World Cup 2011

  • Italy is playing good but do you think if Piccinini and Ortolani is on the squad, would they have the same result?
    I''m glad to see Grun back and give Germany fighting spirit, she is definitely leading the squad with her attacks.
    I don't know what is wrong with brazil but seeing them loosing in 3 sets is not good, i consider then team with excellent player on every position.
    Seeing the squad of USA, they have a very deep bench players, I wonder how Italy will stand if they clash. I'm just wishing Italy to play good and take the win from USA and eventually win the cup. I think Italy can beat USA once again.
    I don't see japan on the picture like they did last year, but i hope they play well.
    China is silent and still rebuilding, something to watch.
    Serbia is disappointing same as Korea.
    Bethania Dela Cruz is a do or die girl, she deserve an award, and Brens is missing in action, they could have done better.

  • Serbia is dissappointing? How come? They are playing without Nikolic,Ognjenovic and Malagurski. In addiction, Brakocevic who was chosen as the MVP of ECH 2011 isn't in her best shape. If I'm not mistaken, She just got back from her injury and is still recovering. Considering This team is extremely young and main players are out of WC, I would totally say They're playing so well. Of course, They don't have chance to win medal now. But no matter. I'm extremely glad to see these young players playing. They are finally getting chance to play.
    I have no idea about Korea, but I totally disagree about Serbia.

  • I don't mean disappoint in a way how they play because seeing young player stepping up like what Italy does with bosetti and Arrighetti is promising.
    I'm a bit disappointed to see Brakocevic not playing, as well as nicolic and rasic as well in a few games.
    I'd like to add that USA has the biggest Opposite players (Hooker & Haneef).
    I'd like to see young Italian player to step up in preparation to Gioli, Piccinini, Del Core & Lo Bianco if they decide to stop playing.

  • now the china NT has high spirits, they have confidence to beat gemany in the last round..come on!

  • anyone uploaded japan-brazil match pls? :obey:

  • he was widely criticized for leaving home young Leonardi...

    I was one of who was absolutly surprised for Leonardi absence, because Barbolini called 3 liberos in the 20 list, and there was no reason imo for Leonardi not being in that list after her European Ch. I think she could have been the second libero, with Croce first (of course she was needed for more balanced reception) ^^

    I am interested to see what happens if Italy does end up winning the tournament with L. Bosetti playing opposite. It seems like they put her there as a last resort but now that we've seen what she can do I wonder how good could she be if she trained further to play that position for Italy full-time. When Ortolani comes back her position may not be guaranteed.

    I just hope she'll be on court, I don't care in which position. I like this girl so much! And it seems pretty clear that Ortolani isn't Barbolini first chose (moving Gioli in 2 made that quite obvious imo), so it may be possible the she will have to fight to be titoular, even if she is the only proper opposite Barbolini is considering.


    Me too! I hope Crisanti will have a place in the new generation ^^

  • world cup has not yet ended, but i will already post my review of it. this post of mine IS LONG. but please bear with me cuz this is the last time i will be posting on this site for awhile... work and all... hehehe... ;)


    it's hard for me to explain what has happened to brazil in this tournament. seeing thaisa and fabi cry makes it more difficult. true, many of their OH are injured. but with the current set of players they have now, they SHOULD have a less problem defeating other teams and not being beaten 3-0! they're definitely tired (from pan american cup straight to the world cup). brazilian B team should have played in peru, not this team.

