Posts by Janko

crovolley wrote:

Italy has chance to win all 6 matches. Their defence is amazing, if they stoped so easy Zhu Ting than I don't see any other reason why they can't stop Biskovic or Tandara(who is not on their level). Italy looks perfect as team now when everyone is their. Bosetti-De Gennaro-Sylla defence is amazing. Sylla is helpgin Egonu a lot in attack so if they keep to play like the did We can see surprises...

Remember last year? Italy looked amazing in F6 of WGP, and then their atrocious ECh campaign was terminated with a humiliation by Netherlands in quarters just a few months later...

Meatballs wrote:

Since Naz will return in the second half of the season, it will be silly for Vakifbank to keep Cagla,

Is that official, or are you just guessing?

Anyway, it will be a real shame after this summer's performance in NT for Meliha to be relegated to bench. On the other hand, one must keep in mind that KYK is on record for complaining about the length of Turkish season, so one wonders whether the trump card that Vitra used to clinch her signature is their argument that they have competent replacement for her on their roster, and that she can play much less matches (especially in the domestic league) than if she had signed for Fener...

Also, Larson is not so young anymore, 32 coming upon 33.

sitenoise wrote:

Japan Fanboy here

Japan beat Italy without Erika Araki, Sarina Koga, Miyu Nagaoka, Yuri Nabeya, (or Haruka Miyashita).

I understand most people here don't follow/care much about Japan, or have a strong notion of who their "A Team" is, but it's why I like them and why I've said: If you can only win with a special 6 or 7 players--You don't have a team.

Woah, someone should inform Golden State Warriors that they don't have a team!

JoanaBG wrote:

It's actually not, and certainly wasn't at the time Đoković and the gang were starting out. There's been a tennis boom a sort since, but that sport is still way too expensive for most people to pick it up. I don't think there's any rational explanation as to how we got to have so many great players, at the same time no less. And Ivanović and Janković were hideously underappreciated while they were on top, but that's another story.

It's like I wrote this post! Sign every word!

As for Ivanovic, she represented a very interesting (and revealing) test of collective psychology for us as a sport-viewing nation. In her case, a pathological tendency to only root for winners and to spit on those who until yesterday we idolised as soon as they stop winning, went to war against a nasty sexist habit of only appreciating female athletes in direct proportion to their attractiveness.

And in her case, the former psychological tendency won out, so even though she was world #1 and a grand slam winner, as well as breathtakingly cute/beautiful, she was pronounced a failure and regularly derided by an average sport fan here.

And I also apologise for this off-topic.

Russia is leading 1-0 in sets, and 16-10 in the second set, and Karpol is yelling like they are slowly cutting off his leg...

Perspective, eh?!

Harrison wrote:

You always have great talents.Morever your players are usually very athletic.What's the secret of Serbia

Well, as far as athleticism, it has to do with the fact that Balkan nations are some of the tallest, on average, in the world. Whenever I speak with a foreign friend of mine, and we touch on the subject of height, I have trouble making them believe just how tall the female population under the the age of 30 is on average here. It's truly mind-boggling, but I, who am 188 cm tall (6.2 feet), which I am given to believe is significantly above average in many countries, rarely meet a girl my age (or younger) who is significantly shorter than me.

As for talent pool, other than the luck of having an amazingly strong 90-92 generation, and coming upon a prodigy like Tijana Boskovic (which is more luck than anything else, really), it has to do with the fact that female volleyball is, by far, the #1 most popular female sport here, and that an abnormally high percent of the young female population is playing it. I once came upon some figures, and in relation to total country's population, it would be akin to 1.5 million Turkish girls training volleyball (or 3.5 million Brazilian, or 5.5 American etc.).

Canter wrote:

indeed!
id like to watch Serbian young talents...we have watched only Milenkovic so far..i hope Terzic let Katarina Lazovic play at the 5th week
even Buşa hasnt had much playing time so far..has she ?
if he intends to give the younger players a chance then what about opposite Sara Lozo ?

how about the following lineup ?

Mirkovic - Lozo
Milenkovic- Lazovic
Popovic - Aleksic
Popovic

btw..i know nothing about Lazovic and Lozo ...a little mention about them is appreciated

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I would REALLY like if we were to play with that lineup in fifth week!

Milenkovic, Aleksic, Lazovic and Lozo were the 4 best players in Serbian league this past season, but I'm not (yet) all that high on Lozo. I will have to see her play more to reach some solid conclusions.

But the first 3 are really promising (except Milenkovic's receive, obviously)! I especially like Lazovic, since I feel she might finally be that much coveted 2nd world-class OH that we so badly need. But Aleksic also shows a great promise (yes, yet another potentially world-class Serbian MB, how surprising! ). Think of her as slightly less promising Zehra, if you will.

JoanaBG wrote:

I thought we'd see her as well. Perhaps she's been injured. It does make sense that she'll not play next week as they want to clinch the F6 spot so the main squad will be going to the Netherlands. And if it happens, I do believe she'll be going to Argentina if fit.
And hey, he's not playing Buša! It's already a miracle enough.

I think having this golden generation* at his disposal has made Terzic a lot more apprehensive/reluctant at testing new players while still in their "teens" since 2014/2015. Prior to that, he regularly included players still in their second decade even on the biggest competitions who would go on to become world-class players. Spasojevic and Djerisilo since they were 19(though that was a different time, prior to any success of our NT); Veljkovic and Boskovic since they were 17; Rasic and Brakocevic since 18 etc.

*And it is a golden generation (2015-now), no matter that we have had success prior to any member of it but Maja becoming part of the NT. And Maja is something of a special case, since she is actually part of that older generation who simply lasted long enough to get into the narrative of this new, "golden" generation. Prior to 2015, we simple never had 6 world-class players at the same time, all of whom could be said to be in the Top 10 in their respective positions (well, maybe Veljkovic is among Top 15).

