CCB

Netherlands played another bad match, but Germany played even worse. A lot of mistakes, but in the end the Dutch were a little better and luckier. Semifinal is already a very good result, 3 of the best Dutch players are missing this tournament. Semifinals today: - -

Indeed, The Netherlands will end at the 5th place when they lose and at the 1st place when they win. No 2nd, 3rd or 4th possible for The Netherlands. All or nothing for us!!

So bad this tournament formula. Russia played with B-team, therefore Sweden in the match for 5/6.

Prediction for today: NOR - NED 32-11 What a bad first half for NED. Unbelievable after a good tournament so far.

Where did you read that? Poland is out of the top 25 of the World Ranking, so normally there's no place for Poland in the OQT. Maybe Poland organizes one of the OQT (or Poland gets a wildcard)?

Today first match of The Netherlands against Hungary. The Dutch miss two of their best players (Yvette Broch suddenly retired, Danick Snelder back injury), so we don't have a good center now. It will be hard to qualify for the second round I guess.

Wow!! Both Dutch competitors Jemyma Betrian (-57) and Nouchka Fontijn (-75) are qualified for the semifinals! A great performance

So, probably Netherlands and Turkey will fight for the last Olympic ticket (European qualifier).

Netherlands want to organize the Women's World Championship, but probably FIVB chooses for money again and will award China or Japan the championship

After sub 7 Netherlands still at the 5th place. They won't reach the teamfinal, but 9th or 10th with this team (without the stars Eythora Thorsdottir, Lieke Wevers and Celine van Gerner) is a huge surprise! So pity that Volleman's vault wasn't working ... she scored a 0, where we expected an 14.6 or something ... But on the other hand very nice we'll see Sanne Wevers in the beamfinal again!

These will be the groups when the VNL count for the World Rankings (not likely): A: CHINA (1), PUERTO RICO (12), GERMANY (13), COLOMBIA (24) B: SERBIA (2), TURKEY (11), BULGARIA (14), POLAND (23) C: USA (3), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (10), THAILAND (15), CUBA (22) D: RUSSIA (4), ARGENTINA (9), CAMEROON (16), CANADA (21) E: BRAZIL (5), KOREA (8), BELGIUM (17), MEXICO (20) F: NETHERLANDS (6), ITALY (7), KENYA (18), AZERBAIJAN (19)

These will be the Women-groups when the VNL doesn't count for the World Rankings (likely): A: SERBIA (1), TURKEY (12), CAMEROON (13), BELGIUM (24) B: CHINA (2), PUERTO RICO (11), GERMANY (14), TRINIDAD (23) C: USA (3), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (10), BULGARIA (15), KAZACHSTAN (22) D: RUSSIA (4), ARGENTINA (9), THAILAND (16), CUBA (21) E: BRAZIL (5), KOREA (8), KENYA (17), CANADA (20) F: NETHERLANDS (6), ITALY (7), MEXICO (18), AZERBAIJAN (19)

The group classification for the Olympic qualification tournaments is a disaster for the European teams, except for Russia. They can book their tickets to Tokyo in every situation. I took the World Cup 2015, Olympic Games 2016 and the World Championships 2018 into account. There is some confusion if the VNL 2018 will count for the World Rankings. These will be the groups when the VNL doesn't count for the World Rankings (likely): A: SERBIA (1), TURKEY (12), CAMEROON (13), BELGIUM (24) B: CHINA (2), PUERTO RICO (11), GERMANY (14), TRINIDAD (23) C: USA (3), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (10), BULGARIA (15), KAZACHSTAN (22) D: RUSSIA (4), ARGENTINA (9), THAILAND (16), CUBA (21) E: BRAZIL (5), KOREA (8), KENYA (17), CANADA (20) F: NETHERLANDS (6), ITALY (7), MEXICO (18), AZERBAIJAN (19) These will be the groups when the VNL count for the World Rankings (not likely): A: CHINA (1), PUERTO RICO (12), GERMANY (13), COLOMBIA (24) B: SERBIA (2), TURKEY (11), BULGARIA (14), POLAND (23) C: USA (3), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (10), THAILAND (15), CUBA (22) D: RUSSIA (4), ARGENTINA (9), CAMEROON (16), CANADA (21) E: BRAZIL (5), KOREA (8), BELGIUM (17), MEXICO (20) F: NETHERLANDS (6), ITALY (7), KENYA (18), AZERBAIJAN (19) Horrible for especially Netherlands. Finishing 4th at both the OG as the WCH and then placed in a group with Italy ...

Netherlands finished at the 8th place officially, there are some mistakes in the projected rankings. Besides that, how on earth the FIVB can decide to take the VNL-points into account? Teams like Netherlands and Slovenia weren't able to participate. Would be the 943194th disgrace of the FIVB this year.

Indeed. Netherlands will be 6th at the World Rankings after this WCh, Italy will be 7th for sure. Only when the World Cup 2015 doesn't count, there is a chance for multiple European teams qualifying.

http://www.volleybalkrant.nl/nieuwsbericht/16229/de-telegraaf-olympisch-kwalificatiesysteem-definitief According to Dutch media the qualification for the Olympics will take place in August 2019, with 6 poules of 4 (serpentine system). After that in January 2020 5 continental tournaments will be held.

Thanks again to the FIVB for this stupid format. Netherlands and China will play tomorrow with nothing at stake ...

Very happy with that. Hopefully it became clear for Japan that in the end prizes can't be bought. They should have placed themselves in a poule with Netherlands. Then they had a really good chance to reach the semis.

Indeed, no wildcards. 5 continents (2 places), world champion and host country. Hopefully 3 (or 4) European countries will qualify for the Olympics, before the last European qualification tournament. Would be a shame when less than 4 countries from Europe qualify. Would be nice if this year's world champion comes from Europe and/or the OQT1 will be held in Europe.

Serbia (1-6 at WCH) and Russia (8th at WCH) qualify for the first OQT1. Russia only because of their points from the World Cup 2015 (a shame!!). At all great tournaments Netherlands finished higher (OG 4-5, VNL 5-8, WCH ?-8 and ECH (2-7). Only because of this stupid World Cuptournament Russia earns a spot in the OQT1. Thank you FIVB. Netherlands only has a chance if Serbia/Netherlands will become world champion or Russia/Serbia organizes the OQT1. Or a wildcard, but I presume Turkey (if not organizing) or Poland gets the wildcard. Anyone who knows where OQT will take place? China?

Japan picked Serbia, because the injury of Boskovic. But nice matches for our team . Now they finally have to show what they can. But however, it's already very nice we reached the Final Six.

FIVB did it again. Everybody is happy now, because Japan is in the Final Six now. I think the FIVB gave the Serbian team a lot of money with a deliberate loss against Japan in return, so the organizer will play in the Final Six. Hopefully I am wrong and Serbia will play the same way against Netherlands tomorrow, otherwise Netherlands will be out of the Final Six on points ratio. Brazil and Japan both will go through at the end. Happy FIVB.

Eventually FIVB ranked Netherlands eighth (instead of ninth), despite finishing third in the second round group. That means the A-status in the Netherlands (more money).

After the first three days of de WCH, in my opinion China and Serbia are the best teams in the world again. I think those teams will play the final. Also Turkey, Italy and USA have a good chance. I'm surprised by South Korea and Russia. Looks like they are not in the best form.

It's because group A is the weakest pool ever. To seed Japan 1. is ridiculous, but it's the FIVB, so it's not astonishing anymore. Normally Serbia and Brazil also win all their matches, but maybe Japan can suprise against one of these teams. Otherwise Netherlands will play in the Final Six.