    before, the only problem they have is the setter's position. now, everything in them is in shambles. dani lins continue to be an unreliable setter. she is definitely a more creative setter than fabiola or ana tiemi, but as she continues to play erratically, it makes me wonder if she deserves to be the main setter. hell, ana tiemi outplayed her in the yetsin cup! ana tiemi ran combination plays not seen in the Brazilian Team A for quite some time now. I don't know if Guimares should also be put into blame regarding this problem, the way he shouts and tells the setter(s) to whom to give the ball every now and then (ala Karpol?). ?( both fabiola and dani lins had been on the team for quite sometime now. but after all these time, they haven't managed to improve. with only 7/8 months away from the oympics, this problem is what worries me more than anything else... ;(

    sheilla and mari: guimares should have replaced sheilla with tandara in this tournament all the way. there are times when she will play well, but most of the time she is dormant on court. she's not the 'go-to' player that she was before and this is one bad tournament for her. the same goes for mari, though she is worse, a LOT worse! in the pan american cup until early on this tournament, she is acceptable in reception and attack (nowhere near her attack level before, but sill can pummel balls). but suddenly, mid-way through, she lost gas and suddenly she looks as if she is a beginner (i've seen 12 year olds with better reception than her!!!!!). also, being BLOCKED by TAKESHITA (5'3)???come on!!!! (good work takeshita, by the way... :dance6: ) someone here mentioned sheilla and mari's break-up affecting the team's dynamic: i hope not. as athletes, this is their work and personal matters shouldn't affect their work. :cursing:

    libero: brait over fabi. based from what i've seen in this competition and in the brazilian league, camila brait is currently brazil's best libero. it's good to see her playing in this tournament, though, even just a defensive substitute. but i really prefer her over fabi right now.

    guimares: guimares' closed group mentality is now haunting him! between 2009-2011, there are a lot of tournaments from which he can train young players, prepare them for the national team, and gradually insert them into Team A. but NOOOO, he is always confident about his current players and always bring just a maximum number of 14 players in all brazil's tournament, even though he can bring more. look at what happened now. with his usual roster unable to play due to injuries, he struggles to find a suitable substitute. he got lucky with garay but she wouldn't be here in the first plays if mari and paula didn't have those injuries! also, i really dislike his attitude in this tournament. why can't he accept the fact that his team isn't really fit to compete in this tournament? he always blame other people/things when his team is on a pinch. very ungentlemanly attitude!

    the positive side of brazil:

    thaisa and fabiana: brazilian middles as deadly as ever. thaisa continue to be the wall that she is. fabiana, after all these years of under-performing, finally stepped up her game! i think being replaced in the starting line-up as the 1st middle to thaisa made fabiana work harder. :rolll:

    paula pequeno: at the start of the world cup, paula is the service target for other teams. she has no reception whatsoever. her attacks can easily be countered, the ratio of her errors are high, and she is replaced by either sassa or garay. i think garay's injury and mari's continued silence on court paved way for paula to wake up. she just wowed me in their match against china. would it be too much for me to wish for her to get to the form she had pre-2009? ;(

    injuries and many other problems aside, brazil IS still one of the top teams. it's true that they are terrible in this tournament (they have one heck of a terrible year). but i have long accepted that they are somewhat cursed in world championships and world cups. remember: they had a bad 2007 year, but suddenly at 2008, they were invincible. i still believe that they can easily go back the form they have shown in the past. having said all these, i don't think 1 bad tournament is NOT enough to erase ALL brazil's great performances. this year alone, even with injured players, the only team that has really pushed brazil is usa.

    widening of the pyramid:

    with brazil's removal as a medal contention for the world cup, other teams have announced that they are ready for london next year!!! i can't wait for 2012! it's not just brazil vs usa or brazil vs russia anymore, which is like breathing fresh air!!! :super:


    the (current) best team in the world cup, they are the favorites, not only to win this tournament, but also for next year's olympics. winning 2 grand prix in a row, they are the crowd's favorites. lindsey berg is improving by heaps and bounds. :rose: and scott arruda, my all time favorite, 5 olympics, please (w/ brazil's fofao)!!

