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Post by mikegarrison on Aug 13, 2012 23:58:10 GMT -5
Yes, they played poorly in the preliminaries, but remember what Sheila said after Brazil defeated China? "If we go through, we will win the gold.", and they did. The match against Russia completely fired them up, and they finally found their best form again. The US players all said they would win gold, too. What else would you expect any of the players to say?
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Post by Edmond on Aug 13, 2012 23:58:28 GMT -5
You mean like China did in Beijing? ;D True, but China lost a lot of what made them great in 2004 by the time Beijing came around. Because of multiple injuries. Feng Kun's knees were bone on bone; Yang Hao had severe back injury; Zhao suffered an old knee injury.
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Post by Edmond on Aug 14, 2012 0:10:06 GMT -5
Yes, they played poorly in the preliminaries, but remember what Sheila said after Brazil defeated China? "If we go through, we will win the gold.", and they did. The match against Russia completely fired them up, and they finally found their best form again. The US players all said they would win gold, too. What else would you expect any of the players to say? The difference is that the US players not only did not win but also flinched in the face of difficulties. Well, looks like Jenny Lang Ping was right when she said the US players were always overly confident in an interview four years ago.
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Post by Edmond on Aug 14, 2012 0:45:27 GMT -5
I am brazilian and I do think USA has a far superior team than Brazil. Actually, pretty much everyone in Brazil thinks so. All sports critics agreed that it would take 2 things for Brazil to win: 1) Brazil needed to play their mast match in 2011-2012; 2) USA needed to play an average match. And that is what happened. Brazil had lots of losses in the last 8 years due to mental weakness. This was the first time I saw this happening to the USA. If both teams played well, I have no doubt USA would have won the match. Anyway, I hope we meet again in the finals in Rio! I really appreciate your humility. The difference between the two teams isn't that big. The US is stronger offensively but not by much, plus being regarded as the underdog always has its advantage. Yes, Brazil used to be mentally weak, but they overcame that mental block in Beijing. In the quarterfinal against Russia, 5th set, Brazil up 13-10, but Russian won the next 4 points, 13-14, and I thought it's over for Brazil, it's like 2006 WChamp all over again, but Brazil did not let up on pressure this time. To sum it up, the USA has the hardware to win gold but lacks in the software department.
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Post by vbkid111 on Aug 14, 2012 9:00:29 GMT -5
On the level of play in the international arena, again, don't flatter yourself. . The overall level in London is worse than Beijing. In fact, the level has been dropping in the women's game since after Athens. I would agree with this statement.
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