This thread is mainly about the Men's Indoor competition, which I am most excited about, however I will still be keeping track of the women's tournament and the beach for both genders. So feel free to talk about either form of the game.
Men's Pools
Pool A Great Britain - I am fairly sure that they will be a free-win for the rest of the pool, I'm not aware of any notable achievements by the host country. Italy - Certainly a medal hope, with what I am given to understand is a fairly new international lineup compared to recent years. Poland - Probably one of the favourites for the gold medal? Kurek seems like he could be one of the dominant players of the tournament, and they have been strong in international competition recently Argentina - My dark horse, I love the way they play, however might not have the raw power to compete evenly with the top teams. Looking forward to seeing Luciano de Cocco and Facuno Conte Bulgaria - Traditional European powerhouse team, however will be interesting to see how they cope with the loss of Kaziyski Australia - My home country, qualifying in only their 3rd olympic tournament. Will be a surprise if they beat anyone other than GB, and are unfortunately missing star opposite Paul Carroll with a shoulder injury. However they did qualify beating Iran and China without him, so hopefully can make for competitive games. Have a very young team (average age about 23-24) and have plenty of height.
Pool B Brazil - Always a threat in any tournament. Not as dominant as they were between 2002-2007 but still a chance for the gold Russia - My bet for the gold, just a massive team with a great setter, and Mikhailov is an absolute star. USA - defending gold medallists, but might find it tough to go back to back. I'm not sure what state this team is in right now, heard they had a few injury worries and some puzzling team selections. Serbia - With this pool stacked as it is, they might find it tough but should make quarter finals at least. I loved what I saw of them at the qualifying tournament, particularly Nikic and Kovacevic from the pass-hitter position. Germany - Don't actually know much about this team, although apparently their opposite Grozer is in really solid form. Might find it hard to progress in this pool though. Tunisia - Kind of an unknown, but given they had the easiest continental qualifier, probably not going to be able to beat anyone in their pool.
Predictions for Quarter finals
From Pool A, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria and Argentina are the obvious choices, with a faint chance of Australia sneaking in a win against Argentina or Bulgaria instead.
Pool B is harder, Russia and Brazil will almost certainly go through, but I think anything could happen between USA, Germany and Serbia, though I favour the USA going through.
Cheers for starting this thread. I am very excited about the men's indoor tourney myself. I've got the tickets for preliminary round (29th July). Will watch poland and brazil. I am polish married to brazilian so there is plenty to cheer for. I hope for poland vs brazil final, naturally.
I agree with your predictions. I have a feeling that australia might sneak a victory or two. USA team will definetely go far. Their team spirit usually gives them an advantage in major tournaments.
Poland hwaiting!!!
NaDa and Boxer 4Ever. SC 4Life. - IntoTheRain the coolest nickname in Starcraft history -
I'm super excited for this tournament. As a Brazilian, and a volleyball player, the Brazilian team is my favourite to win. I saw Brazil play Canada a month or so ago for FIVB in Toronto, and Canada beat them. Mind you, Brazil was missing a few key players. I doubt the USA will go as far as they did in Bejing, just because their line-up has aged a lot. I predict Brazil, Poland, and Russia to finalists.
00Zarathustra Bolivia. July 23 2012 01:35. Posts 329
Poland is the great favorite for this. They Just recently won the Word League and all their players are young and talented. They have the best outside hitter: Kurek The best opposite hitter: Bartman The best middle blocker: Mozdzonek (He got injured in the Word League finals tho) The best libero: Ignaczak The best setter: Zygadlo Just add Winiarski and Nowakowski to the mix and you have a full S class Team.
Also their pool is the easiest one with only Bulgaria and Italy presenting some danger. Bulgaria is missing some key players and suffering internal troubles so that leaves only Italy to maybe take a game from Poland.
On the other pool we have Brazil, USA, Russia, Serbia as strong teams, and Germany has been also very strong lately.