    however, USA should NOT be too complacent. they may be the strongest team now (besides italy), but, they can be beat as proven by germany. in my opinion, they have 1 main weakness: the moment one of the starting six under performs, they become troubled. this is the case with larson. larson was completely magnificent last grand prix, but now she is erratic. i always thought of her as a player with great defense but only passable offense but last grand prix have proven me wrong. now though, both her reception and spikes are somewhat lacking. with her under performing, she is replaced by megan hodge , and that's where the problem starts. besides logan and larson, usa's other OH are not quite 'there' yet. don't get me wrong, hodge and co. are great players, but compared to logan and larson.... they are lacking in some fundamentals. hodge's offense and jump serve, for instance are really good but her reception is left to be desired sometimes (still not as BAD as kim glass's though... :roll: ).


    hat's off to barbolini for developing this very balanced team (and for finally putting gioli back to middle position :thumbsup: ). balance: (1) they are magnificent in ALL categories. digs, reception, attacks, you name it!! and together with eleonora lo bianco, just superb!!!!; (2) right mixture of old and young players.

    what i like about this team is the moment one of them suddenly become unavailable for play (such is the case with ortalani), there are a whole pack of (young and hungry for experience) players waiting in the bench, to enter the court. really, i think barbolini learned from his mistakes last grand prix. piccinnini is definitely not missed! costagrande and company are doing a magnificent job in her place!!! speaking of piccinini, i still wish her return to the national team. she has always been a great wing spiker. but unless she improve her reception and defense, i'm putting my bet on the italy's current OH. they are having a great time on court.

    italy may/may not win the world cup. but they are definitely entering london next year. BUT, i hope they can maintain this form. they also won last 2007 world cup. but after that, it became hard for them and at the 2008 beijing olympics, the best they can do is in the top 8 (quarter finals with usa, as far as i can remember...). so please, PLEAASSE, maintain this form italy!!!

    germany: i think germany has always been a powerhouse every since grun entered the team years ago. and now that she's back, their team is even stronger. the problem with them is consistency. consistency: (1) they are playing so well today, but tomorrow it may not be the same; (2) they have a great start in a set, but suddenly the will make mistakes and let the opposing team win even though they are leading a whole 20 points away (or something like that :rolll: ). they have a very admirable world cup tournament though... :win:

    serbia: - serbia for next year's olympics? who knows? they have an excellent set of hitters and very controlled play. if they can diversify their attacks, they can definitely be a medal contention. but against a top team, they can be beat 3:0. the greatest advantage they have now, though, is their age. with their ages averaging just 20 years of age, they may or may not be a medal contention here at the world cup, or even at next year's olympics, but they have all these years ahead to continue to improve. who knows? they may defeat brazil again next year, or even at the 2016 olympics, on the brazilians' own turf?

    china: - truthfully, i haven't seen china's matches. the only match i've seen is their match against brazil. and what a match that was! actually, even though i'm all for brazil, i was rooting for #26, zhang lei. she reminds me of zhou suhong, she's all over the court! :D


    all in all, it's one very exciting and unpredictable world cup!! the only thing that i'm really against is the grueling schedule!!! what would it take for FIVB to notice that their timetable s*cks? all the players with broken bones and twisted ankles??

  • I'm pretty sure that the match between China and Germany on the last day of the competition will be a bronze medal match :!: that is so exciting how the world cup ends :dance6:


    I think this game is a tough match and will play in tie-break.If it's so,that will be more interesting.These two teams always played in tie-break since these two years. I want Germany wins more.

  • I have one question...what is the first criteria when two teams have the same number of points? It is the number of victories? Or the ave. of sets?

  • I guess that criteria is: points, number of wins, sets ratio, points ratio

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game



    I was asking cause if it is victories, then Italy just need the victory against Kenya, no matter what the other results are...cause the worse situation for them would be they just win Kenya and reach 26 points...and Germany and China win next both matches, arriving in last match with 24 and 25 points each. since they meet, if any of the teams win 3x0 or 3x1, this team would pass Italy but the one that lost no, so Italy would be qualified as third team. If Germany wins 3x2, then the three teams would be with 26 points, but since Italy would end with 2 defeats, and China and Germany with 3, Italy would also pass.

    So Italy just need to win one match now (and they face Kenya).

