Posts by StefanS

Quote from Copravolley22

Germany is currently an average team. There are no cannons in attack, no individuality that will take the team forward. They once have Angi Gruen then Kozuch, Fuerst etc. They actually don't even have such names now. German women are currently at a lower team than Canada. That's the truth. Volleyball isn`t very popular there: much less popular not only than football, but also basketball and handball.

Yes, let's face it: USA is always favorite against Germany and now the gap is just too big, if the US girls not throw the match away by themselves.

Quote from arreath

does thailand even have any realistic chance?

No. The only team currently not qualified due Ranking with a chance is Canada.

Really nail-biting: either DomRep wins the ticket in this set or any other or Netherlands with this and the next...

Quote from serdar

Do you guys think drewniok's comeback was any positive addition to the team? I was expecting way more from her considering her more than decent performance last season in turkey. I can imagine she missed most of the prep time with the team this summer but let's be honest opposite position is the easiest one to adjust in such last minute changes compared to other positions so I definitely expected more from her.

And stigrot was brilliant overall this season, I hope she can keep this shape during club season too

She was not in the right phase of preparation for this tournament, because preparation was solely centered to the club season, this came too early for her.

I guess Poland and Netherlands are pretty exhausted after yesterdays five-setters.

Quote from fire_cai_bin

and serbia goes down 1-3.

wtf

The Dominicans can be pretty dangerous, especially when they have a good day. And what I read here suggests that Serbia was below average shape as team...

This German team doesn't deserve to participate in the Olympics to be honest, of course it is not their fault the many injuries weakening the roster (longer in the past Vanjak, than Orthmann and also Hölzig).

Germany again with a major glitch, losing first set badly.

Germany two sets up and now tie-break against Korea.

Quote from litolapid

The most upsetting thing about the THA vs GER game is that THA is losing because of their awful reception.

Thailand has played often against Germany and know their aggressive service. It is really their fault not to cope with it.

Quote from Matthias

And the Asian champion can't even win a set against the 12th ranked team of ECH

Really good performance by German team after a rusty start in 1st set. That win is very important, on the one hand for world ranking but even more for the confidence after the disastrous ECH. However they won't have any chance vs USA, Poland and Italy so it's important not to lose any points against the other teams to at least keep the theoretical chances alive.

Their rather theoretical chance: with the clear win of Belgium and the tie-break success of Canada against Netherlands the chances decreased even more.

Quote from Matthias

Straube's and Weitzel's serves won the 1st set for Germany in the end, apart from that they didn't look very convincing again.

Wanted to write an heroic effort to win the first set, but is for itself useless, because they need to win two to count and three to win, this will prove rather difficult against the Thai as usual.

Quote from Rhaemon

i think they have a spot for each federation?

If they stick to this nonsense it is another point, why 12 teams are too few: if you give two berths to teams, which can't qualify otherwise (here host France and a team of Africa), this is essentially a ten team selection with two additional losers.

Quote from volleySrb

No, Belgium and Germany don't have a chance. Dom, Canada and Netherlands fighting for 2 spots.

Last spot is for Kenya

I thought Africa has no berth anymore? No team from them is in the qualifiers by the way.

Looks like Canada will qualify for the Olympics in Paris (main hunter seems to be Belgium), and Germany will not. Canada deserves it by the way.

Drama between Netherlands (no 9) and Canada (no 11).

Quote from Julian Chow

Thailand’s first match is against Germany today at 1930 gmt+7. The Thais are in a tough group and they are smaller than everyone else, but they are tenacious and have great fighting spirit...

Let’s go Thailand

VolleyBoss

Bets are slightly in favour of Germany to my surprise - I disagree, this is from German view at best 50 : 50 due to several circumstances, like lack of competetitive players in German team mainly due injuries, their problems with Asian teams in general and Thailand getting back some experienced players like Tomkom and winning Asian championship as encouraging result...

German roster for the qualifier in Lodz:

S: Pia Kästner, Sarah Straube

O: Kimberly Drewniok, Rica Maase

OH: Lina Alsmeier, Lena Stigrot, Laura Emonts, Antonia Stautz

M: Camilla Weitzel, Marie Schölzel, Monique Strubbe, Anastasia Cekulaev

L: Anna Pogany, Annie Cesar

Drewniok is not really prepared for the tournament, despite being the only opposite with adequate international experience (playing for Sariyer Istanbul in Turkey). Hanna Orthmann and Annegret Hölzig are out due to heavy knee injuries, so this is kind of what we call "Das letzte Aufgebot" from Germany...

Realistically viewed this is mission impossible for them: in pool C with hosts Poland in Lodz, USA, and even the weaker roster of Italy as Asian champions Thailand they should not get better than fourth in the pool, which is clearly insufficient and such a realistic performance will fail to improve the world ranking to 11 or better (from now 12) also to go to Paris. So even in absence of Russia this will likely not work out for them as so many times in a row at last...

Germany (head coach Heynen, to be precise) could reactivate the retired opposite Kimberly Drewniok for the olympic qualifyer tournament, which is at least an improvement for the team, but chances for them to qualfiy remain rather low.

Meanwhile VBL stated, that licensing Potsdam for first league depends solely on sound financing for the coming season. Of course this doesn't exclude other sanctions for past misbehaving. (For example giving minus points or financial penalties).