copravolley

2-0 for Italy but I see only on live-ticker.

Maybe, I watch tv only on internet for many years.

Jack, Carutasu + there are further expansion plans, which I wrote about.

I don't know the rules, but I was also a bit surprised by the relaxed attitude of my Italian colleagues about yestarday defeat... However, it turns out that the defeat against Esp complicates things considerably for us and we have to win against the Czech Republic today... And I remind you that any place outside the top 3 here will be a failure for us and equaling the worst result in the 21st century.

But Raisport vs Rai Uno/Rai Due, it`s a different things. On Raisport are broadcasts many niche sports that don't make it onto terrestrial TV (although of course now, in the age of the Internet, terrestrial television is no longer as important as it was 20-30 years ago).

I'm surprised by our success in such unpopular sports as baseball, softball and even water polo, considering that only calcio is popular in the media and, recently, tennis exist here because of Sinner. Even volleyball has a weak position, considering our great successes on last 30 years. Broadcasting softball on public television, not during the Olympics, would be a momentous event in Italy :P

I'm surprised that this sport is so popular there that it's broadcast on public television (even assuming they're hosting the European Championships). It's a big think in Italy when they show the women's volleyball World Championship final on Rai Uno or the women's Eurobasket medal matches on Rai Due. In Italy public tv may have showed softball during the Olympics, but probably in a short fragment a few minutes, am I right?

So, why was our match against Spain doesn`t count, while the one against the Czech Republic does? Given that it's the same stage of the tournament?

So how do you explain Italy and the Netherlands' dominance of softball in Europe in the 21st century? The top 2 teams here seem very stable.

Our women's volleyball team is a rare example in Italian sport: the clear favorite go to a major tournament and win. Not as a dark horse, but as a clear favorite for gold. When things weren't going well, we mentally destroyed our opponents: the semi-finals and the final. The final tie-break against Turkey was a display of strength and power in blocking: five blocks of the last seven points, even though we'd been blocking poorly throughout the entire match. A masterpiece. Over the past two seasons, our team has developed such a significant mental advantage over its opponents, thanks to a streak of 36 consecutive victories, that even playing poorly in the decisive phase of the tournament, we were able to mentally break Brazil and Turkey—even though we played worse than them in most matches. Chapeau bas, mister Velasco

Italy worse and worse year after year. Another our sport in decline.

"Bisogna stare molto attenti a creare nei giovani l’alibi che il loro problema è che non li facciamo giocare,perché l’assistenzialismo nello sport competitivo non ha mai pagato. La prima cosa è che il giovane si deve guadagnare il diritto di giocare.”- Julio Velasco.

Ok, but I believe that great talent will break through even in a bad system, like Balotelli's 15 years ago. He was our last great attacking talent. The current players like Kean etc are good but not great and I don't know if it would have helped if Kean had started playing regularly in Serie A at the age of 18-19, than 23-24? Btw., for example, in volleyball, so many young players make their debuts very early in the senior NT: Egonu and Orro at 18 age, Michieletto and Giannelli before 20 age, so this is more of a football specific problem, not all our sport. Secondly, as I've already written, we lack truly great football talent for last over 10 years – I'm sure Yamal could easily break through even in Italy, just like Balotelli and del Piero did back.

Maybe Chiesa will come to squad?

But on paper Sweden looking very good, especially with Isak- 120 mln euro + Gyokeres- 75 mln euro

I don't know what coach could help Italy's National Team now? Mancini did nothing after Euro 4 years ago, Spaletti was a complete disaster and Gattuso is inexperienced and mainly a motivator, not a good coach. Someone like Conte would be useful, but he's busy. Conte, with a very average team, made a brilliant 1/4 at Euro 2016, losing only on penalties to Germany. The current squad is certainly no worse than that one, in fact, it's better.

Sweden has unfortunately been slowly declining since Euro 2021. Now Norway is looking much better.

At Euro 2021, the defense consisted of Chiellini and Bonucci + excellent Spinazzola until the quarter-finals and later injury. The defense was so solid, plus the excellent Chiesa on front. Attack was a problem: Immobile, Belotti, etc., but that was a team. Now, it's nothing. In my opinion, if we draw to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc., we'll be eliminated in the play-offs.

Mamma mia, che disastro nel difesa

In volleyball at the World Championships, we played a "pointless" match against Belgium and won 3-1. If you're strong, you beat someone below you, and if you lose, it means you're out of form.

If we don't win against Israel today, Norway is 99% certain to advance, and for us, the play-offs are the ultimate dream. In my opinion, we won't qualify for the World Cup again in my lifetime. It's impossible. It seems like some kind of curse that after winning Euro 2020 by a more of lucky, someone said, "Okay, you won, but you won't qualify for the World Cup for the next 50 years." I'm having the worst time in our national team history, but despite all this, teams like Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, etc., who are 3/4 less worth than us on Transfermarkt, regularly play in the World Cup. It's really hard to rationalize our torment since 2021, but we haven't won a single important match since then (and I don't mean that ridiculous Nations League, where we only won once against France or England).

Unfortunately, in case of Italy everyone are making progress but not us... The last time Italy didn't win a medal in 2009 and that was the only time in the 21st century. How is it possible that only the volleyball system works in our team sports? What's the problem? Couldn't the volleyball solution be copy to other team sports, such as basketball, water polo, softball, etc.?

But this lost not looking good... Spain yestarday lost huge to Czech Republic... I don`t know what`s going on

Italy- Spain 0-3? What`s going on? We were supposed to almost certainly win gold here, but we might end up without a medal at all. Spain lost heavily to the Czech Republic yesterday... Nothing indicated such poor form for our girls in softball...

From the statistics on livscore it looked like Luxembourg had a huge advantage in shots.