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Post by planetasia01 on May 4, 2004 1:31:43 GMT -5
With the olympics coming up in about 3 months, the national teams should be about ready to finalize their rosters after World League and individual tours. What are the rosters looking like for the top teams? (Brazil, Yugoslavia, Russia, Italy, USA, etc.) What changes from the Sydney Olympics and 2002 World Championships can be expected?
I've read alot about the USA mens national team here, so i would like to see how the rest of the world is shaping up.
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Post by doctordubya on May 4, 2004 4:32:06 GMT -5
Will make a start on answering that one...
Brazil will be the team to beat. Barring injury, the squad will be virtually the same as in the 2002 Worlds. They have the best ball control, best serving and fastest offence around. If they win the World League and then the Olympics, they will hold all of the international titles simultaneously (a fairly amazing achievement). If they win the Olympics they will have won every major title in the last four years, an impressive Grand Slam in itself.
Russia have recently moved to Khamoutskikh setting and have brought in a new young outside (Khtei, at 2.05m) alongside Tetioukhine. New libero too, in Verbov - this is a good move as I never thought Mitkov was that impressive. The middles are monsters, Koulechov and Kazakov. Biggest difference (literally) is that Dineikine has returned to the team at opposite. His time in Serie A has made him a much better blocker and hitter. Russia serve very tough and put up a huge block.
Not sure how Serbia will shape up. The senior players (most notably the Grbic brothers) don't always seem to get along with coach Travica. Opposite Miljkovic has also been below full fitness and form for quite a while now. Andrija Geric is still around, but Dula Mester (who I think is a terrific middle and very underrated) was not on the roster for the World Cup. Vusurovic is not as good, but the new middle Bjelica may be the part. Can never rule Serbia out, though - Vlad Grbic and Goran Vujevic make a great outside pairing, and Nik Grbic and libero bring great defence and ball control.
Italy are still reorganising under new(ish) coach Montali. They have a very good setter in Vermiglio, Alessandro Fei is one of the best middle blockers in the world and his usual counterpart Mastrangelo is also very strong. Samuele Papi is STILL a fixture on the outside, but the wing hitting positions are where all the question marks are. Amazing though it seems (given the number of Italian pro players) there are no really consistent passer-hitters like Bernardi and Cantagalli out there anymore. Zlatanov is a big hitter but a dodgy passer, Casoli passes well but is a bit lightweight hitting, Cisolla and Sartoretti look great when the team is in system but not against big blocks, Biribanti looks a world-beater one day but incompetent the next...
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Post by planetasia01 on May 4, 2004 12:45:02 GMT -5
-Brazil
-Is Mauricio Lima or Ricardo Garcia going to set?
-Russia
-Looks like Russia will continue its tradition of throwing high, outside sets to their big left side bombers
-What happened to Iakovlev? I thought he was a fixture at opposite for Russia.
-Is Abramov still with the team? While his passing seems a little suspect, it looked like he could've worked on it and maybe become one of the top OH in the world
-Italy
-Is Giani returning to the team?
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Post by doctordubya on May 5, 2004 3:32:23 GMT -5
-Brazil -Is Mauricio Lima or Ricardo Garcia going to set? Ricardo has started in recent tournaments, with Mauricio on the bench. No other team has two setters this good on their squads. -Brazil -Russia -Looks like Russia will continue its tradition of throwing high, outside sets to their big left side bombers -What happened to Iakovlev? I thought he was a fixture at opposite for Russia. -Is Abramov still with the team? While his passing seems a little suspect, it looked like he could've worked on it and maybe become one of the top OH in the world At the recent European Olympic qualifiers, Russia were very impressive - setter Khamouttskikh ran a quick offence to the wings and didn't rely on high sets at all. More importantly, he was very good at forcing the 1-tempo - with the size of the Russian middles this is very effective. Not sure what happened with Iakovlev. As far as I know he just left the national team to concentrate on his pro career in Italy. Good question about Abramov, and it might also be posed for Poltavsky and Choulepov - all three looked potentially world-class outside hitters (Choulepov undoubtedly is) but were not on the most recent rosters. The World League should give a better idea of who will play for Russia in Athens. -Italy -Is Giani returning to the team? Giani has been on the squad since Montali took over the coach's position. He has been used as both an opposite and outside, but hasn't been particularly impressive in either position. It probably hasn't helped that he has been playing middle for his club side, Modena (who have had a very poor season in Serie A). |
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