17th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


After the Women’s Volleyball Preliminary Round, I point out what I have seen until now.

First of all we have to say goodbye to the four teams which failed to reach the quarter finals.
Three of those four teams, although eliminated, were successful just gaining the right to participate in the Olympic Games.

KAZAKHSTAN, ALGERIA and VENEZUELA came to Beijing well knowing that the qualification to the quarter finals would have been highly improbable.

The young VENEZUELAN team, due to the "relative" vicinity with Cuba, plays with the unusual system distinguishing the Cubans athletes (two setters and four spikers) .

KAZAKHSTAN, having been part of the former Soviet Union, follows the Russian style relying mostly on power.

Lastly, before judging the ALGERIAN performances, the less advanced team, it’s necessary to remember that they have to deal daily with the lack of sport facilities and the intricate North African environment surrounding the female athletes.

POLAND was unexpectedly eliminated though its squad had all the qualities to reach the quarter finals. They lost the crucial match against Japan and it was decisive. During this tournament, the Polish players started the matches playing efficiently but, as soon as they had to face the first difficulties, they gave up displaying their fragility. It seems to me that that odd instability depends mainly on a sort of thorny relations within the group (player and technical staff included). After the last defeat against the US team, Marco Bonitta, the Italian coach leading the Polish team, stated that he is going to quit and start coaching Men’s squads only.

BRAZIL (1° POOL B)

After the preliminary Round, Ze Roberto’s team is definitely the best team. They are playing wonderfully in any phases of the game. They have the right attitude and concentration and they succeeded easily in any fundamentals. So far, no team seems steady enough to compete with Brazilians players. Ze Roberto keeps on playing down their victories to lighten the pressure depending on the past: Brazil won a lot of tournaments but they never got the gold medal in the Olympic Games.

ITALY (2° POOL B)

This is not the same team I saw in the 2007 World Cup. That team played with patience, smartness and accuracy, avoiding any unforced errors. Today, in the match against Brazil, the players seemed totally out of control. On one hand, Lo Bianco’s distribution was confused and unstrategical, the spikers - on the other hand - were unable to overcome the opponent’s block. In defense the Italians were slow, inaccurate and, moreover, with the wrong emotional approach. I know and I appreciate the Italian coach Barbolini, thus I think that - though the poor performance - he can improve this negative condition and face quite confidently the quarter final against USA

RUSSIA (3° POOL B)

Before the last game with Serbia, Russia was already qualified counting on the victories over ALGERIA and KAZAKHSTAN. Though the Russians achieved their first goal, they have to deal with many uncertainties. Both the setters are often considered responsible for the poor performances. As a matter of fact, M. Akulova and M. Sheshinina aren’t so accurate as they should be to play at this level, but blaming a player (intended as a role) like the sole responsible for the bad performances hides the truth. The Russian athletes should perform with the right attitude focusing on the different game phases rather than relying only on service, attack and block. Today they easily topped Serbia displaying some improvements both at technical (quick set and defense) and emotional levels. In the next match Russia will face China and the players will have to keep on playing with patience, smartness as they did against Serbia to have any chance to win.


SERBIA  (4° POOL B)

Terzic, the Serbian coach, after the defeat against Russia said: “we would have played the Preliminary Round to improve our game level but we failed. I think that in the Quarter Final against Cuba we can show that we didn’t forget how we can play Volleyball”.
His face was grim and also the players during the game were unusually aimless. They Russian serve efficiency affected the Serbian attack but they performed poorly also in the other fundamentals not depending on the opponents excellence. The spirited strong willed team ready to chase any ball, seen many times in the last years, has disappeared and who knows if in two days it will come back.


CUBA  (1° POOL A)

By far the best team in the Pool A. The Cubans easily overwhelmed all the opponents but the Chinese team, with whom, six days ago, they were losing 2-0. In the third set, Santos, one of the two Cubans setters, begun serving wonderfully and after that, the Caribbean succeeded in winning three sets in a row.
The Cubans are playing unexpectedly good in defense and block, which have been often their weaker points. Obviously they rely mainly on attack and serve but, what makes the difference from the recent past, are the control and stability they seem to have finally found. The quarter final match against Serbia could turn to be effortless, but we have to take into consideration the pressure of the “in or out” Olympic match, the Serbian pride and the historical Cuban unpredictability.
They can do anything: play wonderfully or poorly and no one, not even them, can know before.

U.S.A. (2° POOL A) 

The most frequent suggestion Lang Ping gave to her players during the time out is: “forget the result and focus only on the current point”. The US coach, born in China, is the most stable coach I have ever seen. She acts always like a quiet and positive leader (probably her oriental origin helps to behave in this way). She never displays any worries, also when the match is actually complicated. The North- American players take advantage of this confidence playing at their best. Both the US teams Women and Men, are standard talented but they fully exploit their skills. During the Preliminary Round the other teams have difficulty spotting the US game strategies because Lang Ping was rotating all the available players, who repay her with good performances.

CHINA (3° POOL A)

The home team has a big issue: they have only one powerful hitter and playing against the top teams turns out to be a big disadvantage. Those squads can easily foresee who would attack, thus prepare at their best to reduce the effect of the spikes.
After two defeats in a row (against Cuba and USA) they were worried and risked to lose the first set against Japan in the last Preliminary Round match. Could you imagine the pressure of the Chinese athletes playing at home with the “beloved” cousins!
Now they will face Russia and the crucial point will be: how many opportunities got in defense will they’ exploit attacking effectively?

JAPAN  (4° POOL A)

I like the Japanese approach to the games. They know that they aren’t a first class team, but they play any match with great awareness without discouraging nor giving up. Japanese are extremely skilled only in defense and they keep always striving for the best. They never look at the score board and often, after the defeats, it seems that they are more concerned to evaluate their own performances than the mere results. This wise behavior was crucial in the decisive match against Poland. Japanese players were two sets ahead, when the match suddenly changed. Polish players started to block much better and easily won the third set. The fourth was more balanced but it was also won by the Polish girls.
In that conditions, the most part of the athletes would have shown signs of disappointment. Not the Japanese, they played consistently and succeeded in winning the most important match of their Olympic Tournament.
In the next match this approach won’t be enough to win against Brazil, but I’m sure that they will do their best deserving the sincere congratulations for having reached their goal: the qualification to the quarter final.

Bye bye andrea zorzi