Brazil has too many injured players (Giba, Murilo, Dante and Vissotto) I don't now why Bernardo choose to take Visotto as Opposite hitter instead of Theo. With Theo out, Wallace is the only hope for Brazil. All the other star players are already old and injured, they will not play their 100%
USA is the strongest team there but they choke under pressure, if they can play their best without losing composure they will win this pool and maybe they will have a chance vs Poland. The other problem with USA is they overuse Stanley, he is the best player they have but he can't win alone. Anderson needs to step up as main Outside hitter to open the net for Stanley.
Russia and Serbia are my favorites for this pool if USA doesn't play their best (I doubt they will) Russia's block is just the best there is and Serbia is a very all around team like Poland. They didn't get a better spot in the World League because they were both on the Death Group with Cuba. (And because Brazil is IMBA when then play in Brazil)
Overall I would bet for Gold for Poland, Silver for Russia amd bronze for either Serbia or Italy.
I'm cheering for Poland and I would like to see a Brazil Poland finals. But I don't think Brazil players are ready to play their best yet. I hope they prove me wrong and make it to the finals, that way Poland will not win too easily. :D
I play volleyball, and played with one of the guys on the USA team, gogo USA!! Also I'm looking forward to the beach tournament because beach takes so much skill as well.
The US has some aging players but a few of the younger ones have the ability to be the best in the world
Marine -> masters
n.DieJokes United States. July 23 2012 03:24. Posts 3272
On July 23 2012 03:24 n.DieJokes wrote: I can't believe this is about Men's Indoor
Well, its the most entertaining form of the game
I get that Beach is more skillful than indoor, but indoor is a lot more entertaining to watch. Bikinis notwithstanding, obviously.
I am contemplating making a thread regarding beachvolleybal. And beachvolleybal is not more skillful, where did you get that idea, just curious ( I play both ).
On July 23 2012 03:24 n.DieJokes wrote: I can't believe this is about Men's Indoor
Well, its the most entertaining form of the game
I get that Beach is more skillful than indoor, but indoor is a lot more entertaining to watch. Bikinis notwithstanding, obviously.
I am contemplating making a thread regarding beachvolleybal. And beachvolleybal is not more skillful, where did you get that idea, just curious ( I play both ).
I also play both, and wouldn't call any of them more skillful than the other. They each require slightly different skill sets. Personally I prefer indoors, especially for spectating, but it's really only a matter of preference if you ask me.
Got tickets for men's grand and bronze finals, can hardly believe I was this lucky as they were torn away quite fast. So stoked to see who makes it through, but with the top 4 teams playing, I'll be surprised if I don't get to see Brazil, Russia and Poland.
Will the seeds for the knockout bracket be randomized? If they won't it might trigger some calculations which I loathe. Otherwise, go Poland, its high time we won an Olympic medal in a team sport.
Pool A is a no-brainer (as far as who advances goes, the actual order might surprise): Poland Italy Argentina Bulgaria
For Pool B I'd bet: Russia USA Serbia Germany Yes, that means Brazil out. They've seemed so lackluster vs Poland. But it might be a feint.
Also, if only more people understood Polish: Ignaczak usually films behind the scenes movies of Polish team.
Last edit: 2012-07-23 15:33:36
HuK | MaNa | Naniwa | ToD | Tyler | SaSe | Tarson | IdrA | Nerchio | Sheth | TLO
Superiorwolf United States. July 23 2012 16:07. Posts 5164
Played volleyball and love volleyball, not too familiar with the scene but really excited to see these teams play. Really surprised that all the same people are playing on the Brazilian team that I saw sooooooo long ago, they must be OLD now!
Check out my stream at www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=315053 and follow me on Twitter @EGSuppy! :)
emjaytron Australia. July 23 2012 16:22. Posts 538
On July 23 2012 15:19 myzael wrote: Will the seeds for the knockout bracket be randomized? If they won't it might trigger some calculations which I loathe. Otherwise, go Poland, its high time we won an Olympic medal in a team sport.
