Kazan 3:1 Al-Rayyan
Kazan even lost one set to a team that literally visited Brazil as a tour trip. Look at Kazan's starting OH/OPPs, horrible.
Maxim 5/13
Soko 7/17
NG 4/10
It's time for Butko to take a long break. After the injury, Butko never came back to his peak. Loran should take his chance to step up.
Maxim still can not find his rhythm this season. NG must go.
I can't believe how a team with Ngapeth, Mikhailov and Sokolov manages to lose 3:0 to a team with Perrin, Conte and Evandro
Last season Kazan had NG, Anderson and Verbov to cover reception. This season the reception line was NG, Golu and Maxim. You can imagine the level of reception dropped dramatically.
one more set, same plot. Sada 3:0 Kaza
Another horrible match from Kazan this season.
Sada 2:0 Kazan
Kazan played an ugly match so far. Kazan had better OH/OPPs than Sada, but Sada's reception and serves outplayed Kazan in every way. This season Maxim's position was awkward. His reception was shaky, and his attack at pos 4 was not convincing too, partially because of bad pass from Butko. I did not know what NG is doing so far. Looks like he's invisible on court quite often. Only Soko is a solid attacker.
After Verbov retired, Kazan still can not find a good libero to cover the back row. Golu's reception was a nightmare. Sada had 6-round jump serves, while Kazan only had 3-4 (Soko's jump serves did no count. His jump serve has been a joke since 2018). NG's showoff in clutch time failed not only once, but many times. I really doubt how far Kazan can achieve this season, both at Russia League and CL.
why would he? Zhu was robbed by her own club. Ebrar’s team lost yesterday and she made 11 points but 15 errors and hit with %29 yet became the MVP. THIS IS NOT RIGHT.
It’s like it’s Japan but at least their players are not walking around with minus efficiencies.
Yeah, it's far beyond understanding. Sometimes MVP can be awarded to a player even if her team lost. But Ebrar's performance was horrible last night, with a poor attack 29%.
Again, Vakif lost another 5 set game recently. Too many unforced errors killed momentum. They did not have a go-to guy to carry the team in clutch time. Gabi-Haak duo are weaker than Zhu-Sloetjes duo. Even if Vakif now have one of the best setters, it's not enough for them to win.
It's funny, but prior to last season, everybody expected Eczacibasi to dominate due to the partnering of what was then widely considered 2 out of best 3 players in the world, and we know how that turned out. This year, everybody expected Fenerbahce to not only finally be a real contender for the first time in years, but actually to win all domestic competitions (just check earlier in this thread). And indeed, on paper, they have the strongest squad. However, thus far, Eczacibasi has no defeat in any competition, while Fenerbahce has 3 (2 of those to Vitra).
Of course, it's just a start, and Fenerbahce may end up winning both the league and the cup, but in both cases, we were blinded by the names involved, without considering the fact that they were newly constructed teams, with players who don't have much experience playing with each other (at least those most important). It's that factor, continuity of squads from year to year and the experience of playing together, more than any other single factor or player, that contributed to such a profound dominance of Vakifbank over Turkish volleyball in the last decade. And it's exactly that which this year's Vakifbank team most lacks.
I did not see Fener can win all domestic games. Remembered how they lost to Ecz in set #5 a few weeks ago. Their reception is not stable.
Padova 3:2 Trentino
A great match. Even the set #5 was 21:19.
Kovacevic was so off today, which was one of the reasons Trentino struggled in first 3 sets. Cebulj and Djuric played great in last 2 sets.
Hernandez made some crucial spikes in tie break. Ishikawa and Hernandez lost almost all 5-set game at Siena last season (only won one if my memory served well). But today they built up the confidence after pulling out of a touch game. Padova were down at 6:9 in set #5, but made a great comeback.
Danani was amazing on reception, no wonder why he's one of the best liberos in VNL. His solid reception helped Pavoda a lot. Look at Padova's MB attack PT%, you know how great Pavoda's reception was.
It seems nothing could stop Imoco take CL trophy this season, or maybe luck?
Lube 3:1 Perugia
Perugia's blocking was horrible as always. They could not block any fast ball at pos 3. Russo was too weak in the middle, both on attacking and blocking. If DeCecco continues passing the ball like this, I will be surprised if he could get a new contract from Perugia next season. IMHO, Balaso is the MVP of this match. He had solid reception throughout the game, even facing Leon's super serves.
Perugia 3:2 Modena
They won Italy supercup 2019.
Honestly, Perugia was lucky to win this game. They had poor reception, both from Leon and Colaci, and poor blocking as usual.
DeCecco again, proved himself a bad starting setter for a top club like Perugia. He delivered a lot of horrible passes throughout the game. Leon's serves save Perugia's ass in clutch time, both at the end of the set #1 and set #5 at 9:9.
Both Zaytsev and Anderson played a great game, but Bartosz was lost. His several key errors were fatal.
It's not a surprise that a cheesy award list was created by Japan again. Japan ranked No.4 in this WC, but they boldly inserted two Japanese into the best team. If the best team could be selected from a non top 3 team, how about Sanchez? He should be more qualified than Micah for the best setter. IMHO, Alan should be the best OPP and Bruno should be MVP.
It reminds me of Takeshita taking MVP in WCH 2006 when Japan only ranked No.6 in that tournament, one of the biggest jokes in women volley history. I am glad Japan won't be the permanent WC host anymore after this tournament.
BRA 3:2 POL
Now they secured WC 2019 champion. Poland actually played well in set #1 and #2. The turning point was set #2. Drzyzga passed ball to Kubiak twice when Kubiak's on the weak side, and he got blocked twice. At the end of the set #2, Drzyzga insisted to set up the ball to Sliwka at pos 4. Sliwka missed one open-net shot, and got blocked later. So Brazil took the set #2, and the momentum was shifted to Brazil. Bruno outplayed Drzyzga in every way, from serve, pass to defense. Muzaj missed a lot of chances. On other other side, Alan was on fire from beginning to end.
Alan should be the starter OPP for BRA in Tokyo 2020. He improved a lot in last 2 years, both at SESI-SP and NT. Wallace's been on his downhill since Rio 2016.
I am impressed by Sanchez from Argentina. He's such a short setter (1.73m), but did a great job with his solid passes in this tournament.
Japan also showed the improvement. Nishida is a rising star. Even if he's only 1.87m as an OPP. He had great serve and power spike.
The first two sets of BRA vs USA were high quality. Very intense. Both sides showed amazing attack and defense.
Bruno outplayed Micah in this game. Both Micah and Anderson choked.
This WC is predictable. BRA, USA and POL almost nailed top 3 spots. The game of BRA vs USA most likely will decide who's gonna win this title. Without knockout, the schedule is kinda ordinary and less exciting.
Who is this Polansky guy from Argentina. He seems promising no?
He's only 20-year-old, a rookie in U23 team, from a local Argentina club
POL 3:1 ARG
Sanchez is the best short setter I have seen. He's only 5‘7“. Even many female setters are taller than him.
But he had many amazing passes both in this game and the game vs USA.
Look at 6:09
That's why they're called a soccer country. 
USA 3:1 POL
Anderson played very well throughout the whole game. One of the best games from him.
Poland played normal in set #3 and #4, but Leon is not enough to carry the team. Kurek is not totally recovered from surgery.
They need Kubiak.