  • This was on the FIVB website for the last World Cup:

    In case of tie of matches won and loss by two or more teams (match points) the points ratio (points quotient) instead of the sets ratio (set quotient) will be applied to establish the final ranking. "



    Thank u!
    Though in last World cup there was still not the new pointing system of 3, 2 and 1 point I guess they kept that of making number of wins first makes more sence.

  • Brasil needs a break...i mean the whole team! :S

    And next year, Natália, Jaqueline and Garay will be back! :dance6:

  • TV ratings in Japan are pretty high in the Tokyo area for the Japanese team in this article.…5/spk1111150501000-n1.htm

    Friday's game against Serbia had a 14.8 rating.
    Saturday's game against South Korea had a 15.4 rating, which was even higher than that of the Japan Series for professional baseball championship games (9.2)
    Sunday's game against Brazil had a 16.3 rating.

  • And please God, what happened to Mari?

    I really think that she's not taking this tournament seriously! She doesn't seem worried at all, or sad for the situation! :what:

  • I have updated the advanced statistics for the World Cup.…I5Z1I3YnNSQnpfZEhIZ2o2Rmc

    Leading players on a per set average.
    1. Destinee Hooker, USA 4.35
    2. Carolina Costagrande, Italy 4.17
    3. Milena Rasic, Serbia, 3.52

    Most positive points
    1. Bethania de la Cruz de Pena, Dominican Republic, 168
    2. Costagrande, 125
    3. Saori Kimura, Japan, 123

    Most negative points
    1. De la Cruz de Pena, 68
    2. Mercy Moim, Kenya, 66
    3. Everlyne Makuto, Kenya, 64

    Most net positive points
    1. Costagrande & De la Cruz de Pena, 100
    3. Junjing Yang, China, 90
    4. Hooker, 87

    Most individual sets won
    1. Costagrande, 6.94 sets
    2. Lydia Oulmou, Algeria, 6.56
    3. Yang, 5.91
    4. Hooker, 5.25

    Also, I have added a team statistics page.

    The top portion of the chart has the positive and negative point totals for each team.

    Points scored per set minus errors
    1. USA, 13.92
    2. Italy, 12.81
    3. Germany, 11.59
    4. Japan, 11.19
    5. China, 10.47
    6. Brazil, 10.38
    7. Serbia, 9.20
    8. Dominican Republic, 7.34
    9. Argentina, 5.04
    10. South Korea, 3.12
    11. Kenya, 2.41
    12. Algeria, 0.96

    The bottom chart is the estimated number of offensive possessions, offensive points (spikes+blocks+aces-spike error-serve error-set error), offensive points per 100 possessions (points divided by possessions x 100) and then the same for the defense.
    The difference on the far right is the offensive points per 100 possessions minus the defensive points per 100 possessions.

    A good defensive team will have a lower number, while a good offensive team will have a higher number.

    Best offensive team per 100 possessions
    1. Italy, 26.17
    2. USA, 25.23
    3. China, 22.88
    4. Japan, 22.08
    5. Germany, 21.96
    6. Brazil, 19.84

    Best defensive team per 100 possessions
    1. USA, 9.59
    2. Italy, 13.85
    3. Dominican Republic, 14.41
    4. Germany, 14.50
    5. Brazil, 15.28
    6. Japan, 16.01

    Best difference from offense to defense (set wins)
    1. USA, 15.64 (21)
    2. Italy, 12.34 (24)
    3. Germany, 7.46 (21)
    4. Japan, 6.07 (18)
    5. China, 5.10 (22)
    6. Brazil, 4.55 (16)
    7. Dominican Republic, 0.39 (11)
    8. Serbia, -1.83 (14)
    9. Argentina, -7.10 (9)
    10. South Korea, -14.15 (5)
    11. Kenya, -14.48 (3)
    12. Algeria, -18.55 (4)

    China has actually out performed where they should be when compared to Germany and Japan. The Dominican Republic has been great on defense, but they make too many mistakes on offense.