Pool A is a no-brainer (as far as who advances goes, the actual order might surprise): Poland Italy Argentina Bulgaria
For Pool B I'd bet: Russia USA Serbia Germany Yes, that means Brazil out. They've seemed so lackluster vs Poland. But it might be a feint.
Also, if only more people understood Polish: Ignaczak usually films behind the scenes movies of Polish team.
I imagine it would be a case of 1st pool A plays 4th pool B, 2nd pool A plays 3rd pool B etc etc. Which on paper is the best way to reward strong results in pool play. However I get what you are talking about, if a strong team does poorly in pools I'd hate to see a fiasco like in the World Champs in Italy where teams were basically trying to throw games to get an advantageous knockout match. Surely nobody would dare play less than 100% at the Olympics though.
And I just can't imagine Brazil not being there in the knockout stages, are Germany really that good? I saw a bit of Serbia in the Asian zone qualifier, and I can see them beating good teams, but Germany?
I consider Germany a dark horse. I'd bet on Brazil not advancing (because of the odds) but I am not saying that it's most probable. Russia Brasil USA Serbia is the safe bet.
HuK | MaNa | Naniwa | ToD | Tyler | SaSe | Tarson | IdrA | Nerchio | Sheth | TLO
emjaytron Australia. July 23 2012 19:51. Posts 538
Fair enough. You Poles are spoilt for volleyball by the way. Here in Australia the sport is barely recognised, we don't even have a professional league
Well, the rise of volleyball in Poland since 2006 (or even before) is quite uplifting. Especially to me, as it is my favourite sport, both to play and to watch.
And there are many sports that are barely recognized in one country are worshiped in other. You do have a beastly kangaroo racing league though, don't you?
HuK | MaNa | Naniwa | ToD | Tyler | SaSe | Tarson | IdrA | Nerchio | Sheth | TLO
LRM)TechnicS Bulgaria. July 23 2012 23:08. Posts 988
Quarters (if it's going to be A1 vs B4, A2 vs B3 etc)
Poland > Serbia Bulgaria ? Brazil Italy < USA Argentina < Russia
Semis and finals - no idea how would they be played, but i doubt in such a case Poland and Russia could face each other in semis so I predict Poland vs Russia finals and USA vs Brazil/Bulgaria for 3rd.
Ofc I would like Bulgaria to win it all, but we will need a lot of luck since some of our key players won't play on these Olympic games.
I'm a left-handed, offside hitter, I must interject that Bartman from Poland is simply fantastic. I feel like fewer teams beside Poland and Cuba are really using the specialization of left-handed hitters.
Such players are priceless at this position, but neither is Bartman left-handed nor do I recall any outside hitter in Polish national team that was left-handed. I am confused...
HuK | MaNa | Naniwa | ToD | Tyler | SaSe | Tarson | IdrA | Nerchio | Sheth | TLO
emjaytron Australia. July 24 2012 21:58. Posts 538
hence why i am upset about Paul Carroll missing this tournament for Aus. German league MVP then had a shoulder reconstruction T_T. I bet it's cos all the lefties get turned into setters btw. Actually come to think of it I noticed Iran had a left handed passer-hitter in the qualifying tournament, thought that was kind of weird.
You have a point though. Mikhailov, Stanley, Visotto, big succession of right handed opposites, also Mijlkovic if you go back a bit. I don't get to see a lot of international volleyball but the last good leftie I remember was Andre. Such an amazing serve.
On July 24 2012 15:02 myzael wrote: Such players are priceless at this position, but neither is Bartman left-handed nor do I recall any outside hitter in Polish national team that was left-handed. I am confused...
Sorry you are right! >_< Either way, he's very impressive. I'm not sure if Serbia still does, but a couple years ago they had a talented lefty as well. But like above mentioned, many right handed players have been dominating in that position lately. Visotto is a very good example. Coaches now favour putting a taller player on the right-side, in order to have a stronger block against the opponents strong side.
Store
I hope for poland vs brazil final, naturally.
