Men's Volleyball FIVB Nations League 2023 Road to Paris 2024

[Federer91 2,140]

Another pathetic year in VNL, but at least we are not relegated....

 

There is no other team, that has such a drastic change of performance, after they changed the format of this competition. When it was the old World League we were regularly playing the finals. They switched it and we are always bottom 3-4 teams now.

 

Yes, we are having worst teams/players than before, but i never knew how home dependent we were to get wins. In the WL it was 6 home and 6 away matches, which apparently was a big advantage to us.

[Gianlu33 3,577]

Italy vs Japan is clearly one of the best match of the season 

[CCB 455]

What a horrible performance by the Dutch men. A clear 0-3 against Slovenia. Well, this can happen, because Slovenia is a strong team, but the way Netherlands played this match ... pfffff.

 

If they don't improve quickly, they won't make it to the Olympics.

[Josh 5,755]

Maar and Sclater with 20 points apiece, in a 3-1 victory over  And with that we avoid relegation   

 

Much better play from us this week, although our 1-3 record may tell a slightly different story. Still, a loss to NED in 4, a loss to ITA in 5, and tight losses to POL and FRA in 3, are some things to be proud of, and hopefully, this is a sign that great things are to come. (Personally, I really hope this team can qualify for Paris 2024, but as of now that's looking more like a dream than reality )

Edited July 19, 2023 by Josh

[Josh 5,755]

@Federer91 Question. So I don't know much about Bulgarian volleyball, but would you say Nikolov and Atanasov are your best players? (From what I've seen, they certainly seem to be up there, at the very least)

Edited July 9, 2023 by Josh

[Federer91 2,140]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

@Federer91 Question. So I don't know much about Bulgarian volleyball, but would you say Nikolov and Atanasov are your best players? (From what I've seen, they certainly seem to be up there, at the very least)

For Bulgarian players, there are 3 clear superstars - Kaziyski, Sokolov and now Nikolov. Kaziyski was the best player in the world for a number of years, but hasn't played for the NT for over a decade now, because he has beef with the federation.

 

Sokolov has gotten older now and for many years all expectations were on him to bring success to the NT. But when the other players weren't at his level, even his 20+ points per game were leading to defeats.  And people were getting frustrated with him, because he was playing amazing for his clubs, the MVP and so on, but things weren't working out for the NT, so they thought he was holding back, or relaxing, when in the NT.

 

Nikolov right now is on track to being one of the biggest stars in volleyball. He has the talent to be the new Kaziyski. 

 

Atanasov for me is an above average player. His attack is very good, but his receiving and defending are abysmal. He has a good serve, but doesn't have the confidence to perform it. More often then not it leads to errors or just an easy pass over the net. 

 

There has been one final, this is the last chance push to have Kaziyski return for the Olympic qualification and play with Nikolov and Sokolov in one team. But i have learned over the years to not have my hopes up.

[Josh 5,755]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:41 PM, Josh said:

Week 2 done, not very happy with Canada's results/how they've been playing. They played two pre-tournament exhibition matches against powerhouse Brazil, and played really well to beat them in the first, before dropping the second. Gave me high hopes for them heading into VNL. But VNL has been disastrous for us so far, 2-6 and now our chance at Olympic qualification is starting to look unlikely. We played well against Cuba (Five-set win), Japan (Four-set loss), and France (Three-set loss) but other than that  (Particularly our match against Germany's B team)

 

Sammelvuo needs to integrate more creative ways of offense in his coaching, it's mainly hard swings, and they're pretty error prone too. Also, we need to improve on side out, too many easy digs by our opponents. Currie is legit (Easily our best defensive player), Schwarz, Maar, Demyanenko, and Sclater have all been playing really well. Ever since Tokyo 2020, Hoag has proved time and time again why he shouldn't be a starter. Howe, Vernon-Evans, and Loeppky are all absent from the squad, probably choosing to sit this tournament out, as I can't imagine they wouldn't have been chosen. 

As it turns out, apparently Vernon-Evans has transitioned to a beach player. He would be better off as an indoor player though, he's shit on sand.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Josh

[hoversaBR 281]

France needs a better opposite than Boyer. 

[George_D 874]

  - 3-2

 

  - 3-0

[hoversaBR 281]

I'll be surprised if it's not a final between Italy and Poland here.