Terzic's resistance to trying out Katarina Lazovic is really starting to get on my nerves! It's starting to look so ridiculous that I'm not even sure she will play if/when they send a B team to Week 5.

Yeah, Ezgi is very short, unfortunately. Too bad, since it does constitute a disadvantage and she has some talent. It would be a shame for that talent to go to waste.

Btw, I see I forgot to say how amazed I was (again) by Zehra's performance! She seems to progress every day this summer! Congrats Turkish posters, you have already found a worthy heir to Eda Erdem!

Now I'm really curious what Meliha will do, especially now that her solid NT play is bringing her more acclaim. If she stays, competition on OH in Vitra will be insane (unless they definitely move Hande to Opp)!

So, Hande stays in Vitra, eh? I thought that will happen, even though many have hoped that she will move in order to play more. Girl obviously likes playing in top club, competing for trophies and having famous team-mates over playing a starting minutes. Not everyone can have the same competitive drive.

Sidney wrote:

Do you know if that is even mathematically possible? With so many teams close in the ranking

Yes, it is mathematically possible.

If Serbia were to win all 3 matches next week, they would be sitting on 11 victories. It is just possible but extremely improbable that 5 teams will have more than 11 victories. In fact, if Serbia were indeed to have 11 victories after 4 weeks, than only 5 teams can possibly be better than her (other than irrelevant China). Russia, one of those 5, has an extremely difficult 4th week, where they could well lose all 3 matches (but even a single loss will knock their chances of surpassing Serbia in this scenario)


To make a long story short, if Serbia were to win all 3 matches in Week 4, and Russia to lose 1, then she will indeed have already secured a place in F6 even before Week 5.

LLOYD wrote:

I don't know you are Turkish user or Turkish fans it really not interesting for me. You can root who you like. But my advice to you please try not to be ass-kisser you seem ass-kisser one

Well, you don't SEEM an ill-mannered troll. You ARE one, so...

Anyway, I am not at all satisfied with Serbia's level so far in this competition, despite having the 8-1 score. Of those 8 victories, only 3 were achieved with a truly great level of game (ironically, one of those, against Belgium, was achieved with almost the complete starting team being rested). Atrocious reception, that old blight of ours, is primed to to again bite us in the ass toward the end of the competition. The level of Mihajlovic, Milenkovic, Popovic and the 2 setters wildly vacillate between games, from glory to despair.

On the other hand, Milenkovic and Aleksic show some signs of future greatness. Perhaps we will have yet another world-class MB soon.

How long will LLOYD's ill-mannered trollish behaviour be tolerated? I know that, unlike most internet trolls, he actually makes some relevant contributions , but surely there must be a limit?

beri wrote:

Yea ahaha he's like: Indeed Russian girls dislike the Turkish players and the Brazilian players, yea maybe they also dislike Italians. And oh well they don't like the Serbians either. Other then that they dislike only DR, Netherlands, China, Japan, Korea, Poland etc. It is just personal, the Russians are clearly not the problem Even though most others seem to be getting along very well.

lol in all seriousness I do like some Russian players and not all of them are cold, Gamova is such a sweety for example and I LUV Kosheleva as well. Not to mention I have been a fan of Zaryazhko's eyebrows for years now, I could only wish mine could ever be that snatched.

Btw: I just realized I said Gamova is such a sweety I know on court she can seem wild at times but in her personal life from what I have seen she seems like genuinely a wonderful person

The only Russian player I ever had problem with, attitude-wise, is Kosheleva. The ice-queen personas of Gamova and Goncharova, I never had issue with. Indeed, I welcomed it, as something adding to the flavour of volleyball.

But no matter how much the fiery passion of Kosheleva's has endured her to many fans, sometimes it led to her to pick completely unnecessary feuds and spats. Indeed, the instance that most sticks to mind is the spat Koshe had with Boskovic in 2015, during World Cup. This is the same Boskovic who never before or after had any feud or argument with any other player, and for whom no one has said a bad word, for being a troublemaker or anything of the sort.

In Russia-Serbia match, Koshe on several occasions indulged in a very obvious thrash-talk when she would score over Tijana (complete with yelling in her direction). It got so ugly-looking that even Goncharova, ice-queen that she is, had to visibly restrain Koshe, and to tell her to quit it (as well as raise a hand in apology toward Tijana).

LLOYD wrote:

Russian players have problem with Turkish, Brazilian players, sometimes Italian players too. They most time said that they didn't like Brazilian, Turkish players' attitudes on court, they were looking at them laughing, try to destroy their nerve. I don't think our players are cold towards others. They are obvious don't like Turkish, Brazilian players. I remember Kosha had problem with Boskovic too. They are playing volleyball on court and everything affect them. Our players were guests of TV programs and they most time said that their problem with Turkish, Brazilian, sometimes Serbian and Italian players too. It is not related to be cold blooded. I think it is something personally stuff

Yeah, it's all those other girl's fault. Heaven forbid that the factor in common, Russian girls, be guilty of anything! All the rest of the world is against them!

Turkey's additional trouble tomorrow (besides being the weaker team on paper) is that they just played an exhausting game (which they lost), while Serbia had a slightly more intense practice session with Belgium (with Boskovic being rested). They really needed to win this game.

How do you manage to sound like sour grapes after you WIN, LLOYD?!

Regardless of the coaching boost (and there is no denying that Giu is one of the best coaches in the world, and that under his management several Turkish players have noticeable grown as players), Turkey very obviously has a great, promising young team, which is backed by their successes in the junior competitions of the last 3-4 years. Even if they are lead by someone else, Turkey would still be in the Top 10 teams in the world, IMO.