copravolley

It's 5-0 today, but that's the absolute minimum. We definitely have to win everything until the end and hope that a 2-0 or 3-0 win in the final home match against Norway will be enough, but there will also be a lot of pressure if we have to win by, say, three goals. Although under the old system, it would have been the same, as we lost 3-0 in Oslo... In 2021, there was a goal race with Switzerland until the final matchday, but in the end, we only draw a 0-0 in Northern Ireland, while Switzerland won high against Bulgaria at home. I remember that evening well: earlier, we could have won at home against Sui, but Jorginho missed the penalty in stoppage time.

In Slovakia: Hancko and Lobotka are valued at 55 million euros, so 2 people are worth as much as the other 21 players. In Czech Republic, Patrick Schick is worth the most at 27 million. The rest are worth less than 20 million.

For transfermarkt: Slovakia: 120 mln euro, Czech Republic: 150 mln euro. Slight advantage od Czech, but also Slovakia looks very good (of course, someone may not be playing now due to injury etc. and underestimate the value and I don't know the squads of these two countries well enough to reliably evaluate it.).

Statistically, it is impossible that Norway to have Haaland, Poland to have Lewandowski and we haven`t nothing for last 20 years. Norway, where the national sport is cross-country skiing and biathlon in winter and has a population of 4-5 million people.

Nothing, all that's left is the fight for second place and the playoffs. And knowing our recent history, this team will be under tremendous psychological pressure in those playoffs.

I think that we would have to win 5-0 at least to dream of anything, and now it's 3-0... Weak Israel lead 4-0 vs Moldova.

It should have been 3-0 after 30 minutes.., as it was clear we needed a big win here. At now, we are 10 goals behind Norway overall and we need to beat them at home.

3-0 but it`s nohing change. Norway will go to World Cup for 90%.

I will just write that Estonia is valued at 11 million euros...

0-0 with Estonia at halftime in Italy... It's a decent game, but so what? To even challenge Norway for first place, they'd need a 5-0 win. Right now, the only thing left is a fight for second place with Israel, as even the play-offs aren't guaranteed. At best, we'll be back in the play-offs in the spring, where we lost the last two World Cups. As of 2021, we basically don't have a team, but with good organization and project, we have no right to be worse than Switzerland... We have a better squad, higher-valued players but there's one big shit... Our team is worth almost 800 million euros on transfermarkt: this is the level of the Netherlands, or slightly lower than Portugal... The entire federation should resign for this cabaret that has been taking place since winning Euro 2021: https://www.transfermarkt.pl/italien/startseite/verein/3376

Thanks to stupid Nations League.

Italy- Estonia just started...

But for now Slovakia is better than Czech Republic for you?

Algieria?

But we haven`t- Pietrini but she is just a former volleyball player and increasingly a model-influencer...

Abbes said in an interview after the Paris Games that Russia also probably apparently lobbied with the Uzbeks in Paris. According to Abbes, Russia wanted to show that: "we're not here, but people like us are winning anyway: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc". And most of the judges there were from the former IBA, so Russia had a huge influence there. In Khyzniak's case, this would probably be too loud and too political to rob him of his gold (Zelensky and the Ukrainian authorities would certainly make a speak and I think that's the right thing to do. We don't care about our people; the our officials keep usually quiet and our man at the IOC: Giovanni Malago, can't get anything done, he just sits quietly and pretends to be a diplomat). Sometimes, when you're being robbed again, you have to speak up and raise your head, instead of staying silent, because they'll humiliate you further).

Khyzniak come to professional world? Don't complain, because Khyzniak did win gold in Paris, and our Abbes was robbed in the 1st round by the Uzbek (some people of referee), who as a country had very good contacts with the judges, watched by their results there.

If Lenzi doesn't win at least a bronze medal here, it means that, he's not made for this sport and have no chance in 2028 on OG. The truth is, however, that Lenzi isn't a phenomenon, just an solid fighter with a chance occacasionally of something more, like bronze. But we know, that he'll never win Olympic gold or World Championship gold. And it hurts greatly that we're cutting out Abbes Mouhiidine, the only Italian with gold medal potential (even if he occasionally loses by knockout or due to poor refereeing). The rest of the Italian team is weak and doesn't promise any success.

Bulgaria it`s not a football nation- 90 years of XX century it was exception but of course they should play better, since small Slovakia can do it, which has an even smaller population and tradition than them. Of course, the king of embarrassment is Italy, who last played in the World Cup in 2014 and last advanced at elimination phase in... 2006. Twenty years ago, what we're seeing now was unimaginable. And what's worse, our football doesn't deserve the attention it gets in all of country/media/social etc.. Certainly not for such embarrassing results. Let them win something and maybe then we'll talk. For now, let's focus on volleyball, or even basketball or tennis.

Mancinelli hasn't been playing for many years, has he? I lost track of him a long time ago and I haven't been following our league lately.

I feel another lost for Sabalenka in Slam final this year: 3x against US girls + another lost to Anisimova in Wimbledon semis.

Belinelli didn't retire? Is it just about classic basketball?

Uzbekistan, which won a significant number of gold medals in Paris, will lose the most from Russia's return. It will also cause confusion because the rankings will be random, and often someone from Russia and Uzbekistan might fight each other earlier. It was similar in Paris, with the two best boxers in the 90 kg category, Abbes (Italy) and Uzbekistan, fighting in the first round (the Italian lost after a controversial decision, but if it had happened in the final, he would have at least won the silver medal, but this time he was left with nothing). Overall, the Italian federation screwed up completely in Paris – it's common knowledge that in sports like boxing, judo, and wrestling, lobbying and pressure over judges are key. Most of these verdicts could have gone on other side. Because of this, we lost about 5 medals in judo and boxing alone.

Italy last advanced from their group at the World Cup in 2006, when we won all tournament. Slovakia advanced in 2010, so you are better than us in that respect. Besides, you have Calzona and we have Gattuso

At Euro 2024, there was a Round of 16 tie, and England scored to make it 1-1 in stoppage time. Italy was out of form in 2010, and besides, how can you underestimate someone when you've only played two group games before and you only won two points? Of course Germany, like many other strong teams are in poor form at the beginning of September, but Slovakia is almost certain to qualify for the play-offs from second place. They need to beat Luxembourg twice and Northern Ireland at home. 52 place in ranking is probably due to their poor performance in the Nations League, but isn't it better to get out of the group stage at the European Championship and then go to the World Cup? In my opinion, Slovakia is doing much better than Poland or the Czech Republic in last years, which have more players and greater potential.