, World Cup and WR are nothing for them, all can be ditched for the utmost sake of the Olympics Gold.
Time will divulge wether this strategy is exercised or not.
Display MoreSouth Korea wins over Brazil since 2002 as follows:
2002 World Champ 5th Place Semifinal 3-2
2003 World GP 3-0
2012 Olympics Pool Play 3-0
and today.
That's it.
Brazil leads series at 16-4 (2002 to now) with today's result.
Thanks brahmin for the info. Well last was in 2012, seven years ago… long enough, no wonder Lucas mentioned it as a historic win! And any victory on the Three Major Championships is surely the one worth to remember, a win of substance!
Korea is known for strong service. They will be sure to take a page out of China's match with the USA and throw everything they've got at Courtney.
But I love to watch Courtney!!! She's way more attractive to watch than the little JWO and who knows if the beautiful Courtney will play her match of this tournament tomorrow 
Russia still have a shot at winning silver medal.
Korea have been improving and it is not impossible for Korea to beat USA.
RUS and NED were fortunate that the KOR team rested KYK in its matches against these two teams 
which was a fortune not being granted to SRB team later on.
OMG! What a historic win by the South Korean team over the Brazilian team!!! 
What's the very last time KOR NT A beat BRA NT A in any match of substance???
For BRA by this loss, lost also the opportunity for the Bronze medal.
The FIVB TV quality Commentator (Lucas Clayton!? / Simon Golding!?) kept on saying "Amanda hit with anger" in the 4th set, being upset for losing the medal party…
Being away, can hardly follow the match earlier.
I am quite sure the olympics are a great priority for all the players and especially for the federation. I am quite sure the current economic problems in Turkey and Turkish liras being down against € (sorry, dont know about economics terms much ) had an effect on this. 1€=6.19 Turkish liras rigt now. On the other hand I think the Dutch federation wanted this so much after seeing their ECH performance against Turkey so this may have an effect also. I wonder how much money they offered.
Yeah, your explanation does make sense. Under financial/economic stress (btw the decreased exchange rate is called depreciation) shifting the priority In TUR's case vis-à-vis the increased appetite by Dutch to host that event to jack up its odds.
I wonder whether CEV FIVB eventually makes it transparent or not the bidding conditions of the winner, at least by disclosing the amount of money offered and so forth... just curious 
Matches on SATURDAY, September 28 in Osaka
It seems another Olympics-free year for Turkish team
The Netherlands are a clear favourite now. Being host was so cruical for Turkish team.
I wonder why Turkey did not strive harder to win the host bidding... I don't think the Turkish VB federation lacks of resources compared to the Dutch VB federation in this regard. It seems just a matter of priority or focus... or anything else that we may not know?
I think Turkey has a good team in this cycle, thus a good opportunity for a contest in 2020 Olympics.
SRB - JPN - DOM being in the 4-5 segment but the host team is in better position with relatively easier opponent to come.
sitenoise must feel happy today that JPN won the match against SRB after trailing 2 sets.
And M. Sato is sweet in close-up 
SRB just handed over the 5 set to the host by serving net steadily 
So much lagging in my FIVB TV streaming that I wasn't aware it already happened LOL
The Dutch seemed pretty good vs China at the world cup yesterday
The match of CHN v NED was done today 27 Sep by the hosting time zone
NED--TUR--POL a three horse race most likely, with GER as the dark horse.
Being host will increase the odds of NED team. Had TUR hosted this event, most likely TUR would have been the hot favourite.
We demand a tie break in this match... JPN v SRB !!! 
The Dutch team once again proved itself as a formidable opponent to the Chinese team. As the widely quoted analyses among the Chinese sport media, both the media and the coaching team took the Dutch team very seriously, They all sensed that the Dutch team wouldn't be an easy opponent, and victory would be a struggling fighting, far from an easy trip. Good that mentality strength of the Chinese team is very strong and they took the challenge patiently to get through it. And Lang is a very keen coach!
Now passing the NED team, the Gold medal is almost on hand. Tomorrow's match against the SRB team will confirm the outcome officially!
CHN 9-0 / 26 pts / set ratio 27-3
USA 8-1 / 22 pts / set ratio 24-9
'
"This match remains wide open and it's up to grab" --> match commentator
The 5-4 segment has NED (5th) and KOR (6th).
